By Terry Schrimscher, For the Tribune
SPRINGVILLE – The Springville Council met Wednesday morning, July 5, for the first regular meeting of the month. The meeting was moved to accommodate the July 4 holiday schedule. City employees were given Monday, July 3, as a paid day off prior to Independence Day.
Councilmember Austin Phillips and Mayor Dave Thomas debate procedure during a discussion on developing a master plan for Springville sports fields.
First on the agenda was a discussion with Public Works Superintendent, Earl Peoples, about water tank maintenance. Peoples requested $47,750 for Contract Service Company to paint and service two of the city’s six water tanks.
“It’s not just painting, it’s part of a thing ADEM has put it. It’s a tank maintenance plan,” Peoples said. “Every five years we have to go through all of our tanks.” According to Peoples, the project would involve sand blasting the tanks along with painting.
Peoples told The Trussville Tribune taking the tanks offline would not cause a disruption in water service. The Council approved the request to proceed. Another request is expected after October, in the next fiscal year, to perform maintenance on two additional water towers. The remaining two tanks would need to be inspected at some later time in the five-year window for ADEM compliance.
The Council and City Attorney James Hill moved briefly into executive session to discuss a personnel issue after the city received a letter of complaint. No further explanation was given and no public action was taken when the meeting resumed.
The next item on the agenda sparked the longest discussion of the morning as the Council and Mayor Dave Thomas debated the merits of two bids for a master plan for the city’s parks and athletic fields.
The city received a bid from Williams and Blackstock for $26,000, and one from Gameday for $144,000.
“I would argue that we’re not comparing apples to apples,” Thomas said. “I’m just not really a big fan of doing what we’ve done in the past and calling it a master plan. I don’t think it’s money wisely spent to put a pretty picture on the wall and pat ourselves on the back when we haven’t actually done anything.”
Thomas asked the Council to apply reallocated funds saved from another project toward a $48,000 consulting fee for Gameday and authorize him to negotiate a contract for a master plan.
Members of the Council disagreed with the proposal and debated with Thomas over the logic of choosing such a high bid.
“When I look at it, there’s such a considerable difference in price. It’s $144,000 versus $26,000,” said Councilmember Austin Phillips. “When I spoke to other architects around and people who participate in this industry, the number I keep coming up with as a top line number for a master plan of this scope is about $60,000. So, I’m not sure where the other $80,000 is coming from,” he added.
“What they presented is not what I’m suggesting we sign,” Thomas replied. “I’m just looking for authorization from the Council to engage in negotiations on this contract.”
As the debate over the plan progressed, Thomas suggested he could not force the Council to engage Gameday and they could not force him to work with Williams and Blackstock.
After some debate on procedure and clarification that the Council could authorize Mayor Pro Tempore Katrina Hennings to deal with Williams and Blackstock, Phillips made a motion to approve the lower bid and the Council approved the contract.
The Council also approved an ordinance updating language related to business license fees. The existing ordinance was adopted in 2007 and has been amended six times to comply with state law. The new ordinance adds examples for fee clarity and defines seasonal and weekend sales to prevent excess charges.
In the final act of the meeting, the Council approved the appointment of Amanda Kleiser to the Springville Historic Commission.
The next meeting of the Springville City Council will be held at 6 p.m. on July 17, with a work session at 5:30 p.m.
