Comer council discusses road paving, garbage, water

Madison County Commission Chairman Wesley Nash consulted with the council about improvements on Hill Street from the city limits to Hwy. 72. The county has just paved the New Hope Church Road up to the city limits to a width of 22 feet. The road becomes Hill Street inside the city and has a 16-foot width. This creates a sudden narrowing of the pavement at the city limit. Nash offered to have the county widen and pave the street to Hwy. 29 if the city will be responsible for the additional right of way and moving of utilities. The city agreed to study the issue. Meanwhile, District 5 commissioner Bruce Scogin agreed to request a “No Through Trucks” sign and “Road Narrows” signs for the road.

Scogin also reminded the council that the county transfer station will be closing on Mondays and Tuesdays starting on Jan. 1. He said that he realized that this was a problem for the city, which needs to pick up garbage from the city’s restaurants on Monday. He promised to work with the transfer station to open the gates for the city on Monday if necessary.

Meanwhile, the city is considering contracting for waste disposal with a private company. This would free up the city work crew for other jobs, like chipping tree limbs and other needed work.

City Clerk Steve Sorrels reported that work on the city’s well number two was badly needed. The well has never been given a pump test to see how much water it can produce. The pump now being used will deliver 35 GPM. Sorrells said that the well might be able to deliver a much larger amount of water but a pump test is necessary to determine just how large a pump it can handle. The council agreed to have the test done as soon as possible.

At the same time, the agency that will do the test can check on the city’s 13 fire hydrants that are difficult to open. The council asked if the city work crew might be present during the work on the hydrants so they can learn to maintain them. Everyone agreed that this is a good idea.

In other actions, the council approved a renewal of the beer and wine license for Kangaroo and agreed to hold a work session on the city budget.