Multiple projects planned for Haleyville

HALEYVILLE - The Haleyville City Council tackled a long agenda Monday, July 6, approving numerous items that will lead to some visible changes around the city.
Mayor Ken Sunseri and council members Richard Bittinger, Blue Russell and Drew Thrasher approved the installation of ramps that will be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act along the sidewalks on both sides of Newburg Road south of the Haleyville Housing Authority.  The ramps will be done at a cost of approximately $3,200 by Precision Concrete of Haleyville.  Council members Royce Benefield and Jonathan Bennett did not attend the meeting.
The new ramps will be a visible change that will take place in this area of town before another project gets underway, council members were told.  City Engineer Calvin Cassady presented a slide show regarding the Haleyville Water & Sewer Board’s upcoming Newburg Road sewer replacement project.  This project, which is expected to begin in early August, will result in periodic closures to a portion of Newburg Road from approximately 28th Place to Solid Rock Church, and is expected to last a minimum of two months.  A more in-depth story regarding this project will be in an upcoming edition of the Alabamian.
The council approved an application for Large City Community Development Block Grant funds from the state for water, sewer, storm water and paving improvements on Seventh Avenue South and at Mineral Springs Apartments.  The project, which is being estimated to cost $450,000, will include a matching fund amount split between the City of Haleyville and the Haleyville Water & Sewer Board.  HWSB will pay $100,711.55, and the city will pay $56,620.25 in matching funds, the council approved.    The Cassady Co. will provide engineering services for the project.
Sunseri told the council that Haleyville City Schools is replacing some of the drainage ditches from Haleyville Elementary School to 20th Avenue with a 36-inch culvert to discharge the runoff into the city’s drainage ditch adjacent to 20th Avenue, below the concrete flume from 20th Avenue.  Sunseri noted that this work - which will include replacing the rip rap that is currently in the ditches with storm pipe - will make the storm water flow more rapidly into the city’s drainage ditch, causing an erosion problem.
Sunseri told the council that Robinson & Sons Construction Services had provided a quote to acting project engineer Calvin Cassady in the amount of $13,038, which would be the maximum amount for the project.  The project will include realigning, widening and reshaping the existing ditch.  The existing rip rap will be removed, with a filter fabric in the ditch, with the existing rip rap placed back into the ditch, working around a 10-inch ductile iron water main that crosses the ditch.  When asked if Haleyville City Schools would be paying anything toward the project since the work the school system is having done is the reason the city is having to undertake the project.  Sunseri said he would meet with Haleyville City Schools Superintendent Dr. Holly Sutherland to see if the school system will share the cost of the project.
The project, which is currently underway, has led to the closure of a portion of 20th Avenue. Cassady said there is already existing erosion on the road, but when the school completes its project, the erosion will increase due to the force of the water the school system’s new culvert.
Spot paving on 14th Avenue in the amount of $5,300 was approved, with city attorney Jeff Mobley passing around photos of the spots that will receive the paving treatment.  The council also tabled hiring a mechanic for the street department, with Thrasher asked to look into possibly contracting out the work to a mechanic used by the city’s water and sewer department.  Thrasher is to report his findings at the next meeting.