By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Atmore City Council members accepted during their Monday, June 8, meeting the low bid for a new city shop. They also approved the emergency replacement of the aging and often-patched roof on the city hall auditorium.
The amount of the low bid, submitted by Atmore-based Triptek Construction, was not announced, but estimates are that the new Streets & Sanitation Department headquarters, a 50-feet by 136-feet metal building with new access points and more parking for employees, will cost in excess of $950,000.
“The good thing about it is the two lowest bidders are both local,” said Mayor Jim Staff, noting that Rolin Construction’s bid was next-lowest after Triptek.
The measure was approved by a 4-0 vote, with District 3’s Chris Walker, a vice-president at United Bank, abstaining. United Bank is providing the financing for the project.
With that issue taken care of, Staff pointed upward to the auditorium’s ceiling.
“If y’all will look up, you’ll see what fell out of the ceiling this morning,” the mayor said of a gaping hole where a ceiling tile had been. “We got a picture from the satellite where it has been patched before — it looks like about 100 patches —so we’re going to have to put a roof on it this time.
The white-membrane roof will be installed by Ronnie Edgeworth at a cost of $21,000. The vote was unanimous to move forward on the project.
Asked by District 4’s Susan Smith if the city would have to follow competitive bid guidelines, Staff explained that the declaration of an emergency removes the bid requirement.
In the only other business conducted by the council, all five members approved the city’s participation in the statewide Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday, which is scheduled for the weekend of July 17.
Before the meeting was adjourned, Smith asked the mayor if Dr. Ira Harvey, who conducted the feasibility study on a potential city school system, had notified city officials as to when he would be in town to explain the study and answer questions about it.
“He hasn’t told us yet when he would be out of the coronavirus situation,” Staff said. “We’re still waiting on him.”