Commissioners approve road and equipment purchases, authorize Safe Streets grant application

Dougherty County commissioners approved multiple public-works purchases and accepted a $563,640.59 LRA supplemental grant from the Georgia Department of Transportation to fund improvements to Wilson Road.

The board voted to accept CE Construction of Georgia LLC's low bid of $599,299.90 for the Wilson Road project and to use the LRA supplemental grant for $563,640.59; commissioners said the remaining difference would be covered by T-SPLOST funds. Public Works Director Chuck Mathis, Assistant County Administrator Barry Brooks and procurement staff answered questions about scope and drainage improvements.

Other procurement approvals at the session included:

- A state-contract purchase of a 2026 Kenworth T480 roll-off truck for solid waste from MHC Kenworth of Atlanta for $216,200 (funded from the solid waste capital outlay).

- Acceptance of an $82,937 quote from HTS Construction to pave a portion of the alley behind the 300 block of Raintree Drive (funded from T-SPLOST 2).

- A single-source purchase of a mobile license-plate reader system from Dana Safety of Preston, Ga., for $20,890; commissioners asked staff to confirm and cite the specific line item within the special services district fund for accounting transparency before final administrative processing.

Separately, the board approved a joint city-county application for the U.S. Department of Transportation's Safe Streets for All implementation grant. The proposed application totals $24,902,000 and requires a 20% local match ($4,980,400); Dougherty County's share of that local match would be $796,080, funded by SPLOST 5 if the grant is awarded. The county's portion would focus on shoulder improvements along Tarver Road and 8 Mile Road.

Eric Stevens, who presented the Safe Streets plan, said shoulder improvements can markedly reduce run-off-road incidents: "It eliminates about 80% of those types of incidents," he told the commission, describing the crash-modification benefits of a safety edge.

Several commissioners asked for fiscal clarity and for procurement and budget line-item citations before final administrative processing. Commissioner Gray and others emphasized the need to capture recurring equipment needs in department budgets rather than drawing on a pooled special-services fund without a clear line-item citation.

What happens next: Administration will proceed with procurement and contracting consistent with the approvals, confirm budget line-item citations for the license-plate reader purchase, and, if the Safe Streets grant application is selected, return with project-level agreements and funding commitments.