By DONNA RYDER
Associate Editor
Before cold weather arrives in Obion County, the Town of Troy should have a new maintenance building.
Troy had been using a building which was erected in the 1940s as a school bus garage. Prior to that, the building materials had been used by the Army.
In April, Mayor Jimmie Hart said the “valley” in the roof of the building was rusted out and the town couldn’t stop it from leaking. Plus, the area is prone to flooding. Hart said the building had no insulation and there was no way to heat it.
The mayor estimates the cost of the project to be around $300,000. The roughly 10,000-square-foot building will be funded through the gas fund.
Hart said Monday night that the former building is down and the town is in the process of building up the pad about 12 inches with fill. A six-inch concrete floor will be poured on top of the pad, which will make the area 18 inches higher than the old building.
Hart said the new building has been ordered and it should arrive in July. He wants the footing, floor and everything else ready when it arrives.
“Maybe, by fall, we will get into the new facility,” he said.
Until then, the town’s equipment and supplies, which were kept in the building, are being stored in the spec building and in two container cars.
In other business during Monday night’s meeting, the board of aldermen:
• Learned the mayor will be attending a preconstruction meeting in Jackson concerning the relocation of utility lines across Polk and Wolverine roads where Interstate-69 is being built. Hart said he has questions about placing the gas lines in casings. He said if leaks occur in those lines, the casing can become a bomb. He said such a case caused a four-lane in Kentucky to blow up.
In addition, if the casing is required, the town will have to place monitoring equipment on the line to make sure there are no leaks. He said it would have to be checked on a daily basis.
The mayor said he also needs things clarified about the right-of-way.
• Learned the mayor is working on the 2010-11 budget and aldermen should let him know if they wish to have a project included.
• Was informed Hart has submitted his version of the county-wide fire agreement to Troy Fire Chief Mark Watson and Hornbeak Fire Chief Bob Reavis so they can share it with other fire chiefs. A meeting will be set up soon for Hart’s suggestions to be considered.
“To be honest I’m not happy with the agreement, but I can see where others who don’t have a budget need it,” Hart said, adding, “If not for neighboring towns needing to do this ..., I wouldn’t be interested.”
Hart said he did not want to be a “stick in the mud” for other towns.
Watson said he didn’t think the other fire chiefs had “too big of a problem with the changes.”
• Discussed a noise nuisance in town. Alderman Gene Gurien said someone is driving by Main Street Church of Christ with music so loud that it disrupts church service. “It’s pretty serious when they can’t have church service,” he said, adding it appears that this is being done on purpose. “It’s pretty low down for someone to do something like that.”
• Was informed the fire department has been awarded two grants, one for $23,940 and the other for $52,250. The town will purchase a truck to be used as a brush unit and the other will be used to replace communications equipment and to buy cameras for the fire trucks to assist the drivers when they back up.
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Associate Editor Donna Ryder can be contacted by e-mail at dryder@ucmessenger.com.
Published in The Messenger 5.18.10