DODGE CITY, Ala. – The Dodge City Town Council Thursday night received final costs for the CR 216 – Bridge Culvert Replacement Project it has been working on since May. In November, the council voted to take out a five-year loan for $150,000 with an interest rate of 3.5% from Peoples Bank. At this month’s meeting, it received the actual costs from Carcel & G Construction, LLC and McGehee Engineering. The original bid from Carcel was $318,531, with the actual cost being $297,288.61, a $21,242.39 difference. The original estimate from McGehee was $47,780, with the actual cost being $25,903.38, a difference of $21,876.62. With the differences from the estimates combined, the Town is saving a total of $43,119.01. The council voted to use that money to pay off a portion of the $150,000 loan with Peoples Bank.
The project will see the replacement of the drainage structure under County Road 216/Beech Grove Road at Simpson Creek. The existing bridge culvert will be replaced with a triple barrel 10”x5” box culvert. A slight adjustment will be made to the alignment of the stream flowing from the north on the east side of County Road 216. It will also see temporary construction of an easement and optional drainage easements from property owners affected by the construction.
In other business, the council voted to participate in the upcoming Severe Weather Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday, which will be Friday, Feb. 21, 2020 at 12:01 a.m. until Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020 at midnight.
Mayor Tawana Canada notified the council that the family of the late Naomi Johnson approached the Town to discuss donating land to be part of Perry Ray Park, in hopes of donating the land in Johnson’s name. The Town’s attorney Hugh Harris recommended the council find out who in the family can deed the land over, then pass a resolution to accept the land. The council, under Harris’s recommendation, passed a resolution to accept the land.
The council then suspended the rules to pass an Employee Exemplary Performance Monetary Award for Town employees. The employees who received the awards were Vicki Ogletree ($300) and Barry Walling, Shane Coller and Paula Crank ($150).
Canada then took a moment to speak about Dodge City’s Christmas in the Park event.
“We had more visitors in our first two nights than we had all of last year,” she smiled. “It’s great, we ran out of everything we had, and we had to buy more!”
Christmas in the Park takes place at Perry Ray Park, 120 Howard Circle, where children can have cookies and hot chocolate with Santa. The remaining dates are Saturday, Dec. 14; Friday, Dec. 20; and Saturday, Dec. 21 from 6-9 p.m. Each child also receives a free gift.
Canada said Dodge City’s Girl Scout Troop #20613 donated 272 items to the town’s Little Food Pantry.
The Dodge City Town Council meets on the second Thursday of each month at Dodge City Town Hall at 6 p.m. The next regularly scheduled meeting is Jan. 9, 2020.
Copyright 2019 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
