Patterson gets OK for road funding

Road improvements are set to begin in Patterson within a month to repair streets that haven’t seen attention since the 1970s.
On Thursday, the State Bond Commission approved about $1 million in limited tax bonds for the city of Patterson for constructing and improving roads, streets, sidewalks and related easements and rights-of-way, according to a news release.
Patterson Mayor Rodney Grogan said the contractor for the street project plans to begin bringing in equipment in October to resurface six streets that were last repaired 40 years ago.
The City Council will hold a public hearing on an ordinance to provide final approval of the bonds at its Oct. 6 council meeting and can then approve issuing the bonds, Grogan said.
Grogan expects the bond money to be available for use in November, but he has about $250,000 to $300,000 set aside in the city budget to start the road project in mid-October, he said.
At the August city council meeting, the council passed a resolution giving preliminary approval for the city to issue up to $1 million in limited tax bonds to resurface city streets.
The bonds will be secured by a property tax that is already being levied in the City of Patterson and has been levied since 1974, said Jason Akers, bond attorney for Foley & Judell, at the Aug. 4 council meeting. That property tax already in place is 8.2 mills, according to the resolution.
In July, the city received bids to repair and resurface five streets including First Street from Railroad Avenue to Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, Grout Street from Main Street to Washington Street, Park Street from Main Street to Third Street, Third Street from Park Street to Taft Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue from Main Street to Cherry Street, and Hickory Street from Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue to Park Street.
The total bids came in at $737,953.63.
If work begins in mid-October, Grogan expects the road repairs to six streets to be complete by Thanksgiving, he said.
Some of the streets just need “patchwork,” while Hickory Street will have to be “gutted” and completely redone, Grogan said.
There are another 18 streets in Patterson that need repairing as well, Grogan said. City officials are looking at possibly leasing a machine to fix those streets with the help of city workers, he said.

This story was written by Zachary Fitzgerald of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com.