Warden delaying beautification project
A state grant will only cover repairing and replacing sidewalk on Main Street in Warden.
WARDEN - A state grant won't cover all of the improvements Warden officials and residents want on Main Street.
Business owners attended a January council meeting to discuss what they wanted from a $100,000 grant from the Transportation Improvement Board. They suggested items such as irrigation for the planters, landscaping and lighting.
City Clerk and Treasurer Kris Shuler said a representative from the state agency recently contacted the city to ask about the project's status.
"I explained to him the hopes of the community and what they would like to see in the downtown area," she said. "He just raised his hands and said, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa,' He wanted to remind me that the money that the city has received was applied for a specific purpose from a specific funding and it's a preservation program."
The grant was part of the Small City Preservation Program, according to the board's website. The money is aimed specifically at overlaying existing pavement, chip sealing or sidewalk maintenance.
"There was an initial review of the three blocks of sidewalk and (they) determined which ones were deteriorating and needed to be replaced or repaired," Shuler said. "Some of them would just be repaired."
The grant includes replacing the corners on the intersection with ramps, she said.
"He said, 'None of that money can go to anything you just talked about, and you're barely going to have enough money to do that,'" Shuler said. "He wanted to remind us that this project is on the table and wanted to know when we're going to get this process going. We need to have the engineer in to get the design done, so we can get it on the table to get bids, and get the project done before fall."
Mayor Tony Massa said the city needs to move forward with what the grant can do, and hope the council and administration can find money for the other items.
Massa is hoping to put together an application for the county's Strategic Infrastructure Program. The program is funded by a state sales tax refund and is aimed at helping with economic development.
Councilmember Mike Leavitt asked why city employees couldn't do the work, rather than requesting other companies to bid on it.
Massa said city staff are limited the amount of work they can do before the state requires a bidding process.