KINGSFORD — Kingsford will save some money on a planned water service line replacement project.

The city has negotiated with GEI Consultants for a savings of $97,998 by having qualified city public works employees do daily required inspections.

This would bring GEI Consultants’ itemized cost for the proposed $5 million project to $293,130 or 5.96%. This percentage is lower than their agreement for all the other projects the city has done with GEI, and is well below the industry norm of 10% to 13%, City Manager Mike Stelmaszek said.

Without the savings, the cost would be $391,118, or 7.8% of the total project.

The council also approved a request from GEI Consultants for $77,300 for additional services added to Heights project No. 2.

According to Stelmaszek, the request is to support $2 million in U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development funding and the Cherry Street/Maplewood Court looping engineering services.

Stelmaszek indicated the cost is 3.53% of the extra funding. This is less than the 7.3% paid for their first agreement and other services on project No. 2.

In other business, the council:

— Learned that 132 households in Kingsford and 61 in Norway have signed up for a joint curbside recycling program to be offered in the two cities. The deadline to sign up has been extended to Dec. 1. The program offers twice a month recycling from Green for Life, who would provide each household with a 96-gallon container.

— Heard a city council election report from Stelmaszek. Incumbent Joe Groeneveld, with 475 votes, and newcomer Angela Olsen, with 335 votes, were elected to the council Nov. 4. Council member Dennis Baldinelli was not reelected. Groeneveld expressed appreciation for Baldinelli, who was not present. “I worked with Dennis a lot of years and he covered a lot of things we couldn’t do.” The city’s reorganizational meeting will be Monday, Dec. 1.

— Learned that the pirate ship playground equipment has been installed at Ford Addition Park and a number of children were using it Monday. The equipment was purchased as part of a $100,000 donation from Rick and Marty Lagina, which included construction of a pavilion.

— Approved purchasing a $35 gift card to Central Super Market in Kingsford for each city employee for the holidays.

———

Marguerite Lanthier can be reached at 906-774-3500, ext. 85242, or mlanthier@ironmountaindailynews.com.