City council approves Lincoln Street project
Hillsboro City Council held a special meeting Friday with Rose Mary Saunders of Goodness and Reiss, Wichita, to approve Lincoln Street project Ordinance 1093, which authorizes the city to enter into an agreement with the state for the project.
The project will include water main replacement on Lincoln Street from a line south of First Street north to one block south of F Street. The total cost of the project is $311,000 which includes construction costs of $237,850. The city has applied for a Community Development Block Grant to pay for 50 percent of the project.
City administrator Steve Garrett reported the Federal Emergency Management Association paperwork is finished and Hillsboro has received $5,000 reimbursement for repairs and labor to the city's electrical system. The city is waiting to hear from FEMA about money to repair water drainage east of Central National Bank and the electrical box at Willow Glenn.
Garrett also reported on the water feasibility study conducted by Professional Engineering Corporation. The study should be complete this week and will recommend if the cities of Marion and Hillsboro should each build new water plants or update existing ones, build one new water plant to serve both cities, or update one water plant to serve both communities.
The study cost $25,000. A state grant paid for half and Hillsboro and Marion each paid $6,250. The Environmental Protection Agency has set Jan. 1, 2005, as the deadline for water plant updates.
"The recommendation is looking promising," said Garrett. "It looks like a shared water treatment plant will be feasible if both cities choose to go that route."