Published: August 13, 2008 10:39 am      

Corbin opens bids for sports fields project

By Sean Bailey / Staff Writer

The Corbin City Commission opened and read bids for completion of the Civic Center sports fields project, that has been halted since February, during it’s regular meeting Monday.

Thirteen bids were opened for completion of the grading and irrigation of the fields and for lighting at the fields. The commission is taking the bids under advisement at this time.

The fields were put on hold in February when it was discovered the city didn’t open the work out for competitive bids.

Under state law anything costing more than $20,000 must be opened for competitive bidding. At the time the excavation work was priced at $44,000.

According to earlier reports, at the time excavation began city officials were under the impression the work was going to be done as an in-kind donation. The excavation company approached the city and said it would need partial payment to finish the work.

The commission put the bids under advisement. Once the bids are chosen ,work on the field should be able to begin once again.

City Commissioner Joe Shelton said after the bids were read, that he hoped any controversy over the fields would be over.

“This hurts me greatly to get these bids. It’s going to be 60 or 70,000 dollars more than what we were going to pay. I know things weren’t done exactly up to accord, according to our newspapers. There wasn’t a single one of these bids that was free. We were trying to do the right thing. And it’s upsetting to say the least,” Shelton said.

“I think we all share your pain ... but still we have to abide by the KRS,” Commissioner Bruce Farris said.

“I agree. Hindsight is 20/20. We weren’t trying to do anything wrong ... as I said we caught a lot of flak for this. I just hope it puts to bed the notion that somebody was trying to do something wrong,” Shelton said.

During the public comments portion of the meeting, Marsha Trosper, the owner of the Dixie, brought up complaints about how Nibroc’s booth placement will affect her business.

Trosper said she had contacted Nibroc Director Bruce Carpenter’s office, requesting that the area in front of her business be left open during Nibroc. In years past, booths in front of the restaurant have blocked customers from the entrance according to Trosper.

Trosper said she told Carpenter’s office that she wouldn’t be able to pay the placement fee right away since her restaurant was undergoing repairs.

Carpenter said the area in front of the restaurant had already been placed, since Trosper missed the Aug. 1 deadline.

“There’s nothing that this commission can do about this ... what we need to do is hash this thing outside of this meeting. There’s nothing the city can do,” Corbin Mayor Willard McBurney said.

The commission went into executive session to discuss personnel, pending litigation and/or sale or purchase of real property. After emerging from executive session, the commission voted to appoint Barry McDonald as Corbin Fire Chief.

McDonald replaces Gary Price, whose retirement was approved earlier in the meeting.

The commission also:

•Accepted the resignation of Meldoy Smiddy from the police department

•Promoted David Maiden to Lieutenant in the police department

•Authorized the city manager to advertise for one dispatcher in the police department and advertise for one more police officer