The town of Jay will finally get sidewalks from School Street northward to the existing sidewalk network, according to Santa Rosa County Commissioner Don Salter at Jay's Monday, Oct. 7 council meeting.
The bid chosen was from Gulf Atlantic Constructors in the amount of $775,708.51. The funding will come from the Local Agency Program (LAP) as a reimbursement program to utilize federal funds through Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to design and construct highway infrastructure projects for $599,016 and the remaining $176,692.51 will come from Santa Rosa County, composed of $50,000 from Area 1 Impact fees and $126,692.51 from Fiscal Year 20 Unassigned General Fund Reserves.
Three other bids submitted for the projects were J. Miller Construction at $1,132,480; Chavers Construction at $1,149,243; and Roads, Inc. at $1,410,000. Gulf Atlantic Constructors was the lowest bid meeting specifications.
The sidewalk project was originally designed in 2012 and was excluded as an alternative bid item due to funding constraints. This current project will complete the 2012 project and provide a 1.5 mile walking loop.
“I wanted to report tonight, with all the wonderful projects you have going on, the board of county commissioners today discussed and will vote on approval Thursday, the one and a half mile Spring Street Sidewalk Project,” said Salter. “We've been talking about that for years. We now have the funding in place. It will be about a $700,000 project. By the time we build a sidewalk and take care of all the drainage issues, go all the way down to School Road and tie that to the existing sidewalk. We move slow, but we get there.”
Park Master Plan
The town of Jay will apply for a Florida Recreational Development Assistance Program (FRDAP) grant of $50,000 for its Bray-Hendricks Park Master Plan and use the money to purchase new playground equipment.
According to Dewberry Engineering's Crystal Weatherington, it will be up to the council to decide what playground equipment they want based on the age group. She said the playground will remain about where it is.
Weatherington said there is equipment that targets ages 2 to 5 and 5 to 12, with more equipment available for the older age group.
“In my personal opinion, I don't think the $50,000 is going to fit what my mind thinks we should have,” said Owens. “By saying that, I just want to make sure we're not limiting ourselves.”
Weatherington said there is equipment for sale that goes up to half a million dollars.
Seib said the town joined Omni Partners, a public purchasing organization that allows a smaller municipality to 'piggy back' on bigger contracts, which will save the smaller municipality 60 or 70 percent. The town is already saving on uniforms thanks to this program.
“We may be able to get an $80,000 piece of playground equipment for $40,000 or $50,000,” said Jay Operations Manager Eric Seib. “So that will now be affordable.”
Weatherington said the town may end up using that contract to get a bigger piece of equipment at a reduced price. She said the town won't see the money until next spring.
