Hutchinson council approves ordinance to issue GO bonds for traffic-signal updates and arterial street work

The Hutchinson City Council on June 17 approved an ordinance authorizing the issuance of general-obligation bonds to fund traffic-signal controller upgrades and arterial street improvements.

City Finance Director Angela Richard told the council the action was needed "to conform with IRS regulations" so the city can bond the two projects. She said the projects include traffic-signal improvements listed in the ordinance and arterial street work the council previously approved. "The total of those projects plus anticipated bonding cost is 915,000," Richard said.

Richard also said staff reallocated cash to ensure the airport parking lot repair would be paid from current funds rather than taxable bonds: "To remove any question about whether the airport parking lot bond should be taxable or not, we did a little swapping. We're gonna pay cash for the airport parking lot and bond more for the arterial streets." Councilmembers asked whether work would begin this year; Richard confirmed both the arterial work and the traffic-signal updates are planned to start this year.

Councilmember questions about the traffic-signal work clarified that the project will update existing signal controllers and not add new signals. No members of the public spoke on the item.

After a motion and second, the council voted to approve the ordinance; the clerk called the roll and recorded votes in favor. The ordinance authorizes the city to issue bonds to finance the listed traffic and street projects and authorizes the mayor to sign the necessary documents.

The ordinance sets the legal authority to borrow but does not include construction contracts or detailed schedules; those will be advanced through the city's procurement and project management processes. City staff said they expect work to begin soon and will return with contract-level details as required.