Singletary Road boxed culvert repair approved

The Grady County Commission accepted the low bid of $47,050 for the repair of a box culvert on Singletary Road, but Grady County’s road superintendent, Stanley Elkins, says the cost could increase once the work begins.

Elkins said that water has been coming up under the box culvert and there could be a cavity underneath it that could be either very small or large enough “to drive a school bus” into.

“They really won’t know until they bust a hole in the bottom of it and see,” Elkins said. The cavity, no matter how large or small will be filled with concrete.

The low bidder was Southern Concrete with the only other bidder being Wilkes Construction, which bid $60,000.

Commission Chairman Keith Moye asked when the work would begin and Elkins said he would have to report back. However, the work can be completed without having to close the road, according to the road superintendent.

Commissioners heard concerns regarding the county road department from Eddie Stuckey, a concerned citizen who recently spoke out on the need, in his opinion, for better training for motograder operators.

Stuckey urged the commission to get out of road building and stick to road maintenance. Stuckey also stressed the importance of having regular schedules for road maintenance and to implement a complaint form system similar to that used by the state. The concerned citizen questioned the work county crews have done on State Park Road and Johnson Road.

In other business, the board:

Heard an update on the transition from Rumbles to Blough Tech for IT services from the county administrator. Johnson praised the work of Blough Tech,  but also noted that the local firm had identified some equipment that would need to be replaced.

Heard a report from Johnson on the county’s revamped website. The administrator said he is hopeful that the new site will go live in two weeks or less.