Even though Allen County commissioners maintain some hope the Kansas Department of Transportation will help pay for damage done to detour routes while work was done on U.S.-169, it knows the money it will receive from the cost share program will cover the costs.
Mitch Garner, public works director, reported that Darren Petrowsky, who serves as a KDOT representative has submitted his report to his superiors and is still waiting to hear of their response. Garner said nothing has been decided yet, but Petrowsky will schedule a meeting with the commissioners once he hears something.
Bettis Asphalt has already begun some of the repair work. In all, there were seven projects totalling $816,729. 25 on the bid sheet. Commissioners agreed to begin on three of the projects, while providing temporary fixes in some areas.
Commissioner Jerry Daniels said even if KDOT decides not to help out with costs to Old US-169/K-224, the money they will receive from the cost share program could cover the whole project.
The county will receive $540,000 from the program, and will pay $360,000 to participate.
Its almost the exact amount of what the estimates we received from Bettis Asphalt, Daniels said. So even if they decide not to help, the money we receive from the cost share program will go a long way towards repairing those roads.
Commissioner Bruce Symes thanked Garner for all of his work in getting the county into the cost share program.
I think the biggest thing is we decided to bump up our payment from 25 percent to 40 percent of the cost, Garner said. I think that was what really gave us a chance.
IN OTHER news, Garner reported that crews are currently working at the ambulance barn site in Moran. They recently completed their portion of the work at the Humboldt site. Garner said crews from Koehn Construction have laid the concrete pad in Humboldt and everything is looking good out there.
THE LaHarpe Volunteer Fire Department is making a payment of $27,218 to Waverly Construction so they can begin concrete work on a project that will add 1,350 square feet to the existing building.
DANIELS reported that the Humboldt Senior Citizen Center was in need of floor repairs. He said the floor in the restroom was about to fall through.
