PIEDMONT – During a brief meeting Tuesday, the Piedmont City Council approved several items, including an $8,450 bid by Michael Bright of Terrapin Creek Metal Works and Blasting for the modification of an existing grapple truck to also be used as a leaf vacuum.
Bright presented a detailed proposal of what all he could do to upgrade the truck.
“I’ve built and fabricated a lot of different things for a lot of different companies. There’s no doubt in my mind I could make it work,” Bright told the council.
The council also approved a $26,895 bid by D-vision III Concrete Contractors for the construction of a concrete pad for the Piedmont Fire Department’s training facility.
“That’s for a 60×80 pad, eight inches deep,” Piedmont Fire Chief Mike Ledbetter said. “That includes the forming of it, installing the rebar, sawing the joints. They’re also going to put in anchor bolts to anchor the bottom down to the concrete. They’re going to pour the pad at a slope so we can wash it out and keep it clean. This includes the concrete, the labor and all.”
The council voted to table discussion for on-call pay and abatement fees for removals until its Sept. 9 budget meeting. It also approved moving the American Rescue Plan deposit into its own separate savings account.
Minutes from the previous meeting were also approved, as were bills for payment totaling $482,436.93.
During the council reports, District 2 councilman Richard Williams questioned how often the city burns at its burning pit behind Garcy. Williams said it has been brought to his attention the Garcy facility does not have air conditioners, and its doors and fans are bringing smoke into the facility.
“There are some days it gets pretty rough over there,” Williams said. “I didn’t know how often we do that. Sometimes they say their plant is filled with smoke and ashes all over their cars. I don’t know what we could do differently, unless we had certain times to schedule the burns, or if we did it on weekends.”
District 6 councilman David Ivey thanked Ben Singleton and his website crew for the work they’ve been doing on the city’s new web page. Baker echoed Ivey’s comments.
“It looks really, really good,” Baker said of the website. “If you get a chance, pull it up. There’s a lot of great and helpful information. I understand there’s also the potential to add other information as needed. I think we’re trickling into the right direction where we need to be as a city in relation to our webpage, so check it out.”
The next council meeting is scheduled for Sept. 7.
