By Quinn O’Hara

During the Clay Center City Council meeting on July 16, Councilor Daton Hess reported that several handicap ramps recently installed in Clay Center will have to be rebuilt.

The ramps were installed as a part of Clay Center’s 2024 City Connecting Link Improvement Program, or CCLIP, projects. According to Hess, the City pays for the design and engineering for the CCLIP projects while the State of Kansas pays for 95% of the project including inspection.

During the project, which ran from mid-April to early-June, Street Supervisor Ken Shivers and Hess noticed that the handicap ramp in front of the Clay Center Police Department had been poured incorrectly. It was then torn out and redone.

On July 11, Shivers and Hess did a walk-through inspection of the entire project and noticed several items that needed to be fixed and questioned additional ramps. The following day, the duo met with Justin Owens, an Engineer with Kaw Valley, to do an additional walk through. Owen expressed concerns and returned to the project on June 15 with his head inspector for another inspection.

In total, 14 ramps were designated to either be torn out completely or revised in part and re-poured. Kaw Valley also determined that the project’s concrete contractor did not follow the plans.

The repairs will not be done at the cost of the City. Traffic control and sidewalk signs will soon be put back in place and the project redone.