Toccoa Commission Holds Regular Meeting

Toccoa city crews will begin work this Spring on repairing water transmission lines at Davidson Creek in the city’s water system.

City Manager Billy Morse brought the proposal to Toccoa City Commissioners at their meeting on Monday.

Recently, crews wrapped up the Davidson Creek dredging project and did so for less money than the city had originally expected.

According to Morse, about $200,000 remains in the reserve account for work at Davidson Creek.

Morse said he would like permission to use part of that remaining money for repairs to the Davidson Creek pumping infrastructure, which consists mainly of a water transmission line.

“They are broken and separated,” said Morse. “They have joints that have roots, causing some severe restrictions, therefore causing water to back up and overflow, so you are not getting the amount of water that you are pumping.”

Morse went on to say that city crews could handle all of this work in-house.

“We are estimating that the project will be between $50,000 and $75,000, but keep in mind much of this line is an old clay pipe that has been in the ground for 50 years,” said Morse.

Toccoa City Commissioners voted unanimously to keep all of the extra funds in the reserve account to make them available for the line maintenance work.

Morse said the goal is to have the project done by the Fall.

Elsewhere on Monday, Toccoa City Commissioners also unanimously approved hiring KCI Engineers Services to apply for 2017 LMIG Off-System Safety Funds.

Toccoa City Manager Billy Morse said these are special funds made available by the Georgia Department of Transportation for safety projects.

“What I would like to recommend to the city commission is that we apply for a minimum of $150,000 from this fund and that means that the city’s 30 percent match would be $45,000, and I would like to use these funds for handicap ramp installation, striping, and signage,” said Morse.

Morse said KCI will help with the application and also with the project process if the funds are granted.