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February 13, 2012

Neosho council takes step aimed at state road money

By Josh Letner news@joplinglobe.com

NEOSHO, Mo. — In a special meeting Monday morning, the Neosho City Council voted 5-0 to waive maintenance fees it normally would charge Neosho’s transportation development district, in an effort to expedite proposed projects at the intersection of U.S. Highway 60 and Kodiak Road.

The vote was an attempt to ensure that the projects are completed this year, but time is not on the council’s side.

During last week’s council meeting, Mayor Richard Davidson presented a letter from Kevin Keith, director of the Missouri Department of Transportation. Keith wrote that in order for the Kodiak Road project to be completed this year, the city and Neosho’s TDD board must have “all the agreements signed and in our hands” by the time the state highway commissioners meet on March 1. Davidson said he was surprised to learn of the deadline.

“We’ve been saying for months that we’d like to see that traffic light go in,” he said. “With as much publicity as that traffic light has gotten, imagine my surprise when they said, ‘Oh, by the way, we have to bid that thing March 1.’ We’re six months into their cost share approval, and that’s the first time we hear about it.”

Safety at the intersection has been the subject of discussion during past council meetings. Councilman David Ruth expressed concerns about safety at the intersection, but because it falls within the boundaries of the TDD, improvements are tied to other road projects planned within the district.

“Traffic accidents happen there all the time,” he said Monday. “It’s a dangerous intersection, and from the city’s perspective, we want to see a stoplight put in there as soon as possible. We’re doing everything we can to make that happen.”

The progress of the proposed project hinges on the city and the TDD coming to terms on an agreement under which the TDD would pay the city a portion of the revenue from the half-cent sales tax collected from retailers within its boundaries — including Wal-Mart and Lowe’s — to maintain the streets and intersections it constructs. But to estimate the costs, Davidson said, the city requires plans detailing how the roads are to be surfaced and the total length of those roads. He said those details have not been shared with the city.

Dan Salisbury, assistant district engineer for MoDOT, said city leaders may not have to wait much longer for those details. Salisbury said his department is working out the details with the TDD. He said the numbers could be before the council by the end of the week. MoDOT has agreed to pay $2.4 million of the project’s cost. Salisbury said those funds are secure for the time being, but that the department needs to see “reasonable progress” in order for the TDD to retain the cost share from MoDOT.

“We don’t want to have one community sit there and say they’re going to do something and never do it when other communities can use the money,” he said. “At some point, if they can’t get it worked out, the funding could go away. We’re not in danger of that, but we need to see those agreements come forward.”

Salisbury said MoDOT recommends that all TDDs across the state have a cooperative agreement with their respective municipalities in place within six months. The Neosho TDD has been in existence for nearly a year without a cooperative agreement.

“We’ve been going for quite a while here,” he said. “We’re not rigid. We are going to work with the community to see it happen, but we need to see it come together.”

Davidson said the resolution adopted Monday was a last ditch effort by the council to get the project moving.

“Knowing that we won’t have the entire agreement done by the deadline that they had listed, this was the one solution that we thought would be acceptable to all parties, and this is our way of showing that we are on board for the project and want it to happen,” he said.

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