The Hillsboro City Council agreed at its July 1 meeting that the cost for drainage improvements in the West Winds area of town should be assessed to homeowners in the area that will benefit from the changes.
City Administrator Larry Paine said the city essentially has two options when it comes to paying for the improvements, which are now in the engineering stage.
One method would be to establish an assessment district, which the council agreed to do. The alternative would be to spread the cost to all residents of the city.
Before an assessment district would become legal, the city is mandated to notify affected residents of the proposal, and then call a public hearing.
Paine also reported he has received preliminary estimates for improving Commercial Street and part of Santa Fe Street in the Hillsboro Industrial Park. The three estimates ranged from a low of $350,000 to a high of $600,000.
Paine noted the estimates were higher than what he hoped they would be, but was not surprised by the numbers.
He added: “We won’t be able to sell properties out there until that road is improved.”
The council did not discuss the estimates.
In other matters, the council:
n heard about a complaint from a resident in the 400 block of South Adams that Tabor College students were parking so close to her driveway that it was difficult for her to enter and exit it safely.
Because a traffic ordinance change may be required, the council referred the matter to Paine, who will work with Police Chief Dan Kinning and City Attorney Dan Baldwin to recommend a response.
n approved Mayor Delores Dalke’s recommendation that Shawn Edwards be reappointed to the Board of Zoning Appeals for another three-year term.
n heard from Paine that a recruiting list of 29 companies has been suggested by the Buxton Co. consultants. Paine said he is working with local business leaders to pare the list to 10, but only about a half dozen or so different candidates had been suggested so far.
n heard Councilor Byron McCarty suggest that the council considered changing the fireworks ordinance for next year so the dates for selling fireworks coincides with the dates for shooting them legally within the city limits.
Currently, the selling period begins earlier, and police officers have had to respond to “a lot of” complaints about fireworks being set off illegally.
