Platte County is moving ahead with its plans to use federal COVID-19 funds to rebuild county infrastructure.
At the Monday, May 2 meeting, county commissioners engaged TreanorHL architects at a cost of nearly $200,000 to draft a list of possible capital improvement projects to be funded through the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) federal stimulus program. Platte County is set to receive $20 million through the program.
District commissioner Joe Vanover said because it was such a large amount of federal funds, commissioners wanted a full account of existing facilities and what needed to be done to make those facilities safer for county employees and the public.
Changes to the court facilities to improve workflow are planned and several officeholders sat on the advisory committee.
Also at the meeting, director of public works Bob Heim presented commissioners with the last project to be built in coordination with the City of Kansas City. In 2016, the county and city agreed to work together on five capital improvement road projects, with the last project set to rebuild Waukomis Drive from Englewood Road to about Northwest 62nd Street.
The total project, which will include two traffic circles, is estimated to cost about $13 million and will be paid for through a combination of local and federal funds, including county road tax revenues. The county’s project share is about $8 million.
Auditor Kevin Robinson refused to sign the agreement, since the future of the Platte County Roads Tax is questionable. The tax is set to expire next year, and commissioners have yet to decide if the tax will be put up for renewal by voters, and if so, at what rate.
Robinson said with that uncertainty in mind he was uncomfortable with the agreement. The county is obligated to place $4 million in the project fund at the outset, then deposit $200,000 monthly until $8 million is accrued. He said it’s impossible to tell if the tax will raise that amount before it expires, if the tax is not renewed.
Heim also said the state bridge inspector was recently in Platte County and the Stanton Road bridge east of Highway 45 in far northern Platte County must be closed. The aged truss bridge is not heavily used, he said, and area residents are being notified of the closure, effective at the end of this week. Vanover said he had driven the route and believed the bridge didn’t need to be replaced as alternate routes were available in the area.
At recent meetings, commissioners approved annual bids as well as bid and contract awards for the annual road resurfacing projects. Superior Bowen Asphalt was awarded a $1.3 million contract for asphalt work and Vance Brothers’ bid for nearly $350,000 in microsurfacing was approved.
A contract for a little more than $12,000 was awarded to Groundworx last month for demolition of an outbuilding at the Green Hills of Platte Wildlife Preserve. The old garage building is located near the Dorothy Day Cabin but is not part of the historic structure.
A change order for a cost increase of $37,500 was also approved at the Michael Gunn Park project. The change included additional trail work and concrete paving at the parking lot area as well as tree removal at the park’s pond.