Haleyville City Council

By Sam Poe
Tuesday, November 4, 2014 | 1:11 AM
https://hbtv.us/news/?story_id=2379

The Haleyville City Council met Monday evening for the regularly scheduled council meeting. All council members were present, and the following items were approved. 

• regular council minutes from 10/20/14
• low bid for the new Haleyville Fire Station Number 1
• application for an airport improvement grant
• advertisement for bids for 2 new police vehicles
• rescinding of motion to support the Haleyville White Toybowl team because they are not a nonprofit organization
• reappointment of Jade Bice to the Alcohol Review Committee

The council voted to approve the low bid for the new Haleyville Fire Station. Three bids were opened October 24, 2014, and Dymac Contracting, Inc. of Lynn received the low bid. As allowed in the contract, the City of Haleyville entered into negotiations with the low bidder to see if costs could be cut as all bids were well over the expected amounts for this construction. With a few minor modifications to the plan including plumbing, electrical, and concrete work as well as using the current generator instead of a new one, the cost was cut from $734,781 to $654,975. (The current generator will not be able to run the entire building. It will only operate the essential parts.)

The council also heard from LeTere Jones, a representative from Air Evac, who made a proposal to the council to provide coverage for inside the city limits of Haleyville at a discounted price. Currently, Air Evac provides about 20 calls per month to the Haleyville area (not specific to the city limits) at $25,000 to $30,000 per call. The price quoted to the council was $20,809, totaling less than one call on average. In this package, Air Evac would still bill the individual’s insurance, but once that payment (if anything) was received, the bill would be paid in full, and the individual would not be charged for the call. There would not be any health or age restrictions on this plan, and there is no limit to the number of times it can be used. However, the weather and helicopter availability will still be restrictions to the plan.  

Mr. Jones stated Haleyville is one of the first cities this proposal has been made to. About 60 cities in the United States have already approved similar plans, and other area cities have taken the plan into consideration but have not yet voted on the matter. For individuals who have personal plans with Air Evac, those will continue to be honored anywhere in the coverage area, and the annual fee for families will drop from $65 to $35 for people who live inside the Haleyville City Limits.