Mayor Jim Blevins told the Man Town Council that the demolition of the old bridge into town should start this week.
"I have some good news," Blevins said Monday evening. "The bridge people blocked the road off. They will be back in town and they are going to knock the old bridge down and will be bringing in a 90-ton crane to get started."
For years, the state had promised it would remove the old bridges and replace them with a new one, but despite promise after promise, it never happened, leading to a great deal of frustration among Town Council members over the years. Initially, the project was supposed to be completed in 2006.
Blevins said many people will be happy when the bridge is torn down and replaced with a new one because that will help ease the heavy traffic flow into the back part of town by the bank.
Town attorney Bernard Spaulding said he spoke with former Logan County Commission Attorney Tom Zamow about another longterm project a proposed annexation plan, only to find out that Zamow is no longer the commission’s attorney.
"So I then spoke with Brian Abraham," Spaulding said. "He didn't see any problems with it."
Man Fire Chief Robert Paynter had a request for turnout gear for a new firefighter who recently passed his certifications. Paynter said $2,300 worth of equipment was needed. Paynter said with the newly certified man, his department now has 16 certified firefighters. Paynter also discussed problems with this years fireworks display and recommended the town purchase a pyrotechnics board so that the fireworks can be set off at a remote system and that the hosting site for the fireworks be made more remote and unavailable.
"I was upset about what happened and we were overwhelmed with people who would not listed to us when we asked them to move back," Paynter explained. "Things have to be done differently next time. We tried to keep people away from the bridge."
Paynter said he would look into a better location and that even a high end pyrotechnics board only costs around $1,200 and would be cheaper than hiring a contractor to handle the show.
"Lighting these things by hand is dangerous," Paynter said adding that a lot of problems could have been avoided had some members of the public not gone past a blocked off area. "But people ran past the road blocks." Purchase of the items requested was tabled for more research.
In other Man news:
• The town approved a grant of $2,500 for the Man Merchants association to help with the upcoming street fair. The town will have a free entry day at the Man Pool on July 29 and the street Fair will return on July 31 and August 1.
• Mrs. Ellen Burgess was reappointed to the Buffalo Creek Memorial Library Board.
• The town had its second reading of the Dilapidated Buildings and Abandoned Structures Ordinance which was approved.
• One resident complained about stray dogs in her neighborhood. Water department manager Dwayne Mounts said that he would take dogs and cats to the pound, but city employees would not catch them. Mounts said he had no intention of trying to herd cats.
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