Bronson water project to begin March 13

BRONSON -- Bronson residents will see construction begin soon on their long-awaited public water system, which was approved in February 2012.

Goins Enterprises, of Joplin, Mo., is slated to begin construction on the town's water system on March 13, weather permitting.

"They'll be installing automated meter readers and doing the line distribution improvements," City Clerk Ellen Harper said. "They'll be notifying customers if the water has to be off for any length of time."

The bids for the project were in two parts: the water system meters and the water tower. The new water tower will be located at 914 Clay, in the north part of the city, Harper said.

Goins Enterprises got the job with a bid of $201,603 for the water system meters and MacGuire Iron, of South Dakota, will handle the water tower improvement project for $514,900.

The pre-construction meeting with Goins Enterprises was this week and will be Feb. 27 with MacGuire Iron, Harper said.

This week the City of Bronson published Ordinance 243 to provide for the issuance of general obligation bonds.

The Public Water System Improvement is in the amount of $969,000. The city received a commitment from the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Rural Development to purchase the city's general obligation bonds in the amount of $334,000, together with the Rural Development grant of $75,000.

In addition, a Community Development Block Grant was awarded in the amount of $485,000 and city funds of $75,000 will be used to fund the improvements.

The city is also moving forward to try to help low-to-moderate income citizens update their homes.

At the monthly Bronson City Council meeting last Monday, members selected Councilman Charles Williams to chair a local committee to seek help with housing needs in the small community of 200 people.

"This will help determine the need for more housing for people, or single family residents homes that need rehabilitation," Harper said. "They'll see if we have enough need to apply for Kansas

Department of Commerce help. He'll be working with citizens on the committee."

"This is to help low to moderate income people make updates to their homse...making them more energy efficient or with electrical repairs, for example," she added.

The Housing Assessment Tool will need to be completed by June 2013, "then they (KDOC) review your application and see if you have a good project and what resources are available."