Council debates concrete vs. asphalt, hybrid crews and bond leverage for major street projects

Public commenters and several council members urged a change in the city's default approach to repairs, arguing that concrete lasts longer than asphalt in Dickinson's soil and drainage conditions. Resident Don Zeke told the council, "In general, concrete streets last more than twice as long as asphalt streets," and provided prepared estimates for priority streets he identified.

City staff said the street maintenance fund currently supports salaries and overlay work and that staff capacity for full-depth concrete construction is limited. Public works director (Mister Venable) confirmed the department has trained for overlays and limited paving but acknowledged, "Concrete roads ... we don't have the experience doing that." Council discussed a hybrid approach—contracting out major full-depth concrete work while retaining a reduced in-house crew to oversee and learn—and considered reallocating roughly $1,000,000 of the street fund to a contractor to accelerate two adjacent projects (Lobeth and Spruce).

Members also discussed leveraging a local debt instrument to increase buying power: one councilmember outlined using $500,000 of local funds to leverage a ten‑year note that would produce an estimated $5–7 million for projects, enabling simultaneous concrete work at scale. Costs cited from engineering quotes ranged around $1.0–1.4 million per mile for 9‑inch concrete sections; staff and council emphasized the need for an engineer's scope and a formal cost estimate before committing to bond leverage.

The council asked staff to assemble a prioritized street-project list, obtain contractor and engineer quotes, and return with modeled options (in‑house vs. hybrid vs. leveraged bond) at the next workshop.