By Kellen Olshefski
SLN Staff
With a list of five major capital improvements needed in upcoming years, City of Elkhorn Councilmembers began the process of determining which ones were of the highest priority and how they would tackle them over the next few years in a Committee of the Whole meeting May 8.
Among the five, councilmembers agreed two were stand outs that the city could no longer wait on: the Northeast Water Treatment Plant and City Hall.
While crews are set to break ground on the new plant this summer, councilmembers view seeing the project through to the end as a high priority.
While any substantial decision on City Hall and whether Elkhorn’s government will look for a new home or rehabilitate its current one is still a ways out, councilmembers agreed they should not sit idle over the next few years and wait for the opportunity, but instead be proactive, starting the process now.
“I really would like to see us work diligently to either relocate, refurbish or do something, we have to do something,” Alderman Hoss Rehberg said.
City Administrator Sam Tapson said Monday night it might be a good option for the council to create an ad hoc committee, with not only council input but also input from the community and stakeholders, much like what was done with Elkhorn’s Sunset Pool.
“When you start to talk about sites, costs and all those things outside this environment, I think that’s a better approach,” he said.
New Councilmember Cathy Bensaid said that after touring City Hall recently, she too agrees it is definitely a priority and as it will take some time to plan the project, she agrees completing roads projects should come first.
Councilmember Michael Kluck said he agrees with focusing on City Hall, though he doesn’t necessarily agree with waiting a year or more to begin the process.
“We can start a committee soon and get that ball rolling right now,” he said.
As for the other three projects, councilmembers agreed they would like to see improvements on Jackson Street and the start of the East Market Street expansion project in 2017, with improvements for East Centralia Street slated for 2018, which is quickly further deteriorating with traffic using it as a detour from Highway H at this time.
As for funding the projects, City Finance Director James Heilman said Monday night there might be some good opportunities for some long-term borrowing coming up shortly. Through a 20-year borrowing plan, Heilman said the city could potentially borrow enough money to fund the capital projects while having little to no effect on taxpayers.
The council took no formal action and did not officially approve any of the projects or funding at Monday’s meeting, only set what projects would be priorities for the city to look at over the upcoming years.
