Carrollton opts out of applying for another grant
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By Carmen Ensinger
Carrollton City Council decided not to seek another Safe Routes to School Grant. The city received a $200,000 SRTS grant two years ago and the work was just completed this summer.
Benton and Associates Engineer Jaime Headon addressed the council about the opportunity that was once again available to the city.
“We wanted to bring any of these opportunities to your attention for consideration,” Headon said. “I think the thought process was that in the last grant we had to cut down the project to have it come in under budget and our thought was let’s finish it.”
Headon said if the city wanted to just do the part that didn’t get done in the previous grant, it would cost around $235,000. If the city wanted to add to it, the cost could go up to $310,000. The city’s share of the construction in the first scenario would be $70,000 and in the second between $90 and $105,000.
Motor Fuel Tax funds could be used but Headon said it would take away from the city’s oil and chip program. This year’s SRTS program has $12 million dedicated to it with the total grant amount to any entity capped at $250,000. This amounts to around 48 grants awarded this year. He also said the State has had the grants for the past several years so chances are the opportunity would be available next year as well.
Carrollton Mayor Mike Snyder said he spoke with the Finance Committee prior to the council meeting.
“After speaking with the committee, they feel, at this time, we should pass on this grant,” Snyder said. “We have our feet in enough right now with four big projects going on right now. But we appreciate you keeping up with all the grants that are out there for us.”
Headon also presented the council with the third pay request on the water tower project in the amount of $151,828.93.
He also gave an update on the progress of the project.
“The foundation is almost complete and the steel should be arriving soon,” Headon said. “It will be placed over by the ballfield and trucked over as it is needed. Overall, the project is about 22 percent completed and on schedule.”
Headon went on to say that the water tower should be completed in the spring of 2022 and go online sometime in the summer.
Carrollton Police Chief Mike McCartney requested a Code 3 lightbar for the new 2020 Dodge police car.
“When we purchased this car, it was for daytime use only,” McCartney said. “Now that we have a full staff, we are using it at night too. When you turn the lights on, the glare on the windshield makes it impossible to see out.”
McCartney said when they were making a mutual aid run at night to White Hall, they had to run with their lights off because they couldn’t see out of the windshield because of the glare.
“The guy who sold us the light package said they would not be good at night,” he said. “It is a safety issue at this point.”
The council approved the purchase of the light bar from Global GTS in Jacksonville at a cost of $1,475.
The Personnel Committee had two special meetings where the conducted interviews to hire a new public works department employee. Larry Gillingham, head of the Personnel Committee, said they originally had four applications, but one dropped out because he didn’t possess a CDL license.
“The other three came and we interviewed them all, but one of them didn’t have a CDL, which was one of the requirements published in the paper, so he was disqualified, so we had two other candidates,” he said. “We selected a man who has a good background in construction experience and operating various equipment. He has a good work ethic and I think he will be a good influence on our street department. He has a little age on him, but that is not all bad. We were 100 percent in agreement and we stand behind our recommendation of Gene Devining for the open position in the Public Works Department.”
When it came to a vote, all of the aldermen voted yes, except for Alderman Tim Reif who voted “present”.
Mayor Snyder and the entire council thanked City Clerk Donna Nonnemann for the work she had done to make the necessary changes to update the city’s codification book.
“I would like to say thank you to our city clerk who has gone above and beyond on this project,” Snyder said. “She has gone above and beyond and dedicated herself to see this project through to completion and has done an awesome job. This was started several years ago, she saw it sitting on the shelf, she found it and got it done.”
Nonnemann had equally kind words towards the council.
“The main thing was we had a team effort,” she said. “We had input from everyone and then the mayor and I went through it and summarized things. By the time we send it in we will be well over 800 pages. I think this is a good example of what can be accomplished with leadership and team effort.”
