MURFREESBORO – Upon the earlier recommendation of J.T Grimes P.E. of Jewell Engineering Consultants, the Town of Murfreesboro decided Tuesday to proceed with a proposal to provide engineering services on the Holly Hill Road dam.

After reviewing the options of the proposal, submitted by Senior Engineering Technical Specialist, Michael L. Parker, P.E. of Sutton-Kennerly & Associates, Inc., the town concluded that it would allow the company to perform an analysis on the dam, which is estimated to be in excess of 25 years old.

The decision authorizes SKA to perform tests to determine the load capacity of the box culvert bridge slab at the dam spillway, where vehicles cross and would include saw cutting small view port surface trenches in the top and bottom of the spillway concrete slab surfaces to expose the steel bar reinforcement and to document the location, size and orientation of the embedded structure.

SKA anticipates the fieldwork to be completed in one week with a load capacity report to be issued within two weeks thereafter.

Public Works Director Gene Byrd supported the decision saying, &uot;I think we are making the right decision in going ahead with this analysis. Now that we’ve come this far, I think we need to find out what the status is with the structure so that we can proceed accordingly.&uot;

Byrd suggested that it would be better to spend the money on the engineering services than to neglect performing the analysis to potentially be faced with problems in the future.

Although the actual cost of the engineering services will be determined based on the actual time required to perform the work multiplied by the company’s standard billing rates and in addition to reimbursable expenses, the estimated cost of the analysis is $2,000.

In previous meetings Grimes expressed his confidence in the abilities of contractors at SKA and said that he felt &uot;very comfortable&uot; with the familiarity and expertise of the company in dealing with this type of issue.

The Public Works Department is in the process of coordinating the analysis with SKA and Jewell Engineering Consultants to solidify a date to begin the work.

Other action taken by the town included a vote to consolidate bimonthly meetings from the first and fourth Tuesday to the fourth Tuesday of each month at 1 p.m. effective starting in March.

In a departmental report from Murfreesboro’s Police Chief Darrell Rowe, Rowe announced that the Police Department had been awarded a grant from Homeland Security for updating $13,000 worth or equipment with no match required.

Additionally, Town Administrator Molly Eubank reported the good news that Rose Brothers would be paving the roads from the 158 Bypass to the Virginia line in addition to milling and resurfacing Union Street.

The Board also authorized $20,000 to be taken out of the town’s fund balance, to be reimbursed at a later date, as a down payment for the purchase of the land adjacent to the existing lagoons on US 258 for the expansion of its wastewater treatment plant.

The town had originally held a public hearing to secure support for the project at an amount of $500,000 with financing to be done through Branch Banking and Trust Company (BB&T) for 15 years at a rate of 4.29 percent, but as a result of an unexpected stipulation in the returned proposal submitted by International Paper, the town renegotiated the purchasing price to $520,000, requiring an additional $20,000 commitment.

The decision of whether or not to relinquish rights to the money awarded via the Community Development Block Grant for Housing Development (CDBG-HD) was tabled until the town could discuss its options with officials at the Division of Community Assistance (DCA) in Raleigh.

The town authorized Eubank and Council members Wayne Brown and Billy Theodorakis to meet with the DCA regarding the project.

The Town resolved to seek out other potential grant monies that may be available to them for future use.