City Council Retreat Update

The Street Funding Task Force recently presented two recommendations to fund street reconstruction. Along with the funding recommendations, they also recommended removing subcuts and public retaining walls immediately from assessments. This topic was also discussed at the March 13, City Council Retreat.

At the retreat, in addition to facilitating a discussion on how street reconstruction is funded, staff presented the schedule and assessment concerns for the 2021 projects. The projects are Melody Lk and Creek Knolls. Staff voiced concerns that without removing subcuts and public retaining walls now, the street reconstruction program would have to be delayed until a decision is made. If Council supports removing subcuts and public retaining walls now, the 2021 street reconstruction projects could most likely continue if we receive reasonable bids.

Council supported removing subcuts and public retaining walls from assessments now for the 2021 street reconstruction projects. On April 6, staff will bring a revised assessment policy to reflect those changes. On April 20, if we receive reasonable bids, staff intends to ask Council to decide on preliminary assessments and on awarding a contract to the low bidder. Recall from earlier discussions that the estimated assessment without subcuts was $17,200 per REU. It would be our intention to ask Council to approve that preliminary assessment amount of $17,200 at the April 20 City Council Meeting. Recall the Public Hearing was closed but City Council had up to six months to decide on assessments.

While Council supported a small change to the assessment policy for 2021 projects, a permanent decision on street funding is required this summer. Council directed staff to bring back more information to continue the discussion. Staff are reviewing schedules to determine when that discussion can continue. Thanks, Chad Millner, City Engineer