County officials at their Dec. 4 board meeting approved a new fee proposal for design of alignment and drainage improvements to Livingston Lane and Veal Road.
County engineer Tom Garrett made the recommendation to the board to replace the existing purchase order with Hatch Mott McDonald, which has a remaining balance of $135,759.06, with a purchase order to Moreland Altobelli Associates in the amount of $87,687.80.
Garrett said the net savings on the fee would be about $48,000. The funding for the project comes from the 2005 SPLOST.
The services that will be provided by Moreland Altobelli Associates for the project will be concept verification, which is estimated to take about one to two weeks; environmental documents, expected to take about two weeks; preliminary, to last about three to six weeks and final plans, to last seven to 10 weeks; right-of-way plans and right-of-way staking, which are estimated to take about 10 to 11 weeks; and individual plat and legal description preparation, expected to take 11 to 16 weeks.
The company will also hold two public meetings for the project.
Commissioner Lanier Sims thanked Garrett for his work with the project and said the project has been in the works for a while and that he remembered the road as a young boy.
He then made a motion to replace the purchase order and assign it to Moreland Altobelli Associates.
In other business, the board approved a resolution to ratify a contract with Snapfinger Creek for the purchase of mitigation credits required for Crowell Road and Gaithers Road improvements.
According to the resolution in executive session on Oct. 2, the board approved and subsequently entered a contract with Snapfinger Creek for the purchase of 2,290 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved stream mitigation credits and 4.6 USACE approved wetland mitigation credits for a total cost of $155,373.
Under the terms of that agreement, the county was required to purchase the mitigation credits within 30 days of receipt of the last revised permit. The Crowell Road permit, the last revised permit, was issued on Nov. 6 and received by the county on Nov. 16.
The $155,373 for the mitigation credits will be paid out of separate project funds: that being $96,555 from the Crowell Road permit, and $58,818 from the Gaithers Road permit.
The board of commissioners also approved a vehicle transfer request from East Metro Health. Titles to five Public Health Environmental Health vehicles were requested to be transferred to the Newton County Health Department.
According to a letter from Jim Griffin, Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale Health Department district administrator and COO, Newton County purchased the five vehicles and was reimbursed with Health Department funds. The county retained the titles and has billed Public Health on a monthly basis for insurance and maintenance since the purchase.
As the Environmental Health Division of the Newton County Health Department has reorganized, there was only a need for two vehicles. The remaining three vehicles were available for purchase from the Rockdale and Gwinnett County Health Department, which Griffin said are in need of the vehicles. The board of commissioners approved obtaining one of those vehicles, which is a 2004 Ford Taurus F150.
