Haleyville Council approves transportation plan

HALEYVILLE - Road repair was at the top of the agenda for the Haleyville City Council during their Aug. 19, meeting.
With the passage of the Rebuild Alabama Act in this year’s legistlative session - popularly known as the gas tax - all Alabama municipalities are required to adopt an annual transportation plan by Aug. 31, as well as create a separate bank account for the money they will receive from the additional tax monies.  Those additional tax dollars can only be spent on road maintenance, improvement, replacement and construction of roads.
To this end, the Haleyville City Council unanimously passed a resolution during their meeting pledging to keep any monies received in the separate fund, as well as to adopt the transportation plan.  The city pledges to follow the plan unless unforeseen problems arise, which would lead to the plan being revised and submitted to the council for approval.
Within the city’s transportation plan are the folllowing specific projects, along with their estimated costs:

15th Avenue - $221,730;
Briarwood Drive - $72,464;
Brookhaven Subdivision - $455,909;
Hilltop Subdivision - $377,112;
35th Street, 13th Avenue, 14th Avenue and 15th Avenue - $131,836;
12th Avenue, 28th Place and 29th Place - $163,203;
28th Street from Dime Road to 9th Avenue - $35,673.

City to submit
application for
ATRIP II funding

Within the same resolution, the city announced its plan to submit an application to the Alabama Department of Transportation for an ATRIP II grant.  A sequel of sorts to the 2012 ATRIP, or Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program,  ATRIP II is another portion of the Rebuild Alabama Act passed earlier this year.  Under ATRIP II, any local government entity (county or municipality) within the state may apply to ALDOT for grant monies for transportation projects which are connected to a state highway.
Haleyville’s proposed project would be to fix drainage issues and resurface 11th Avenue and 30th Street.  The project would begin at the intersection of Highway 13 and 11th Avenue and follow 11th Avenue north to where it becomes 30th Street.  The project would then continue east on 30th Street to Highway 195.
The estimated cost for the project is $1,485,502.  Under the resolution, the city plans to request ALDOT to complete all the required preliminary design engineering and construction engineering on this proposed project.
ALDOT will accept, review and analyze all applications, then present the eligible ones to the ATRIP II Committee which was established under the Rebuild Alabama Act, according to ALDOT’s website.  Committee members are ALDOT Director John Cooper; State Senator Garlan Gudger - who represents Haleyville in the Legislature - State Senators Arthur Orr and Chris Elliott, State Representatives Bill Poole, Steve Clouse and Debbie Wood and Choctaw County Commissioner Tony Cherry, who also serves as president of the Association of County Commissioners of Alabama.
Sunseri noted that the City of Haleyville has been very fortunate to receive numerous grants during his administration.  Combining federal and state grants, the city has received $10,239,334.96, Sunseri reported, with the city providing $2,221,172.16 in matching funds.
In other business, the council agreed to pay for half of a culvert project on Layne Hill Drive, located just within the Haleyville city limits. Winston County will pay for the other half of the culvert project, which totals $10,000.  
Mayor Ken Sunseri told council members that calcium deposits are leaking out onto the block outer walls of Haleyville City Halls.  Council members approved Robinson & Sons cleaning all of walls at a cost of $960.
The council approved renewing its funding agreement for the Haleyville Winston County Healthcare Authority.
Council member Richard Bittinger gave the fire report for July.  Firefighters responded to 10 calls, all within the city limits.    Firefighters also held four drills.
Council member Royce Benefield expressed condolences on behalf of the mayor and council to the family of the late Sylvia Fell.
The next meeting of hte Haleyville City Council has been moved to Tuesday, Sept. 3, because of Labor Day.  The meeting will be at 5:30 p.m.  in the courtroom of city hall.