By B. KAY RICHTER
NEA Town Courier
Assistant Editor
The Blytheville city council and Finance committee held an emergency meeting on Monday at the Justice Complex to adopt an ordinance that would make repairs along Byrum Road.
The first resolution to be approved was an amendment to the budget which granted the repair costs of $51,380. According to Mayor Melisa Logan, these funds would come out of the general reserve fund.
The second ordinance adopted by the Blytheville council was to waive the competitive bidding process for the Byrum Road project.
"There is an immediate need to make repairs and extend the asphalt overlay from the stopping point of construction on Byrum Road to the intersection at Highway 61," the ordinance read.
"Jowers General Contracting, Inc. specializes in this type of repair work, therefore taking bids is neither feasible nor practical since the work needs to be completed as soon as possible so as not to interfere with Blytheville Primary School traffic," the ordinance continued.
Council members and the mayor wanted to expedite the process for the repairs due to Blytheville Primary's school traffic which is slated to begin in August.
According to council documents, the Byrum Road project will extend the two inches asphalt overlay from the stopping point of construction to the intersection at Highway 61. The area includes 2,222 square yards. The deteriorated areas of the road are scheduled to be milled to four inches and then overlayed with four inches of base coat. All termination points will be feathered in.
The project was unanimously approved by the council members excluding Jacquin Benson Jr., and Barbara McAdoo who were absent from the meeting.