City delays Garver engineering agreement for East First Street paving pending county decision

The commission discussed and then tabled consideration of an engineering agreement with Garver to design East First Street paving improvements, after staff reported ongoing coordination with Harvey County about whether the county will partner on a second phase of the project.

City staff described a phased design approach and showed a map indicating Phase 1 would extend past the Murdoch properties to Hillside intersection. Staff said the county indicated early interest in participating, and that pairing phase 1 and phase 2 design work could save roughly $50,000 in engineering costs. “We would save a little over $50,000 if we did both phase 1 and phase 2 design together because there are some economies of scale,” staff said.

Commissioners voted to table the item and await the county’s internal staff discussion scheduled for March 17, after which county representatives may decide whether to partner. The staff recommendation was to wait and return this item to a future agenda so the city can coordinate funding, right-of-way planning and a potential interlocal agreement with the county before proceeding to final design and eventual construction.