Red Bay moving forward with sewer project
RED BAY – At Monday’s meeting, the Red Bay City Council voted to approve the low bid of $67,675 from C & J Contracting and Plumbing, Inc. out of Russellville to proceed with their sewer project for the city.
The council voted in February to designate a $100,000 line item grant they recently received from the state to go towards a sewer project that would help the city meet agreements made between the previous city administration and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management of improving the sewer system in the city.
According to Mayor Bobby Forsythe, this is a project the current city council has wanted to finish up for some time now and this grant will provide them with the means to do so.
“Every time we get a good rain, we have a sanitary sewer overflow on Highway 11 north,” Forsythe said during a February meeting. “We have to go through lots of paperwork to get that situation reported every time it happens, so hopefully this sewer line will get that problem fixed.”
The council is also hoping the new sewer line will help handle the extra volume added to the system when the city’s new industrial park is developed and functional.
As voted on earlier, any money that is left over once the sewer project is completed will be used for sidewalk repairs at Bay Tree Park.
In other business, the council addressed the following items:
• The council heard from local resident Theron McKinney who inquired about the land adjoining his property near 7th Street West. Mayor Forsythe said City Clerk Linda Holcomb was able to find a resolution from June 1967 vacating and anulling part of 6th Street West, but Forsythe told McKinney they would have to look into the issue further because of streets that had been renamed in the early 1990s.
• The council approved the appointment Mike Shewbart to the Education Board to fill a five-year vacant term, which will expire on Feb. 15, 2016
• The council approved city attorney Roger Bedford’s proposal to handle the Red Bay Water and Gas in lieu of tax issue.
• Mayor Forsythe and the rest of the council members expressed their sympathy and sadness at the passing of resident Tammy Underwood, who Forsythe called an “unsung hero” in the community.
