Level Plains officially accepts water tower bid

Members of the Level Plains City Council accepted a bid from Tank Rehab Inc. during a Feb. 4 meeting, for the purpose of sanding and repainting the water storage tower on Dale County Road 1.

The $59,800 bid will cover the much-needed renovations to one of the city’s two storage tanks.

Engineer David Hicks said Tank Rehab worked with his engineering agency on a similar project in Daleville.

The council authorized mayor Bruce Grantham and city clerk Pat Wambles to enter into a contact with the Florida-based company.

Hicks said adding the city’s logo to the repainted tank would cost an extra $1,500, but might be negotiable.

“It’s been a long time in the making, but we’re very able to do this because we’ve been saving for years,” Grantham said. “We have one more tank left to renovate by city hall.”

In other news, council members accepted a recommendation from water department supervisor Buddy Wilson regarding a project on H Street.

Wilson said Steve Austin, of Samson, was willing to drill four bores under the street for a total of $2,000.

Wilson said the offer would be much cheaper than other alternatives.

The bores will be used to replace sub-grade 2-inch water lines with 6-inch water lines.

“This will be a very good thing for the price,” Grantham said. “Everybody will be on 6-inch lines and will have good clean water with no dead-end lines. We’ll also be able to run service lines off these in the future, which will be good for water service and the fire department.”

In other business, councilmember James Bullinger said U.S Rep. Martha Roby has officially sent a letter of support to the United States Postal Service backing the city’s request for the establishment of its own postal code.

Bullinger said the council is still working to get letters of support from the Dale County E-911 Board and the Dale County Commission.

The city is still required to submit a list of Daleville and Enterprise mailing customers within its established city limits.

Using the Black Mountain software, which the city uses for bookkeeping, the city hopes to compile a list of both cities' current mail customers.

The council said it would contact Black Mountain to see if this information could be easily compiled and submitted to the Address Management Office of the U.S Postal Service.

In other news, Level Plains resident Earl Mack addressed the council complaining he was charged a reconnection fee for reconnecting his water after failing to receive a bill or a cutoff notice from the city’s water department.

The $30 fee is standard when the city has to discontinue water service due to lack of payment, but Mack said he was never notified.

Mack said a member of the water department told him, “He didn’t care if (he) received (his) bill or not”

“I was told reminders were sent out on the third day of each month, but I never saw one until I went to (city hall) to have my water turned back on,” Mack said.

Mack claimed the water department was incompetent for not keeping an accurate record of its courtesy reminders.

In his official written complaint Mack suggested lack of notification might have been malicious or racially motived.

Bullinger made a motion to wave Mack’s fee, but it failed due to lack of a second.

Grantham created a committee comprised of council members Ronnie Thompson, Edward Berry and Bullinger to look into Mack’s accusations and the city’s water billing procedures.

The committee will report back to the council at its next meeting.

The Level Plains City Council will meet again at 6 p.m., Feb. 18, at the Level Plains Community Center.