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GIRARD —
GIRARD — Girard city administrator Gary Emry didn’t have to travel very far to seek some help from the Crawford County Commission. The trip may have been short, but it was also fruitful.
Emry was seeking help from the county to help pave just off 130th Road to the west of Girard near city property. The city does not own a chipper to put down a layer of chip-and-seal and is requesting use of the county’s chipper and accompanying labor to help pave the 1/4-1/2 mile of road.
Emry was given an estimate of about $3,000 from a county employee for the project, and he said Girard had budgeted about $4,000 for it. He told the commissioners that only one layer of chip-and-seal is needed, because the road has “a good base.”
County commissioner Carl Wood said the situation reminded him of another issue the county has found itself in. Namely, the county seeking to purchase asphalt from the City of Pittsburg.
State rules bar municipalities from purchasing from other municipalities when there are companies providing the same services. The county is currently buying asphalt from Teeter’s Paving in Cardin, Okla., but is seeking Pittsburg’s asphalt because it is closer.
“It’s the same situation with the City of Pittsburg on the asphalt. Do we have to draw up a letter? I want to do it, I’m tickled to death. But we need to do so so Girard can’t come back on us, and we can’t go back on them,” Wood said in Friday’s meeting.
County counselor Jim Emerson explained that would mean an indemnity agreement between Girard and the county. The county eventually agreed to do the project, as it amounts to a loan of equipment and labor rather than selling an item.
As for the agreement with Pittsburg, commissioner Bob Kmiec said after the meeting that by the time a deal is reached, much of the need for asphalt will already have been met.
The city and the county will have to complete their own letters of indemnity, before the Pittsburg City Commissioners can have a vote at their next meeting, scheduled for July 24. That will be after the majority of patching work is completed, Kmiec said.
“It’d save us some mileage [if we can complete the deal],” Kmiec said. “I don’t know what they wanted per ton to do it, but the convenience would have been super. The savings in time and fuel would have made a difference. There are still going to be small things to do, like enlarging driveways. There’ll always be patching that shows up, though.”
GIRARD — Girard city administrator Gary Emry didn’t have to travel very far to seek some help from the Crawford County Commission. The trip may have been short, but it was also fruitful.
Emry was seeking help from the county to help pave just off 130th Road to the west of Girard near city property. The city does not own a chipper to put down a layer of chip-and-seal and is requesting use of the county’s chipper and accompanying labor to help pave the 1/4-1/2 mile of road.
Emry was given an estimate of about $3,000 from a county employee for the project, and he said Girard had budgeted about $4,000 for it. He told the commissioners that only one layer of chip-and-seal is needed, because the road has “a good base.”
County commissioner Carl Wood said the situation reminded him of another issue the county has found itself in. Namely, the county seeking to purchase asphalt from the City of Pittsburg.
State rules bar municipalities from purchasing from other municipalities when there are companies providing the same services. The county is currently buying asphalt from Teeter’s Paving in Cardin, Okla., but is seeking Pittsburg’s asphalt because it is closer.
“It’s the same situation with the City of Pittsburg on the asphalt. Do we have to draw up a letter? I want to do it, I’m tickled to death. But we need to do so so Girard can’t come back on us, and we can’t go back on them,” Wood said in Friday’s meeting.
County counselor Jim Emerson explained that would mean an indemnity agreement between Girard and the county. The county eventually agreed to do the project, as it amounts to a loan of equipment and labor rather than selling an item.
As for the agreement with Pittsburg, commissioner Bob Kmiec said after the meeting that by the time a deal is reached, much of the need for asphalt will already have been met.
The city and the county will have to complete their own letters of indemnity, before the Pittsburg City Commissioners can have a vote at their next meeting, scheduled for July 24. That will be after the majority of patching work is completed, Kmiec said.
“It’d save us some mileage [if we can complete the deal],” Kmiec said. “I don’t know what they wanted per ton to do it, but the convenience would have been super. The savings in time and fuel would have made a difference. There are still going to be small things to do, like enlarging driveways. There’ll always be patching that shows up, though.”
The county also approved an emergency shelter grant application from the Safehouse Crisis Center in the amount of $10,000. Last year’s grant was for $4,000 for utility and rental deposits, but executive director Rebecca Brubaker said that money “went really fast.”
Also, this year’s grant is on an 18-month cycle rather than a one-year cycle.
“We are staying busy,” Brubaker said. “The shelter is full all the time. There were 160 women and children with us in Crawford County last year. They can stay with us for 90 days before moving to transitional or permanent housing.”
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 140.
