Billings Ave. rebuild to get pushed back in hopes of grant funding

The city of Medford is looking to push back a planned resurfacing and curb work on Billings Ave. for next summer with the hope of getting a grant to pay for a portion of it.

City coordinator Joe Harris told city council members at Monday’s committee of the whole meeting, that Billings Ave. appears to be a perfect fit for the grant program given that it would not include utilities and is located near the school.

He said the challenge is that the grant award is not known until later in the year and it would be too late to start a project then. If the city is successful getting the grant, it would cover 50% of the cost of the project with it requiring a minimum total project cost of $250,000. This would result in at least a $125,000 savings to city taxpayers.

Harris proposed the city hold off on doing a street project in 2026 and instead do other projects to pave the parking lot at the baseball diamonds in the park and the area in front of the city bandshell in the city park.

He also noted there has been a call for the city to put in dedicated pickleball courts. He proposed converting the former sand volleyball courts by the baseball fields to pickleball courts and redo the city tennis courts. Harris noted the city could fit four pickleball courts in the volleyball area.

Utility work for the coming year would be on the north end of Billings Ave. The sewer and water need to be upgraded from the intersection of Allman to top of the hill. Other utility projects would be the water main on Hwy 64 East of Hwy 13 and the river crossing by Perkins St. bridge.

The recommendation to delay Billings Ave. until 2026 passed on a 6-1 vote with council member Tim Hansen absent and Mike Bub opposed. Bub, who lives on Billings Ave. objected to pushing back the needed resurfacing and curb and gutter work for another year.

He said when the road was rebuilt in 2003, the company who did the work did a poor job on it and that the curb and gutter immediately started to decay.

“We have been promised for four years that this was going to happen in 2026,” Bub said, objecting that pickleball courts would be done before the road project. He noted that the residents paid for the road that is currently in poor shape.

Harris said the grant, which is only available every other year, appears that it would be a perfect fit for Billings and save the city a substantial amount of money.

In other road business, Harris reported the city received word that the city was awarded state road grant funds for the 9th Street repaving work and approved Harris’ request to use carryover in the road salt account to pay the city’s $76,000 match for the project. The work will be done this fall. The city had applied for the grant to redo the road when Marshfield Clinic had announced plans to build a hospital there. Those hospital plans have been shelved as Marshfield Clinic went through a merger process, but the city’s grant application continued and the city was awarded the state grant which will pay for 80% of the project.

Council members also recommended giving $500 donations to Wings of Hope Search and Rescue Northstar Search and Rescue and Christian Aid Ministries Minnesota Search and Rescue, the three volunteer search and rescue agencies assisted with the search of the Millpond last fall that ultimately led to the recovery of the body of Martevious Watts on October 18. Police Chief Chad Liske requested the city make the donation from police department funds and council members were supportive and appreciative of the assistance the agencies gave the city.

Bub questioned if having cameras in the park would make incidents like that go smoother. He noted that outdoor cameras were relatively cheap.

“Not necessarily,” Liske responded, noting the cost is about $3,000 per year, per camera, plus the cost of having someone watching the cameras.

Bub questioned if dispatch would be able to monitor them in addition to their other duties. Liske noted the county is a separate agency and they would have to likely pay the sheriff’s department to monitor them for the city.

“We have been promised for four years that this was going to happen in 2026.”

— Council member Mike Bub