Featured image: The Geraldine City Council voted late Monday to accept grant money to build the city it’s own sewer system.
By Tyler Pruett, Managing Editor
GERALDINE, Ala.— In Monday night’s regularly scheduled council meeting, the Geraldine Town Council voted to move forward on a construction project to provide the town with it’s own sewer system.
Adam Lea, with LADD Engineering, began the meeting by giving a detailed report on the process and answered questions from the council or concerned citizens. Lea informed the council that they had been approved for additional grant money towards the project. This raised the amount to $2,618,000 in grant money in addition to a loan of $817,000.
The DeKalb County Board of Education contributed $125,000 to the project to raise the total sum. A soil test by Rural Development rated the soil for the proposed site to be adequate. Lea also reported that the bidding for the project would be extended until August 7. The council then decided to table the issue of bidding until next week for further discussion.
“I mean we’re not talking about thousands of dollars, we’re talking about millions. This is a big step,” said Councilman Larry Lingerfelt.
“I think we need to plan on meeting again next week to discuss it further,” said Mayor Chuck Ables.
The council decided to meet Monday, July 18 at 5 p.m. to discuss the sewer project further.
The town is also moving forward on a proposed sidewalk from the library to the school. The town had recently received grant money from ALDOT to undergo the project.
“We’re getting bids for the new sidewalk in the next couple of days,” Ables said.
After assigning election officers for the upcoming municipal elections, the town addressed the issue of Angela Camp. Camp had planned a boutique in her home within the city limits of Geraldine. A city ordinance only allowed her to have a sign for her business affixed to her house and it must be no larger than 12 inches x 12 inches.
Camp made the case that since her house was far off the road, the size allowable was insufficient for potential customers to see from the roadway. The council voted to allow the ordnance to be amended to allow Camp a larger sign for her business.
After reading aloud the resolution, the council voted to adopt Resolution 2016-07-11B, which was to accept the grant money from Rural Development for the town’s sewer project.
The council will meet again next week on Monday, July 18, at 5 p.m. to further discuss the sewer project. The next regularly scheduled council meeting will be on Monday, August 1, with the work session beginning at 4:30 p.m. and the council meeting at 5 pm.
Work in a sewer involves being in confined spaces for long periods of time; as such, safety in confined spaces training should be available to workers entering such places.
