For the Hub City Times

MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield Common Council approved their Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for the years 2020- 2024, during the May 14 council meeting.

City administrator Steve Barg said it’ll serve as a general guide for city projects.

“The CIP is more of a framework or a guideline.  It’s a five-year guide book,” Barg explained.  “Here’s where we plan to spend the money, and it totals up to be about $44 million dollars in the next five years.”

Some of the projects in the CIP, include: $2 million in street resurfacing projects, $3 million in matching funds for a new aquatic center, and Barg says four major street reconstructions are also being planned:  “East 17th Street over by the fairgrounds, West Fifth Street is one of our bigger projects, and Cleveland between Central and Walnut.  And then, there’s a portion of Blodgett that we’re looking to reconstruct.”

A new streamlined CIP process is being used this year, so some “non-infrastructure” items were also included for the first time.  According to Barg, “Vehicles,  equipment, financial software – those things all used to battle it out for space in the budget.  Now we can sort through all this in the spring and get it settled before we get to fall.”

Next to the annual budget, Barg said that the CIP is the most important financial document that city leaders prepare each year.