The Lyon County Department on Aging and the Lyon County Area Transit will apply for economic stimulus funds to pay for several capital projects to improve public transportation.
Ken Barrows of LCAT spoke to Lyon County commissioners during Thursday morning’s Lyon County Commission action session to discuss the plans for stimulus money that will be received through the state through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Barrows said the plans are to apply for four capital projects, which would be funded 100 percent, including labor. The first project is for 20 Handi-Hut passenger shelters to be placed at bus stops. The shelters would hold three to four people and would be located at busy and well-lit bus stop locations around Emporia.
The second project is the replacement of 36 signs for the bus stops around Emporia.
“We don’t have them in the proper places right now,” Barrows said.
Barrows suggested that the signs be international bus signs so they can be recognized by people who don’t read English.
The third project is a full-sized van. Barrows said he is unsure whether the van will be approved for funding, but it could be used to expand ridership into the county and transport riders to doctor appointments.
The fourth project is a GPS dispatch system, which also would be 100 percent funded by the state. This system will include software, two new computers, monitors, six radios and monitors for existing buses and new van, dispatching base station and a radio transmission tower device. Barrows said the system will increase fuel efficiency, efficiency in dispatching and will save bus mileage.
“It’ll make life easier for us dispatchers,” Barrows said.
In other business, commissioners set a public hearing date for the intersection improvements at Highway 50 and Road F. The public hearing will be at 7 p.m. March 26 in the Jury Assembly Room at the Lyon County Courthouse, 430 Commercial St.
Items on the consent agenda:
• Approved warrants payable in the amount of $160,333.05.
• Approved sending four road and bridge staff members to the Spring 2009 Culvert, Drainage and Levees seminar in Emporia on March 12.
• Approved Gary Coats’ entrance application for an entrance on the north side of Road 170 east of Road T for a water meter.
• Approved purchasing approximately 120 feet of used 36-inch steel casing from Frank Black Pipe & Supply Co. at $61 a foot for a total of $7,320.
• Approved sending a road and bridge employee to the Providing Employee Safety seminar in Emporia on July 30.
• Approved sending a road and bridge employee to the Stream & Riparian Investigation Construction & Design workshop in Manhattan on April 7-10.