By Amber Thompson

athompson@newsaegis.com

The Ragland tennis courts will still receive a new look in the coming months, but the outcome will be slightly more noticeable than previously planned for local sportsmen and women.

The St. Clair County Commission recently let bids for asphalt resurfacing of the tennis courts with part of a $50,000 ADECA grant secured by Sen. Del Marsh, but there was confusion in what exactly needed to be done.

During their recent work session, Ragland Mayor Lanis White, Councilman Chad Seales and local tennis player Tim Ford were on hand to discuss the renovations.

“We were interested in seeing renovation at the court, but that eventuated into asphalt resurfacing,” Ford said. “That’s not a surface for tennis playing. On one of the courts, there’s no net, and the net posts are bent. For $28,000, there are better opportunities to make it look like a tennis court.”

Ford said that he had received estimates from Birmingham tennis restoration companies that said $60,000 would cover all the repairs to rebuild the courts from the ground up — a number they were aware was too high to be practical in the current economic climate, they said.

Instead, Ford suggested that the courts’ structural cracks and “bird baths” be leveled out, a tennis finish be added to the surface, repairs made to the nets and net posts, and movement  — if not complete replacement — of the fences to bring the courts up to regulation for school use.

Chairman Stan Batemon suggested in the work session that the bids for the asphalt resurfacing be rejected, and asked county administrator Kellie Long to research the possibility of changing the scope of work in the ADECA grant to cover the newly-requested items.

“If they’ll modify the grant, no problem. If they won’t, we’ll have to spend the money on other projects, and pay for the tennis courts from the general fund,” Batemon said.

Commissioner Paul Manning said during the official meeting that the interpretation of what needed to be done was different than the actual needs, and information regarding how to proceed should be available by their Feb. 17 work session.

In other actions:

— An amendment was made to the standard phrases to be used with weather-related road closures and travel advisories per the suggestion of the county’s insurance attorneys.

— A public hearing was scheduled for 9 a.m. Feb. 22 regarding an application for FY11 Job Access and Reverse Commute grant.

— Clyde Rice was approved for a Part-Time Bus Driver II position, and a recently-vacated part-time driver position was approved to be advertised. Public Transportation Director Terry Rowe also received a budgeted pay raise to $38,000 per year.

— A $247 reimbursement to the Day Program was approved for sending six detention staff members to Use of Force in Juvenile Facilities training. The amount was paid from the Juvenile Court Services fund.

— The St. Clair County Technology Team was approved to move forward with replacement of servers at the Operation Center at a cost of $35,096. The servers previously suffered water damage, and insurance is expected to cover at least $15,000 of the cost.

— All current and future Public Transportation positions were approved to be classified as “safety sensitive,” requiring drug testing for each and every position. At this time, only one position was not deemed “safety sensitive.” A new substance abuse policy for Public Transportation was also approved, retroactive to Nov. 30, 2010.

— A change order for $21,442 at the Ashville Courthouse was approved.

— The county levies for alcohol licensing and other taxes was approved. This is a yearly item, and no new taxes have been implemented.

— A proposal from Alabama Controls to upgrade the HVAC monitoring and control system for the Pell City courthouse was approved in the amount of $16,840.

— Mark Eddy was re-appointed to the Remlap-Pine Mountain Water Authority, John Golden was re-appointed to the Wolf Creek Water Authority, Herschel Phillips and Donny Smith were appointed to the St. Clair County Parks and Recreation Board, and Greg Turley was appointed to the St. Clair County Airport Authority.