By Stan Welch
PIEDMONT – The Piedmont Public Service District Board of Commissioners met Monday night and retained all sitting officers and committee assignments. Chairman Ed Poore and Vice Chairman Rudy Rhodes were both reelected without opposition.
Commissioner Lib Pack remained as chairwoman of the recreation committee; Rhodes will head buildings and grounds for another term; Commissioner Al McAbee will oversee the fire department committee, while Ed Poore will remain as head of the finance and administration committee.
Commissioner Bobby Higgins, who normally chairs the lights (formerly the sewer and lights committee) committee, is gravely ill and did not attend. Craig Lawless, deputy administrator and assistant chief, was reappointed as secretary and parliamentarian for the Commission.
Following the elections and committee assignments, Pack reported that the rentals for the ball fields for November and December had totaled $850, while community building rentals came to $665.
Commissioner Rhodes reported that the first bid on a proposed sign for the firehouse had exceeded the limits set and advised that other bids would be sought. The Commission then reviewed the bids received for paving the community building parking lot.
The bids by Panagokis Paving from Greenville, and King Paving from Liberty were just twenty five dollars apart, with the higher of those two at $27,900. Both proposed grinding the existing asphalt up, repacking it as the base, and adding an additional two inches of fresh asphalt.
The third bid, from the Ashmore Brothers, was almost $15,000 higher; and while it proposed hauling off the asphalt ground out, and replacing it with crush and run for the base, the new layer was still going to be two inches. King Asphalt was awarded the contract due to the low bid being theirs.
According to the fire department report, the number of calls responded to fell between last year’s highs and 2011’s numbers. In the major categories, the department responded to 58 structure fires; 308 medical calls; 78 motor vehicle accidents and 99 service calls.
The commission also voted to begin seeking bids for auditing services, and to review the policy manual.
