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EAGLE LAKE – The city council held a town hall on Thursday, April 20 to discuss road improvements and how a proposed bond could help with funding the improvement efforts.
The meeting was the first of a series of town hall workshops that will address what steps the city can take to move closer to updating roads throughout the community.
City Manager Charles “Tink” Jackson led the discussion. Jackson said a street assessment was done by Strand Associates, Inc. January 2022 and review later in the year to establish street quality for streets throughout the city.
Jackson said the streets were ranked on a scale of one being the poorest to ten being new. Residents in attendance were given a copy of all the roadways and their quality rankings.
“We have a lot of our streets that are either a one, two, three or four, which is obviously on the lower end of the rating scale, Jackson said. “Basically, their saying that all of those streets are 50% deteriorated or more. So 50% of the usable quality of that street is gone.”
Jackson said the streets ranked with a five or six are average and will need minor repairs to be fixed. On the roadway quality document given to residents, there are five streets listed at a seven rating and one with a rating of 10. A list of gravel roads were also listed. Jackson said gravel roads have never had asphalt or a chip seal surface.
The city is proposing asphalt and/or chip seal as the options for street improvement. The city said the current costs to use asphalt is approximately $120 per foot which will amount to $6.4 million, while chip seal will cost approximately $90 per foot or $4.8 million.
Jackson said chip seal is not as weightbearing as asphalt, so if a semi-truck goes down streets marked for no trucks, the chip seal can quickly become ruined. Jackson said short streets or others that are accessed by regular vehicle are great for chip seal.
Jackson explained what the infastructure efforts will mean, which will consist of everything under the road from water to sewer and storm drainage. He said the city must consider this when building new roads.
Jackson used the example of if the street project will cost $50,000, then the infastructure will be about the same.
Jackson also said the city’s existing tax rate will fund approximately $2.5 million for street and infrastructure improvements.
Jackson assured residents that if the proposed bond is approved, that while there could be potential debt, it would not increase their city taxes. He said as of now, Jackson said the city does not have any debt since they have previously paid any outstanding.
Jackson also answered questions at the end of the town hall. A resident asked when the city will pay the proposed road project off. Jackson answered that it will take 20 years. He said a lot of cities do 30 years.
Jackson said if the city would like to have this project done that it would need to be done before the budget ends. He said council would need to put in a notice of intent of a bond at the June meeting.
Some other areas for discussion included the AMI Water Meter Project, RISE Fiber and the GFL garbage service date change.
Jackson said the water meter project is two-thirds complete and anticipated to be completed by May 31. The funds for this project were distributed to the city by ARPA over the last two years.
Jackson said Rise Broadband is still installing fiber- optic lines throughout the community. The city said this service will bring faster internet to the community.
Jackson said since the city’s contract with GFL is set to expire Sept. 30. He said an extension allowed the city to secure no rate increase for the first year of extension and included an agreement of a single collection day to reduce costs. This resulted in the single collection day being Wednesdays and no longer Tuesdays and Fridays effective April 5.
The next town halls are scheduled to take place at city hall (council chambers) on Wednesday, April 26 at noon and Tuesday, May 2 at 6 p.m.
