SILVERHILL — The Silverhill Town Council voted Monday, Sept. 20 to provide additional sick days for employees who have tested positive for COVID-19.
Under the current policy, employees are allowed one sick day per month or a total of 12 sick days per year, said Mayor Jared Lyles.
The council voted Monday to allow 10 additional sick days for employees who have tested positive for COVID-19 over the last year.
Attorney Josh Myrick, who represents the town in legal matters, said that since it is believe this is a temporary measure, it would not need to be added to the town’s personnel policy.
In other business Sept. 20, the council discussed using Rescue Plan Act money to replace water meters with radio-controlled water meters.
The city of Robertsdale has recently replaced its radio-controlled meters with a digital system and voted at its Sept. 7 council meeting to surplus the meters. The city has offered to sell the meters to the town of Silverhill at a cost of $10,000.
Lyles said the town has also looked into what it would cost to purchase new meters and has received a quote of $260,000.
“That’s a big difference,” Lyles said. “It’s such a big difference that we should definitely consider Robertsdale’s offer.”
The town would also need to purchase software to read the meters and provide billing for customers, which would cost about $2,000, officials said.
Superintendent of Utilities Scottie Smith also requested that any used meters that come from Robertsdale be no more than two years old.
The town has been replacing meters as needed, officials said, and have already replaced about 200 of the town’s 1,050 meters, leaving the town needing to replace about 850 meters.
The city of Robertsdale has offered to sell the town about 18,000 meters. Officials also stated that a place to safely store the excess meters would be needed.
“There’s a lot of things to consider and we will be looking into all of that when making a decision on how to proceed in the coming months,” said Allen Killen with Civil Southeast, who acts as a consultant with the town.
The town has received $136,000 in Rescue Plan Act money and is set to receive another $136,000 in nine months, Lyles said.
The council also discussed the town’s recently-completed road paving project after the company hired to do the project, Asphalt Services, asked for additional funds not included in the original project.
In January 2020, the town received word that it had been awarded a $250,000 Alabama Department of Transportation Rebuild Alabama Grant.
The $250,000 grant application included resurfacing projects on First, Second, Third, Fourth, Seventh and Ninth Streets, and South Avenue. It also allowed for the widening of some of the streets.
In November 2020, the council approved a bid from Asphalt Services that was $15,000 under budget for the project and in March of 2021, the council voted to add a portion of Second Avenue from County Road 55 to Second Street, to the project at a cost of $14,500.
In August, the town received a bill from Asphalt Services in the amount of $292,000, citing additional costs to complete the project, but, Lyles said, the additional costs had not been approved as part of the project.
The town has since offered to pay $272,000 for the project, but the payment was not accepted, officials said.
“We are happy with the job they did and want to work things out in hopes that we can use them in the future,” Lyles said.
Lyles asked Myrick to continue communications with the company in hopes that a peaceful resolution can be brought in the near future.
Also on Sept. 20 the council:
