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Fire station bids too high The City of Thomasville has received bids for renovation of the No. 2 fire station on Highway 5. The project was budgeted at $150,000. The lowest bid was from Assurance Service Inc. of Thomasville with $241,144. Mayor Sheldon Day is working to possibly delete certain design elements from the project to get the price down. The council did not reward the bid. It may be rebid. "I would like more time to 'value engineer' it," he said. The mayor is also concerned about putting out bids to repair the Boys and Girls Club building with such high bids coming in for the fire station project. "The market is tight" for contractors, Day told the council during the work session. "These contractors don't need the work right now." There are plenty of construction projects to be found - not even mentioning the upcoming work at the TK plant and the state funding expected for school construction projects. The council also tabled bids for track hoe equipment "until we know where we are with the fire station." Warrior Equipment is the low bidder. In other action from council meetings on Monday, Mayor Day reported that the city would participate in the national "Neighborhood Works" assessment and revitalization program, currently underway in Opelika. Thomasville resident Barbara Hudson, a member of the city revitalization committee, reported back to Day after attending a meeting in Opelika. The program was created in 1986 by the U.S. Congress to help neighborhoods safe sanctuaries where citizens can live, raise their children and enjoy their retirement years in peace and safety. "It's exactly what we were looking for as far as an example of what we could do in some of our neighborhoods that desperately need revitalization," Day said. The city will receive a $20,000 grant from "Neighborhood Works" to begin the program, the mayor said. A meeting will be planned in the future at the Johnson Shopping Center on establishing a task force for the program in a specified area of Thomasville. In the discussion with Hudson concerning the neighborhood program, there had been talk of more computer labs for the public. Day suggested that a computer lab might be placed upstairs in the old City Hall building on Wilson Avenue. "We've got some people who want to donate some computers to the community," he said. "…One of the problems is access to computers. We've doubled the numbers of computers at the public library, and we've still got people standing in line." There would be a need for volunteers to help maintain the computers. Councilman Charles Allen asked about the timeline of the Civic Center construction during a discussion of bills to be paid. He was concerned that someone was checking behind the contractor, and Allen said he had not seen the architect very often on site. Mayor Day said he told the architect to call ahead to notify when he would be on site. Allen gave the lone no vote against the bills being paid. • Day spoke briefly about the need for a seven-member Alcohol License Committee, which will need to be formed if the referendum for alcohol sales in the city was successful. The mayor will appoint one member, and the council will appoint two. Day said he would like a member of the clergy to be on the committee. There are also representatives of the fire and police departments as well as the building inspector on the committee. (After the vote Tuesday night, the mayor said he needed to call a meeting as soon as possible to appoint the committee.) • The pay of city dispatcher Janice Rogers was raised by the council to $9.08-per-hour. • Mayor Day reported that Mobile Hoist and Crane would be opening a new office in Thomasville. • The council appointed Juanita O'Bryant to the Nursing Home board. She will replace Helen Megginson, who resigned due to poor health. • Mayor Day reminded the council about the third annual Suppliers Conference Sept. 14 on the Alabama Southern campus. "This is going to be very much bigger than the previous two," he said. There are twice as many contractors confirmed.
In addition, the National Small Business of the Year (actually a Thomasville business) and the Minority Owned Small Business of the Year will be recognized.
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