HANCEVILLE – The City of Hanceville called a special city council meeting for Thursday, May 19 to discuss the repaving plan for Hopewell Road near Section Line Road. Council members Charles Wilson, Greg Baker, Kim Brown and Jimmy Sawyer, along with Mayor Kenneth Nail, City Attorney Dan Willingham and City Clerk Tania Wilcox were on hand for the 6:30 p.m. meeting, with only Councilman Doug Batemon absent.
Having originally proposed that Hanceville be responsible for digging out the area to be repaired and the Cullman County Commission take the lead on repaving the area, Nail had to concede to the County, who wished to be responsible for the opposite. Nail has worked extensively with Cullman County Engineer John Lang, the Cullman County Road Department and Associate County Commissioner Kerry Watson to come to an agreement on the much-needed repairs.
Scheduled by the County to begin Monday, May 23, the work will start with digging out the bad parts of the road to a depth of 3 feet. At this point the area will be filled with crusher run, a specialized construction-grade gravel. Wilson and Baker spoke to the importance of ensuring the County compacts the area with a vibrating compactor to ensure proper settling of the materials.
Nail communicated multiple times with the county road department supervisor on speaker phone during the meeting to get the most accurate details for the council to make an informed vote.
Weather-permitting, the City of Hanceville will be able to pave the road in the following days by laying 1.5 inches of asphalt then rolling it, followed by another 1.5 inches with a final roll bringing the total depth of asphalt to 3 inches.
Slated to perform the paving on the Hopewell Road project is Richard Cooper Asphalt Paving Company, who was the only bid provider for last week’s Forest Drive project; that bid was rejected and the project reopened for bidding to allow other contractors a chance to submit their bids. Baker said that, in the future, he would prefer to see itemized bids instead of lump sums.
The council voted and approved Cooper’s bid for the Hopewell Road project for $7,900. The project should be completed, weather-permitting, next week.
