fire station bid approved
By Arthur McLean Editor

A second round of bidding for work at Thomasville's fire station #2 has met with council approval.

The city has been working for many months to expand the fire station located at the corner of Old Hwy. 5 and Joe Davis Industrial Blvd.

Plans call for improvements to the station and an added fire truck bay, bringing the number of fire truck bays to three.

Bids were received on the project in August of 2007. The project was budgeted at $150,000. The lowest bid was from Assurance Service Inc. of Thomasville with $241,144. At the time, the council did not award the project and Mayor Sheldon Day asked to "value engineer" the building to save some money.

Several items were deleted from the building, including an entrance awning, and it was rebid. The bids received this time were lower, with Assurance Service again being the low bidder, this time coming in at $183,000.

The council at the request of the mayor approved awarding the project to Assurance.

The council also awarded a $5,000 advance on the fire department's budget to help the department meet its current financial needs.

Day blamed the shortfall on Boise Paper's tax dispute. "They should at least pay what they've been paying," Day said. "The vast majority of that goes to schools and fire departments."

Day reported to the council that a major water leak at the old Linden Lumber property caused the loss of nearly 1 million gallons of water over the weekend. "We looked for seven hours before we could find it," Day said. "Next time, we'll start shutting off parts of the city to isolate these major problems sooner."

Day said the city's water supply was nearly back to normal.

In other business, the council changed the next meeting date to Feb. 4 due to Day, city attorney Edmon McKinley and Development and Planning Director Debra Fox going to Washington to meet with representatives.

The council put off voting on a pay raise for the mayor and the council until its next meeting. Any pay raise would go into effect after the next municipal election.

Day reported that he expects Sonic to close on its property within the week, and that Fox was working with a number of interested parties on the speculative building the city has under construction, as well as the Simplex Hilton building.

Day and Fox will also be the only representatives at an industry alliance meeting to be held in Huntsville.

The council voted to hire Jerome Dixon to the city's road department, and agreed to post a listing internally for an investigator at the police department and an outside posting seeking a patrol officer.

The council approved reinstating its health care authority, and set new expiration dates for the terms of the authority's members.

Reader Comments

No comments have been posted. Be the first!

Other Stories With Comments:
Article	Comments
Taking Names and Keeping Score	1
Frances Nichols passes at 91	1
Bryant is a contestant in Ms. Senior Alabama Pageant	1
Dunagans to celebrate golden anniversary	1