The Columbia City Council met for a special called session Tuesday to approve two requests from Mayor Pam Hoots: One to apply for a grant to upgrade gas lines, and another to purchase a dump truck.
The first item was the request to apply for the grant, which is funded through the Pipeline & Hazardous Material Safety Administration.
“I’d like a motion to approve so we can go ahead and get this in-process,” Hoots said. After Councilor Craig Dean clarified that the vote was only to apply for the grant, and will not obligate the city to spend anything or match funds, Linda Waggener moved to approve Hoots’ request. Sharon Payne offered a second, and the measure passed without argument, 6-0.
“That’s around a $175,000 grant — that’s the total project,” Hoots said.
After the meeting, Hoots explained the grant, as well as the need for the funds.
“We’ll be using it to replace some old lines in Columbia that are bare steel,” Hoots explained. “We have approximately a mile-and-a-half of bare steel that we were looking at replacing, so this grant has come available and we’ll be making an application for that grant.” She said she expected to know whether or not Columbia would be awarded the funds within two months.
The only other agenda item was a request to advertise for purchase of a dump truck, to be used by all departments, but primarily the Columbia Street Dept.
“Dump trucks are hard to find, but we’re trying to find a used one,” Hoots said. “Everyone will use it, but primarily the street department.”
Robert Flowers moved to approve the request, Mark Harris seconded, and the motion passed without further discussion, 6-0.
All councilors were present for the meeting except for Dr. Ronald Rogers.
