By Roger Pugh
Contributing Writer
After finishing a workshop last week, the Piedmont City Council appears to have an idea for a two-year road repair plan and a way to fund the repairs.
No official action was taken at the workshop. However, the plan will be discussed again and perhaps adopted at a later monthly Piedmont City Council meeting, probably after a survey is developed and circulated to get the community’s thoughts on the plan. Council members asked City Manager Jason Orr to prepare a survey and present it at the Jan. 27 regular council meeting for council review.
After each council member attending the workshop offered their individual priorities for roads to be repaired, council members agreed it was important to repair the roads most vital and in need of repair. Councilman Al Gleichmann is recovering from a stroke and was not present. The council was working from the report prepared by the Citizen’s Road Repair Committee which studied needs, costs and other related matters concerning Piedmont roads. The council received the report at its last regular meeting and scheduled the workshop to review the committee recommendations and make their own suggestions.
The council also debated whether to use a general obligation bond issue or a proposed $28 addition to the water bill to pay for selected projects.
The council consensus was that a $28 monthly add on to the water bill would be the best funding route and would provide enough to fund the repair of two roads per year for the next two years. For many residents, this would be cheaper than a bond issue, for others it might be more expensive.
In fiscal year 2020-2021 the council would spend $1.15 million to fix priority roads. The roads the council would like to fix in that fiscal year are Piedmont Rd. from 192nd to 206th and 164th from Cemetery to Frisco Roads. The section of Piedmont Road proposed to be repaired, which was the number four priority on the citizen’s committee recommendations list, has a daily traffic count of 2,800 and will cost $750,000 to repair. The 164th street project, number eight priority on the citizen committee recommendations, carries about 500 cars a day and will cost $400 ,000.
During fy 2021-2022, the council proposes to repair 164th from Mustang to Sara Roads (second on the committee’s list), and 220th from Piedmont Rd. to Mustang Rd. (first on the list).
The 164th from Mustang to Sara Roads carries 700 vehicles per day and the cost for repairs is estimated at $650,000.
The latter 2021-2022 project has 500 cars a day traveling that section of road and the cost is pegged at $400,000, for a total of $1,050 for both roads.
Already budgeted in the current fiscal year is $1.15 million to repair Mustang Rd. from 164th to 178th, and Piedmont Rd. from 206th to 220th. This section of Mustang Rd. carried 900 vehicles per day and will cost $400,000 to repair.
The Piedmont Road project, with 2,100 cars per day, will cost $750,000.
Council members stressed that any road repairs will be thoroughly inspected each step of the way and the roads will be quality projects.
“We’re expecting these roads to last 25-30 years, Mayor Kurt Mayabb said.
Councilman John Brown noted that the roads proposed for the upcoming two-year package and the two roads to be repaired in this year’s budget are not the only roads that would be fixed. He said the city also has approximately $500,000 in road funds to maintain other roads during the next fiscal year.
“We’ll figure those repairs when we budget (for next fiscal year) in a couple of months,” Brown said.
The city has also purchased a new patching truck and it will be online in the spring.
This (the patching truck) will also help us fix potholes in other places,” Mayabb said.
