HANCEVILLE, Ala. – Hanceville Mayor Kenneth Nail on Thursday evening was happy to report to the city council that the City’s recently completed streetscape project came in at $20,040.31. A few last expenses are expected to add at least $500, but less than $1,000, to the total. The council had allotted approximately $24,000 for the project, so Nail was able to announce that the City had saved more than $3,000, but that wasn’t the big number.
When Hanceville applied for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for the project, an estimate on the development of downtown sidewalks and lighting along Church Street from Commercial Avenue to Alabama Highway 91 totaled $298,073. After the City was turned down for the grant, officials and the Hanceville Public Works Department decided to figure out how much it would cost to do it themselves before re-applying for the grant. What they found was astounding.
Nail found that the City could purchase, finish and wire decorative lamp posts, priced in the estimate at more than $6,000 each, for less than $1,000 each. He and the Public Works Department could do much of the engineering “in-house,” saving even more on an expense that would not have been covered by the grant.
Since the CDBG grant would have required Hanceville to chip in 20 percent of the cost, the City did the project on its own for less than half than its required contribution would have been with the grant.
Nail commented, “The grant, we got turned down. Thank the Lord we got turned down!”
After the council meeting, Nail told The Tribune, “I’m glad we were able to save the taxpayers money. That’s what we’re going to continue to do.”
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