City turns focus to street improvements

With the new aquatic center set to open and the USDA-funded water system improvements largely completed, the Clarendon City Council turned its attention to street improvements during its regular meeting last Thursday, May 13.

City engineer Che Shadle with OJD Engineering met with the board and discussed long-term plans as well as immediate priorities for the city’s thoroughfares.

City Administrator David Dockery said Shadle had evaluated the streets and presented the council with a map showing the types of surfaces and condition of each street. Dockery said resurfacing all of the streets would cost an estimated $13-15 million, and discussions about financing and phasing were held.

“Che recommended we act immediately to preserve our current paved streets,” Dockery said. “The proposal is to spend $300,000 to $325,000 to immediately resurface the paved streets we have.”

Shadle told the Enterprise that the streets that were paved in 2004 are in still in great shape, thanks in part to maintenance the city did to protect them several years ago. However, he said the city needs to act soon to continue to preserve those streets.

“They are starting to get cracks in them, and that will start water getting in them,” Shadle said. “They need to be chip sealed this summer. We’re going to bid that work soon along with some other jobs we have to hopefully get a good price.”

Shadle said streets of this type typically need to be sealed every three to four years to protect them. This work would cover about 90,000 square yards of surface.

As that work gets underway, OJD will be working on a more extensive plan to bring before city council that will address streets in a comprehensive way, focusing first on critical drainage issues.

In other city business last week, issued two proclamations – one recognizing May 9-15 as National Peace Officers Week and another recognizing May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day.

Votes from the May 1 election were canvassed, confirming the re-election of Mayor Sandy Skelton and Aldermen Jacob Fangman and Terri Floyd. Donley County Judge John Howard administered the oath of office to Skelton and Municipal Judge Tommy Waldrop, and Skelton then administered the oath to Fangman and Floyd. The council later appointed Fangman to continue to serve as mayor pro-tem.

Aldermen voted in favor of setting Tuesdays from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. as senior swim time at the aquatic center.
The city’s contract to sell groundwater to Greenbelt Municipal & Industrial Water Authority was discussed and renewed with an increase of five cents per 1,000 gallons.

In his administrator’s report, Dockery said USDA has approved using the surplus of about $250,000 left over in the water system infrastructure project to replace water lines under Gorst Street from First to Fourth Streets. New employees for the city were reported to the council, including Jason Bingham and Jacob Hunsaker in the water department and Miranda Zanardi as a part-time utility clerk.