Court Taking Decision Down to the Wire
The bid is for all the water attractions and control equipment and a 20-foot x 30-foot concrete pad, where the water features would be installed, and a 5 foot perimeter of concrete, for containing overspray. Rough design layout from Bluegrass Recreational Sales and Installation.
By Greg Wells
CCN–Editor
With a $199,270 proposal on the table, Cumberland County Fiscal Court decided last Friday to kick the can down the street, despite the warning that the offer was only good through the end of the month.
Johnny Cain with Bluegrass Recreational Sales and Installation brought in the bid for putting in a splash pad on the old Esther House site on N. Main St. and warned that due to U.S. tariff threats of 25% the end of March is the deadline for this price.
Installation would be done by the Danville company, but $96,285 of the bid was for the piping, spray heads, control valves and other mechanical parts, which are made in Canada.
He told the court if they committed to the project now the price was solid, and work could be completed in October.
Magistrate Lane Coach, District 2, said that the completion date was a problem. He suggested that if they couldn’t get the water park up and running when local children could enjoy it then maybe they should put off starting the project until later in the year.
He said that way they could have the park open next spring rather than opening right when they would need to winterize it.
Ricky Melton, the counties road supervisor, pointed out that regardless of when it was purchased it would have to be installed when the weather was appropriate for excavation and pouring large concrete pads, meaning not winter.
Cain said the delivery of the parts from Canada would be at least 5 to 6 weeks out but indicated that getting the order in before tariffs were put in place would prevent a 25% hike in the cost.
He said the absolute last day they could be certain of getting the order in without tariffs was the beginning of April, and the court indicated they would try to have a decision before then.
Kane also told the court they could proceed with the project by purchasing the materials, which could be stored with his company, or in the county barn, and then work could proceed whenever the court desired.
Magistrate Rondall Wray, District one, said the project was needed for the young people of Cumberland County. Cope agreed, saying they just needed it earlier in the year.
Bids the court did act on was one from Kevin Wilson Dozing, for $30,000 in labor and equipment usage, for replacing the Homer Grider bridge, washed away by spring storms this year.
Beaver Excavating had posted a $101,586 bid for labor and materials while Scot and Murphy of Bowling Green bid $285,400 for the project with the county providing the rock and concrete.
The high bid was for a completely redesigned and improved bridge.
The low bid also required the county to provide all materials. The county selected the low bid and discussed the best way and best timing to secure the needed epoxy-coated rebar and concrete to secure the metal tiles that remain in place.
Six mowing bids were submitted by three local companies for the contracts offered by the county. Michael Vibbert, Trevor Owsley and Ronald Garman were the bidders, with latter bidding on only one contract.
Vibbert and Owsley, were they winning bidders, with magistrates selecting the lowest bids for each of the six contracts.
In other action, the court approved County Clerk Bryan Morgan’s use of the basement office recently vacated.
County Judge-Executive Luke King explained that Morgan’s office needed additional storage space, adding that Morgan had said they would also move the fiscal court’s files into that area as well, cleaning up space for fiscal court.
Magistrates agreed to the proposal.
King also informed the court that a storage building adjacent to the county’s road equipment barn was available for sale, and the property owner indicated he would sell it to the county at a discount. King indicated he was not looking for movement on the information, just passing it along so that magistrates could look into it.
King also mentioned the distribution of weather radios March 26 and April 4, encouraging any county residence who had need of a radio to come down, limit one per household.
Magistrates also approved of the Cumberland County Soil Conservation District’s annual plan of work, as presented by board member Jeff Alexander.
The next scheduled meeting of the court is April 14, meaning a special session will be necessary if the court wishes to proceed with this splash pad before planned tariffs increase the price by 25%.
