Riley County approves $58K contract for water lines at RCPD firing range

Savannah Rattanavong, The Manhattan Mercury, Kan.
·1 min read

Mar. 5—Riley County commissioners on Thursday approved a $58,757 contract to establish water lines at the Riley County Police Department's new firing range.

Larson Construction, Inc. of Manhattan will start the project by mid-April. The project is funded through the county's capital improvement project fund.

Tami Robison, county budget and finance officer, said the commission would need to eventually approve an amendment for CIP funds as it currently does not have enough budgeted dollars for this project.

County Clerk Rich Vargo added that the CIP fund itself has the money as it budgets "cushion" funds, and it is not uncommon for the cost of CIP projects to exceed what commissioners initially authorize.

"Just to put it into perspective, we've gone well over the original budget as Tami just mentioned for this," said John Ford, county commission chairman. "That's just because bits and pieces of it cost more to do at the time we did it and (to add) some of the extra things that we needed."

The county is responsible for paying for the site's facilities while RCPD is handling the costs of its contents.

Riley County police officials expect the firing range to be operational by the end of March. The 146-acre site is near Tabor Valley and Zeandale roads, about a half mile from the former facility.

The range is set to have 25- and 50-yard ranges and a support building with classrooms though officials said they would like to have more training buildings, covered parking spaces and a driving course in the future.