Patterson street program hits a roadblock

The Patterson City Council hit a roadblock in its plan to fix some of the city’s lesser-traveled streets.

The council will scale back its plans after learning Tuesday that bids for resurfacing of up to 11 city streets came in twice as high as expected.

Also Tuesday, the council moved toward a compromise that has eluded members since the spring on an ordinance governing large animals kept in the city limits.

The council also took the first step toward giving Police Chief Garrett Grogan a $5,000 annual raise.
Roads

The council had plans to use $551,000 from a bond issue to turn Shady Grove and Bridge into asphalt-covered streets; pave part of Jake with asphalt and put limestone on the rest; and put down limestone on Eighth, Ninth, 10th and 11th streets, Taft, St. Mary, St. Lucy, Tall Timbers and Fern.

Doing all the work identified as needed was estimated to cost $633,000, but council members were hoping for a possible break on the bids that would have allowed all or nearly all of the work to be done with the money already available.

Instead, engineer Melanie Caillouet told the council Tuesday that the lowest of two bids received for the 11-street program was nearly double the original estimate.
Huey P. Stockstill LLC of Picayune, Mississippi, turned in a base bid of $1.08 million and a bid of nearly $1.3 million for the core work plus alternatives.

Barriere Construction of Boutte submitted a base bid of about $1.2 million and $1.7 million for the base plus all the alternatives.

The council voted to reject both bids. Mayor Rodney Grogan recommended that the city take on two projects each year based on priority.

Animal ordinance
The current city law governing the keeping of large animals in the city limits allows farm animals to be kept in the city provided the landowner has at least one acre for the first animal and half an acre for each additional animal.

After complaints involving horses and donkeys, the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended doing away with the land requirement language in the ordinance, effectively prohibiting large animals from being kept in the city.

But some council members objected, including Councilman Joe Russo, an agricultural science teacher who worried about the impact on students who were raising animals for school or 4-H projects.

On Tuesday, members introduced an ordinance that would keep the current ordinance in place but require a Planning and Zoning Commission permit to keep horses on land inside the city.

If the ordinance follows the normal course, the proposal would come up for a public hearing and passage vote Oct. 4.

Police chief pay

On March 26, 83% of Patterson voters approved a charter amendment that would allow the police chief to receive a council-approved pay raise immediately rather than wait for the end of the four-year term in which the raise was passed.

On Tuesday, the council introduced an ordinance that would raise Police Chief Garrett Grogan’s pay $5,000 a year to $59,000. The chief also receives $6,000 in state supplemental pay.

Councilmen Russo and Ray Dewey Sr. both said the raise would put Grogan’s pay in the average range for area police departments.