What’s the best way to spend more than half a million dollars to improve Kewanee’s streets?
That question was the subject of a lengthy debate at Monday’s City Council meeting.
The council eventually approved the city administration’s recommendation to use the money — the annual allocation of state Motor Fuel Tax funds to the city — to resurface some streets in the southeast quadrant of the city.
But the vote wasn’t unanimous. Councilman Steve Faber voted “no,” saying the cost was too high for the work that will be done, and the city should be focusing more on filling potholes.
After Public Works Director Kevin Newton said the plans call for laying down a thin layer of asphalt on the streets rather than “full-depth” asphalt, Faber said, “That seems like an awful lot of money for sand seal.”
Faber, who worked for many years for the Henry County Highway Department, said, “I’ve dealt with this for many, many years, and this is ridiculous.”
“I don’t disagree that the costs are high,” said City Manager Gary Bradley.
Bradley said the city will eventually have to replace 1,600 lead service lines to Kewanee homes. It wouldn’t make sense, he said, to do complete resurfacing of streets, and have to dig them up a few months later to install the service lines.
Councilman Chris Colomer asked if there is a long-term plan for addressing street conditions, and Bradley said there is not. He said city staff could come up with such a plan, if the council orders it.
The council a few years ago decided to divide the city into four quadrants and concentrate on one quadrant each year for street repairs. This decision was a response to a situation where an asphalt contractor had to move his equipment from one end of the city to the other to reach all of the streets that were to be fixed.
Faber said he would prefer to see the city concentrate on pothole repairs than spend money on the thin asphalt resurfacing. Newton said the plan is to send city crews out on an extensive pothole-repair program in the next few weeks.
The fact that two city workers will transfer from the sanitation department to the street department due to the city’s contracting of LRS Recyclables to pick up garbage and recycling will benefit the pothole-repair effort.
During the discussion of the street program, Councilman Mike Komnick commented that a plan for street work had been presented to the council, but the council couldn’t agree on whether to approve it.
“From a resident’s standpoint,” Komnick said, “I would be furious if I was watching this meeting.”
