Assistant Metro Editor
| Calhoun County has received $10 million from the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, paving the way for road and bridge projects along routes that might be used for evacuation in case of an accident or incident at the Anniston Army Depot’s chemical weapons stockpile. Each year, Calhoun County receives money from the program to prepare the community’s response to an accident. The money brings the county’s CSEPP budget this year to $16 million. As reported in The Star last week, the money will be used on six bridge projects and one road paving project. “We’re going to get some much needed roads and bridges repaired along evacuation routes in the county,” said Calhoun County Commission Chairman Robert Downing. “We’re thankful to Sen. Shelby for getting us these additional funds and a level of protection the people deserve. It’s just going to make us better prepared and give us safe roadways to travel on.” Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., secured the funds on Capitol Hill last year. A representative from the Alabama Emergency Management Agency delivered the money to the Calhoun County Commission Wednesday. County commissioners had been waiting for the money to come down from the Alabama Emergency Management Agency since last week. The initial list of projects includes paving on Mudd Street and fixing bridges on Mudd Street, Gate 8 Road, Alexandria-Jacksonville Road, Ball Play Road, Old Downings Mill Road and Wellington Road. County Engineer Charles Markert recommended the seven projects be done first and chose them from a list of 19 projects totaling more than $18 million. The rest of the projects would be paid for with county money or another CSEPP grant. The county has until September 2005 to complete the seven projects. Markert said last week he expects to approach the commission with bid documents within a few weeks, though the issue did not appear on the commission’s agenda for today. Downing said the county will send out requests-for-qualifications for project managers in the next few days. Because of the amount of work to be done, the county does not have the resources to take on the workload and will hire an outside project manager, said County Administrator Ken Joiner. “We’ve got some timelines here to get the money obligated, we have employees that are involved with projects with state and local money,” Joiner said. “This money has to be spent for specific projects so it’s clearly defined when it comes to splitting the workload to get it done.”
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About Nathan Solheim
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Assistant Metro Editor Nathan Solheim is Minnesota native and a University of Georgia graduate. |
| Phone: Fax: E-mail: |
256-235-3551 256-241-1991 nsolheim@annistonstar.com |