BALDWYN | Much of the action on the agenda for Baldwyn’s February Board of Aldermen meeting will come back in front of the board at a future meeting.
Board members tabled more items for further discussion during Tuesday’s meeting, but that’s not to say the tabling meant inaction on the Board’s part. Instead, board members wanted more time to discuss and review much of what was brought before them Tuesday.
One item that has been on the Board’s plate for several months is the repair of resident Judy King’s driveway. A portion of the driveway was damaged late last year when a company bored underneath it and then the Baldwyn Street Department had to come in a repair a section of the driveway that was damaged in the process. King had approached the city about making the repairs, but the city had until now not been able to obtain more than one bid on the repairs. The first bid received was for about $4,800, which Board members felt back in November was much too costly for the small section needing repairs. Another bid was received prior to Tuesday’s meeting and though it was for less money, Ward 1 Alderwoman Angeleque Agnew-Beene was not comfortable approving the bid receipt without some specification in the language of the bid – and the area called for in the bid specs also troubled some Board members.
Agnew-Beene said she was fine repairing the portion the city had damaged, “But not the whole driveway. We need to specify on this that we need to repair the damaged area and not the whole driveway.”
She asked that the bid be reworded to specify that it was only the damaged portion of the driveway because she didn’t want people thinking the city could go in and pave entire driveways on private property. Legally, the city isn’t allowed to do that.
That led to a discussion on the size of the spot being repaired, with the bid calling for 641 square feet of asphalt. Board Attorney Greg Beard said just a rough quick estimate on that sized equaled a space roughly 10 feet wide and 60 feet long, which again troubled Board members who wanted to make it clear the only section being repaired was the damaged spot and not the entire driveway.
Board member Tonya Billips asked whether the city had considered trying to do the repair itself with cold mix, but Mayor Roslynn Clark told Billips that Donnie Barnett, Street Department Supervisor, had said the city isn’t capable of making the repairs needed on the driveway, per the owner’s request.The Board tabled the matter until more specifics could be learned about how much area was actually included in the bid. Board member Lynda Conlee, who is King’s sister, excused herself from the Board room during the vote and discussion.
