The Pottawatomie County Commission approved a proclamation of a State of Local Disaster Emergency during their meeting Monday Morning.
This is in response to sinkholes that recently formed along Hayes Drive due to flooding a couple weeks ago.
The commission also unanimously voted to submit an application for a grant from a new Kansas Department of Transportation cost-share program. Public Works director Peter Clark describes the project for which the grant would be used.
This project would cost between $1 million and $1.5 million to complete. K-DOT would look for the party receiving the grant to provide at least 15 percent of the cost to the project.
The cost-share program has around $50 million and is meant to fund projects for which contributions may typically not be available.
Applications for the grant are due by October 11th.
Among construction projects a little further along are one that had a bid approved by the commission and one other that had three bids introduced. Clark details the bid that was passed.
The Blue Township Sewer Benefit District is providing funding for that project.
The second project for which bids were introduced is the replacement the Calhoun Road Bridge. Bid amounts for this project range from about $262,000 to about $347,000 with the engineer’s estimated cost coming out to about $220,000.
Clark also discussed the topic of rescinding a change that was made to the Unified Development Regulations in 2016 to the county commission Monday morning. Part of the Unified Development Regulations essentially states that certain developments must be connected to paved roads. The 2016 change created exceptions for this, as explained by Clark.
Clark says increased road traffic on unpaved roads due to additional entrances to developments creates road deterioration and the upkeep and repair falls back on the county and taxpayers.
Clark recommended sending the suggestions to the Pottawatomie County Planning Committee, which meets Thursdays at 7 p.m..
The County Commission meets in Westmoreland every Monday at 8:30 a.m..
