Bainbridge at standstill, revisits projects

Thursday, December 12, 2013

BAINBRIDGE -- With winter weather upon us, outdoor activities are coming to a standstill, which includes town projects.

The Bainbridge town council met on Wednesday night to go over some lingering projects and rehash a contract approved at the last town meeting. Many of the outdoor projects have come to a standstill due to weather, while other projects were revisited.

Last month the town council approved a contract with Cole Energy. This contract was to give the town a parcel of land in exchange for the town providing gas utilities to part of the Northfield Subdivision.

Town Council President Chuck McElwee originally brought this to the council and it was approved at November's meeting. Town Council member Bonnie Osborn held some concerns with the deal and looked into the matter a bit more, she asked the council to discuss it some more. Joel Thompson, town council member, was in agreement with Osborn about revisiting the deal.

Osborn pointed out that the gain of the parcel of land was not a even exchange for the services that the town would provide. She suggested that the contract be retracted if Cole Energy representatives had, not signed it, Thompson agreed with her. If it had the contract would stand. McElwee was unhappy by his fellow council members' thoughts.

"Really? Really?" McElwee stated after Thompson agreed with Osborn. "This is the most unprofessional thing this town council has done since I've been on."

McElwee was frustrated and believed that the town should be helping Cole Energy with them being in need of help due to economic strife. Osborn believed that all Cole Energy needed to do was sell a parcel of land and they would be able to cover the cost of adding the gas utilities themselves and that it was not the town problem.

Town attorney Jim Ensley will be contacted to see if the contract had been signed and it will be pulled if it has not.

One outdoor project is near completion; the Safe Routes to School grant, which added several new sidewalks to Bainbridge Elementary, is almost complete.

The finishing touches include the adding of signs for crosswalks and such; the town also has $3,000 still to spend for educational purposes to close out the grant. Town Clerk-Treasurer Jason Hartman will be looking at when the money needs to be spent so that plans can be made to spend the money.

With one sidewalk project near completion, another one has stalled due to the weather. The redoing of sidewalks on Main Street is at a stand still until weather has improved.

The other waiting game is with the company doing the comprehensive plan for the town. Since signing the contract last month, nothing has been heard from the company's representatives.

"The ball's in their court," McElwee said.

The town did move forward by reinstating and appointing several people to different boards: Clifford Passmore will keep his spot on the Utility Board, Julie Nesbitt has been appointed to the park board, Rodney Fenwick and Jeffery Trent will stay on the planning commission and Trent will also retain his spot on the board of zoning appeals.

The next Bainbridge Town Council meeting will be on Wednesday, Jan. 8.

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  • Good luck trying to "pull" an approved contract. The time for due diligence is before entering the contract not after (unless provisioned for). Do you really think they will agree to your withdraw? Not going to happen. Your up creek without a paddle. Time for some new blood.

    -- Posted by jorge on Fri, Dec 13, 2013, at 4:46 AM
  • I feel like McElwee was the one who was acting in an unprofessional matter. He was acting like a child who didn't get his way.I feel like he owes the other board members an apology

    -- Posted by birdee53 on Tue, Dec 17, 2013, at 4:41 PM
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