The Township Council unanimously introduced a bond ordinance to improve some township streets and roads during its June 19 meeting.
By Amy Batista, Special Writer
FLORENCE — The Township Council unanimously introduced a bond ordinance to improve some township streets and roads during its June 19 meeting.
According to the ordinance, the township also will appropriate $50,000 from its general capital surplus account to fund the repairs, which include regrading and repaving roadway surfaces and subsurfaces, refurbishing and replacing curbs and sidewalks and improving drainage.
The money also would pay for the materials necessary to complete the improvements and the planning, design and bidding of the road improvement projects.
”We are trying to do a couple of things here,” Township Administrator Richard Brook said.
The public hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for July 17. The ordinance will include a 5 percent down payment and engineering costs, according to Mr. Brook.
”Take some of the roads that we know are really bad,” Mr. Brook said. “It’s hard to prioritize all the roads that Jim Biegen (township engineer) pieced together that are bad in and of themselves.”
Mayor Craig Wilkie asked the council members to look at the road programs presented to them.
”I looked at them earlier,” Mayor Wilkie said. “Richard, Tommy (Sahol) and I have not talked so I’m not sure how they came up with it, but I understand one of the things I shared with Richard was safety and traffic areas that were attacking either of those angles.”
According to Mayor Wilkie, the 2015 is the budget he is “worried” about.
”The 2014, I think we are going to be OK,” Mayor Wilkie added. “So making payments in the 2015, I want to keep the tax impact as minimal as possible so I am leaning right now at . . . scenario one.”
According to Mayor Wilkie, scenario one involves Kings Court and Knight Court, which both are being done at the same time and are next to each other and Main Coachman’s Drive, which was done years ago.
”The other thing I look at is logistics,” Mayor Wilkie said. “I don’t want to be going to one neighborhood.”
Mayor Wilkie said he did not share his “logic” with Mr. Brook and Mr. Sahol regarding this.
”I don’t want to do one street and then have another street right next to it have to be done a year or two from now,” Mayor Wilkie said. “We all know we have a lot of roads that have to get done, and we can put them in place so that the work can start 2015 or so. They’re going to be the next wave we go to in 2016,” Mayor Wilkie said.
”It doesn’t take long to get up into the $1.5 to $2 million range when you deal with roads that are being milled,” Mr. Brook said.
According to Mr. Brook, some of these roads have gotten to a “point where they are intolerable.”
”We know these roads have to be done,” he said.
According to Mr. Brook, the mayor requested to know which roads “we committed to” and those of which should be done right away.
”I thought scenario one was, frankly, the fairest route to go,” Mr. Brook said.
The other roads that are on Mr. Biegen’s list will be posted on the website on a “good chunk of them” would be done late 2015, according to Mr. Brook.
”We have to phase in the bond finances over the impact of the municipal budget in 2015,” Mr. Brook said. “In 2016, the overall debt service drops around $500,000 a year so if you prepare and plan properly, you will not only be able to do all the roads that are on Jim Biegen’s list, but you will be able to branch out and look at additional roads.”
A separate bond ordinance will be done for the Boulevard, according to Mr. Brook, who added the township had applied for a grant for it.
”The Boulevard will be done from Front Street to Third Street,” Mr. Brook said.
”We didn’t have the money to go to Fourth (Street),” Mayor Wilkie said.
According to Mayor Wilkie, the council can apply again for a grant and try to do Third Street to Fifth Streets, which is $250,000.