At the May 7 meeting of the Osceola City Council, council approved 4-0 constructing an approach onto Leisure Drive; councilwoman Sonya Hicks was absent. The purpose of the approach will be to help mitigate dust issues, as well as help with wear and tear of the traffic entering Leisure Drive from Highways 69 or 152.
Leisure Drive is located on the north edge of Osceola, is the road that the entrances for Select Genetics, the Clarke Community Schools bus barn and Harvest of Hope Community Church are located. The road is currently gravel, and the issue of dust control was brought to the council at their April 16 meeting. City administrator Ty Wheeler explained that the owner of the apartments at 2315 N. Main, which borders Leisure Dr., pays for dust control on the portion of road that passes the apartments.
When the city maintains the road, however, the dust control is rendered ineffective. Therefore, the owner approached the city to see if something could be done schedule-wise for maintenance by the city in conjunction with the application of the dust control, or some other remedy.
The owner said at the meeting that he currently pays to have 750-feet of roadway sprayed with dust control twice a year. His request was for the city to either leave the road, or for him to continue paying for treatment two times a year, and for the city to pay for an additional two times a year, and allow for coordination with grading and maintaining of the road with the dust control application companies.
After discussion, the city staff was directed to talk with other property owners along Leisure Dr. about potential partnerships with dust control applications, as well as look at the possibility of paving a section of the road, an idea that had been discussed in the past.
Wheeler updated council at the May 7 meeting about two quotes the city had received from local contractors to install a concrete approach that would be approximately 93-feet in length. One quote from Country Concrete was $13,000 for labor only, and Andrew Construction came in at $16,935 for labor only; in either case, the city would provide the materials.
Councilman Thomas Bahls asked if the other entities along Leisure Dr. had been asked about contributing to either dust control or pavement, and they had not been approached. Councilman Dr. George Fotiadis made a motion to accept Country Concrete’s lower quote and proceed with the construction of the approach. The cost of materials was estimated to be about $20,000, which will be paid for out of the roadway budget funds.
After the motion passed, Mayor Thomas Kedley also requested that city staff look into spray treatment on thoroughfares and other city entrances to help with dust control.