ELBERTA - With 2020 coming to a close, Elberta has multiple ongoing projects within town. One major project for the town is the Sportsplex, which will soon have lights placed in fields one and six. Field one will be a large baseball field and field six will be the girls’ softball field. If both fields are completed by February, Elberta High School seniors, the first senior class the high school has seen, will be able to play in their hometown fields.

Sixteen light poles have been ordered for the fields, and the work scale will include offloading the poles, putting the cross on top, mounting the light fixtures to the poles, wiring the poles at the top and pulling the wire down between the connection point and the bottom of the pole, and placement. The poles should be in place by the end of the year.

For the next project, the council approved during the December meeting to award the bid for the paving of roads in Miflin.

“We did get a $250,000 grant from the new gas tax for that project,” said Mayor Jim Hamby, referring to the Rebuild Alabama Roadway Improvements Project. “There is a match, but because we bid with the roads we already paved over at the school, the match has already been met by the roads that we paved. So in essence at this point this money comes with no further obligation from the town. As a matter of fact, they will send us a check … We’ve spent enough already to match the $250,000, more than enough to do that.”

Finally during the December meeting, council discussed the awarded drainage improvement grant of $350,000 from Governor Kay Ivey. The grant will be used to improve drainage along Baldwin County Road 83 (Main Street) to alleviate flooding. It is funded by the Community Development Block Grant program and is selected on a comprehensive basis. It will be administered by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. The town is awaiting further guidelines on grant requirements.

“This is the fourth year we have applied,” said Hamby. “We didn’t get it, didn’t get it, didn’t get it, got it, so that’s good news. The surveyor has done the work necessary to determine the legal description, the engineer has or shortly will send over a templet of what they think that this easement needs to look like, and our attorney will review that at that time.”

In addition, the town is working with FEMA about the possibility of assistance on the project due to work that is now needed because of Hurricane Sally. To do so, Hamby has solicited a bid to show the extra work that is needed for the project.

For more information on the Town of Elberta, check out https://townofelberta.com.