RSS Feed
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Water Authority trying to stop fencing of pump in nearby Marengo Rex Rush, chairman of the North Clarke Water Authority, addressed the Clarke County Commission Monday on a boundary dispute surrounding a northwest pump station near the Clarke-Marengo county line. The dispute with property owner Robert Dockery has been going on for over a year-and-a half, he said. The authority believed they had placed the pump station within Clarke County's boundary. The location of the station was checked by engineers and a survey was done, Rush said. Dockery went to Marengo County Circuit Court and won a May 4 order that the station is officially in Marengo County. The authority has secured the services of attorney Tom Boggs of Demopolis to appeal the decision. Rush said it could cost approximately $300,000 to move the pump station if the court decision stands. The property owner is claiming he is going to put a fence around the station, denying access. The water pump station serves approximately 325 people. A restraining order has been issued to stop the fence from being constructed, Rush said. County Attorney Bruce Wilson was skeptical of the Marengo survey and the resulting court order. "The Legislature has established the county boundary," Wilson said. "…That's a governmental section line; that is the county boundary. You may be getting into different surveyors saying where that line is. …No one can change the county line but the legislature. Now, where that actually is on the ground when you go out there and walk, that's a surveying issue." The property deed for the pump station was registered in 1996. A survey was done by Larry Baker, which Rush said was the most accurate. An earlier survey of the property by Wilbur Downey was similar to the Baker survey, said Engineer Sam Noble. Both surveys showed the property in Clarke County. The resulting court order was based on a survey by Glen McCord. "I don't see how that order can even be enforced," Wilson said. "A surveyor couldn't take the court's order and go out there and establish the boundary lines." In other action from the commission meeting, the commission approved removing trees from 50 feet on each side of a proposed "Pressure Reducing Station" for a gas line on the access road to the new Louisiana Pacific mill. • Clinton Hawkins, a superintendent of the Road and Bridge Department for the southern section of the county, was approved for permanent employee status after serving a six-month probationary period. He will receive a 50 cent-per-hour raise, retroactive to July 1. • County Engineer Noble has hired two Equipment Operator III's. The commission approved Noble hiring an Equipment Operator II. • The commission approved an $18,515 bid for the Air Handler unit at the courthouse from Air Masters Inc. of Thomasville. The county also received an $18,045 bid from Johnson Controls Inc. of Mobile, but Engineer Noble said the county could accept the bid from the Thomasville company because the difference between the costs was within three percent. • A Hurricane Workshop will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on July 26 at the county courthouse. First responders and the public are invited. "We will be going through a hurricane scenario and talk about what we're doing at the state, federal and local level," said County Emergency Management Agency Director Roy Waite.
• A public assistance briefing will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Aug. 2 at the Emergency Operations Center in the courthouse. This meeting for elected officials will include new guidelines concerning five percent reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency after a disaster.
|
for larger version       |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
