“I guess the message I have is not to hold your breath,” Tomson said.
By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
Davis resident Ben Herrick addressed the Town of Davis Council on January 22nd about the status of a paving project the Town was looking into for lower Kent Avenue near 1rst St.
Davis Mayor Al Tomson referred the question to Council Member Doug Martin who was looking into the cost of paving the section of road. Martin said he was in the process of obtaining the estimates from West Virginia Paving for the project, but was awaiting a break in the weather. “I am going to get the estimates from West Virginia Paving,” Martin said.
Tomson informed Herrick that a lot with the project was dependent of price. Tomson said he estimated the cost would be upwards of $300,000 for the project. “So, we will see what the price is,” Tomson said. “I think it is going to be 2 to $300,000, which there is not money to do that.”
Tomson said he didn’t see the project happening because of other projects in line ahead of the paving project. “There are a couple of projects that are ahead of you,” Tomson said. “So I don’t see that happening.”
However, Tomson did say he planned to submit the project as part of a grant submission once the Town’s Sewer Project is completed. “When the Sewer Project gets done, I am going to submit it as part of an AMLER Grant request to try to get funding to do it,” Tomson said.
Again, Tomson said that the chances of the grant were not great, however. “And that is hit or miss,” Tomson said. “I’ve done AMLER Grants before and not gotten them, but we’ll keep trying.”
Tomson said that the Town’s Water and Sewer Projects were the top priority, but that the project would be submitted in the grant proposal for consideration. “But right now that’s the best thing,” Tomson said. “Right now we have a $300,000 bill and we’ve got parts of Davis that still don’t have water and sewer lines, which is a higher priority then paving Kent and that’s about 900,000, which I am also going to put in the same AMLER Grant.”
Tomson told Herrick “not to hold your breath” on the issue, but did offer hope that if the estimates for the project came in low enough that the Town would consider a short term loan on the project. “I guess the message I have is not to hold your breath,” Tomson said. “If the estimate comes in and you know its $100,000 then maybe there’s some way we can cobble it together and get a short term loan and look at doing that. But it is really going to depend on the price.”
“Its a wait and see,” Tomson said.