Special session by Fiscal Court deals with issues
From the left are Randall Wray, D1 Magistrate; Lane Cope, D2 Magistrate; County Judge-Executive Luke King; Larry Anderson, D3 Magistrate; County Attorney Coleman Hurt. The men came in for an 8am special called meeting last Friday to address, among other things, the bids for the proposed County Splash-pad. Though they agreed it was not an effort to delay the project until it died, they did reject the received bids. King pointed out that the original plan, after rejecting the first bid last spring, was to decide on a bid in November to begin construction in December, which is still a possibility. PHOTO | Greg Wells
By Greg Wells
CCN—Editor
Cumberland County Fiscal Court met last Friday morning to address the bids received for a Cumberland County Splash-pad and a Community Pavilion project; county road paperwork and discussions concerning the consideration of rock extraction site permits.
Existing rock permits were re-approved, and several new locations were added.
The court approved an extension of the deadline for corrections to the county Road system. County Judge-Executive Luke King explained that County Road to Supervisor Ricky Melton had advised him at the regular meeting earlier in the week that there were over 50 roads, not on the state’s list of approved roads, for which affidavits had not yet been provided.
Those affidavits are required to add these roads to the county road system, as they attest to those roads having been maintained by the county for at least 15 years.
King said that the roads in question were considered by the county’s road department to have been accepted as county roads, but there was no official paperwork or proof in the minutes of previous meetings to back up that position.
He added that this is a one-time opportunity to correct the situation. He has stressed repeatedly in the past that any roads that are not included in this list to the state, with accompanying signed affidavits from adjacent landowners, will not be maintained, plowed, or otherwise tended to by county workers going forward.
Magistrates with roads on Milton’s list said they would get with Melton to sort the matter out and get back with King.
When it came to the Splash-pad and associated buildings, the court heard from one of the bidders with regard to why they structured their bid as they did.
Joe Ender, with Apex Design Group, explained that they had bid to install a recirculating water system to accommodate the high-flow water features they had included in their design. He clarified that they have low-flow systems which could be installed with a system that did not recirculate water if that was what was desired.
Ender explained that the recirculating system increased the cost of their bid by approximately $100,000.
King also pointed out that both bids submitted had restroom facilities which were, in his and other magistrates’ opinions, far more than what was needed.
In the end, a motion passed that rejected all bids submitted, and the court agreed to continue discussions with the bidders on exactly what was wanted by the county.
With it being a special-called meeting, no additional matters could legally be discussed, and the meeting adjourned.
