Company may build elsewhere in Hillsboro if city doesn’t begin work
Staff writer
Midway Motors representatives have contacted Hillsboro Mayor Delores Dalke, urging the city to complete grading work at the company’s future Hillsboro site, Dalke said Tuesday during City Council meeting.
If the city doesn’t make progress on the site soon, the company may build at a different location in Hillsboro, she said. There is no indication the car dealership would leave town.
“They’re waiting on us,” Dalke said.
The city plans to have Street Superintendent Dale Dalke do the work on the project with rented equipment. Engineer Bob Previtera of Reiss & Goodness Engineers said work can begin almost immediately, although formal drawings will take more time.
Council member Kevin Suderman expressed concern about taking Dale Dalke away from other city work. He asked if it might be better to hire a contractor.
Hiring a contractor would take at least two weeks for bidding and would be dependent on a contractor’s availability, City Administrator Larry Paine said.
Suderman said he was OK with Dale Dalke doing the work, as long as people understood his time was committed to that.
“I don’t want to run him off by working him too hard,” Suderman said.
Ash Street project could conflict with harvest
Construction on Ash Street is expected to begin May 4 and will take about eight weeks. That could interfere with wheat harvest.
Suderman said he doesn’t want grain trucks and semitrailer on Main Street. The city should watch out for businesses and street surfaces, he said.
A detour between Ash and Third streets will be constructed for upcoming work on Ash Street, Previtera said. The temporary road will be two-way and run between Third Street and the former AMPI parking lot.
In other business:
- Dale Dalke passed a Kansas Department of Transportation inspector course, which will allow him to be the city’s inspector for KDOT projects. “It was hard to sit in a building for a week straight,” Dalke said.
- Lot prices for six city-owned lots on North Lincoln Street were set at $4,000 each. Using a price-per-foot average from Willow Glen Subdivision resulted in a price of about $3,900, but the city had invested money to demolish derelict structures when it acquired the lots.
- A $20 per month stipend was approved for employees to transfer city cell phones to personal plans. The move will save the city money and solve a tax liability issue, Paine said.
The next regularly scheduled council meeting will be at 4 p.m. Feb. 16.