SportsPlex Road paving bid approved by council

By James Phillips

The Demopolis City Council approved a bid at its Aug. 15 meeting for paving to be done on SportsPlex Road.

The city recently received four bids on the project with a bid for $238,000 from Pine City Contracting approved after discussing the project with Civil Southeast Engineering Group.

The project is being paid for completely with grant funding with no match needed from the city. It will resurface SportsPlex Road from US Highway 43 to Diamond Loop/Field of Dreams Drive, which is one mile of roadway.

“We received the grant money a while back and have finished the bid process. Now we can move forward and finish the project,” Mayor Woody Collins said.

In other action from the Aug. 15 meeting, the council also voted to allow the Demopolis Area Chamber of Commerce to use the Demopolis City Landing as an entertainment zone to host “Rockin’ on the River: The Encore” on Friday, Sept. 6.

The event will feature live music and food trucks and will take place from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Musical acts for the night include Sparrow Broughton and Ted Hefko & The Thousandsires.

“If you haven’t been to one of these concerts, I would recommend going,” Collins said. “It’s a great venue and they do a really good job. I’ve been impressed.”

During comments by council members, District 3 Councilman David McCants asked how to improve communication when the city receives grant funding, but a project goes over estimated costs.

“This is happening mighty regular and we don’t know about it,” he said.

“We do the best we can with the information that we are given from day to day, and we try hard,” Collins said. “I wish I could answer point blank, but I’m not exactly sure what else I can tell you about that.”

Jim Stanford, council member for District 5, said the city needs to do whatever possible to inform council members about any unforeseen overages on projects as soon as possible.

“I think the concern is the amount of money overages that we are running into that are hitting into the coffers. That’s concerning,” Stanford said.

Collins said the council members’ points were taken and he would see what could be done to ease their concerns.

The Demopolis City Council will meet again on Thursday, Sept. 5.

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