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Out of the Office
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: February 14, 2019

Between a road and a heavy truck

I understand the Valley Center City Council's dilemma over the trucks hauling big sections of wind turbines through town.

On one hand, council members don't want to hurt an industry. On the other, they want to protect the city's assets, in this case, its roads and bridges.

In the end, the council decided last week to put the brakes on a hauling company's permit to use Valley Center on its route from Wellington to Moran, Kan., which is east of Iola.

It seems like an odd route. It is definitely not the shortest. However, it was the company's best option because some bridges on better routes were under construction and the Valley Center route accommodated width, length and weight requirements.

Those loads are big and heavy. The city said one weighed 260,000 pounds.

Remember when one of the first loads through town had to stop on Meridian, back up and turn onto Ford (77th)? That took a few hours.

Council members are rightly concerned about the damage those heavy trucks can do to Meridian. You may remember that the street from the railroad tracks to 69th was recently paved. While the project wasn't a cure-all for Meridian, it was a multi-year fix that bought the city some time. Meridian, as you recall, was getting pretty rough.

We don't want to go there again so quickly.

The city council's moratorium on the trucks will allow the city to gather information about their impact before deciding whether to allow the hauling.

Like council members, I was convinced when Josh Golka, from the city's engineering firm PEC, gave this assessment: "Our infrastructure is not set up for this type of load."

We'll see what happens.

†††

Speaking of infrastructure, the city will be busy this year with a bunch of upgrades.

First, you may have noticed crews and equipment near West Elementary lately. They're working on a city well rehab project.

Later this year, crews will begin digging up entire sections of underground waterlines in the city's older neighborhoods (south of Fifth and west of Meridian). They'll be replacing the pre-World War II era pipes with new ones.

Remember the waterline break we had last year, when Valley Center was placed under a boil water advisory? That was one of those old pipes.

The city also will be undertaking an upgrade to the wastewater treatment facility. You probably won't notice that unless you're in the industrial park while it's taking place.

The city invests millions of dollars into things we never really see, but we know when they're not working.

With all that was going on, the city decided last week to delay a project to repaint the water tower.

†††

While I'm on the topic of the city, I just wanted to concur with the council's decision to extend a property tax abatement for Safarik Tool Co., which is in the industrial park.

The company is in the fourth year of a six-year tax abatement agreement.

The break is obviously helping the company.

Safarik has grown from 14 employees in 2014 to 37 this year. Last year, the company completed the construction of a $550,000 addition to its facility and added more than $2 million in new equipment.

That's a large commitment to Valley Center. Safarik deserves the same consideration in return.

Chris Strunk is publisher of The Ark Valley News. Reach him at 755-0821 or news@arkvalleynews.com, or find him on Facebook.




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