The Jefferson City Council approved a bill at its meeting Monday night to authorize a contract with Jefferson Asphalt for $1.198 million for the 2017 mill and overlay of city streets. The money will mostly come from the city's half-cent capital improvement sales tax program.
Work is planned to start later this month. McCarty Street and East Miller Street are both down for multiple projects.
Britt Smith, director of the Public Works Operations Division, has said they've seen an increase in prices over the last couple of years. Because of the higher costs, three projects were eliminated from this year's list - Greentree Road, Cherokee Drive and Indian Meadow Drive, all of which are on the 2018 overlay list.
Smith said next year's project is currently projected to be $1.4 million, and only $1.2 million is budgeted, so some streets probably will be left off the list again.
"There are a limited number of companies who do this work and thankfully we have one here locally," he said. "Jefferson Asphalt was the lowest bid on the project."
On a related note, the council approved a bill calling for parking changes on West McCarty Street to allow for crosswalk improvements near the Truman State Office Building.
The changes in the 300 block of West McCarty include removing parking - three spaces in a loading zone between the ends of the Truman Building circle drive - as well as moving the existing handicap-accessible parking spot to the east end of the block. City staff said this area of West McCarty is scheduled for resurfacing later this year. When the work is done, the current crosswalk located at the east/rear entrance of Capitol Plaza Hotel will be moved to directly across to the sidewalk in front of the Truman Building's McCarty Street entrance.
This same bill calls for removing parking on the south side of the 500 block of East McCarty - between Jackson and Marshall streets, next to Wears Creek at the bottom of the hill below the Simonsen 9th Grade Center. The change allows the city to move the curb, helping make a trail extension improvement to the greenway system. Also, the existing crosswalk and accessible ramps crossing East McCarty at Jackson will be improved as resurfacing takes place later this year.
Other bills approved included:
A measure from the Parks Department for a supplemental appropriation of about $2.4 million for The LINC Wellness Center to cover the remaining construction expenses, furniture, fixtures and equipment, as well as some unanticipated start-up operating expenses.
At last report, the total contract for construction of the center is $12,947,803. Parks has already paid more than $5.8 million from sales tax collections. The rest of the money for the center came from Lincoln University, which contributed $4.6 million and a $4 million gift.
An ordinance was approved to make temporary traffic pattern changes around Lewis and Clark Middle School permanent to improve safety for students and motorists.
In January, Jefferson City Police Chief Roger Schroeder ordered a change at the intersection of Eastland and Lewis and Clark drives, imposing one-way turns and traffic flows at the middle school. Those temporary changes went into effect Feb. 21, and school and Public Works staff said they have been successful.
The ordinance calls for left-turn and right-turn prohibited signs to be put on Eastland onto the south/east portion of Lewis and Clark Drive, unless a vehicle is specifically authorized by the public school to pick up and/ or drop off students, such as a school bus.
The council also approved a proposal to award a financing plan of more than $5 million to fund the replacement of the fire department's frontline fleet. The financing will allow the department to purchase seven trucks (two ladder trucks, two rescue engines and three pumpers).
It would also allow the department to use three of the current frontline trucks to update their four reserve trucks, which Fire Chief Matt Schofield said are often pressed into service during maintenance intervals and peak demand circumstances.
From the time of order, it takes approximately one year to build and deliver the apparatus.