Updates on the progress of Main Street were given at the Gardner City Council Meeting, Monday September 19. Jim Pruetting, city administrator, said he thought the west side would be finished before Winter, but the construction had been delayed until February 1.

“The basic schedule does not hold true,”he said.

Pruetting said the design contractor had determined errors had been made with the elevation and this had caused a 60 day delay with an additional 30 day delay.

“October 15 they were prepared to switch to the North lanes, and need 90 days with good weather,” he said. “It’s very likely it won’t be done before winter.”

Pruetting said asphalt companies shut down in the winter and this shits down a project period anywhere from two, three to four months.

“You need 30 days for each side,”he said.

Pruetting said the end goal date is July to August of 2023.

“Contractor wasn’t forthcoming with issues,” he said. “The concrete company has had issues with staffing. All problems compound over time.”

Pruetting reminded council that the U.S. 56 Highway/Main Street reconstruction project was a Kansas Department of Kansas project funded through the State.

“We can push as hard as we can but it is not our project,”he said. “We are at the mercy of supply issues, man power and winter months.”

Pruetting said there had been questions about recourse.

“I’ve read the contracts,” he said. “I think it will play out over time. Unfortunately, K-DOT is maxed out on the project.”

Tory Roberts, council member, said she had been receiving a lot of questions and a timeline for the project would be helpful.

“Maybe have another update,”she said. “We know it is a KDOT project.”

Pruetting said the hard part was the public thinks they have power with the State government on the project.

“People conflate government with government,” he said. “We tried this time.”

Roberts said people weren’t going to be very happy with the further construction delays, but at least they were more informed.

Pruetting said the biggest problems were with the elevation changes.

“The condition of the road was terrible,”he said.

Steve Shute, council Vice President, said they just pray that construction crews can get as much work done as they can before Winter.

Kacy Deaton, council member, said if the Northside was shut down how difficult would it be to bring traffic to the businesses.

Pruetting said in the winter months the city also has to deal with snow removal on gravel.

Shute said the project had been ongoing since 2019.

“We put money from the city to get the project moved up the line,”he said. “Any chance we can recover some of the money. We put money forward in anticipation of starting the project in 2021 not 2022.”

Pruetting said he couldn’t find anything that showed the city put money in to accelerate the project only to put the project on the calendar.

“It was delayed because of right-a-ways, design and staff turnover locally with KDOT,”he said.

Shute said the city has businesses on the northside that will go out of business if they aren’t provided access.

“It is why we wanted to do it over the Summer,” he said. “I can see the Northside closing down. It opens us to liability because we hired the design firm. It is a big problem.”

Shite said it would be a disaster with traffic and people living on Shawnee street were already seeing an influx of traffic.

Kellen Headlee, public works director, said the contractor is responsible for providing accesses to the businesses and maintaining them for each business is part of the reason it takes 90 days.

“We have had pretty good communication with businesses on the Southside,” he said. “We haven’t had significant complaints.”

Shute said the city had complaints.

“Celebrity’s, the hairstylist on Mulberry Street has had a dip in their client base, Tumbleweed’s,”he said. “And the south side has few businesses compared to the north side. It is a bad situation all around. It is making everyone’s lives miserable.”

Shute said people on Main Street were getting slowly choked.

“We are not doing our job as council members if we are not helping,”he said.

Mark Baldwin, council president, said at the end of project he would like the city to look back with a citizen survey to see if residents think the city spent the money to get on the list or let the project deteriorate.

“We spent money on a road that is not ours,”he said. “This body chose to spend money to help the community and I would like to know the sentiment of the citizens after the project is over.”