Commission approves bid for ramps at voting location

Published 11:44 am Tuesday, May 13, 2014

The Marengo County Commission approved a request by Probate Judge Laurie Hall to have C&B Home Repair to build two railed ramps at the new district five voting location.

The building was placed across the street from the Marengo County Courthouse to better accommodate voters and poll workers during the elections, and Hall said time is running out to have the ramps built onto the building.

“We have three weeks,” she said. “We just have to get something done.”

Email newsletter signup

The commission approved a bid of $1,650 to have the ramps built onto the building.

During Tuesday morning’s meeting, the commission also approved a contract change order for the Small Business Incubator.

There were lights added to the large conference room in the former Linden armory, and carpet was added to three rooms in the building, totaling $1,654. The cost of the carpet, $1,125, will be reimbursed to the county.

In other business, the commission reappointed Jean Norwood and Cupidean Davis to the library board as requested by Marengo County Library Director Joyce Morgan.

“Joyce Morgan said these two board members have been great assets to her on the board, and she would like to keep them on as members,” said Commissioner Michael Thompson.

The commission also heard from Sandra Wright, a veteran’s service officer with the Department of Veteran’s Affairs in Linden, about vacant space in the county annex building.

“We currently share an office with the driver’s license division and the Community Action Agency,” Wright said. “We’re required to have an open door, but there is a lot of sensitive information discussed in our office. There is always a lot of commotion in the lobby with the driver’s licenses with small children, as well as teenagers getting their licenses. It can be uncomfortable for the veterans.”

The commission said they would look at the vacant offices and see if they could make any changes to help the veterans.

“We’ll look at it and reevaluate the space we have,” said Commissioner Dan England.

In other business, the commission heard comments from the public about the possible closure of Deep Creek Road, as well as maintenance issues on County Road 44 and Mount Canaan Church Road.

William Bradley Smith and Charles Smith addressed the commission about Deep Creek Road, where they own a majority of the property that is around the road. They want the road to be closed because a lot of trash gets tossed on the road that ends up in the creeks below the road. Charles Smith said there are two other property owners on the road that have signed a petition to get the road closed. The commission said they would look at the road and evaluate the request.

Charlie Hackworth addressed the commission about County Road 44 and Mount Canaan Church Road. He said on County Road 44, there is nowhere for the water to run after it rains, and that the pipes are too small to handle the water. As for Mount Canaan Church Road, Hackworth said the pipes are in the wrong place and that every time it rains, the road washes out. The commission said they would get the roads looked at and see what needed to be done.

In other business, the commission took the following action:

•Approved two resolutions from county engineer Ken Atkins to be able to secure funds to complete work on County Road 44 and County Road 30 when the RAMP project is completed

•Approved a letter of support for West Alabama Public Transportation that will keep them as a Section 5311 Provider. Section 5311 is the Rural Transit Assistance Program, and it provides source of funding to assist in the design and implementation of training and technical assistance projects and other support services tailored to meet the needs of transit operators in nonurbanized areas.

•Gave permission to the Marengo County Sheriff’s Department to apply for the COPS Hiring Program, which is a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. The grant pays 75 percent of a deputy’s salary over a three-year term, leaving 25 percent to be paid by the county.

•Approved a change in base pay for the road department to allow raises to occur quicker