Commission approves bid for courthouse elevator maintenance

In its regular meeting March 20, the Franklin County Commission approved a bid from Mowrey Elevator for $71,500 as the lowest responsible bidder for carrying out the commission’s previously-approved plan for maintenance of the courthouse elevator, a plan which was amended during the commission’s Jan. 17 meeting.

In mid-December the commission voted in favor of authorizing a purchase order for repairs to the elevator. Originally expected to be $53,000, the cost had come in under $49,000, which Commission Chairman Barry Moore explained was under the bid law – therefore not requiring the work to be bid out.

A month later, however, at the January work session, Moore explained the need to solicit bids after all, with the maintenance cost coming in at more than $50,000, putting it above the bid law, because a necessary computer part was not included in the original repair estimate.

In the January meeting, Moore said Bill Cheatham, courthouse maintenance supervisor, had been “going back and forth” with two companies, Mowrey Elevator and Bagby, regarding the repairs, which involve tying in a certified alarm or alarm system with the electrics in the elevator.

“I talked to our state inspectors,” Cheatham said. “We’re supposed to coordinate with them as far as the rules and guidelines on what we have to have.”

The other two bids received were from Bagby Elevator, which included several exclusions, for $93,590 and Team Elevator for $88,900.

Franklin County administrator Leah Mansell reported Cheatham said the work could be done in June or early July, when Moore said the court system slows down, thereby posing less of an inconvenience.

Moore said this has been an ongoing project since October 2022.

OTHER BUSINESS

In other business the commission approved:

• • the revenue department’s hiring of Jennifer Mansell as property clerk.
• • advertisement for a deputy to fill Jason Holcomb’s position at the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.
• • hiring of Sarah Kimbrough as part-time, as-needed corrections officer/dispatcher, effective March 6.
• • hiring of Alexis Browning as permanent corrections officer/dispatcher effective March 8.
• • reappointment of director/county archivist Chris Ozbirn.
• • appointment of Mike Mayfield to the Riverbend Board of Directors.
• • purchase of weather radios in the amount of $10,015.45, to be fully reimbursed by the Northwest Alabama RC&D Council.