City awards contract for work to begin on Sea Wall

by Marianne Gasaway

Work is expected to begin later this month on the restoration of the Clear Lake Sea Wall.

Monday night the City Council awarded a contract for the work to  TNT Tuckpointing & Building Restoration, of Stockton, Iowa for $186,930.  The firm submitted the lowest of three bids. Other bids were provided by Building Restoration Corp., Roseville, Minn., $223,069; and Innovative Masonry Rest, Prior Lake, Minn., $246,000.

The low bid was significantly lower than the $250,000 the city had budgeted for the project.

The bids were forwarded to RDG Planning & Design, of Des Moines, which recorded and distributed the results. 

“RDG has worked with TNT Tuckpointing & Building Restoration, LLC on several recent projects.  Based on our experience working with them, we have no apparent reservations about the City awarding them the work here in Clear Lake,” stated Scotney Fenton, AIA, RDG Planning & Design.

Historians report the Clear Lake Sea Wall was a WPA project completed on July 1, 1936. The split-boulder retaining wall located just west of City Park was commissioned by state conservation officials and constructed by workmen from a transient camp located north of Mason City.  In recent years and months the Sea Wall’s mortar has been crumbling and rocks have either fallen or been pulled from the wall.  

Beth Ann Schumacher, president of the Clear Lake Historical Society, attended Monday night’s Council meeting and told the group she was honored to work with the City and RDG to maintain the historical integrity of the Sea Wall.  She noted work is underway to have the wall declared a National Historic Site.

“All indications are that TNT is an excellent company that will do it historically well… It will be nice to stabilize it for the future,” she said.

The projects is expected to be completed by May 2023.