Falkville Council allows street upgrade

The Falkville Town Council accepted a low bid of $133,688.90 from Wiregrass Construction Inc. for street resurfacing and sidewalk repairs as part of a Community Development Block Grant project on the west side of town at its regular meeting July 1.

The Neighborhood Improvement Project will take place on First and Second Streets from Fifth Street to Highway 31, according to Russ Roberts, PE, project manager.

Roberts reported that the CDBG project’s budget provided $138,000 for street improvements.

Councilman Alton Hill asked if the resurfacing project could be extended to the Falkville High School campus. Mayor Bob Ramey told him the project is already running over budget.

Roberts said he expects the drainage portion of the project will resume soon and anticipates it will be completed before the start of the next school term.

The governing body also approved the purchase of a new computer workstation for the town clerk (not to exceed $1,500) and the purchase of new furniture for the town hall front office.

Mayor Ramey said the new computer would replace a 2007 model that has lost its speed and efficiency.

“We needed a facelift in the front office where the utilities personnel work,” he said. “The furnishings we had in there were not very user friendly.”

In other matters, $350 was approved for expenses to allow Police Chief Chris Free to attend an FBI seminar for administrative level law enforcement officers, which will be conducted in Florence next October. The council also introduced an amended ambulance service ordinance for consideration of its adoption at the regular meeting in August. Councilman David Carroll reported preliminary plans for the proposed expansion of town hall should be ready for the council to review at its next meeting.