The Elbert County Board of Commissioners (BOC) unanimously approved a motion for County Administrator Bob Thomas to seek bids for repaving Corinth Church Road and Middleton Church Road as part of the 2019 LMIG (Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant) project paving list.
According to Thomas, Corinth Church Road is the first priority for repaving and will be paved in it’s entirety.
“It’s a little over three miles and it’s in pretty bad shape,” he said.
Middleton Church Road is a project the county started last year and it will be paved from Pearl Mill Road to Highway 72, according to Thomas.
Thomas estimates that the project will cost about $1 million for the combined five to six miles to be repaved, but is optimistic that the county can get a bid for a lower price.
Thomas said that the county will receive $646,000 through LMIG funds which the county will match 30 percent at $193,800.
With the total amount for the project coming in at $839,800, the county is just shy of the estimated $1 million for the project.
“Thankfully the citizens approved the (Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) … there’s a lot of cost that goes into roadway improvement,” Thomas commented.
The BOC also approved a motion to accept a low bid from Albica Computers for an analysis of information technology regarding software protection and further direction on the county’s needs for security purposes.
“The bid was to come in, take inventory of what we’ve got and then make some recommendations about where we need to go from here, what do we need that we don’t have and how can we set it up to where it will give us the highest level of protection possible,” Thomas said.
More spending approved by the county during Monday’s regularly scheduled session were two bush hog mowers for the road department at a total of $28,178 and a county employee health plan for $793,500 for medical coverage and $26,863 for dental coverage.
The board also approved a bid for property and liability insurance at annual cost of $215,371.
The county will reopen bids for the roof replacement of the old Train Depot from the April meeting after the previous low bidder declined to contract for the replacement roof.
The board also approved a bid to replace and paint the fascia boards on the old Train Depot for $7,300.
The BOC unanimously approved a revision to a resolution regarding the county gravel policy.
According to Chairman Lee Vaughn, the motion “gets the county in line” with what they’ve already been doing.
The board failed to carry a motion to move forward with a proposal from ABM Solutions for installing energy systems for certain county buildings that will reduce energy consumption and provide a revenue neutral payback.
“The program we talked about was a little over $1 million dollars, which includes LED lighting in several buildings, heating and air conditioning, a central energy management system which ties all the thermostats together and some other things,” said Thomas.
In request from the Department of Behavioral Health and Development Disabilities Region 2 Advisory Council, the county must appoint a resident to serve on the council.
“It’s been several years since we’ve had anybody from Elberton represented on this council, so it’d be nice to do so,” said Vaughn.
Those interested should contact their commissioner or Thomas.
The appointment will be a three-year-old with six meetings annually.