DEMOREST — The City of Demorest has found itself in a bind after equipment failure left the city without its work crew to maintain roadsides, the cemetery and the downtown area.
More than a week ago, the motor blew in the passenger van that transports the city's inmate work detail, leaving the city with only one employee available to try to keep pace with rapidly-growing grass.
"One of the things that happened to us in the last week and a half or so is that the prison transport van that gets our work detail inmates to the city in order to take care of our grass cuttings on our road right-of-ways and our city cemetery had a motor that went out," said Mayor Rick Austin. "What we needed to deal with tonight was how are we going to address getting the inmates to and from the work sites in order to accomplish the work that they need to accomplish and meet the needs of the citizens."
Demorest Public Works Director Bryan Popham said he has only been able to find one van that doesn't contain leather seats and expensive options not needed by the city for transport of the work detail.
"We approved tonight the purchase of an appropriate van that will need to be outfitted with a cage and bars, lights, etc., so that they can work safely to transport those prisoners from the institution to the work site and back to the institution at the end of the day."
Popham said the van will have a transmission appropriate for towing since it pulls the city's trailer transporting lawnmowers, trimmers and other equipment needed for the work performed by the work detail inmates.
The purchase was deemed an emergency because of the rapid growth of grass and concerns expressed by residents about the appearance of the cemetery and other public areas.
City Attorney Joey Homans said there was no problem with the city purchasing the van during Tuesday's work session, which also had been posted as a special called meeting.
Austin said the city simply couldn't afford to wait another week to act.
The 2004 van the city had been using had more than 140,000 miles on it and the seats were in poor condition, officials said.
Estimated cost of the van as specified is about $33,000, with required safety equipment bringing the total to about $40,000. City leaders said they will determine the best way to pay for it, probably with a short-term note until they can determine the best funding source.
Also during Tuesday night's work session, city leaders heard from Popham that the city's Garrison Road well is online and pumping very well. Popham said the well is pumping about 920 gallons per minute, having pumped an estimated 400,000 gallons in the six hours it was used Tuesday.
The production of that well is going to allow Demorest to reduce the amount of water purchased from the City of Baldwin by about one-third, Demorest leaders estimate. That means the city should begin seeing a monthly savings of about $28,000, potentially freeing up that money for other purposes such as replacement of the van.
City leaders agreed by consensus for Popham to continue increasing use of the Garrison Road well as he sees fit to fully bring it online.
Demorest officials say they realize the urgency of getting the city's inmate work detail back on the streets as soon as possible, voting Tuesday night to proceed with the emergency purchase of a passenger van for the crew.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/8/440077/demorest-officials-approve-emergency-purchase-of-inmate-transport-van