Platte County Commissioners approved two cooperative agreements with local cities to improve their infrastructures earlier this month.
For Platte City, an agreement was approved between Platte County and Platte City that has each party funding half of the $50,000 local match required as part of a $135,000 federal planning grant that was recently awarded to both the city and county.
The grant will be used to fund the Historic Downtown Platte City and Courthouse Square Planning Sustainable Places Study. County Administrator Wes Minder and Interim City Manager DJ Gehrt worked together on the application which was recently submitted to the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC).
“This planning grant has the potential to lead to transformative changes in downtown Platte City and is part of the county’s efforts to affect positive change here in Platte City,” Minder said.
The study will look at the courthouse area and Main Street to assess sidewalks, street safety and more.
Presiding Commissioner Scott Fricker said the agreement has the possibility of being transformative for downtown Platte City, and hopes the county will help the city to remain vibrant.
In Parkville, another similar cooperative agreement with the City of Parkville was approved. This commits the county to fund $500,000, or approximately one-third of the total cost, of a study required to complete Highway 9 improvements near downtown Parkville. The city received a state and federal block grant of $4,987,950 from MARC to fund the project, but this study must be complete before the project can move forward.
“I’m very happy to be supporting this project for 9 Highway,” said First District Commissioner Dagmar Wood. “This project well worth it and is a long time coming.”
The funds come from the county’s transportation sales tax, and while Fricker said these funds generally don’t go toward planning projects, in this case he was happy the county could help to move the road project forward.
The city hopes to get the design completed within the next year, with construction to follow in 2026-2028. All work must be completed within five years.
Also at the Tuesday, Sept. 3 meeting, commissioners approved a 10-year lease establishing a public defender office in Gladstone, allowing public defenders to meet with clients in a more central location and giving defenders more office space than they currently have in Platte City.
A contract was also awarded to T&B Trucking and Excavating for replacement of the County Line Road north and south bridges for nearly $1.7 million.