Hailey gets go ahead for phase two
City officials voted unanimously to allow James C. Hailey and Company to move forward with the preliminary work for phase two of the Downtown Economic Revitalization Project.
Although the vote was unanimous, it didn’t happen without some reservations. Alderman Billy Wood was hesitant to spend thousands now just to decide later that the city can’t afford it and opt for something less.
‘Folks, don’t we need to wait’? asked Wood. ‘Don’t we need to decide what we are going to do down there? There is a lot of confusion on phase two and I think the opinions of this board are so diverse on what people would be willing to vote on down there. I just don’t want a Winnebago if we are going to turn around and buy a bicycle.’
According to Alderman Bobby Kirby, the preliminary work needs to be done to determine a cost estimate. At that point, the engineer can determine what can be done for a certain amount of money. To obtain that information, it will cost less than $50,000. If Hailey is given the nod for the preliminary work, the cost will be closer to $20,000.
In agreement with Kirby was Alderman Patti Nunley who added, ‘I agree with what Mr. Kirby just said. Until we take this step we don’t know what we can do. Until we know a little bit more about our funding we don’t know how much we can buy of this project, all of it or some of it.’
However, Nunley did have a problem with the wording of the resolution that seemed to go beyond preliminary work.
‘To me this resolution seems to be saying that tonight we are voting to enter into a contract beyond that stage all the way to completion,’ said Nunley. ‘I don’t think we are quite there yet. Should this not have been a contract for the initial work instead of the whole project.’
The contract states that the city will contract with James C. Hailey and Company, ‘for Phase II of the McMinnville Downtown Economic Development Project.’
The wording is a matter of intent regarding what engineering firm will be used if phase two moves forward and not the city’s intent to go forward with the whole project.
‘I think the intent is, and I’m not on either side of the debate, that this will be the firm that we go with if we go through,’ said Mayor Royce Davenport. ‘We have a stopping point when he brings us back the information. We can decide whether to go further or not.’
As pointed out during the discussion, the city is dangerously close to losing the $975,000 TDOT grant for phase two because construction has not begun. Because Hailey is a TDOT-approved engineer, the loss is now increased to $1.2 million.
Along with that grant, the city will be trying for two more grants, one Appalachian Regional Commission Grant for $600,000 and one Community Enhancement Grant from the state for $250,000.
City administrator David Rutherford will be looking into how much longer the city has before it loses the $1.2 million TDOT grant, or if an extension is possible.