Council okays Arcola improvements; adjusts budget for Historical Society

Arcola Road is in line for repairing, patching and overlay, thanks to the Demopolis City Council action Thursday. Now comes the challenge of finding the estimated $160,000 to pay for the work.

During the work session before the Council meeting, city project manager Mike Baker presented two options for Arcola Road. The first would be strictly to repair and patch at a cost of $86,000. Council members chose the second option.

Arcola was not included in the list of streets recently repaved all over the city. “This came up when we knew we would have to provide detour” when McNamara Road was closed for construction, said Baker.

With the recommendation of Mayor Woody Collins, the Council directed the Finance Committee to work out a way to pay for the repairs. Collins said he hopes some of the money designated for the $3 million paving project of city streets would be left over and could be used to help finance Arcola.

For the past two years city accountants erred in allocating the correct amounts designated for the Marengo County Historical Society, Collins told councilmen. The shortfall in 2020-2021 was $3,500, and for this year, $1,000. To make up the difference, the Council voted to amend the budget and add $4,500 to the MCHS allocation.

Collins announced John Russell has agreed to work with the city on an as-needed basis on personnel matters. The Personnel Committee has suggested that he review the personnel manual for the city and bring it up to date. The mayor asked councilmen to contact Russell with any recommendations for questions.

Park and Rec Board Director Walker Reynolds gave a brief update on the construction on the new docking facilities at the City Landing. He said there have been a few complaints from boaters who have not been able to launch, but other options are available at Foscue Park, Lock 4 or Runaway Creek. Reynolds said drone images of the work can be seen periodically on the SportsPlex media pages.

During the Council discussion time, David McCants asked about the progress on finding solutions to the “suicide lane” on U.S. Hwy. 80 W at Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart. Collins said the Alabama Department of Transportation will be holding a test run using 60 temporary pylons to direct traffic at the dangerous intersection.

Councilman Charles Jones said he would like an answer by the next meeting on where the city stands on taking care of six issues in his district. Collins said the city is getting estimates on the work and will prioritize the projects before submitting them to make sure they are eligible for grant funding.

Collins ended the meeting by saying it marked the first year that he and the Council had worked together. In thanking the councilmen and the community “for their help and support,” Collins said he was “very proud of the things we have accomplished over the last year.”