The Wright City Board of Aldermen approved a measure for the city’s stormwater engineer, BFA Inc., to conduct an assessment after stormwater drainage issues arose on Roelker Road during recent storms at their April 10 meeting. 

Mayor Michelle Heiliger said the issues occurred on a section of the road where a new ditch line runs into Peruque Creek, and during recent storms the water was escaping that ditch line and accumulating onto the middle of Roelker Road. 

“It creates a safety issue,” said Heiliger. 

Heiliger continued saying she approved the assessment under the mayor’s emergency powers so the board’s approval was a formality, but that the city would work with the R-II School District to find a solution once that assessment was completed. 

The contract cost was not to exceed $15,000. 

“The city reached out to our stormwater engineer, BFA, and asked them to step in and give us an assessment of what they feel like is the solution to this problem, once we have that answer we will sit down with the school district and work out how we’re going to fix it,” said Heiliger. 

She did concede that the assessment may impact the city’s goal of completing the renovations to the road before the start of the 2025-26 school year. 

Heiliger did point out however, that even if the issues with the stormwater slow the progress on the middle of Roelker Road, the city already planned to move forward with work on the northern and southern portions of the road even if the middle was held up. 

Earlier this month, the board also held a special meeting on April 1 to approve elevation drawings for water retention on Roelker Road from Cochran Engineering to expedite the bid process. 

“As we resurface this road, more water comes off the road into the yards of the people whose yards back up to Roelker,” said Heiliger. “So what we went back out for engineering for is for elevations for the grading.”

She clarified that the board approved conceptual drawings to help move the process along quicker. 

That process is moving, as the city is soliciting bids for the repair of existing rock patches on Roelker Road and those bids close at 2 p.m. on April 18. 

Alderman Ramiz Hakim also asked about the possibility of holding another special meeting on Monday, April 21, in order to approve one of those bids. 

“The runway to get this done before school starts is very, very tight, but it’s three or four days sooner,” said Hakim. 

Public Works Director Kyle Roettger said his department is also working on Roelker installing additional stop signs at the intersection of the road and Horseshoe Court. He said they have also marked new sections of the road that are beginning to deteriorate and plans to begin work on them in the next couple weeks. 

The improvements on Roelker Road are being funded by a $6.5 million bond issue that was approved by voters in April 2024. The board also approved a measure at the April 10 meeting to invest that money in treasury funds with Stifel, in order to make some interest on the money before it is spent. 

Heiliger said they had already planned a draw schedule from those funds so when they need to make payments for work on Roelker they are available. 

“We’ll be able to pull the money as we need it for those projects specifically, but in the meantime, hopefully we grow enough to do one more project,” said Heiliger. “We can make money on our money, that’s the smartest thing to do.”

She clarified that any additional money raised from the treasury bonds would also have to be allocated to future road projects, per the ballot language of the original bond issue.