Augusta City Council Meeting for April

(Photo courtesy of wcpo.com)

The opening of bids for pool renovation submitted to City Hall was on the agenda for April’s council meeting as City Hall is anxious to get construction on the pool underway immediately. Two bids were submitted. The first bid submitted was opened by Mayor High with a gasp. PSS Contracting submitted a bid for $325,000 which is well beyond the estimation previously made. Natare Corporation out of Indianapolis submitted a bid of $187,691. The two bids are very distant and this was pointed out several times by Mayor Wendell High. The Mayor has requested that council members carefully examine the details of bids submitted. The Pool Committee, a volunteer committee charged with the oversight of pool renovations, will meet Friday (4/20) and also carefully examine and discuss the bids. Mayor High called a special meeting for Monday, April 23, to announce the chosen bid. Included in the tourism briefing by Tourism Director Lacey Holleran was an update on progress from Augusta Parks & Recreation. Augusta Parks & Recreation was assembled to develop community activities to fill the void of a season without the public pool. The volunteer group has also made its mission to raise funds for a full renovation of Boling Archibald Basketball Court located on the south end of Appleman Park. Sponsorships are being sold and sponsors can have their banner displayed on the fencing around the tennis courts either facing the park grounds or Second Street. In the maintenance briefing, it was announced that the hardware has arrived for the building of the new docks/boat slips at the Augusta Boat Dock. The operation will begin as soon as the floats arrive. The operation is being managed and organized by Mayor High. The crew will be comprised of the full time maintenance employees as well as volunteers recruited by the mayor. Mayor High has set a goal of having this completed by Memorial Day.