By By Robert Blankenship, Staff Writer
Between the Escambia County Commission, the Town of Pollard and Representative Skippy White, Escambia County has an increase of funds available to help with resurfacing projects.
The county commission has secured an additional $200,000 that will be used for county road repaving needs. The commission agreed to put the money toward a sequence of roads that are in need of prepare. A list of those roads were approved at a meeting held Monday.
The source of the money was through Pollard Mayor Carolyn Lambeth and the Pollard Town Council. The town had received funding from the Alabama Department of Transportation for a resurfacing project. However, the mayor and council had acquired grant money for the project. The Escambia County Commission and Skippy White worked with Pollard in transferring the request of the funds from Pollard to Escambia County. The only request from the Town of Pollard was that one mile of repaving be done within their jurisdiction using the funds.
The county will use about $148,000 to pay the match for a grant that is being used for resurfacing Butler Street, which travels from Robinsonville north to Monroe County. Since the county has already paid that match, it will get that money back, freeing it to be used for the various resurfacing projects. According to County Administrator Tony Sanks, the county can get more with its own money than with ADOT money.
The sequence of roads approved for repairs in fiscal year 2002 include, respectively: Eddie Jackson Road; Kirkland Road, patch; Bay Hill Road; Franklin Lane; Whispering Pine Road; Town of Pollard, various town streets, Friendship Volunteer Fire Dept. and Powell Circle; Upper Creek Road, patch and level and Lambeth Volunteer Fire Dept.; Bell Fork Road; Work Area 3 Yard; Ewing Drive, patch and Green Road (Ewing Drive to four-way stop).
The commission will use the money to work on as many of these projects as possible.
The commission approved the paving agreement with Pollard by a unanimous vote.
Several commissioners expressed their gratitude to Pollard officials, White and other members of the commission.
Other items discussed by the commission were:
Pearl Stallworth, a resident of the Pea Ridge area, addressed the council regarding the condition of roads in that area. She said the last time roads in that area were asphalted were in 1989 and that the sand and dust has become hard to deal with.
White replied to Stallworth and said that funding was not available at this time for additional construction projects. He said there have been no new construction in eight years due to a bond issue that the county is paying off.
She also expressed the need for school zone signs near Pollard-McCall School.
White said he agreed that the signs should be posted and said he would help in getting the signs posted;
Robert Glick, a cotton farmer who lives northwest of Atmore, told the council that a neighbor has placed an above-ground sewer within a county right-of-way. Glick uses that right of way as a way to enter the back side of his field. County Engineer John Downing and County Attorney Thad Moore was instructed by the county to look into the matter;
Agreed to join with the Poarch Creek Indians and the City of Atmore in transferring control of County Road 1 to the state. The road connects State Road 21 to McCullough Crossroads and is the only county road that connects to Interstate 65. With the transfer, the state will become responsible for maintenance of the road;
proclaimed May Senior Citizen's Month;
proclaimed May 5 through 11 as Family Farm Week;
Awarded bids to Gulf States Uniforms of Montgomery and McCain's Uniforms of Birmingham to supply uniform needs for the sheriff's office and
Sanks reported to the commission that the public examiner's office will be completing a standard audit of the county this week and that so far there have been no problems.