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Split Sylva board OKs funding to complete new pedestrian bridge
By Stephanie Salmons
After lengthy discussion, a divided town board approved funding needed to complete a planned pedestrian bridge that will connect the town’s Railroad Avenue municipal parking lot with Sylva’s Poteet Park.
That action came during Sylva leaders’ May 15 regular meeting after officials learned that the price tag for installation of the bridge that will span Scotts Creek will be some $100,000 more than first projected.
An amendment to allocate $102,007 from Sylva’s fund balance to cover the additional costs passed by a 3-2 vote, with board members Harold Hensley, Ray Lewis and Stacy Knotts voting in favor while board members Maurice Moody and Bridge Park Project coordinator Sarah Graham voted “no.”
Town Manager Jay Denton told board members the contract for bridge installation could not be awarded until the additional funds were budgeted.
When town leaders voted last June to move forward on the project, the anticipated cost was $147,000. According to Denton, the town’s contribution would total around $44,000, including some $22,000 from the general fund balance and about $22,000 in in-kind contributions, with $73,000 coming from a Water Resources Development Project grant, $10,000 from a Jackson County grant, $10,000 from a Blue Cross/Blue Shield Fit Together grant and $7,500 from the N.C. Rural Center along with several other grants.
Denton’s revised estimate totals $260,007 and includes $19,708 for engineering, design and surveying; $2,921 for administration; $7,500 for monitoring and signage; and $226,878 for the bridge, abutments and installation, a difference of $113,007.
According to Denton, the original $147,000 has gained about $11,000 in interest, leaving the town responsible for the remaining $102,000.
“It did come in over the estimate,” Denton said. “I take full responsibility for this project being over the original estimate, because I put those together based on information given to me by a professional with the state cooperative extension service who has put in these bridges before.”
According to Denton, the main reason for the cost overrun is that not enough money was allocated for bridge abutments and ramps. Structures to support the bridge will have to be more complex than originally thought due to the type of soil at the site, Denton said Thursday.
Board members appeared caught off guard by the discrepancy with the original estimate and wondered why those factors weren’t taken into account in preparing the original budget.
Knotts said it would seem that those facts should have been known before the bridge was ordered. However, according to engineer Victor Lofquist, a bridge foundation cannot be created until the bridge manufacturer is decided on.
“We need the soil survey to determine what the abutments were going to be, but the bridge needed to be selected before we could decide on what kind of abutments that we needed,” Denton told board members.
Soil samples were taken around the first of the year, Lofquist said, adding that the “industry standard” is for bridge manufacturers to release abutment drawings after a bridge is ordered.
There is also an almost nine-foot difference in elevation between the two creek banks, which requires more extensive ramps to meet slope requirements in the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“My question would be concerning other options,” Moody said. “I fully support a foot bridge across Scotts Creek, but I don’t support a $250,000 foot bridge across Scotts Creek.”
The elevation difference has been known since the beginning of the discussion about a bridge at that site, Graham said, adding that soil samples should have been taken prior to ordering the bridge.
“I just think that the footers and soil (tests) should have been done before the bridge order was placed,” Knotts said. “Now we have a bridge and nothing to put the bridge on if we don’t (allocate additional funds).”
Mayor Brenda Oliver said the town is now stuck “between a rock and a hard place,” telling board member that they could negate the project and lose some $160,000 and then have nothing to show for it or use money from the general fund to complete the project “with a hard lesson learned.”
“My main concern is that this original project ordinance was approved by the board for $22,000 to come from fund balance, and the rest was to be paid by grants and that seemed, I’m sure at the time, a reasonable amount of money to add to this grant money to get a foot bridge,” Graham said. “Now we’re supposed to be approving somewhere in the range of five or six times that amount of money. It’s just an entirely different project. We are between a rock and a hard place and I’m not quite sure that I feel OK with that.”
Since the town has so much invested, officials should finish the project, Hensley said.
“Don’t get me wrong, I want a bridge as much as the next person. I spent a lot of time and energy creating a fund-raising drive asking the community for money for a park to complement this bridge,” said Graham. “I absolutely want to see a bridge; I would just like to see some consistency on how we dole out public funds. This is six times as much money as you originally asked for from the board, and we’re just supposed to say ‘OK?’ ” she asked Denton.
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t ask for it,” Denton replied. “It was presented to the board, and it’s up to the board to approve this. You’ve got to understand, commissioner, this is not a Jay Denton project – this is a Sylva Board of Commissioners project.”
Knotts said she is angry that the board was now in a position where there aren’t many options.
Hensley moved to approve the additional $102,000.
“I definitely didn’t start this thing, and I’ve voted against give-aways before,” he said. “Everyone up here wanted a bridge, and at one time I said if we don’t go on with this project, (I’d vote) to kill it. We turned it over to the town manager to have it built, and I’d like to make a motion this morning to take the manager’s advice and get on and build the bridge,” Hensley said. “I’m not a fan of throwing money at nothing, but you can’t have a bridge to nowhere.”
Lewis seconded Hensley’s motion.
“I’m getting ready to vote for this because there’s no choice in my view, but I don’t think we can let this type of mistake go by, and even though I’m getting ready to vote to go ahead and complete the project, I don’t think I would have voted for a bridge that would have cost a quarter of a million dollars,” Knotts said. “What I need to see for the next meeting is a really detailed time line of this project and everything that happened along the way and how we got into this situation because I’m still confused. I really need to see the facts laid out on a piece of paper, because this is taxpayers’ money. Our taxpayers have worked hard for this money, and now we’re taking six times (what was originally estimated). I’m just very upset.”
In the future, she’d like to make sure town leaders get “as reasonable an estimate that can possibly be made,” Graham said.
However, Denton said that the first estimate was what it was believed the bridge project would cost.
“I’m just most mad that we don’t have an option,” Knotts said. “You expect things to come in over budget, but this is huge. We’re not a big town, and we don’t have a huge budget. We just can’t absorb these kinds of differences over and over again.”
After the vote passed, Knotts asked Denton if there would be any more unexpected costs with the project.
Denton said that he couldn’t offer a 100-percent guarantee, adding that there are sewer lines in the area, although maps show that projected construction should miss them.
Board members subsequently voted to award the bridge construction contract to Phillips and Jordan of Robbinsville, which will construct bridge abutments and ramps as well as the bridge itself.
Phillips and Jordan’s low bid was $156,000.
Denton said Tuesday that a few details remained to be ironed out before the contract is signed, but that he expects the agreement to be in place by the end of the week.
Once the agreement is finalized, Phillips and Jordan must be on site within 10 days and then must complete the entire project within 45 days, Denton said, adding that the bridge could in place by mid-July.
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