Huntsville to seek pair of grants

November 30, 2006

By BEN GARRETT
Independent Herald Editor

HUNTSVILLE — The Town of Huntsville is seeking grants to make improvements to the town’s recreation opportunities and sewer system.

At Monday’s regular session, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted to approve application for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and a TEA 21 transportation grant. The CDBG grant would be used to improve the town’s network of sewer pump stations, while the TEA grant would be used to develop a trailhead near New River.

By a 4-0 vote with Alderman Mark Love absent, the board voted to authorize Mayor George Potter to submit an application for the CDBG grant. The town has unsuccessfully sought the CDBG grant each of the past two years. Town Director of Operations Dean King said Huntsville placed 17th among municipalities seeking the grant in 2004. The grant was awarded to 16 municipalities. In order to improve their chances of obtaining the grant, King said that the town consulted with Evan Sanders, an engineer with Barge, Waggoner, Sumner and Cannon, and will split the planned sewer project into two phases.

Dividing the project “will give us more points in the project needs category, which is where we were lacking,” King said.

The first phase of the project would make improvements to Pump Stations #4, #5 and #6 in the area of Scott High Drive, and would eliminate Pump Station #3 at Flat Creek and Pump Station #7 at Scott High Drive.

Also Monday, the board voted 3-1, with Alderman Wes Riggins dissenting, to give post-approval to application for a TEA grant, which is administered through the Tennessee Department of Transportation. Application for the grant, which would be a $100,000 grant, of which 80 percent would be funded and 20 percent would be provided by the town, was made earlier this month by McGill & Associates, a firm hired by the town.

McGill representative Tom Bennett said the grant would be used for a trails enhancement project.

“We sat down and talked to the town’s staff about the town’s wish list for expanding the trails program,” Bennett said. As a result, it was decided to apply for this particular grant to create a New River Trailhead, which would be situated near New River past the Old Town Springs Park.

The gravel area currently used for parking in the area would be paved and made handicap-accessible, while the road leading to the trailhead would remain unpaved. Once the trailhead was created, it would tie in with the New River Greenway, which transverses the area between the Old Town Springs Park and New River.

City Recorder Wendy Buttram, who has worked with the town’s recently-created Recreation Advisory Board to develop a recreation blueprint for the town, said that cost feasability is being studied for constructing a concrete boat ramp near the trail head.

In addition to being used as an area to launch boats, the area is also used regularly by area churches conducting baptisms, by ATV riders crossing New River to connect to trails maintained by Brimstone Recreation, and by swimmers.

At the board’s September meeting, there was some concern expressed in discussion initiated by Riggins about applying for grants without pre-approval by the board. Buttram said Monday that, because of application deadlines, most of the aldermen had been contacted — with the exception of Riggins — and had given their consent to permit McGill & Associates to move forward with the grant application.

In casting a dissenting vote, Riggins said that it was “with mixed emotions” that he voted against the grant application, but “I’ve consistently opposed open-ended projects and I am going to continue to do that.”

In addition to the recent grant application, McGill & Associates is also working with the town to develop a recreation master plan.

In other business at Monday’s meeting:

• Acting on a nomination by Riggins, the board voted 4-0 to name Robert Smith the town’s vice mayor for the next two years. It is a long-standing tradition among local municipalities to name the alderman receiving the highest number of votes as the vice mayor. In 2004, Love received the most votes and had served as vice mayor for the past two years. In the municipal election earlier this month, Smith received the most votes of the four aldermen;

• Mayor Potter informed citizens that the town’s municipal offices will be closed on December 25 and December 26 in celebration of the Christmas holiday. Garbage pickup, he said, will take place on Tuesday, December 26; and,

• King, who also serves as the town’s fire chief, gave his monthly report on the Huntsville Fire Department, stating that officers attended two training sessions — one on using portable and extension ladders and another on pump operations — during the month. All the town’s firefighters are certified with the exception of two who are currently taking part in certification training, he said. During the month of November, the department has responded to nine calls, including several motor vehicle accidents, a fire alarm at White Rock Baptist Church, a public service call for an animal rescue and an apartment fire on LaFollette Circle.

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