A recycled rock effort may permit Iola city crews to continue their annual chip-seal maintenance work this summer, and at a much cheaper cost than originally forecast.
Street and Alley Superintendent Dan Leslie gave City Council members the lowdown Monday on the recycled rock effort — made necessary, ironically, by the Environmental Protection Agency.
That’s because of demand issues for the red-colored rock the city typically uses for its chip-seal.
As in years past, only one company bid to supply the rock to Iola, Buildex, Inc., Ottawa.
In years past, Buildex crews would bring in rock from a quarry near McPherson. However, the EPA has cited emissions standards in producing the chipped rock, forcing Buildex to close the plant, Leslie said.
That means the company uses only a single quarry for all of its customers.
If Iola gets any rock this year, it will likely be late summer or early fall, well after the city had scheduled its crews to do the chip-seal work.
That’s where the recycled rock comes in.
Leslie pointed out crews have swept up and stored the excess rock from previous chip-seal efforts, “and our pile’s getting to be a good size.”
Leslie proposed renting a machine, at a cost of about $5,000 for a week, to clean the old rock chips, to see if they can be reused.
“If it works, we save quite a bit of money,” Leslie said. “If it doesn’t, we’re out $5,000.”
Leslie acknowledged the high demand statewide for the rock chips likely will require Iola to place its orders a year early.
Council members agreed, voting 8-0 to authorize the chip cleaning machine rental.
The Council also agreed to pay Vance Brothers, Kansas City, Mo., $1.57 per gallon of oil for the “seal” portion of the chip-seal effort. The price is 42 cents per gallon lower than Iola spent in 2015, Leslie said. Vance’s bid was the lower of two. Leslie estimated needing roughly $60,000 gallons of oil for the chip-seal.
COUNCIL members said more research will be necessary before they decide on changing ordinances affecting gas and electric meter locations.
Councilman Bob Shaughnessy asked previously if new construction projects could be done with meters placed closer to the respective buildings.
