Norris fills council vacancy, lets sidewalk contract awarded
The Norris Square asphalt sidewalk shown here in front of Norris Middle School will be replaced this summer with a new concrete sidewalk about eight feet in from this one. The Norris Farmers Market sets up along this sidewalk every Wednesday afternoon. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
Munro, who moved his family to Norris from Arizona about three years ago, is in his second term as a member of the Norris Planning Commission. He lives on Dairy Pond Road.
Then shortly after Munro was sworn in and took his seat, the council voted to award a $33,077 contract to Clinton-based Tri-Star Contracting of East Tennessee for construction of a new concrete sidewalk on Norris Square, in front of Norris Middle School.
Tri-Star had the lowest among 15 bids for the project, for which the city has budgeted a maximum of $35,000.
Surprisingly, there was a wide range of bids, including three that were for more than $100,000. The highest bid was $121,148 by Wilamut Construction Co. of Cleveland, Tennessee. Tri-Star’s bid was the only one within the city’s budget; the second-lowest bid was $39,500, and all but four of the bids were for more than $50,000.
City Manager Bailey Whited recommended that Tri-Star be given the contract, which was approved unanimously by the council. Work is expected to begin almost immediately, he said.
“We will try to get it done before school starts,” Public Works Director Kerry Hevel said.
Norris plans to replace the distressed asphalt sidewalk in front of Norris Middle School, and has been given an easement by the Anderson County Board of Education to move the sidewalk about eight feet in from its present position, onto school property.
The city has been considering what to do about the deteriorating asphalt sidewalk for the past 12 years, and for part of that time even had a state “Safe Routes to Schools” grant available to help pay for the replacement.
But bureaucratic restrictions and requirements led the City Council to relinquish the grant last year and proceed on its own to produce a plan and funding for the new sidewalk.
The city’s Public Works staff will remove the existing sidewalk, and the contractor will build the new one next to it, closer to the school, to get it away from the trees that line the area between the current sidewalk and the roadway.
Roots from those trees have damaged the sidewalk over a long period, causing it to be uneven and broken in several areas.
Most of Norris’ community events take place along the sidewalk, and during the growing season, vendors for the Norris Farmers Market line up between the road and the sidewalk, with their booths facing the sidewalk.
As for the choice of Munro for the council seat, he was chosen over Zach Cross, a 15-year Norris resident who is vice-chair of Norris Tree Commission and secretary of the Norris Community Development Board.
The council voted 3-1 to choose Munro over Cross, with Mayor Chris Mitchell and members Bill Grieve and Travis Honeycutt choosing Munro. Councilman Chuck Nicholson voted for Cross.
All of the council members said that both applicants were “well-qualified” for the council, and that choosing one over the other was difficult.
But with the City Council election coming up in November, Munro won’t have long to serve in Painter’s former seat. Painter , who was the only woman on the five-member council, was first elected in 2014, and was in her sixth two-year term. She resigned in May and moved to Virginia.
In other council business Monday:
• Whited told the council that the new roof has been installed on the Police Department’s section of the city’s Public Safety Building, and that work was completed “just before all the recent rain began.”
He said the Police Department has not experienced any leaks with the new roof.
• Whited gave the council a “Pavement Condition Report” resulting from the recent assessment the city’s approximately 15 miles of streets, showing an overall grade of 65 out of a possible 100.
The outside contractor, Applied Pavement Technology, brought a special computerized van to the city to perform the assessment. Each street was given its own grade, with some divided into several sections, and the reports for each ranged from “Good” (86-100 score) to “Serious” (11-25 score).
The city plans to use the assessment to come up with a plan for upgrading and repairing the streets, as the budget allows.
, over what is expected to be several years.
• The council set a public workshop meeting for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8, as the first step in the city’s Strategic Planning and Community Visioning process, which is being overseen by Margaret Norris with the University of Tennessee’s Municipal Technical Advisory Service.
This meeting is open to everyone, and will be held at the Norris Community Building.
