DMCC Board meets today; Council set to approve 55th St project bid

After weeks of legal work, the Destination Medical Center Corporation Board

finally has an amended set of articles of incorporation and by-laws it can vote on. The board will hold a special meeting at the Mayo Civic Center today ( 12:30 ) to vote on the changes. The board is also scheduled to vote on working agreements involving the DMC’s Economic Development Agency and the city of Rochester. If approved, the items will be taken up by the City Council at its meeting this evening.

The City Council is also scheduled to vote tonight on a recommendation to award a bid for the long-awaited reconstruction of the Highway 52/55th street interchange. Work will include widening the 55th street bridge and road construction between Clearwater Road on the west and Bandel Road on the east. The city only received two bids for the project, which had an estimated cost of $3.7 million. The E. Kraemer and Sons company submitted the lowest at just under $4.7 million, or a million higher than the engineer estimate. Staff blames the higher cost on the complexity of the project and the demand for bridge work around Minnesota.