RIDGEWAY (April 1, 2016) – Town Councilman Heath Cookendorfer during Council’s March 22 meeting pushed for a delay to Ridgeway’s laundry list of capital improvement expenditures until after the April 5 election, after which time Council would have its full complement of members. Council has been one member shy of a full load since Russ Brown surrendered his seat last year after moving from the town limits.
“This stuff needs to be done,” Councilman Doug Porter said. “I don’t know what the purpose is of waiting a week. We’re the Council.”
On the list of improvements were, at the Century House, replacing rotting wood, purchasing a new refrigerator, replacing the awning over the back door, installing heating and air upstairs, pouring new gravel into the driveway and planting trees between the Century House property and Ridgeway Tire.
“That wood didn’t start rotting yesterday,” Cookendorfer said. “We have the bids to consider. What I was wanting to do is just table it until after the election.”
Council is also considering replacing the heating and air conditioning at the police station, adding police-parking signage to spots on Palmer Street and making repairs to the Welcome Center, including replacing rotted wood on the door frame, replacing the flooring and the display card rack and either painting or power-washing the eaves.
With bids on the table for a number of projects, Councilman Donald Prioleau said his concern was if the numbers in the bids would hold up until after the election.
“Everybody is so busy doing other flood work,” Mayor Charlene Herring said, “that I’m scared that they will not be here.”
Herring said the rotten wood presented a structural issue, and Cookendorfer agreed; but other items, he said, could wait.
Council gave the OK to replace the rotted wood at the Century House at a cost of $5,115, which will come out of one of the Town’s CDs. Other items were put on hold.
Cookendorfer also wanted to wait on repairing the sidewalk near the Post Office until after the election, a project Dwight Robertson originally offered to complete for $4,720. But Herring said the initial price had gone up by $1,800 after the Town had received specs on the project from the S.C. Department of Transportation (DOT). The DOT specs mandate that in addition to pouring 208 feet of sidewalk, additional concrete will have to be poured a short distance into two driveways along the route.
The additional cost drives the price up to $5,900, which Cookendorfer noted put it above the $5,000 bid threshold. Expenditures over $5,000 require at least one additional quote, he said.
Herring said she would seek a second bidder and bring the project back to Council.
