City approves bid for S. Washington drainage project

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
The Hillsboro City Council intends to improve drainage on six blocks of South Washington after accepting a bid for the project at their June 4 meeting.

The council voted 3-0 to accept the low bid of $93,943.50 from APAC of Kansas in Wichita. Councilor Leonard Coryea was absent.

Bids on the project also were received from Shilling Construction Co. in Manhattan and Ritchie Paving in Wichita.

The project will entail replacing old curb and guttering with new, plus related street improvements, including concrete driveway approaches, for blocks 1 through 6 of Washington Street in the area named Dalke’s Addition.

A specific starting date is yet to be set, but City Administrator Steven Garrett said the work should begin this summer and be completed by mid- to late fall.

In related issues, the council approved invoices for the engineering work done on the project as well as a new policy on driveway approaches on streets where the city is repairing or replacing curbing.

The policy states the city will replace an existing driveway approach at the existing dimensions when curb repair or replacement is being done on any street that affects the approach. The city will include a curb radius approach with a single 8-feet driveway width to any property in the project area at the request of the property owner prior to design or construction.

Any additional driveway approach or expansion of dimension will be at the expense of the owner.

Garrett reported that all three under drains and filters at the water treatment have now been repaired and are in operation-two weeks ahead of schedule. The council approved a the latest invoice for work done on the project of $20,712.80 from Walters-Morgan Construction of Manhattan.

The council also approved paying an invoice of $14,567.31 for work done to improve the intersection of Washington and Grand and the alley that runs north and south on the west side of city hall.

The council also approved paying an engineering inspection charge from Reiss & Goodness of $4,182.50 for 119.5 hours from April 29 through May 24.

The city also approved by 3-0 vote a policy that is intended to ensure that utility deposits will be refunded to customers on a routine basis.

The policy states utility customers are entitled to the refund-plus any interest accrued-after completing 12 months without a delinquent or missed payment.

In other business, the council:

approved the appointment of Dale Mayfield and Chad Nowak to the Hillsboro Housing Authority board, which oversees the management of Grand Oaks Apartments.

heard from engineer Previtera that a pre-bid meeting is set for June 25 and bid-letting for July 2 regarding removing two houses on North Washington Street as part of the neighborhood-improvement project on the city’s north side.

heard from Garrett that work has begun on preparing the city budget for 2003. As part of that process, the council will be meeting to review and approve the priority projects designated earlier in the year for the city’s Capital Improvement Plan.

Garrett said about the budget process, “We’ve got some challenges in regard to the state budget.”

He said some payments from the state are going to be cut by as much as 40 percent but did not say how those cuts might affect the city.

heard from Garrett that he had narrowed the list of engineers for the improvement project at the city’s water-treatment facility to four companies.

He said he might be ready to make a recommendation to the council by the next meeting, June 18.

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