Valparaiso City Council members opted to pause last week on a public hearing and final vote for an ordinance for what Valparaiso City Manager Bill Oeding deems “the largest paving program the city of Valparaiso has ever taken.”
“We’re now taking a closer look at the roads from the list provided based on feedback not just from the council, but also from residents at large,” Valparaiso Streets Department Director of Engineering Max Rehlander said, addressing the council at the March 25 council meeting.
“We want to take another look at the numbers and just make sure we’re all comfortable moving forward with what’s being presented.”
Mayor Jon Costas promised the council and the public that “we are still reworking the list of streets,” and further advised that “we will have a list of this new paving schedule well in advance of the next meeting to allow input before we vote.”
“Remember, this appropriation is for an additional $4.5 million to be used with the already $4 million that was already budgeted for this year by this body,” Costas said.
The next Valparaiso City Council meeting is at 6 p.m. on April 8.
If approved and passed, the ordinance will appropriate more than $8 million, some taken from budgeted funds, and additional money taken from local road and street budget allotments in addition to money from the cigarette tax, motor vehicle restricted fund and riverboat funds.
The ordinance passed a first reading unanimously at the Feb. 26 council meeting following a presentation by Oeding explaining usual totals afforded to the streets department annually for road projects have historically been around $4 million in recent years.
This is the second time the ordinance has been pushed back and the public hearing rescheduled.
The city of Valparaiso streets department is working with city services and public works departments to determine which residential streets should be included on a proposed list for $8 million in repaving projects. (Philip Potempa/for Post-Tribune)
The second reading, public hearing and final vote for the multi-million ordinance were supposed to take place at the March 11 council meeting. However, Valparaiso Clerk-Treasurer Holly Taylor apologized for an oversight, clarifying that despite the item making it on the March 11 agenda, the public hearing had not officially been published in the local newspapers as a legal notice, failing the legal requirement that a notice must be published at least 10 days in advance of the vote and scheduled public hearing.
Oeding said the additional appropriation allows the street department to not only repair and maintain the major streets, roads and arteries, “but to also get into neighborhood streets where needed.”
“We want to make the emphasis use for this major money dedicated for our residential streets,” Oeding said.
“Once a residential street has been repaved, it has a lifespan for at least 15 years. Money will still also be dedicated to our main streets.”
Council President Robert Cotton, D-2nd, previously questioned the lower amount of project funds dedicated to paving work on the downtown alley areas.
“I see a figure of $75,000, and that really won’t go too far,” Cotton reasoned.
Oeding said the cost for alley paving is around $11,000 for the length of a block.
“We usually can get to about nine or 10 blocks of alley work,” Oeding said.
“But every time we touch an alley, we have to be careful. History tells us when we pave an alley, water runs differently, and suddenly you risk flooding garages and backyards.”
Philip Potempa is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
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