Workers will be in Fountain Hills neighborhoods as soon as this week preparing for a $3.5 million street maintenance project that is expected to be completed by the end of May.

This is the town’s pavement management project for the 2018/2019 fiscal year, which had been delayed due to utility work.

The Town Council approved the project at its April 16 session on a 6-1 vote over the objections of Vice Mayor Art Tolis.

The contract is being done through a cooperative purchase agreement with the City of Chandler and the contractor is M.R. Tanner.

Tolis was not happy with the priorities of the project. He said he believes there should be an emphasis on renewing the streets in the downtown area.

“Looking at the map, these projects are scattered all over,” Tolis said. “Why not do the most for the downtown, it needs to be pristine.”

Tolis said having the downtown streets in top condition should be a priority to help attract business to the area.

Public Works Director Justin Weldy told the council that portions of Palisades Boulevard, Parkview Avenue and Verde River Drive in the downtown area are in need of total reconstruction, and the money is not available for a project that large.

“I don’t want to do that in a piecemeal manner,” Weldy said. “We are concentrating on what can be done with our limited funding.”

The only street in the downtown slated for mill and overlay during this project is La Montana Drive between El Lago and Palisades boulevards.

Councilman Dennis Brown expressed his frustration that the town has not been able to develop a comprehensive plan for street maintenance, which he said he has been hearing about for 10 years.

“Let’s just put a team together and put a plan together we can live with,” Brown said.

A couple of years ago the council at the time opted to end a zone-based program for pavement management and moved to a system based on need.

A consultant has surveyed the streets using special equipment to determine a proper maintenance level and the scheduling is based on that mapping. Streets that can be brought up to a standard to continue a routine maintenance program are being given a priority. Those that “can’t be saved” will be left to a time when funding can be found, likely a bond proposal a year or two down the road.

The information provided by the consultant’s survey created a Pavement Condition Index (PCI). Based on a scale streets are determined to be very poor to poor (0-40), marginal (40-50), fair (50-60), good (60-70), very good (70-85) and excellent (85-100).

Weldy said the town would like to achieve a goal of an average of well above 60. The current average determined by the survey is right at 60 for the entire system.

Weldy noted that arterial streets are the best with a PCI at 75. He said that included Saguaro Boulevard and Shea Boulevard, which had both been just rejuvenated and were in top condition at the time of the survey.

Collector streets show a PCI of 65 and residential are an average of 55.

Town Manager Grady Miller said there needs to be a determination as to what is an acceptable PCI for each of the town’s street types.

“That needs to come from the council,” Miller said.

With that, staff can develop a plan based on funding for short and long-term needs.

There is an additional $3.5 million to be budgeted for the 2019/2020 fiscal year and staff will be bringing back the contract for that work in the fall.