BY CORIE LYNN
Ahead of their break for Thanksgiving, the Hays City Commissioners met for a work session on Thursday.
During this time, Hays Director of Public Works Jesse Rohr presented the 2021 Street Maintenance Program.
“Each year,” Rohr said, “staff evaluates the condition of city streets, and we develop a maintenance program.”
He then gave the commissioners an update on the 2020 program, which had a budget of $1,676,978.
Projects included from this past year included seal coating, chip seals and polypatch on the streets throughout Hays. Though these projects are still in progress, the Rohr anticipates there being roughly $115,000 that will rollover to the 2021 budget.
Without this anticipated rollover, the 2021 Street Maintenance Program budget will be just under $1 million.
The projects planned for this year include asphalt seal coating, curb and brick repair on the 200 blocks of East and West 16th St, concrete patching and panel repair, the removal and replacement of pavement markings on Vine St, mill and overlay reconstruction on Fort St, sidewalk projects and crack sealing.
Bids for these projects will be brought before the commission after the New Year.
As Rohr concluded his report, Mayor Shaun Musil voiced his support for the program, explaining that it is good for city residents as well as expected by them.
“As we grow, if we don’t continue to put money into this [maintenance], we’ll get behind again,” Musil said.
The second and final item of business for the evening came from Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty.
He spoke at the work session to update the commissioners on Executive Order 2068, issued by Gov. Laura Kelly the previous day.
As he explained, this order is a state-wide mask mandate, similar to the one issued the previous June. Hays, however, is exempt from this order as the city is functioning under its own mask mandate.
This exemption will continue as long as Ellis Co. does not issue a more stringent mask resolution to comply with state order.
“The way the order works,” said John Bird, City of Hays Attorney, “ if the County doesn’t do anything, then the order just comes into effect in Ellis County.”
Unlike the Hays mask mandate, the state-wide order does not have a fee or penalty.
With the end of the discussion on the new order, Musil acknowledged that there has been plenty of debate on whether or not they actually work.
“I would encourage people to contact Hays High School or TMP because they’ve got a lot of stats that prove they do work if worn properly,” he said.
Before adjourning, the commissioners gave their final comments of the evening, wishing all a happy Thanksgiving and giving a reminder to maintain health and safety practices during the holiday.
“Limit your gatherings, if possible,” Musil said. “We do have a tremendous amount of things to be grateful for even though this is a crazy time.”