Caraway City Council discussed minimal agenda topics during their somewhat abbreviated meeting Thursday evening. One topic of importance was the necessary street repair within the city.
Mayor Barry Riley informed the board about a recent road grant that was applied for.
“We did not receive the grant money for the streets, so we definitely need to figure out when we’re going to pave Tennessee Street. We’ve entertained the idea for some time, now it’s time to do something about it,” Riley said. “I haven’t talked to Ed or Eugene yet, so I don’t know if they will be in this area of the county to do the job...so I guess my question is, do you guys want me to start taking bids for this job. We have about $108,000.01 in sales tax and I’m thinking this will cost us roughly $35,000 to $40,000 to complete.”
Councilman Bo James brought the interesting notion to mill the street before overlaying it.
“I think that it’s a good idea to go ahead and overlay Tennessee Street, but I think that we need to mill it first," James said. "You already have a few spots of asphalt on that street and if we don’t mill it first, we’re going to have issues once that asphalt settles once it’s laid. There’s going to be a bump or crack where the old and new asphalt meets. If we don’t mill it first, it may not happen immediately, but it will further down the road and that could be costlier for us.”
Ultimately, the board voted unanimously to start receiving bids for both the milling and overlaying of Tennessee Street.
Also discussed was the payment of services rendered to the baseball field for the Parks Program.
“We initially had Caleb do a job for us on the field and we had more individuals who also performed duties for us, so what I propose is we pay each one of them $200 for their services and it will come out of the Park Commission Fund,” Riley said. “This is just a method that we’ve used this year, but I’m certain we will be able to find another way that works better for everyone next year.”
The board voted unanimously to pay Caleb Wall, Bo James and Lisa Anderson for their services rendered regarding the baseball field.
In other business:
*Riley praised the citizens of Caraway for having a safe and eventful 4th of July holiday.
*Riley also informed the board the city will be moving forward with the cleaning ordinance for the city. Because the Mayor wants the entrances of Caraway to look clean, several properties have been cited and are expected to comply within a timely manner.
*Councilman Bo James proposed the city of Caraway start looking for a new patrol vehicle for the police force. One of the patrol vehicles currently has roughly 108,000 miles on it and is experiencing front-end issues. The board voted unanimously to start searching for a unit.