Council approves agreement with Alliance Public Schools in track sewer replacement

By KALIN KROHE
Panhandle Post

The Alliance City Council met on Tuesday and approved an ongoing effort for the replacement of the Alliance Public Schools track sewer. The issues with the sewer arose during the construction of the new track.

Alliance Mayor Mike Dafney said this started before he officially took his elected position.

“When they got ready to do the track the school wanted to go to the southeast, which took them into the Snake Creek drainage ditch. It made it pretty much cost prohibited to do anything there. They changed gears and went to the north,” Dafney said.

Making this change moved the sewer toward 14th street.

“We needed to vacate about eight feet on the south side of 14th street. Niobrara Avenue on the south of the stadium has always run right through the stadium. That’s never been taken care of…clear back in the 1940’s. The street really was designated to run right through the track. We’re clearing that up and deeding that over to them.”

The problem, said Dafney, is with the sewer that’s currently used underneath the new track. If something happened to that sewer city crews would not be able to tear the track up to fix something.

“We have to go to the side of the track and our employees would have to tunnel underneath to get it fixed. You just don’t want to have to do that. We’re going to move that sewer that takes care of the stadium and houses that are in there.”

Mayor Dafney said the Council appreciates the cooperation of the Alliance Public Schools.

Other business before the council included:

A request by Alliance citizen John Weare for the creation of a Children’s Museum in the future.
A third reading for a rezone for Mark Wilkinson. The lot proposed for the rezone is located at the southeast corner of the intersection of west 4th street and Cody Avenue.
An approval for an additional liquor license for Sandhillers Bar. They are planning on expanding their business to an adjoining building.
A resolution that authorizes staff to enter into an Airport Use Agreement between the City of Alliance and Denver Air Connection. The lease is for a two year period, which expires on May 31, 2021.
A resolution to approve an engineering contract with M.C. Schaff and Associates in the amount of $57,000 for the replacement of Warehouse No. 3001 at the Alliance Airport. That previous building was destroyed in the Vitalix fire on June 22, 2018.