City of Monroe hosts press conference regarding projects to be discussed at city council meeting

MONROE, La. (KNOE) - Officials with the City of Monroe held a press conference on Sept. 23 to discuss projects that are set to be considered at the Monroe City Council meeting on September 24.

One of those projects includes an update to the Monroe Water Treatment Plant.

Officials are asking for approval of a change order to increase the contract amount by over $10,000 to place a PVC jacket at the storage area. Sean Benton with Public Works said in a couple of weeks, the project will be complete.

"We see everything done currently. Now we're doing some last-minute painting a little bit, some few punch-list items and some warranty issues also that need to be corrected," said Benton.

Once the project is complete, there will be information regarding a ribbon cutting at the water treatment plant.

Benton talked about the impact the treatment plant has on the city.

"What we were able to do was increase the capacity of the plant itself by adding other AMGDs to the plant for future development itself as a whole, but also we improved the quality of water. We upgraded the technology to the system itself," explained Benton.

Another project up for consideration at the city council meeting is a change order regarding the first phase of the Kansas Lane Extension Project.

Officials are asking to increase the contract amount for the project by more than $840 to close out the first phase.

City Engineer Morgan McCallister said there have been improvements made such as debris removal, new turning lanes and improvements made at some railroad crossings.

"We just recently installed the signals, the safety lighting for that crossing, and what you see on [Highway] 165 right now at the intersection are the mass storms and the improved signalizations and those signal boxes that are placed within the specific quadrants of the intersection," said McCallister.

The first phase of this project costs roughly about $18 million and is funded through the Louisiana Capital Outlay Program and some from road transfer funds.

McCallister said phase two is expected to start by next year.

"The plans are at 98 percent complete right now, so phase two should be advertising in the spring, possibly no later than fall of next year, and following that will be phase three," said McCallister.