The Claiborne County Board of Supervisors voted Aug. 18 to authorize a phase-2 purchase order for road work using existing term bids after staff presented a condition assessment and cost estimates for four roads totaling $509,006.
County road staff said the recommended roads — Rankin Street (from Woodbine to Road), Oak Ridge Road (Highway 547 to dead end), Brady Avenue (Lum Lane to dead end) and Old Highway 18 No. 3 (loop) — ranged from fair to poor in condition. “Based on our assessment… 3 of those roads was pretty much in poor condition,” said Tommy Avant, who presented the assessment. He provided line-item cost estimates and requested issuance of a purchase order against current term bids.
Nut graf: The board approved the purchase order, but several supervisors objected that the proposed list would direct roughly half a million dollars to a subset of districts while others reported severe unmet needs in their areas.
Board debate and equity concerns
Supervisor Hudson and others asked why certain districts were not included; staff replied supervisors from Districts 2 and 5 had declined to add roads to the list because they did not want IMS Engineering to handle their work. That explanation prompted further debate about geographic balance. One supervisor said many roads in his district were in worse condition and said he would oppose the motion for that reason; nonetheless the motion was called and the chair announced it carried.
Actions and implementation
Motion to issue purchase order for phase-2 term-bid roads was made by Supervisor Odom and seconded by Supervisor Chambliss. The board chair announced the motion carried. Staff said the contractor had completed prior term-bid work and that engineers would finalize administrative checks and return a recommendation to the board.
Ending
Supervisors urged staff to continue outreach to other districts so future allocations more evenly reflect countywide needs.