Town gets ‘thumbs up’ on livestock market
The Jay Council Monday night discussed and got updates on the progress of several projects the town has going on and approved a new name for the facility that was the old Jay Livestock market.
The Livestock Market
Representatives with the United States Dairy Association Rural Development (USDA RD) came last week and inspected the work done on the structure and gave a thumbs up of approval. Jay Operations Manager Eric Seib said now the town has to pay all contractors final payments and once those checks clear, it can present that total to the USDA and get reimbursed the $150,000 grant.
Council members agreed that there needs to be guidelines in place for potential vendors that clearly state what can and cannot be sold. Some council members were concerned about limitations that may deter vendors and agreed that all of those details need to be put in place prior to opening the facility for any kind of event.
Council members discussed at length the new name for the structure and approved the name 'The Market Place' in a motion made by Nina Hendricks and seconded by Councilman Josh Holloway. The motion carried. Mayor Shon Owens was not present.
Fire hydrant repairs
Sieb said the town is looking at a company that installs valves in a water line to stop water so a fire hydrant leak can be repaired without shutting off all water. Repairs include putting in more valves in Highway 4 and other areas to isolate leaks in the future. Seib said that maintaining the fire hydrant system to isolate and minimize leaks is part of the town's asset management plan.
CDBG grant
According to Dewberry Engineering representative Crystal Weatherington, a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) pre-construction meeting was held last week and the FDOT is planning on starting Oct. 8 to pull the water line on Highway 4 and pave from the outside in while they are replacing the waterline. Then they will start the CDBG project. She said they are hoping to have the CDBG portion done by March of 2020 and are trying not to interfere with the town's plans for Halloween and Christmas events to be held downtown. Both jobs will be done by the same contractor, which makes it easier, according to Dewberry.
King's Harvest
The King's Harvest came to the town and requested to hold the next food distribution event near Thanksgiving at Bray-Hendricks Park and council members expressed concern following the last event and the traffic problems it created.
“They cannot hand out food before 5 p.m.,” said Seib. “People lined up at noon last time and sat in front of peoples' houses. That's why it didn't seem like anyone moved for a long time, because they couldn't.”
Seib said that according to Santa Rosa County event guidelines, they will have to bring a Santa Rosa County Sheriff's deputy in and use them as road blocks in managing the traffic. Seib said they will have to look at coming up with a way to get traffic in and out smoothly and not tear up the grass and not block the way.
Council members agreed that before they approve the event, a better way to serve the public and not create destruction would need to be in place. The item was tabled until then.
The next council meeting will be Monday, Oct. 7, at 6 p.m. at town hall.
