During the November meeting of the Hartford City Council, the city council approved a motion to use occupational tax money to replace a section of sidewalk along Clay Street.
Mayor Charlotte Hendricks informed the city council she had a progress meeting with the contractors and engineers about the sidewalk replacement that has gone on for the last several weeks in Hartford. She was told 84 percent of the project has been completed in around 25 percent of the time allotted to finish it.
The contractors and engineers also told Hendricks to tell those who live in the areas with new sidewalks to not heavily salt them this winter. The salt will “pit” the sidewalk and eat into it.
Hendricks was pleased with the workers and their work and was thankful the city had gotten lucky with the good weather. Because of those reasons, she believed the city should do more sidewalk replacement. Since the workers and equipment were already there, it would be cheaper for the city to have the work done now.
Hendricks said she had the contractors look into replacing a section of sidewalk along Clay Street in Hartford. The city received a bid of $16,641 for the project. The other sidewalk replacements were paid for with a grant. This extra work would be paid for by the city.
Council member Tony Ward thought the city council should be “good stewards” and use the occupational tax money to further that agenda. He believed using the money to buy a new police car, to repair the sewer and begin a sinking fund were good examples of being good stewards of the city of Hartford. He also believed using $16,641 to replace a damaged sidewalk along Clay Street was another example. Ward thought all of those projects “were a pretty good effort of fixing things up in this city for the first quarter (of occupational tax money).”
Council member Cindy McEnroe made a motion the city contract Knight’s Construction to replace a section of sidewalk along Clay Street for the bid amount of $16,641 and for the amount to be paid out of the occupational tax fund. Council member Bob Clements seconded the motion. The motion passed with a 4-0 vote. Council members Jerry Scoggins and Roxanne Allen were not present for the meeting.
After the vote, Ward told the city council it needs to be careful of what it spends the tax money on in the near future, at least until it receives the next quarter’s returns.