Train depot, infrastructure projects focus of Leesburg Council’s first meeting of 2017

LEESBURG — Leesburg’s historic train depot and the community’s various water and sewer improvement projects remained the focus as the Leesburg City Council convened its first meeting of the year Tuesday night.

With Phase 1 of the train depot renovations now in progress thanks to federal grant funds administered through the Georgia Department of Transportation, the council has turned its attention to the building’s interior and has engaged the services of architectural firm Ellis Ricket and Associates to begin creating plans for the inside of the structure.

Leesburg City Manager Bob Alexander said the City Council accepted the firm’s bid for drawing up the plans at a cost of 7 percent of the overall cost of the renovations, which is estimated at slightly more than $300,000.

“The original estimate for Phase 2 was $296,000,” said Alexander. “(However) the building was in such poor shape, there’s been some additional structural costs that have been added to the project. It’ll be over $300,000. As you run into things you’re going to have change orders.”

Additionally, Alexander said the council approved a change order for Phase 1 of the deport work that removed the installation of electrical fixtures and added the installation of structural insulation panels, which need to be installed during early work to prevent crews from having to remove the building’s roof twice.

“Basically what we’re doing there is we’re removing the electrical and electrical fixtures out of the project and putting the electrical in Phase 2, so we could put the SIPs in as part of this project for a cost of $64,000,” the city manager said. “By putting this change order in, we can go ahead and not have to take the tin roof off twice.”

In addition to approving the change order and engaging the architect, the council also approved a bid from Zane Grace Construction Inc. to do site work on the property around the building. Alexander said Zane Grace’s bid of $143,989 was lower than a bid by Jim Boyd Construction.

The design work for the surrounding depot property will be done by EMC Engineering, Alexander added.

The council also took action Tuesday night concerning the city’s ongoing water project, chiefly the plan to raise the city’s water tank located on State Highway 32 later this month so it will work better in conjunction with the city’s new tower at the public works facility.

Alexander explained that the when the tank is raised, the new tower sections will need to be painted as part of the project. Because the project is currently under budget by some $130,000, the council made the decision to go ahead and pressure wash and repaint the exiting portions of the tower at the same time the rest is being painted.

“We felt like since the tank is going to be raised and the metal parts are going to be painted, this would be the time to paint the whole tank,” said Alexander. “We had another tank firm that did an inspection, and they concluded we needed to have a new paint job within a year. It’s been 16 years since it’s been painted.”

Alexander said if the tower’s paint is not maintained properly the structure will eventually have to be sandblasted and repainted, a process that would cost roughly $100,000, which is less than the $81,133 quote from Phoenix Fabricators and Erectors, the company that won the bid for the work.

“We could either go ahead and put it in this contract or budget for it next year,” said Alexander. “The council decided to go ahead and paint it now. And from an aesthetic standpoint, there’s a lot of mildew on it right now, so it would look pretty bad to have one section all new and shiny and have the rest of it not look so good.”

In other matters the City Council:

— Approved alcohol licenses for several city businesses, mainly convenience and grocery stores;

— Appointed Dwight Hickman, Chad Griffin and Glenda Battle to serve on the Southwest Georgia Regional Commission;

— Approved a special election for the city’s Post 5 seat vacated at the end of the year by council member Sidney Johnson. Originally Alexander thought the seat would remain vacant until the next general election, but because Johnson was not up for re-election until 2018, the council made the decision to set a special election day for March 21.

The council also received reports on the city’s other infrastructure projects, including the installation of new water and sewer lines throughout the community.

The city manager also reported that Mauldin and Jenkins received an extension from the state for completing the Fiscal Year 2016 city audit report, which will be presented at the council’s February meeting.