By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
Roads and more importantly how to pay for maintenance and upkeep on the county’s infrastructure continue to be on the minds of the Ellis County Commission.
At Monday’s County Commission meeting, interim Public Works Director Curt Hoffman presented the commission with a list of projects that have been highlighted for future construction.
Among the projects are replacing the bridge deck on the bridge that runs over the Saline River on Yocemento Avenue and the bridge on the west end of Ellis on Old U.S. 40.
The county received four bids, with the base bids ranging from $142,805 to $226,593. Kaw Valley Engineering estimated the repair would cost $131,187.
Because of the salt levels in the Saline River, Hoffman said he is concerned about the piers in the water, which will need to be encased to protect them from the water.
Hoffman said something needs to be done with the bridge in Ellis because steel is starting to show, and they have received complaints from residents and from the city of Ellis.
A proposed asphalt overlay, from APAC, would cost $10,000.
Hoffman said once the asphalt overlay is done, they are committed to upgrading the project because the asphalt will speed up the deterioration of the bridge deck. Sealing the overlay will help slow the breakdown and could extend the life of the bridge between seven and eight years.
“The asphalt will allow water to penetrate a little better than concrete,” Hoffman said “You’re going to get moisture in between there, which will accelerate deterioration of the bridge.”
Hoffman said this is going to be a continuous problem. Many of the bridges in the county were built in about the same time period.
“A lot of them have already went past their life expectancy,” Commission Chairman Dean Haselhorst said.
County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes said the county only has the one funding method to pay for the repairs and fixing the bridge on the Yocemento and the bridge in Ellis would drain that fund to about $156,000, leaving the county with not enough money to pay for the other projects.
According to Hoffman, the county has looked at having county staff removing the bridge deck and replacing the guardrail on the Yocemento bridge as ways to save money in the bid process.
The commission asked Hoffman to get updated numbers with potential savings and present it to the commission at their next meeting on May 2.
In other business, Haselhorst said during the public building commission that work on the courthouse, law enforcement center and jail is “99.9999 percent complete.” Mike Wilson, project superintendent with MW Builders said they were waiting on one piece for the security system that would hook the cameras in the courthouse with the jail system. They expect that process to be done early this week.
Wilson said they did have a few leaks in the roof with the rain over the weekend and they had the contractors come and help seal everything up.
The commission also approved accepting KDOT Federal-Aid Funds for $222,204.94 for 2016. The agreement allows the county to exchange the funds for $.90 for every $1.00. The county will get just less than $200,000.
Commissioners also allowed the sheriff’s department to go ahead with the hiring of another jailer.
The commission also notified department heads they intend to sell the Tholen building. Staff has been using the building for storage. The commission informed them they have 90 days to remove items in their for storage.