A previous version of this story stated that the two subdivisions located within the city limits are crowdfunding the road repairs. All three subdivisions on Indian Head Lodge Road are raising money to pay for the repairs. The Record regrets the error. 

The Wright City Board of Aldermen was pressed once again for a decision on whether or not the city will provide funds to help pay for an overlay on Indian Head Lodge Road at their May 8 meeting. The crumbling private road serves as the only access road for three subdivisions, two of which are included within the city limits. 

“The board publicly committed to having a constructive conversation about whether funds would be allocated to assist the Indian Head Lodge Road overlay,” said resident Nicci Fears. “Despite that commitment, when we attended the budget workshop, Indian Head Lodge Road was not on the agenda.”

Mayor Michelle Heiliger clarified that while Indian Head Lodge Road was not mentioned by name at the workshop, the budget discussion was centered around what, if anything, the city could cut from the budget to come up with the $34,000 to cover the other half of the repairs. 

Residents in the three subdivisions have crowdfunded over $34,000 to date and have asked the city to cover the other half of the repairs. Then they will ask to annex the road into the city. 

Heiliger said the board went back through the budget to discuss items “that are not in our budget currently that we don’t have the money to pay for,” referring to Indian Head Lodge Road and clarified they would not have reconsidered the budget in the first place if not to look for solutions to overlaying the road. 

Unfortunately, she said no solutions were reached at that workshop and the board remained unsure about whether or not they would be able to provide the funds. 

In April, the city helped the subdivisions solicit a bid for roughly $68,000 to overlay the road from Mid Rivers Asphalt. That bid was scheduled to expire on May 12 although Heiliger said the city was able to secure an extension, although the contractor could not guarantee the same price for materials. 

“At this time, there wasn’t anybody from the board that could figure out what we could cut out,” said Heiliger. 

The city has maintained that it does not have the funds to cover half of the repair costs. If they decided to move forward with the repairs, they would have to find the funding by making cuts to other city services and projects.

Advocates from Indian Head Lodge Road have expressed their feeling that if the city wanted to find the money, it could and have contended that since the city has conducted maintenance on the road in the past they established a precedent that it is under the city’s purview. 

Fears also pointed out several line items she thought could be cut in order to direct funding to Indian Head Lodge Road, namely the overlay for Roelker Road that is scheduled for this summer and a contract with IWORQ Systems for GIS services that was approved later that evening. 

She felt since part of the overlay will be torn out later in the project to add a turn lane in front of the Wright City High School the city was wasting money that could be allocated to Indian Head Lodge Road instead. 

“If you are willing to cost share with MoDOT and the county, why not cost share with your residents?” asked Fears. “This is your opportunity to match the community’s effort with fairness, precedent and partnership.”

At the end of the meeting, Alderman Don Andrews specifically requested the city add the proposed partnership with the residents of Indian Head Lodge be added to the agenda for the board’s next meeting on May 22. 

“We are not asking for everything,” said Fears. “We’re asking for help.”