The Columbus City Council will consider the first project in an expected expansion to Phase 1 of the city’s street improvement program during its regular meeting Tuesday.
The meeting will begin at 5 p.m. in the Columbus Municipal Complex.
The city council issued $5 million in general obligation bonds in June 2014 for roads, bridges, drainage and sidewalks. The city raised its ad valorem tax rate by 1.1 mills to repay the bonds over 15 years. Project management firm J5 Broaddus is overseeing the bond projects.
After paying $500,000 in fees associated with issuing the bonds, J5 senior project manager Robyn Eastman said the bonds would fund roughly $4.5 million for two phases of infrastructure projects — a roughly $3.4 million paving phase and $1.1 for sidewalks — with each councilman receiving $750,000 for his ward.
So far, Eastman said $2.8 million in streets had been paved in Phase 1, with work on all but seven of the planned 71 street projects already complete. He said that left over money in at least three wards — Wards 3, 4 and 5 — for additional projects.
On Tuesday, the council will discuss the first of those added projects, repaving Fifth Street North from Second to Fifth Avenue North, a project in Ward 5. Eastman said it would also discuss advertising for bids for the sidewalk construction phase.
“I don’t know exactly how much money is left in each ward (of the $750,000),” Eastman said. “Some are completely spent or will be once the Phase 2 bid is open.”
Ward 5 Councilman Kabir Karriem said Mayor Robert Smith had actually requested he use some of his ward’s extra paving funds for the Fifth Street project. While he said he hadn’t looked at that project previously, he would consider it. However, there were several other projects he already had in mind.
“Basically, I’ve got to see exactly how much money I have left and prioritize how it needs to be used,” Karriem said.
He said Ward 5 covered much of the oldest part of Columbus, and that led to “bad roads and bad infrastructure” prevalent in that area. In fact, he said original estimates in his ward reached as high as $900,000. This project won’t cover all of that, he said, but it would make a dent.
“I know the residents of Ward 5 are very appreciative of the street paving,” Karriem said. “We’re going to pave as many streets as possible with this money.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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