By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
Whitewater officials raised the old proverbial question of putting the cart before the horse recently as the priorities of an upcoming road reconstruction project went under the microscope.
City Manager Cameron Clapper and Assistant City Manager Chris McDonell came before the Common Council on June 21 and discussed a capital project along portions of Clay and Esterly streets that could take place in 2017.
Citing concerns about the prioritization of the effort, council members held off on making a decision and asked for additional information.
As proposed, the project calls for street and utility construction along Esterly Street, between Milwaukee and Clay streets. The work planned along Clay Street, between Dann and Rice streets, calls only for utility construction at this time.
Engineering firm Strand Associates, a longtime consultant to the city, has been retained to plan the specifics of the project. The company’s services for this particular endeavor are expected to cap at $121,000.
The Clay Street portion of the project raised eyebrows at last week’s meeting since reconstruction of the corridor was not included in the project details. Once the utility construction is complete, plans call for patching the roadway before actual reconstruction takes place in a following year.
In a memo, McDonell said the proposal entails holding off on reconstructing Clay Street since a potential grant from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation is waiting in the wings.
“Strand is in the process of preparing a task order for the DOT grant-funded reconstruction of Clay Street, which will include street, curb, gutter and stormwater improvements,” McDonell wrote in a memo. “This task order is a bit more involved, as it has to include all of the scope items required by a DOT project.”
Several members of the Common Council, including Lynn Binnie, had concerns about patching up Clay Street next year when it will likely be torn up again in an upcoming year.
“I just don’t understand it,” Binnie said. “Why tear up a street a second time?”
Binnie successfully led an effort to table the plan and ask for a fuller financial picture of the entire project to see what cost is added to patching and subsequently tearing up Clay Street.
