By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson City Council could not come to a consensus on the new paint job for the Avenue A water tower in their meeting on Tuesday, but they did decide to light the tower from the ground with white lights.
"Tower 1 was built in 1959, and it was last coated in 2004," said Director of Public Works Brian Clennan. "Those coatings typically last around 10 to 15 years. This project is definitely ready for recoating. We plan to recoat the exterior of that tank, as well as the interior of the tank and all of those columns that you see."
Councilman Steve Garza suggested that electricians from the Park Department do the installation work in an effort to save money. The white lights will cost $20,000.
"Hopefully, if the bids go well, we'll bring the low bidder to council for approval on April 21, have a notice to proceed for this project around the middle of May and the project wrapping up final completion around the end of August," Clennan said.
Since neither of the two designs proposed to the council were met with consensus on Tuesday, the plan is for Director of Public Information and Community Engagement Rebekah Starkey Keasling to bring another crack at the deconstructed flag design to the council in two weeks.
"We could make it just a blue stripe around where Hutch is and maybe do something like a yellow top and keep that bottom gray," Keasling said.
The concern was that eventually mold will likely form on the bottom of the tank and the original deconstructed flag design had a yellow bottom that would have shown that over the years, but if the bottom is gray it won't show up as much. As long as the council makes a decision in two weeks, the bid timeline can be kept.