The Columbus City Council approved paving projects in its six wards by a 5-1 vote on Tuesday. The dissenting vote came inexplicably from Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens, who made a second to Ward 3 Councilman Charlie Box’s motion to accept City Engineer Kevin Stafford’s paving recommendations.
The paving will be paid for left over general obligation bond money. The council had previously voted to divide approximately $1 million of the remaining $1,432,000 among the six wards for the projects. At the request of Mayor Robert Smith, the council voted in June to use the remaining $432,000 for special paving projects including the Hitching Lot parking lot, Catfish Alley Parking Lot, Trotter Convention Center parking lot and creating a new parking lot at a green space next to Harvey’s that will be used for Riverwalk event parking. The Lowndes County Board of Supervisors in June voted to assist with the paving of the Hitching Lot (Farmer’s Market) and the Trotter parking lot..
“We initially had about $432,000 but (the cost) ended up being about $397,000,” Smith said. “We knew all along it wasn’t going to cost the full amount. The left over money will be used for special projects.”
Smith’s announcement that the project would cost less than anticipated was challenged by Ward 5 Councilman Kabir Karriem. Karriem has been publicly skeptical of the funding process for the paving since June, when Smith began discussions on using approximately $1.4 million of the leftover bond money. All four projects are located in Karriem’s ward.
“The newspaper wrote articles about me voting against things going on in my ward,” Karriem said. “It’s not about the paving, it’s about how the process has played out. We gave the Mayor a blank check. This council approved $432,000, not knowing how much would be left over. Now the overage is going towards special projects — what special projects?”
Smith said Karriem’s concerns had been discussed at previous council meetings.
“Councilman Mickens asked questions about this and I clarified we wouldn’t use the entire amount,” Smith said.
Although it is now known how much of the money will be left over, Chief Financial Officer Mike Bernsen said the money will have to spent in a certain amount of time. When Bernsen was questioned on that time window by Mickens, Bernsen said he was not certain how much time was left but he would let Mickens know “ASAP.”
Karriem remains critical of Smith’s request for how the $1.4 was divided.
“This started out as $432,000 and now it’s less than that,” Karriem said. “This gives the Mayor a slush fund. I don’t think this was done in a good way. I don’t think it’s a fair way to do things. The process started out as a horse and now it’s ended up as a cow and this is not what our constituents elected us to do.
“When we started talking about paving the streets a year ago, Ward 5 alone had a list of about $800,000 in repair work. But during the first allocation of paving money, we all got about $330,000 with the understanding we would have a second round of paving. Now we are at that round and we had to split money with the Mayor. I just think we needed to have more discussions on the $432,000. Were is the remainder going? We don’t have any special projects on the table. I never said I was against the projects, I just don’t like the process of how this went down.”
Among the projects approved include the mall entrance at Chevron on Highway 45, 7th Street N to Bluecutt Road, Ridge Road from Military Road to Forest Glen Road, Moss Street from 14th Avenue to 7th Avenue North and Springdale Drive from South Gaywood to North Gaywood Avenue.
Stafford said the city will begin advertising bids for the projects next week. The projects are scheduled to be completed by December.
To see a complete list of the of street paving plans, go to cdispatch.com.
The council on Tuesday also appointed Shane Tompkins as the new city prosecutor. Tompkins, a member of the Studdard Law Firm, will replace Tim Hudson.
Jeff Clark was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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