Du Quoin sidewalk bids to be opened on Friday
A proposed agreement with a Johnson County civil engineer who would oversee construction of new sidewalks in downtown Du Quoin got a "No way!" Monday night from commissioner Josh Downs and an "I'm not comfortable with this!" from commissioner Yvonne Spencer.
Engineer Robert Ruzich wants to be paid mileage 60 miles each way to and from Du Quoin daily from his home in Ozark as well as his hourly fee while on the road. He also refuses to share the oversight with city engineer and public works director Doug Bishop. "I don't see a deal here," said city administrator Brad Myers as the matter was tabled.
The city will keep looking for an independent engineer.
Bids for the $600,000 to $800,000 downtown sidewalk project are to be opened in Springfield Friday. On top of the engineering costs the city is admittedly worried about bids coming in higher than the IDOT grant that will fund the work.
In other action, the council reappointed Roy Smith to the Police Merit Board and thanked him for his service.
The council had trouble getting its arms around an agreement, apparently already in place, to provide backup dispatching for a Franklin-Perry County fire service Mutual Aid Box Alarm System currently based at Central Dispatch in Christopher.
Fire Chief Bob Shaw said Du Quoin being associated with the program that eliminates manual calls to other departments in case of a large fire is a good thing.
Police department dispatchers say they can't take on any more radio trafficking responsibilities even though such a callout is very rare and once the callout is completed radio traffic is handled on scene between firefighters.
Council members at the outset thought they were facing a difficult decision, but at the end of the long, arduous exchange found out the program is already in place as part of the city's MABAS agreement.
All concerned say Central Dispatch in Christopher is financially fragile and the Franklin County Sheriff's Department is already shouldering some of the radio traffic.