County to use sales tax proceeds rather than state funds to repair culvert
Grady County commissioners decided Tuesday night to ignore a recommendation of the county administrator and instead use Special Purpose Local Options Sales Tax proceeds to make needed repairs to a culvert on Noles Road.
Grady County Administrator Carlos Tobar had recommended using 2014 Local Maintenance Improvement Grant (LMIG) funds to pay for the repairs.
According to county records, the board of commissioners voted on Oct. 7, 2014 to apply all of its 2014 LMIG allocation to Tired Creek Lake road building projects.
The Noles Road culvert repair project was not included in the county’s LMIG project application.
When questioned by The Messenger how the LMIG funds could be diverted to the Noles Road project, Tobar said the requirements for LMIG are “not very stringent.”
The administrator said he had talked with Georgia Department of Transportation officials and he was told all he had to do was submit a revised work plan.
Tobar did not include an explanation of the process in his memo to commissioners, and on Tuesday night he admitted the revised plan had not been drafted or submitted to the D.O.T. for its approval.
Commissioner Charles Norton asked, since the 2014 LMIG money had been earmarked for Tired Creek Lake Road building why the Noles Road culvert repairs could not be paid for with 2008 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax proceeds.
“That would keep the LMIG clean and eliminate any questions. It would also cut out some of the paper work,” Norton said.
“It would make it a lot simpler,” Commissioner Elwyn Childs added.
The board voted unanimously to use the 2008 SPLOST funds to pay Southern Concrete $59,200 for the culvert repairs on Noles Road.
Commissioners took the recommendation of Road Superintendent Stanley Elkins to award the work to Southern Concrete even though Calmart, Inc. submitted a lower bid of $58,100.
Elkins said that based on Southern Concrete’s many years of experience on such projects he recommended going with the higher bid.
