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City manager outlines 2026 capital priorities including $7–8M electric conversion and public works projects
Summary
City Manager Josh summarized major capital priorities in the proposed 2026 budget: an $7–8 million electric low-voltage conversion affecting roughly 700–900 homes, a public works complex project with ADA and safety needs, water-tower rehabilitations and bridge and weir projects.
City Manager Josh gave a summary of capital projects underpinning the 2026 proposed budget, highlighting the electric low-voltage system conversion, public works complex needs, water-tower rehabilitation, Santa Fe Lake weir replacement and planned street and sidewalk work.
On the electric grid, Josh told the council the city “essentially operate[s] 2 grids” and that the low-voltage system—serving an estimated “7, 8, 900 homes”—is one of the more unreliable portions. He said staff had applied for grants twice for what he described as an approximately $7–8 million conversion project; the grant applications were unsuccessful, and staff proposed financing the conversion with a bond issue included in the 2026 utility budget.
Josh said the public works complex project has become more urgent after an ADA transition plan and a Kansas Department of Labor inspection identified deficiencies in the street-shop and park-shop facilities. The budget includes funding for a public-works construction effort; staff reported they worked to offset debt impacts so the mill levy change would primarily reflect public-safety staffing needs rather than facility debt.
Other items he summarized included:
- AWOS (airport weather station) relocation and associated land acquisition to allow future hangar development at the airport (staff expects construction next year if grant and land work align). - Redbud bridge Phase 1 (under construction) and Phase 2 (river bridge) funded largely with federal/state grants and local match previously covered by other federal allocations and an Andover contribution. - Santa Fe Lake weir replacement (concrete labyrinth structure rebuilt in 2012 at the city lake; the Santa Fe weir is described as crumbling and planned for grant-supported reconstruction). - Water-tower rehabilitation (Arnold Tower identified for work; Golf and State towers have been rehabbed but need some attention). - Pavement preservation and a sidewalk package; the council noted a new sales tax dedicated to streets (and legally usable for sidewalks) does not begin collecting until late 2026, so sidewalk projects are expected in the 2027 budget.
Josh emphasized that while not every reliability issue will be solved immediately, the combination of projects and grants included in the budget aims to address the most pressing infrastructure failures in the near term.
