Now that the word is out and Greensburg has been selected as the new home of Honda, the Greensburg Board of Works set out to make sure things were in order for the beginning of construction.

The Board selected HNTB Engineering to develop the necessary infrastructure needed to help Honda get started on its new facility. HNTB already has a contract with the city to help develop Lincoln Street and the Tax Incremental Financing district. This contract, which will be billed at a later date, gives HNTB the go-ahead to start on developing and implementing changes needed to prepare the site.

The company will focus on planning, water, waste water and street development to help create the infrastructure. HNTB will send a task force to Greensburg to work on these issues. This task force, which will be comprised of mostly engineers, will break into smaller groups so they can focus on individual issues and work more closely with different facets of city government.

In addition, Greensburg Police Chief Bill Meyerrose came to the meeting to seek funding for equipment. He was given $6,000 by the Board to purchase body armor for his officers. He also received the okay to purchase nine tactical rifles. While Meyerrose denotes he is not interested in setting up a S.W.A.T. team, he would like to train eight officers in tactical operations if certain situations, such as a hostage crisis, would arise. The officers would carry the rifles in the trunks of their cruisers and would be able to use them until State Police S.W.A.T. teams could arrive. Meyerrose also got the Board’s approval to purchase two new laptops for the department.

With the departure of Det. Bob Herbert, Meyerrose requested Det. Stacey Chasteen be promoted to Captain of Investigations to take his place. He offered a long list of accolades and accomplishments. The Board agreed with Meyerrose’s assessment and agreed to the promotion.

In other business, the Board approved a bid request from Ralph Land to replace the street drain on Washington Street in front of the soon to be City Hall Billings School. The project will cost the city $11,475 to replace the bad drain and $9,900 for a new pipeline to run the length of Washington from Ireland Street to Monfort Street.

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