An Amber Alert issued earlier this morning for a 3-year old boy allegedly abducted by his biological, non-custodial mother and another woman, has been cancelled. State Radio reports the child has been found unharmed.  Police say Nicholas Jimmerson had been abductedfrom a Des Moines home on Wednesday night. The alert was issued at 3:15 a.m. Thursday. He was found just after 5 a.m.  The alert said authorities were looking for 22-year-old Melanie Stout and 25-year-old Amber Johnson.  Police have not provided details yet on the recovery of Nicholas or whether anyone has been arrested in the case.

City Administrator Doug Harris said a $4.7-million bond issue the Council had earlier approved to pay for the entire Capital Improvement Program (CIP) had to be amended by adding $250,000, because the bonding attorney says the City cannot do a planned lease-purchase program for equipment. He says for many years the City has had a lease-purchase agreement with AMU in order to avoid paying interest, and even though it’s a “grey area” under State law, the bonding attorney said he could not longer approve that agreement. Harris says Ruan Securities has agreed that the City add the $250k to the bond issue, and pay that same amount off within a period of six-months.

The effect he says is minimal, but it still adds to the City’s approximately $6-million budget. Public hearings on the Fiscal Year 2013 Budget will take place next Monday and Tuesday night (Feb. 20th & 21st) at 5:30-p.m. Mayor Dave Jones says he welcomes residents’ input on how the City spends their money. He said also, the levy (or tax asking) would increase this year…how much is not clear.. but Jones said it still under the 2005 tax asking. He says the City is  “Still making up ground for the years we cut taxes…for four-or five-years. Now we’re repairing the streets.”

The Atlantic City Council Monday approved bids for various street repair projects that will get underway late this Spring or early Summer. Snyder and Associates Engineer Dave Sturm said there were two bids for the Hot Melt Asphalt (HMA) Paving and Storm Sewer Improvement project. He recommended the Council award the bid to Henningsen Construction of Atlantic. Their bid of slightly more than $1.88-million was about $40,000 over the engineers estimate of the project cost.

Sturm said also, there were four bids for Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) Paving and Storm Sewer Improvement project in the City. The engineer estimated the project would cost $801,000. But the low bid of $712,317 was received by Carley Construction in Treynor. Prior to approving the bid, the Council wanted assurances Carley wouldn’t fall behind and leave work undone like they did last year on 22nd Street in Atlantic, and that there would be penalties in-place for failing to get the job done in a timely manner. Sturm explained that prior to the past year, they hadn’t had any problems with Carley. He attributed last year’s problems to the company having taken on more work than they should have. He says this year, the contract is set up on a “working day count.”

Once they start, they have 60 working days to complete the job, not counting weekends and rain days. Their work must begin no later than June 1st. Sturm says failure to complete the job within 60 working days will result in a fine of anywhere from $500-to $1,000 per day. Two other major improvement projects the City accepted bids for Wednesday, included a PCC patching project, and repair of the City Park sidewalk. Coffman Engineering’s Ken Coffman recommended the Council approve a low bid from Ten Point Construction in Denison of $287,785 for the PCC patching job. There were six bidders for the project, which the engineer had estimated would cost $276, 472.

The company has to begin work on the project by no later than April 2nd, and has 60 working days to complete it in order to avoid a $400 per day penalty. Coffman said the construction projects will cause some disruption in traffic flow in some areas of town, and detours in others. He says people will have to get used to one-lane traffic, flaggers and pilot vehicle on Olive Street, from about Commerce to the City limits near the KJAN studios, while the PCC patching project is underway. Coffman also recommended a low bid of $22, 319 from Precision Concrete in Atlantic, for the City Park sidewalk project. That was about $3,000 less than the engineer’s estimate. The total cost of the projects approved by the Council amounts to slightly more than $2.9-million, which is below the engineer’s estimates of nearly $3.52-million.