The Hartselle City Council approved spending up to $5,000 on materials that will be needed in the construction of a detention pond to help ease flooding in downtown Hartselle.

Department of Development Director Jeff Johnson said at the council’s regular meeting Feb. 24 the main part of the project will be bid out to a contractor. However, these materials are part of the local 25 percent match.

“Our local match can be either money, in kind services or a combination of the two,” Johnson said. “These funds will be used to purchase materials necessary to begin the excavation of the storm water detention pond.”

The items include a silt fence, No. 2 stone-construction entrance, No. 67 stone-pipe bedding, 15-inch concrete pipe, Portland cement pipe joint seal, construction staking layout, grass seed mixture and wheat straw bales.

Johnson said he didn’t know exactly when they would be able to bid out the project. However, it would be within 90 days of FEMA receiving a publisher’s affidavit after the final legal notice was published in the newspaper last week.

“We’re hoping to bid it out in March,” Johnson said. “We’re on a tight timeframe now. We have to get this phase completed by Sept. 30 of this year.”

The council also added a 1989 Ford Ranger pickup truck to the public works department’s fleet after it was originally declared surplus by the fire department. Superintendent Daxton Maze said the truck needed a gas intake line, both of which were replaced.

He said public works could use it for errand runs that are not service related. Currently, the department is using its service truck, which is a low-mileage diesel truck.

The council approved a special events permit for the Jennifer Burks Memorial 5k Run May 9 from 5 to 11 a.m. around Hartselle Junior High School. The start and finish lines are at the school and includes areas from Hickory and Sycamore streets to J.P. Cain Stadium.