IRON MOUNTAIN — About 430 water service lines will be replaced at Iron Mountain homes over the next several years under a $4.6 million grant and loan program expected to receive funding in 2024.

The city council on Monday approved an engineering proposal of up to $548,488 from Coleman Engineering Co. of Iron Mountain, who will be charged with designing, bidding and inspecting the project.

Coleman’s proposal, along with an estimated $80,000 in bond writing costs, will leave about $3.9 million for construction, City Manager Jordan Stanchina said.

Funding will come through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund administered through the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. The aid includes a loan of $2.33 million at 2% interest for 20 to 40 years, plus an additional $2.24 million with principal forgiveness, essentially making that portion a grant.

Coleman is familiar with the project since it prepared an application and plan for a $13.2 million project that included $4.6 million in lead service line replacements. But after EGLE offered only to fund the service line component, the city decided last month to change the locations to areas where water main replacement isn’t scheduled within the next 20 years.

Under a statewide mandate from 2018, the city is required to replace all galvanized water services that are considered lead lines within the next 18 years. The $4.6 million project will address roughly a quarter of the lines needing replacement, according to city officials.

Due to incomplete records of service line material, Coleman finds that many services thought to be galvanized are actually copper, said Scott Nowack, Coleman project manager. For this reason, Coleman expects to identify about 800 services for potential replacement, requesting easements from each homeowner.

Since the work generally requires access inside homes, the project will require Coleman meeting with homeowners on an ongoing basis to schedule the work, Nowack said. Construction may begin next fall and take as long as 96 weeks to complete, assuming only one crew is working at a time.

“We anticipate construction to continue through the entire 2025 and 2026 construction seasons,” Nowack said.

The bulk of Coleman’s cost is for construction oversight and inspection, coming in at $428,274. If two are more crews are working at the same time, that portion will come down, Nowack said.

The city, however, won’t require more than one crew, since that will likely raise construction bids, Stanchina said. All of the work will be done by contractors, he added.

In other action, the council:

— Heard Mayor Dale Alessandrini and others thank council member Nathan Zemar for his service the past six years. Zemar is not a candidate for reelection today. Four at-large positions are on the ballot, with incumbents Kyle Blomquist, Ken Clawson and Pamela Maule seeking to retain their seats. Mark Wickman is the fourth candidate on the ballot, while David Johnson has filed as a write-in.

— Approved minutes from a special meeting Wednesday morning at which the purchase of a 2010 Ford F-250 super duty pickup truck was approved for cemetery use. The cost is $14,041 through Legacy Auto in Jefferson, Wis. The city had solicited bids for a used truck that costs less than $20,000.

— Approved the purchase of a dump box for the pickup truck from Jake’s R & R Tire of Iron Mountain for $6,400.

— Noted a change in address for an adult use marijuana processor license for Smoke U.P. Farms LLC from 619 Circle Drive to 1804 N. Stephenson Ave., also handled during Wednesday’s meeting.

— Has determined that a bid from 1st Down Tree Service of Breitung Township for the removal of 19 trees and 21 stumps throughout the city is reasonably priced at $19,850, allowing the contractor to go forward. No other bids had been received by the Oct. 16 deadline.

— Announced the final pass for leaf collections in the city is expected to start near the end of this week. Also, the compost site behind the public works building will only be open to residents until Saturday, or possibly the early part of next week.

Jim Anderson can be reached at 906-774-3500, ext. 226, or janderson@ironmountaindailynews.com.