City of Shelbyville Treasurer Kay Parker gave Shelbyville City Council members a fiscal rundown last Tuesday about what is owed on capital projects and what is estimated to be needed down the road for several still on the drawing board.
Parker talked at the outset of the 2-hour, afternoon meeting, strictly about numbers. All Council members-Henry Feldhaus, Marilyn Ewing, Bobby Turnbow, William Christie, Josh Blevins and Betsy Noel-were present.
Regarding the Fairfield Pike widening project of 2019, Parker said it is now currently in the right-of-way phase (Gresham Smith)-estimated at $1 million.
A plan known as Design Option #2 for widening of Fairfield Pike was approved on a 6-0 vote in the fall of 2022. The project was to include construction of curbs, gutters and sidewalks on the heavily-traveled street.
Council members at that time were: Rick Overcast, Marilyn Ewing, Henry Feldhaus, Stephanie Isaacs, William Christie and Gary Haile. Mayor Wally Cartwright was mayor.
Since that time, the new Cartwright Elementary and several housing developments have been constructed off Fairfield Pike. As well, Councilman Bobby Turnbow was elected and replaced Overcast and a new mayor, Randy Carroll, was elected in 2022, replacing Cartwright who retired. Current  City Manager Scott Collins was hired on Aug. 30, 2022. Parker had served as treasurer and interim City manager at the outset of the Fairfield Pike project discussions.
Two new Council members, Josh Blevins and Betsy Noel, were elected in 2024, replacing Isaacs and Haile.
Treasurer Parker said Tuesday that the processing of right-of-way should be soon, with no current donations received to date.
Though several Council members were not onboard when this project began, they are now charged with finishing it. The project has been deemed from the outset as an expensive one (no shoulders on the road, right-of-way issues), but it has also been deemed very necessary due to the growth of the City of Shelbyville.
Public Works Director Buck Vallad had advised Council back in 2022 that gutters and drainage work would benefit the City in the long-run regarding maintenance costs.
According to Parker’s spread sheet, estimated total cost for the Fairfield Pike widening project (based on amendment 2, plus the right-of-way costs of $1 million) now stands at $5,592,176.
The estimated cost of the project several years ago was about $4 million. Engineers stated that cost could go up over time.
There was a little thing called COVID-19 that played havoc on the expediency of such projects from about 2020 to 2022. Cities like Shelbyville were having to concentrate on a lot of operations management during the pandemic.
Luckily, state transportation is kicking in on this project.
The state portion of the Fairfield Pike project, Parker advised Council on Tuesday, is $3.5 million which leaves a local match on the part of the City of Shelbyville at $2 million. Parker said the City has already spent $85,000 local monies and is prepared to spend $200,000 local dollars out of this year’s budget. The remaining cost is $1.7 million.
Read more about City projects in today’s T-G print issue.