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By Ken Gustafson

 

AMERICUS — The Sumter County Board of Commissioners (BOC) voted unanimously to approve a proposed 2020 Local Maintenance & Improvement Grant (LMIG) road list. According to Sumter County Department of Public Works Director Jim Littlefield, it’s time to submit the list of roads to be resurfaced for next year’s LMIG application.

“I wanted to go ahead and get this up as soon as possible. That way, we can go ahead and get the funds,” Littlefield said. He said the county got more LMIG money for this year’s project than it did in 2018, and that the roads to be resurfaced are as follows: Old Andersonville Road from Ga. Highway 49 North to the Norfolk Southern railroad crossing (1.93 miles), Shaaban Road (all 0.53 miles of it), all of Wild Azalea Road (0.47 miles), all of Dogwood Street (0.10 miles), all of East Rockhill Drive (0.71 miles), all of Rockhill Drive (0.14 miles) and a stretch of Leslie-Lamar Road going from Lamar Road to Tommy Smith Road (2.15 miles).

Littlefield told the Americus Times-Recorder that the base underneath Shaaban Road is a poorly prepared clay base at best to a non-existent base at worst with the original pavement applied over it. He also mentioned that the base underneath Wild Azalea Road is a thin veneer and that freeze/thaw effects during the winter, along with cracks due to traffic and weather, allow water to seep into the base. Littlefield added that if a poor base, or no base at all, is present, then water can move underneath the overlying asphalt, causing more degradation to occur.

Littlefield told the BOC that about two years ago, workers cut out almost 2.5 feet of material underneath the pavement of Wild Azalea Road and repaved it.

Littlefield said the project will go up for bid and will be awarded around March of 2020, with work to be performed around the early part of next summer. A total of 6.03 miles of roads will be resurfaced and striped. “I plan on adding more roads to the project depending on the availability and amount of TSPLOST funds at a later date,” Littlefield said.

Littlefield also told the BOC that he’s received a lot of compliments on the repaving of Bumphead Road, which was done using TSPLOST funding.

Board Chairman Clay Jones asked for a motion for approval of the proposed 2020 LMIG road list. Commissioner Mark Waddell made a motion for approval and Commissioner George Torbert seconded it. It passed unanimously.

The BOC also approved the submission of an application for an Association County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG) workers’ compensation fund employee safety grant for the purpose of purchasing two automated external defibrillator (AED) units for the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s Chief Deputy, Col. Eric Bryant, told the BOC that as far as he’s aware, the sheriff’s office’s insurance provider is offering a safety grant. “Of course, we felt like it was funds that they’re offering to the government and we wanted permission to apply for this application,” Bryant said. “We chose the two AED units simply because of the number of employees within the jail facility. We only have one at this time and it’s located on one side of the building, so we felt like an additional unit could suffice the other side of the building and possibly place another one here at the courthouse area.” Bryant said the sheriff’s office thought it would be a “win-win” just to apply and asked the BOC’s permission to do so.

Sumter County Human Resources Director Susan Merritt told the BOC that the ACCG Board of Trustees set up the grant fund program with a total of $1.5 million to be allocated to all counties throughout the state of Georgia for the next three years. Merritt said that she had sent out emails to the different departments in Sumter County offering them the opportunity to submit an application for the safety grant.

Jones asked for a motion for approval to submit the application for the ACCG Workers’ Compensation Fund Employees Safety Grant to purchase the two AED units. Waddell made a motion for approval and was seconded by Commissioner Scott Roberson seconded the motion. It passed unanimously.