Officials explain how utility sale proceeds will be used
Now that the sale of Westfield’s water and wastewater utilities to Citizens Energy Group has been finalized, the city will use funds from the sale to retire all of the utility’s $45 million in debt. The remaining amount, approximately $40 million, will be used for much-needed infrastructural investments in Westfield such as new streets, sidewalks and trail expansions – without raising taxes.
“Funds can’t be used for normal operating expenditures,” City Council President Jim Ake said
Ake said projects will begin this spring and continue for the next five years.
“We’re moving forward in different areas. You will see movement in spring,” he said.
The process
“We assessed our needs, the immediate needs,” Ake said. “How we spend it depends on a lot of aspects – engineering, land acquisition, matching dollars in federal funds and INDOT money.”
Ake said the council will look at the project list with long-range planning in mind. While public input has suggested the city look at investing the money, Ake said the state Dept. of Local Government Finance limits how municipalities can use the funds.
“We want to be very smart in the way we want to manage the money,” he said. “Interest rates are not real lucrative, maybe 1 to 1.5 percent. The cost of construction goes up over time. We have to leverage our money as best we can.”
Westfield Mayor Andy Cook and city officials have prepared a priority list of roadways, trails and intersections for the council to review. Officials have identified several traffic choke points that need to establish a roundabout – 161st Street and Carey Road, for example.
“I think we’ve arrived at a very good list of what we need. We’re not going to spend $40 million in one or two years even if we wanted to,” Cook said. “There will be some neighborhood projects.”
To assess public opinion, Cook said signs were made and placed around the city at potential project sites and a poll was created on Westfield’s Facebook page.
“All of that was taken into account,” he said. “Determining projects is easy. Building is easy. The hard part is utility relocation and land acquisition. Whenever we do a project we understand that whatever we do, someone is affected. The council is in an unenviable position to make decisions on what is best for the entire city.”
Grand Park
The 400-acre sports campus will have three entrances – Spring Mill and Wheeler Roads and 191st Street. Cook said Wheeler Road will be improved and the portion between 181st and 186th Streets was built by INDOT and opened last year. He described Wheeler Road from Ind. 32 to 181st Street as a “tiny, narrow road.” The city will build two lanes to the west of the current roadway.
“New construction will happen as the existing road remains open,” he said. “The boulevard will run into Grand Park from Ind. 32.”
Other planned construction projects include a roundabout at Tomlinson Road that will be built this fall, cul-de-sacs at the ends of 196th Street between U.S. 31, and widening and improvements on 191st Street, as Cook said additional lanes will be constructed to Spring Mill Road.
Towers of Westfield
Another project the utility sale proceeds could fund is the controversial pair of 100-foot towers that would anchor the new highway interchange at U.S. 31 and Ind. 32. The Towers of Westfield would be built on the east and west sides of the interchange with eye-catching architecture that would help the city stand out among other central Indiana communities.
Cook said the city is in the process of putting the designs out for bid.
“We’re not sure of the price,” he said. “It’s a very unusual project. We don’t know what (the towers) will cost until we take it to market.”
Cook said the towers will be built to the maximum height FAA regulations and the Westfield Airport allow. Once bids are received, the city council will still have to approve the funding.
Projects vs. people
“We have to be very careful,” Cook explained, “This money cannot be used for operational funds. There is a finite amount of money – we can’t spend $100,000 a year every year.”
Utility sale funds must be used for capital improvements, according to state statue. Cook said it is very different to maintain and sustain projects and that “maintenance costs are a huge factor.
If we build a project, it costs ‘X’ amount to maintain. We have to be conscious of that,” he said. “Intersections really don’t increase maintenance costs, especially if there is no (traffic) signal.”
Expanding trails
One of the largest projects is the northern expansion of the Monon Trail to Monon Elementary School or approximately 196th Street.
“It depends on how far the funding goes,” Cook said, adding that plans call for eventually building a bridge over Ind. 32.
The main focus with addressing trails is connecting the community.
“There are four locations where we have trails along roadways missing gaps,” Ake said, adding that development ordinances didn’t require building a pedestrian trail. “Technically a person can’t get to the Midland Trail with traveling on city streets. In some cases it involves land acquisition; in some we just need to build the trail.”
Priority list
City officials have identified the following projects as high priorities for Westfield to address first:
Roundabout at Carey Road and 161st Street
Monon Trail expansion
Connecting trail gaps at four locations
Adding of the Midland Trail from Gunther Boulevard to Gray Road
Roundabout at 156th Street and Spring Mill Road
Roundabout at 161st Street and Oakridge Road
Improve 191st Street from U.S. 31 west to Spring Mill Road and add a roundabout at Tomlinson Road
Updating Wheeler Road between Ind. 32 and 181st Street
Grand Park Boulevard from 186th Street to Wheeler Road extension
Roundabout 186th and Grand Park Boulevard
North Union Street extension to East Street
West access road (south Union) from U.S. 31 to 151st Street
Mill Street reconstruction to create south parameter of Grand Junction Plaza
