Cloverdale approves Lafayette Street project modification

CLOVERDALE -- The Cloverdale Town Council approved a modification to the Lafayette Street storm sewer replacement project during a special session this week.

The council had approved the project, with a budget of $505,000, in April.

Reed and Sons had the lowest base project bid at $416,794 to complete the Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) grant-funded project to address the storm water drainage issues from Logan to Market Street.

With the additional funds for the project, the council had initially approved the inclusion of an alternate bid for asphalt pavement overlay on Lafayette Street, totaling $62,400.

Grand administrator Kristy Jerrell informed the council that OCRA had denied the request for the alternate inclusion in the project because it is not directly related to the storm water system.

In order to have the project approved and use the available funds, the council voted to approve a different alternate bid which will work include storm sewer replacement at Logan Street, east of Lafayette Street.

With the new alternate bid, the Cloverdale project is expected to cost $476,975. Jerrell noted this leaves the town with a cushion of roughly $28,000 in the event there are unforeseen issues.

The base project with the new alternative inclusion will be sent to OCRA, and Jerrell said she hopes for a release of funds in two weeks so the project can get started.

In other business, the board approved the annual Redevelopment Commission request to capture 100 percent of the assessed valuation (AV) in the Crossroads USA Arena and Exposition (C Bar C) economic development area and the Cloverdale economic development area.

Greencastle/Putnam County Development Center Director Bill Dory explained the taxes from the assessed valuation help to pay bonds for one area, while saving up for future projects in the other area.

"The taxes off that (C Bar C area) AV are used to pay the bond issue that was used to finance the utilities and road improvements that were extended out to the arena's site to allow that project to move forward. The new economic development area has had some smaller projects, and depending on when the county assessor picks those up the red com would like to capture that assessed value so that it can start saving up money to implement the projects listed on the economic development plan for the new Cloverdale economic development area," Dory said.

A Cloverdale resident spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting to dispute a $250 fine he received for opening the face of the water meter on a property to see if the meter was running.

Councilman Don Sublett asked if the resident was familiar with the recently implemented ordinance, to which he said he had heard of it.

Clerk-Treasurer Cheryl Galloway noted an explanation of the ordinance was mailed out with the water bills and is included on the bottom of the bill each month.

The council decided to let the fine stand, with council president Coweta Patton stressing tampering and misuse of the meters needs to stop.