The Mayor’s Corner 05/15/2019

Mayor Diana Thomas

Here is the proverbial question. I have good news and bad news, which do you want first? Well, here’s the bad news but not unsolvable. Bids were opened on our long-planned W. 9th Street project and the bids were way over the amount of money available for the project. Contractors are bidding larger projects and there are many now. Thus, we only had two qualified bidders and the lowest bid was over $800,000 more than expected. We are currently working with the Local Highway Technical Assistance folks and our design engineers to see how the project can be changed and funded. The City does not have the additional $600,00 plus additional funds to fund it as it is now.
We are also looking on how best to repair the street from Pioneer to Flintlock before the full project begins so folks in that area don’t have to contend with the chewed-up road for another year. This funding will have to come from our local budget and not included in the final project. Stayed tuned to solutions.
The good news is the E. Galloway project is ready to go out for bid and will be opened on May 30th. There will be an open house at the Vendome from 5-7 pm on Thursday, May 30 to explain the project to the public. Residents with questions will be able to speak to engineers and City personnel about the process and timeline for the project which goes from State Street to W. 6th Street and includes resurfacing the street and places curb, gutter and sidewalk along the street. The hope is that bids will come in that will allow us to place sidewalk on both the north and south side of E. Galloway and also along the west side of E. 6th from Park Street to Pence.
Alley clean up on the west side of town should finish up this week and the crew will be moving to the east side of town beginning on Commercial and moving north. The Street Department has been removing dead and diseased trees in City rights-of-way and still have more to remove. Unfortunately, many of the trees in our community are old and rotten inside and pose a threat to safety of residents.
WWTP crew will be jetting lines on the west side along Pioneer and Galloway. The jetting begins on the spot the most uphill and follows the flow downhill. They will continue to work on jetting over the next several weeks.
The Electric Department has completed the work along the alley between E. Park and E. Galloway between E. 4th and E. 5th. Monday was the last scheduled outage. Thank you for your patience during the work and outages. The crew will continue upgrading the power service in the area going north to Pence over the next several years. Residents will be notified when they are affected before the work is done. Occasionally, someone gets missed but the team tries very hard to notify residents. If you have questions at that time, please contact the City office.
Don’t forget the meetings around the County next week on the updated hazard plan. Meetings will be held in Weiser at the Vendome on Wednesday, May 22 at 5:30 pm and at the Fairgrounds in Cambridge on Thursday, May 23 at 5:30 pm.
This is graduation weekend. Congratulations to the Class of 2019. The City of Weiser wishes you success in your next step in life. Have a safe weekend and congratulations, parents, this achievement is yours as well.