News
City agrees to help with water main costs
By Peggy Blackburn
Email this story |
Print this story
Wetumpka City Council members agreed Monday night to provide half of the funds requested by the Elmore County Board of Education to make water line and fire hydrant improvements near the Wetumpka Intermediate School campus. Mayor Jo Glenn and District 4 Councilman Robert Hankins recently told other council members the board had made the request for assistance after determining that existing infrastructure would not be sufficient to service the school when current construction on an addition is complete.
Wetumpka Intermediate, a fourth-sixth grade school, is in the process of being converted to Wetumpka Middle, a fifth-eighth grade school. One fire hydrant is now located close enough to the school’s buildings to provide water should the fire department be called to the site.
The expense of boring beneath Coosa River Parkway to install new water mains, adding new hydrants and associated engineering costs will amount to approximately $175,000, ac-cording to Hankins. He added that the Wetumpka Water Works and Sewer Board will pay engineering and related costs of about $25,000.
Some council members were visibly upset that city officials weren’t notified concerning potential problems or extra expenses before construction began.
“How long are we going to allow this city to be put in this position?” asked District 1 Councilman Ken Hammock. “It seems like we’re always approached after the fact and asked to bail people out.”
Tex Grier, the city’s building inspector, explained that the school board is not required to submit building plans to his department for approval.
“By law, they only have to have the approval of the state,” he said. “If the city had reviewed the plans, we would have reviewed the utilities also and discovered that they were insufficient.”
Hammock said he had misgivings about funding the expense, especially when it wasn’t a budgeted item.
“It gives me some heartburn to go along with this, but I’m willing to compromise this time and will agree to the city paying half up to $75,000,” he said. “But I think the city needs to send out some kind of official letter that, from now on, we have to be part of the planning if we’re going to be expected to pay any of the price.”
District 3 Councilman Kevin Walker voted against providing any funds for the project.
“They should have come to us before they got started,” he said. “At this point, I don’t think their lack of oversight should come back to be a burden on the backs of our citizens. The state should ultimately be held responsible since they approved the plans.”
The motion eventually passed by a 4-1 vote of the council. Members agreed for the city to pay one half of the cost of water main and hydrant improvements -- after the water board’s contribution and up to $75,000. The expenditure will be contingent on the board of education also paying half of the cost.
“The bottom line is this money needs to be spent to render the school safe,” said Hankins.
Tuesday morning, Superintendent of Education Dr. Jeff Langham said the board is grateful for any assistance.
“We are reviewing our construction budget relative to this matter,” he said. “The city has always been supportive of our schools and I appreciate the support they have given us.”
In other council business:
•Permission was given for purchase of a 2008 Impala for the police department at a cost of $14,500. The new car will replace one of the current investigator vehicles.
•Addition of the position of maintenance/construction worker in the public works department was approved.
•Authorization was given to enter a traffic signal maintenance agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation.
