City adds to property on Highway 24

The City of Russellville’s property on Highway 24 is growing, as the city accepted two acres at its Monday meeting.

The Frank F. Seay estate sits adjacent to property the city already owns, and Russellville Mayor David Grissom said the property was given to the city.

“This is something the family wanted to give us, so we are very thankful to them,” Grissom said.

There is nothing located on the portion of land the city owns, but it is being considered as a location for future projects, such as the new splash pad.

In other business, the city council also approved a contract with the Franklin County Coroner’s Office and authorized a payment to the Municipal Workers Compensation Fund in the amount of $52,913.

Although it was not on the agenda or discussed at the meeting, Councilman David Palmer told his fellow councilmen to start thinking about the road paving projects the city is about to begin and which roads they would like paved.

Palmer said if the city begins the projects in February or March, they will receive a better price than if they work on it later in the year.

Paving projects will be funded from a combination of money the city received from the new fuel tax and a bond the city took out for a total of around $1.5 million.

Palmer said the amount of road that can be paved depends which roads the council chooses and the state of those roads, but he anticipates about 25 miles of road can be paved through this project.

“We have 100 miles worth of road in Russellville, so if we are able to re-pave 25 percent of those, that’s huge,” Palmer said.

Palmer said eight years ago the council approved a re-paving project that re-paved about 25 percent of the roads at that time.

Although some of the roads that were included in that paving project need new repair, Palmer said he is hopeful the city council will be able to fix a lot of the road issues in the city.

There is no date yet scheduled for the paving project to go on the city council agenda, but Palmer said he hopes to get it added as soon as possible.