Knoxville City Council voted last night to enter an agreement with the Knox County Highway Department for oil and chip work on city roads.
City Engineer Kevan Cooper told Council the county would handle the road work for $333 per ton of oil, apply oil for $42 per ton and apply chips for $11 per ton.
“All these prices are less than what I used initially to estimate the project if you were to hire a contractor to do the same thing,” he said. “And we based the appropriation on the contractors bid price so we had plenty of money appropriated for it.”
Aldermen appropriated $50,000 last month for road work estimated to cost around $44,000. Cooper did not have figures available for how much the city can expect to pay for the county’s work.
The project calls for work on 15 roads. In response to a question from Ward 3 Alderman Toby Myers, Cooper said that could be expanded and the prices per ton would not change.
In other action items, Council approved an $11,887 Building Repair TIF grant for the former Shell gas station being restored by Knoxville resident Gary Goudy.
Also discussed last night was the application for an Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program grant. Grant writer Ange Lee said a meeting is planned for 6 p.m. May 24 in the Old Courthouse to hash out what beautification projects people would like to see under the ITEP grant.
