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PITTSBURG —
The next Pittsburg City Commission meeting will be a little bit different. For 35 years, John Van Gorden has attended city commission meetings in one job title or another. He’s been a city employee for even longer — 45 years.
But with a retirement celebration set for this Friday and his last day as interim city manager scheduled for next week, Van Gorden won’t be at the next commission meeting on May 22.
“It will be a different change in my life,” Van Gorden said.
Daron Hall will take over as city manager as of May 21.
But although it was Van Gorden’s last meeting, the city still had a lot of business to get through.
One of the pieces of business the city commissioners approved was the low bid for sales tax-funded street repairs in the southeast corner of the city.
The low bidder was APAC-Missouri of Springfield, Mo., in the amount of $464,791.66.
In return, the city will see several improvements to streets. The biggest street that will see repair will be Centennial Street, which will be milled over and overlain with asphalt between Knollview and Rouse streets.
Other streets seeing work under this project include: Ohio Street from Stilwell to Rouse streets; Tucker Terrace from Centennial to Ford streets; and Tucker Street from Centennial Street to Oak Ridge Drive. The project will also improve cul-de-sacs along those roads.
The improvements were originally proposed a month ago, but city officials said they wanted to wait until the sales tax had generated enough funds to pay for the projects before construction began. These streets are part of the improvements city officials promised when pushing the sales tax increase a few years ago. That sales tax was first rejected, but later approved by Pittsburg voters.
The city commission also approved a change order for improvements to the Water Treatment Plant in the total amount of about $181,000. The original cost of the improvements was $7.76 million. Other change orders reduced the cost to $7.35 million, and the new total cost will be about $7.54 million.
Officials said the change order was to pay for certain deferred maintenance issues, Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, exterior architecture costs and other issues.
In other action, the city commission:
• approved the construction of a 200-foot communications tower at 101 N. Locust to replace an existing tower.
• approved the purchase of seven laptops and console brackets to place into the Pittsburg Police Department’s Dodge Charger patrol cars in the amount of $36,028.65.
• declared May 8 to be Ruth Lemon Day in honor of the first female Pittsburg mayor.
• declared May as National Preservation Month in conjunction with the Stilwell Foundation’s 20th anniversary and the 15th anniversary of the restored Hotel Stilwell’s grand opening.
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 140.
The next Pittsburg City Commission meeting will be a little bit different. For 35 years, John Van Gorden has attended city commission meetings in one job title or another. He’s been a city employee for even longer — 45 years.
But with a retirement celebration set for this Friday and his last day as interim city manager scheduled for next week, Van Gorden won’t be at the next commission meeting on May 22.
“It will be a different change in my life,” Van Gorden said.
Daron Hall will take over as city manager as of May 21.
But although it was Van Gorden’s last meeting, the city still had a lot of business to get through.
One of the pieces of business the city commissioners approved was the low bid for sales tax-funded street repairs in the southeast corner of the city.
The low bidder was APAC-Missouri of Springfield, Mo., in the amount of $464,791.66.
In return, the city will see several improvements to streets. The biggest street that will see repair will be Centennial Street, which will be milled over and overlain with asphalt between Knollview and Rouse streets.
Other streets seeing work under this project include: Ohio Street from Stilwell to Rouse streets; Tucker Terrace from Centennial to Ford streets; and Tucker Street from Centennial Street to Oak Ridge Drive. The project will also improve cul-de-sacs along those roads.
The improvements were originally proposed a month ago, but city officials said they wanted to wait until the sales tax had generated enough funds to pay for the projects before construction began. These streets are part of the improvements city officials promised when pushing the sales tax increase a few years ago. That sales tax was first rejected, but later approved by Pittsburg voters.
The city commission also approved a change order for improvements to the Water Treatment Plant in the total amount of about $181,000. The original cost of the improvements was $7.76 million. Other change orders reduced the cost to $7.35 million, and the new total cost will be about $7.54 million.
Officials said the change order was to pay for certain deferred maintenance issues, Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, exterior architecture costs and other issues.
In other action, the city commission:
• approved the construction of a 200-foot communications tower at 101 N. Locust to replace an existing tower.
• approved the purchase of seven laptops and console brackets to place into the Pittsburg Police Department’s Dodge Charger patrol cars in the amount of $36,028.65.
• declared May 8 to be Ruth Lemon Day in honor of the first female Pittsburg mayor.
• declared May as National Preservation Month in conjunction with the Stilwell Foundation’s 20th anniversary and the 15th anniversary of the restored Hotel Stilwell’s grand opening.
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 140.
