Atchison County approves Ottawa Road Phase 3 consulting contract

Drivers on Ottawa Road, nearby landowners and holiday travelers got three concrete signals out of Atchison County’s June 9 commission meeting at the courthouse in Atchison: the county approved a $95,000 consulting contract with Schwab Eaton for Ottawa Road Phase 3, began lining up July 4 River Road traffic controls and took up the 2026 certification of values. The decisions point to a summer in which road work, tax administration and holiday traffic will all intersect across the county.

Ottawa Road Phase 3 is part of a longer reconstruction effort that county records show has been moving in stages. At the March 31 commission meeting, Dan Stack of Schwab Eaton told commissioners the first 2 miles carried a $1.2 million price tag with state cost-share help, while King Construction was preparing subgrade with cement. Stack also said 22 to 25 trucks were expected in the early phase and that the full 4 miles were expected to be complete by September 2026. County minutes from Sept. 30, 2025, showed the county was already considering a purchase order for Schwab Eaton for preliminary engineering on Phase III, which had been tied to a Kansas Department of Transportation grant.

That makes the new consulting contract more than a routine paper item. It keeps a project moving that can affect farm traffic, school routes and daily commuting in the Ottawa Road corridor, while also signaling that the county still has engineering work to manage before the roadway is finished. The county’s 2026 Upcoming Road Projects page shows Ottawa Road is only one piece of a wider maintenance list, with microsurfacing, chip-and-seal, bridge replacement and asphalt patching planned at multiple locations around Atchison County.

The same meeting also turned to the financial side of county government. Holley Hackathorn, the county appraiser, brought the 2026 certification of values, a key step in the property-tax cycle. County appraiser records say the office inventories property and values it at fair market value as of Jan. 1 each year, but it does not set taxes. Those taxes are determined by the combined needs of local taxing entities, including the county, cities and school districts. Commissioners also had House Bill 2231 in the mix, the state law that became Chapter 123 and covers tax exemptions, homestead refund claims and certain property-tax exemptions.

Holiday planning was on the docket as well. The June 9 agenda listed a River Road closure discussion for July 4 involving EMS, Road & Bridge and the sheriff’s office, a sign that county leaders were already working through traffic control before Independence Day travel begins. Commissioners also revisited Purple Heart sign follow-up tied to the Purple Heart Trail, the honorary roadway designation used to recognize Purple Heart recipients. The meeting, which recessed twice for executive session, left the county balancing road construction, valuation work and public safety planning all at once.