A series of ordinances that would move forward resurfacing of Highway 6 through Trenton received approval from the Trenton City Council during a meeting on Monday night.
The four ordinances outlined the area in which the project would take place in addition to designating the state as the bidder for the work, which would also include a water line replacement project the city plans to do along Ninth Street while the road work is being done.
The Missouri Department of Transportation plans to let bids later this fall with plans to resurface the road early next spring. Resurfacing would take place at the west end of Trenton near Fourth Street to the Muddy Creek bridge on the east side of town. As part of the bidding process, the state would also bid out the city’s water line replacement work, which would also include curb to curb paving, new sidewalks and ADA ramps.
It is estimated that the resurfacing project would cost around $1,770,000, with the city of Trenton paying $312,155 for its portion of the costs. Under the agreement, should the bid for the city’s cost be over the $312,155 amount, the city would be required to pay additional funding. A refund would be received if the bid was lower.
Two other ordinances relinquish MoDOT ownership of portions of Princeton Road and Oklahoma Avenue to the city. The areas include a portion of Princeton Road (listed as Route AA by the state) from 28th Street to just west of the drive at Casey’s as well as the south end of Oklahoma Avenue near 10th Street (listed as Business 65 by the state). The city would assume maintenance of those areas once they are deeded over by the state.
Votes authorizing the improvements to Highway 6 as well as relinquishing the two roads to the city were 7-0 with John Dolan absent. The vote on the maintenance agreement of Highway 6 was 5-2 with Glen Briggs and Lou Fisher voting no. Briggs said he felt the city was giving up too much in comparison to what the state is agreeing to do.
There was also a 5-2 vote for the city to proceed with seeking requests for proposals for an engineer to develop plans for a new hangar. City Administrator Ron Urton said the city currently has $600,000 in FAA funding credits, but will lose $118,000 in FAA funding credits in September. He said the airport advisory committee has suggested the council look at using those funds to develop a plan for future new hangar construction. A request for qualifications is currently being advertised and if an engineer is chosen, Urton said it did not mean the city would have to proceed with the plan. However, any work that would be done would require the city to match the FAA funding at a 10 percent level.
Councilman Brad Chumbley, who voted no along with Danny Brewer, said he didn’t feel like the city should be making the 10 percent expenditure at this time, even if it meant losing the $118,000 credit. He noted that the city would still have over $400,000 in credits remaining that could be used in the future. Those credits, if used, would still require the city to provide a 10 percent match.
Councilwoman Cathie Smith encouraged the council to move forward, noting that the city “would lose $118,000 without anything.” Councilman David Mlika stated he would like to see the city proceed, noting that the current hangars are in need of replacement. Urton said the airport advisory committee has suggested looking at an eight-bay steel facility with concrete floors. The current hangar floors are either concrete or gravel and generate income for the city of $125 per month for the concreted hangars and $100 for the gravel units. It was noted that a new facility would allow the city to look at increasing the rental rates.
In a related matter, the council approved a bid from David Tolen of Gallatin to rent the north end of the former PSF hangar at a cost of $285 per month. It was the best bid of two received. The vote was 6-1 with Brewer voting no. Brewer said after the meeting he felt the council should have approved the bid from Steve Hammond of Trenton because he is a local resident. Hammond’s bid was $276 per month.
In approving the bid, the council asked the contract include that the rent is to be paid by the 10th of each month or that a 10 percent penalty would be added.
There was considerable discussion about what to do with the former R-9 building at the airport, which is owned by the city and prone to flooding. The building was last occupied by a dog treat baker. It had been suggested the city use the facility to store city-owned equipment, particularly items belonging to the street department. That would require larger overhead doors to be installed (two were suggested), which city officials estimated would cost $5,500 per door. Urton said that any water that might come into the building would not hurt the equipment to be stored and that in case of flash flooding, city crews could get the equipment out fairly quickly. Briggs indicated a concern with the city having anything stored in the building because of the flooding and there was also a concern raised with where the money would come from to pay for the doors. It was decided to table any action until staff could do more study on storage needs for all city departments and what options might be available.
Meanwhile, baking equipment left in the building by the dog treat business is to be disposed of by the city, with any money received being credited toward the unpaid rent the business owes the city.
In other business, the council:
• approved an ordinance entering into an agreement with the Union Pacific Railroad for replacement of the 17th Street Bridge. Approval of the ordinance will allow for the project to be bid out. It was noted that demolition of buildings in the area of the bridge was under way.
• approved a bid of $19,850 from Power Plant Compliance to do air testing on 12 substation diesel engines. It was the lowest of three bids received. Urton noted that the needed catalytic converter replacements are on order and will be installed in time for the testing. Total cost for the parts and testing is to be no more than $60,000 as approved by the council at its July 12 meeting.
• was told that once the 20-day published notice for John Lea to abate a nuisance at the former Lakeview expires, the city will be able to proceed with taking care of the issue, which involves water standing in the former pool.
• was told that the use of city street equipment for private projects does not interfere with city street work getting done. The city allows street department equipment to be rented with city crews operating the equipment. The city personnel use paid-time off to do the work, with the entity having the work done paying the salary of the worker as well as for rental of the equipment. It was noted that equipment and city crews were used in a recent project at Hy-Vee which, in addition to paying for the equipment and personnel, also purchased 791 tons of asphalt from the street department.
• was told that once the water/sewer line replacement work being done on Normal Street is completed the street department will be doing a two-inch overlay on the road. It was noted that the street department has patched roads in areas where water/sewer line work has been done during the summer.
• improvement work continues at the sewer plant with plans to have the new disinfection system up and running by Aug. 9. Once that is complete, work can begin on the headworks project.
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