By Stephanie Johns
Staff Writer

The Morgan County Commission accepted an $11,083.75 estimate from Ronald Thurmond to have fences replaced along Old Buckhead Road as part of a Georgia Department of Transportation bridge replacement project.

Commissioner Andy Ainslie later explained that the fence replacements were part of the right-of-way easements the county had for the bridges project.

“We removed their fences to work on the bridges,” he said. “We agreed to make their properties functional again by putting their fences back after working on the bridges.”

County Manager Michael Lamar pointed out that some fences will require gates and additional supports, which could increase the final costs.

He said that all three of the estimates received looked “pretty reasonable.” Chairwoman Ellen Warren said she would prefer to go with someone in-county, which two of the three were. 

County Attorney Christian Henry noted that the commission could always consider the other men for future fencing projects.

Ainslie said he thought the prices looked high but made the motion to accept Thurmond’s estimate.

In other news, Ainslie said that Bob Monk, Director of Operations for Morgan County Charter School System, shared concerns about the safety of students walking from the high school to the library.

“He saw some dangerous situations,” Ainslie said, noting that between 20 and 30 students take this route.

Ainslie then asked staff to look into the possibility of adding sidewalks and suggested that it might require a joint effort with the city of Madison as well as the Board of Education.

Printed in the December 27, 2012 edition