Arab to negotiate fees on $500,000 grant for downtown The city of Arab has been awarded a federal grant of $400,000 to make the downtown area more handicap accessible. The project is expected to take up to two years. It got off to a slow start right off the bat at Monday night’s city council meeting when Councilman Brian Bishop made a motion to table a contract with engineering firm Goodwyn, Mills and Caewood for its services. The cost of the contract was 12 percent of the project, about $74,000, which can’t be paid from grant funds. Bishop said he felt the fee was too high. His motion was to table the contract and authorize Mayor Bob Joslin to negotiate with the firm to try to get the fee reduced. “I have negotiated similar contracts in my job (Boaz Board of Education), and we’ve gotten them down to 6.5 percent,” Bishop sad. The motion passed, and Joslin will negotiate the fee. The funding is through a Transportation Alternatives Project grant agreement through the Alabama Department of Transportation. The federal government will provide $400,000 with the city’s cost to be $100,000. Joslin said numerous non-compliant ADA (American Disabilities Act) issues downtown will be addressed. “The crosswalks don’t always match up. Sometimes a person can get on the walk on one side but can’t get back up on the sidewalk on the other side,” he said. “There’s some sidewalk repair to do and lighting too.” Joslin said he has met with downtown merchants about the work and will continue to meet with them about it. Some of the work could include repairing and updating sidewalks, adding steps to high sidewalks, adding wheelchair ramps in strategic locations, adding lighting to aid pedestrian traffic and adding curbs and gutters. Some minor drainage issues could also be addressed, Joslin said. “This project will take a while because the plans that are approved for the scope of work must be submitted to (Alabama Department of Transportation) for approval,” he said. “Downtown projects can be challenging, too, and time consuming because of the tightness of space there.”
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 13:56:22 +0000
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