Utilizing municipal employees and equipment in the preparation of road surfaces, and taking advantage of a MoDOT asphalt paving contractor working on nearby I-70, the city of Oak Grove plans to complete an asphalt overlay project on SW 12th Street this summer for a total cost that is a lot less than normal.

Explaining the proposed project to the Board of Aldermen Monday night, Tim Mathes, public works director, said the MoDOT contractor, Chester Bross Construction, has agreed to supply and apply the needed asphalt for a total cost of $67.30 per ton.

Initial estimates, Mathes said, are that a two-inch overlay on SW 12th Street will require approximately 1700 tons of asphalt to complete a 4400-foot portion of that road, from Locust Street west to SW Robinson Road.

Projected total cost for that amount of applied asphalt is approximately $114,061.

An asphalt batch plant operated by the contractor is producing asphalt southwest of Oak Grove, which provides a convenient and accessible product source with only a short haul required.

Funding for the SW 12th Street project will come from three sources, the municipal public works director explained:

>$50,000 designated in the Capital Improvements budget for 2013 for asphalt overlay project;

>up to $27,800 from the Jackson County Urban Road System Fund;

>up to $50,000 from the city Transportation Fund. Read more in Focus on Oak Grove.

Directors of Sni Valley Fire Protection District learned Monday night that repairs to station 2 at Bates City are nearing completion.

New lights, exhaust fan and wiring have been installed. At the meeting directors approved a $14,500 bid from Cornell Roofing, Kansas City, for repairs and new gutters for the roof at the building.

After that work is completed new sheetrock will complete the repairs.

Directors also accepted a $29,000 bid from the Peterson, Ia., Fire Department to purchase the district's surplus fire engine. However, that department cannot pick up the engine until Sni Valley receives a new engine, which is expected to arrive either the last week in June or during the first two weeks of July.

In regard to a vacancy on the board due to the resignation of Sam Russell, directors agreed to interview the three persons who have expressed an interest in serving until April when an election will be held to fill the remainder of Russell's term. Read more in Focus on Oak Grove.

In a unanimous vote on Monday night, R-6 District Board of Education approved a technology system upgrade designed to "speed up the performance" of the district computer system network.

Judy Word, district technology director, explained to board members that it has been approximately 10 years since the system's bandwidth switches have been upgraded.

According to Word, the outdated switches have the effect of "slowing down the delivery of data" to the network's end-users, and the switches need to be upgraded.

"We rely so much on the computer systems now for such things as on-line testing and enhancing curriculum in the classroom," she explained. "We need to be able to deliver the data to the classrooms as quickly and as efficiently as possible."

Cost of the switch upgrade from Pro Vision Networks is $50,544.

Board members also approved the MSBA Full Maintenance Policy Agreement for the 2013-14 school year, at a cost of $2788. Read more in Focus on Oak Grove.

On a day when national newscasters were telling the story of school children who died when their Moore, Okla., school building collapsed around them as a two-mile wide tornado destroyed much of their community, Oak Grove School District administrative personnel and board members listened intently to a progress report on the construction project to build a FEMA safe room/performing arts center on the R-6 District campus.

When completed, the facility will be able to house every student and every employee in the district within a structure that is built to withstand the destructive forces of a tornado or hurricane.

Randy McClain, district liaison for the FEMA safe room project, reported Monday night that the project construction schedule "has been delayed due to the weather, the arrival of the excavator and the availability of the precast concrete panels."

Personnel from Mike Raysik Excavating have been on site during recent days, performing the excavation necessary and grading the area to prepare the site for installation of concrete pad and wall footings.

Next will come personnel from the geo-tech engineering company, Terracon, to conduct testing on building pad soil samples.

Much of the remainder of May, then June and July, will be readying the site for pouring concrete footings, the pouring of those footings and getting the concrete pad ready for future installation of pre-cast concrete walls and then roof panels, which should be arriving by late August. Read more in Focus on Oak Grove.