Commission commends conservation council

By Kelly Tabor

Published: September 23, 2008

The Coffee County Commission Monday declared the week of Sept. 21 through 27 Wiregrass Resource Conservation and Development week. Commissioners Linda Westbrook and Bernest Brooks were on hand to accept the proclamation.

“It does a lot of good things for Coffee County,” said Westbrook of the RC&D council. “Money is allocated per district and is used for projects. For example, we received a grant to get water up to the Girl Scout’s camp.”

Westbrook, Brooks, Mike Newman and Gilmer Grant make up the Coffee County portion of the 10-county council which also includes Barbour, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Pike and Russell counties.

Mike Harris with the Natural Resources Conservation Service said the RC&D projects are invaluable to the Wiregrass area.

“They used a grant to do erosion control at the railroad trestle overpass on Main Street in Enterprise,” said Harris. He added that the council received a grant to help the Groundwater Festival in the Spring, work on teaching forestry teaching in fifth-grade classrooms and adda handicap-accessible ramp at one of the Kinston recreation park playing fields.

In other commission news, Sheriff Dave Sutton asked the commision for permission to sell some scrap metal and an old stove stored at the Sheriff’s Office. Sutton said the money will go back into the General Fund.

County Maintenance Supervisor Phil Rugg was appointed to oversee cosmetic improvements to the Elba courthouse by Lawford Construction Company. Work will include cleaning gutters, ironwork, sandblasting, painting and replacing warped wooden doors with metal doors.

Engineer Randy Tindell said gas shortages and prices are affecting the departments.

“Gas and diesel are hard to come by, but we take what we can get. Expensive gas is better than no gas,” said Tindell. “The state bid price has gone out the window.”

Tindell also gave an update on the County Road 359 paving project.

“It’s about 70 percent complete and by the end of this week the remaining porton should be primed,” said Tindell. “Next week we’ll get the pavement down and then grass on the shoulder.”

Tindell reviewed bids for road striping, asphalt supply and herbicides. The commission awarded bids to Hunt Refining for the asphalt, which cost about double what the county paid last year, and the herbicides contracts were given to DeAngelo Bros, Inc. and NaturChem, Inc. RLC contractors also won a $30,392 bid for the annual cleanup of the Enterprise courthouse.