Officials address readers’ questions on issues
By Mayor Douglas Nicholls and City Administrator Greg Wilkinson 15 years. Tanks will be repainted in a tan color, similar to Friendship Tower water tank. Total cost of the project is estimated to be about $600,000. We have been approached by some in the community to put other artwork on the towers, and we are glad to entertain that possibility after this project is complete. The safety of your water supply is the priority.
16th Street and 4th Avenue Intersection Project
There have been many questions about this major City project, including the new building being too close to the road or the asphalt being too high. Substantial work is completed upfront in the design process with professional engineers, architects and other design professionals to ensure proper elevations, storm water runoff, and many other features meet current design and development standards. As we near completion of the intersection, all of the design aspects are coming together. The overall project is still under budget and is expected to meet the substantial completion contract date of May 12th, 2017. Some landscaping and permanent striping may take place after this date. We believe the major congestion at this intersection will be alleviated as we bring this long-awaited project to completion.
A secondary goal of this project was to restore and revitalize this commercial area. In the past, this intersection had significant commercial activity with retail shops and businesses. Some of those remaining retail shops have already been remodeled during the roadway project. New buildings have been built or are under construction (Sprouts) even prior to the completion of the intersection. We are sure there will be more to come.
Another frequent question is why the City didn’t take some of the money from this project and use it to pay for police officers or Kennedy Pool operations. Road projects for the City are funded by the City Road Sales Tax and the Highway User Revenue Funds (HURF), which are taxes you pay when you buy gas. It is against the law to spend these funds anywhere else except on transportation and road projects. In a following column, we will describe more detail about the eight different funding sources used by the City. Many people believe that the City has only one bank account to pay for all expenses. This is not the case. The City is actually comprised of several different areas with laws preventing the use of funds in different areas. If you want to learn more about City funding, please attend the City Council meeting on March 15th at 5:30 PM, watch on City Cable Channel 73, or stream it from the City website (www.YumaAZ.gov). We will also be providing more information to publish in the Sun via this column.
Joe Henry Optimist Center Park Gym
One letter questioned why we are not taking funds from other projects to fix up the gym at the Joe Henry Optimist Center Park. For those that are not familiar with this gym, it is a very old tin structure located at 1st Avenue and 18th Street. It is not insulated, has no air conditioning, and is in need of significant work. We are already in design to repair the roof and insulate the building. Insulation and air conditioning replacements are funded. Once these are completed, we will look at the other issues and we are already looking for other grant sources to replace the indoor court surface and outside Basketball courts. The City’s Parks and Recreation Department utilizes the Civic Center, the National Guard Armory, and school gyms through partnerships with the local school districts for youth activities and other indoor Parks and Recreation activities.
Avenue 3E Road Repair/Replacement
Avenue 3E south of 32nd Street as discussed in a letter to the editor, switches between being a city road and a county road. The road is in need of repair like many others in both the City and the County. Road repair in the City, the County and the State has been greatly impacted by the State of Arizona taking HURF (Gas Tax) funds that were destined for roads, and instead used them for other purposes in the State budget. This has been occurring for many years. We are aggressively pushing road maintenance, repair, and replacement, but there is not enough funding available to meet the needs. Roads will continue to deteriorate without this funding. If cities and counties finally get their full funding back, the backlog of repairs may still need additional funding throughout Arizona. We encourage you to contact your State Senators and Representatives and tell them that HURF funding for cities and counties needs to be restored.