Dougherty County Commission OKs funding requests

ALBANY — Following a lengthy public hearing to discuss possible safety improvements at Nelms Road and U.S. Highway 19, the Dougherty County Commission quickly disposed of its other business during a regular business meeting Monday morning.

Most of the items, all of which were approved 7-0 by the board, concerned allocation of funding, and except for a brief mix-up over reported funding required to balance the county’s lease fund budget, the votes were taken with no discussion.

Items passed by the commission were:

— Reeves Construction Inc. of Albany’s $608,592 bid for the county’s 2015 resurfacing project, which Public Works Director Larry Cook told the board during discussion last week covers 10 miles. Funding for the project will come from the state-funded Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant ($280,252) and from SPLOST VI ($392,377);

— Purchases of one 8-yard dump body and one 192-inch dump body from low bidder Transport Equipment Co. of Albany, which bid $30,026, and the purchases of one Peterbilt Model 337 cab and chassis and one Model 365 cab and chassis from Peterbilt of Albany. Total bid for the vehicles is $177,067. Assistant County Administrator Mike McCoy explained to the commission last week that the new dump bodies and cab and chassis will be combined to replace two aging Public Works dump trucks;

— An intergovernmental rental agreement with the University System of Georgia Board of Regents for use of office space in the Riverfront Resource Center on Pine Avenue. Rent for the 2,221 square feet of space will increase from $12,360 to $16,568 when the current agreement expires June 30; and

— The aforementioned amendment to the building lease fund budget to account for additional expenses that include an HVAC upgrade ($162,986), cooling tower repair ($26,500) and an IRS rebate calculation ($3,500). The additional $192,986 in funding will increase the lease fund budget to $1,964,821.