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The Covington County Commission approved an updated fiscal year 2023 Rebuild Alabama Transportation Plan at a special called meeting Monday, August 22.

“This will basically be the same list we had last year,” County Engineer Lynn Ralls stated. “A lot of these projects were delayed due to pipe supply delays and other material issues. Our beginning balance of carry-over funds for this past 2022 year was $1.378 million. With the funding we anticipate this year, it should be about $3.2 million on this year’s plan. We are almost nearing the completion of our Point A project. It should be completed this week. The Straughn School Road project is about to get kicked off as well, and we are hoping the end of the month for that one to be completed.”

In addition to the Rebuild Alabama project list, the commission adopted a priority list for completion with local funds.

The commission also approved the acquisition of new dispatching software with the Covington Area Transit System.

“This software is called Tripmaster and will bring CATS from writing everything down manually to going electronically. It will help eliminate dispatch time we can be using for other things. This program really advances CATS in the abilities that we have, and we are very excited about it,” CATS Director Tami Baxley said.

In other business:

• The commission concurred with the Cities of Opp and Andalusia in re-appointing PowerSouth CEO Gary Smith to a four-year term with the South Alabama Regional Airport Authority.
• The commission awarded a bid to Wiregrass Construction for a 12-month contract with the possibility of renewal for three years on hot asphalt plant mix. A bid for bituminous surface treatment was also awarded to S&C Materials and Paving of Pike County.

Following the adjournment of the meeting, Chairman Greg White also addressed the recent publication by an audit. He noted that there was an unqualified opinion issued, as well as three findings on procedures and policies that the commission has since resolved. There were no financial matters involved in the audit findings.

The next meeting of the Covington County Commission will be held Tuesday, Sept. 13, 9 a.m., at the Covington County Administration Building. The public is invited to attend.