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After agreeing unanimously on every item on Tuesday’s agenda, Laurel City Council members again disagreed about awarding a street-paving contract to a local construction company.

The council voted 4-3 in favor of going with Walters Construction for the 7th Avenue Reconstruction Project, but only after plenty of discussion.

“I have reservations about awarding the contract to the low-bidder, Walters Construction,” Council President Tony Thaxton said, noting that the company has two projects under way in the city already and three that aren’t complete because the work was “substandard.”

Councilman George Carmichael said he didn’t want to delay the paving work that’s been needed in the city.

“The people in African-American neighborhoods are appreciative of the work that’s been done,” Carmichael said, pointing out that Walters had repaired previous problems. “I want to move forward with the paving.”

Councilmen Manuel Jones and David Wash agreed. Jones was worried that the city could face a lawsuit if it doesn’t hire the low-bidder. Wash said his constituents were more concerned with where the work is being done than the quality of the work.

“It seems that more is being done in the other wards than Ward 7,” Wash said. Work on 7th Avenue is scheduled to begin in January, said Mandy Hegwood of Neel-Schaffer engineering. Work on Old Bay Springs Road, 20th Street and 1st Avenue is supposed to be complete in December, Thaxton said, adding that work done on 28th Street and Carter Avenue had to be redone and “patched.”

Councilman Tony Wheat said the council has the authority to reject any bid, so there is no danger of legal action. He suggested waiting until Walters is finished with its current projects, then check the quality of that work before deciding if the company’s bid should be taken. The council has until Dec. 31 to make a decision on whether to accept the bid.

“We need to make sure we get the best possible quality work we can so we don’t have to do this again in two or three years,” Wheat said.

Jones said that the city’s engineering firm is hired to monitor the quality of work.

“We’re paying them to be our eyes and ears,” he said. Thaxton said, “There’s no harm in waiting.”

La’Juan Jones, Thaxton and Wheat voted against awarding the bid to Walters now, but they were outvoted by Travares Comegys, Carmichael, Jones and Wash.

The council split 3-3 in a previous vote after Walters had the low bid on a paving project, then agreed to go with the company after having a special called meeting. Walters bid $681,393.18 on the project, coming in just under another local company, Dunn Roadbuilders, which bid $692,252.50.

In another matter, the council approved a pay-grade change for the chief deputy city clerk position, but they had some discussion about how much to lower it. Wheat wanted to OK a change that was slightly higher than what was approved in the order, but the council voted, 5-2, to keep the pay grade the same as it is in the new resolution. Wheat and Carmichael voted against it.

Wheat was also the lone dissenting vote on an order to approve the costs of the Mississippi Municipal League’s Mid-Winter Conference in Jackson Jan. 25-29.

The council unanimously agreed to pay Neel-Schaffer $392,000 to provide professional services for the EPA Brownfield grant that the city was awarded to do environmental assessments on properties.

The council also unanimously accepted South-Group’s bid of $56,054 to handle the city’s property insurance.

The council agreed to continue the following special zoning exceptions:

• M.M. Asmar, 522 W. 14th St., to allow operation of a multi-family unit;

• Leonard Busby, 1734 Wansley Road, to allow the operation of offices;

• Juna Broome, 2606 Old Bay Springs Road, to allow the operation of a dance studio;

• Your Store My Store, 1538 1st Ave., to allow the sale of beer;

• Jerom Hatten, 710 E. 16th St., to allow operation of a restaurant;

• First-Trinity Presbyterian Church, 500 N. 5th Ave., to allow far of a day care;

• Horace Cochran, 1538 N. 1st Ave., to allow the operation of a hand car wash.

In other business, the council unanimously agreed to set a public hearing date of Dec. 16 for the following properties that were deemed unclean and a menace to the public health and safety of the community:

• 315 N. 18th Ave., Teresa Walker Dalrymple;

• 1110 Forest Hills Dr., Jennifer Amanda Patrick;

• 2601 Audubon Dr., facing University Avenue, Audubon Drive Bible Church;

• 3726 Yale Ave., Robert Jason Musgrave;

• 829 Sunrise Dr., Scott Andrew Metzler;

• 123 N. 17th Ave., Parker McCurley;

• 1616 N. 5th Ave., William H. Eaton;

• 2334 N. 6th Ave., Nancy Ward;

• 125 S. 18th Ave., Becky Rambin;

• 1903 Ellisville Blvd., Karl Hardy;

• Vacant lot between BancorpSouth and Taco Bell, R&J Construction;

• 9th Avenue, Cotton Stattes Investment Corp.;

• 1030 N. 10th Ave., Linda Faye Beasley;

• 2947 Carter Ave., Ray B. Meador;

• 332 W. 25th St., Cotton States Investment Corp.;

• 324 W. 21st Street, Latrice Myers Daniels;

• 213 S. Pine St., Thelma Gay Lampley;

• 111 and 118 Bay St., Rosemary Corriere (Sam Corriere Estate);

• 803 Masonite Dr., L&J Properties;

• 1720 Miss. Ave., Prisock Properties, Inc.;

• 517 Maple St., Kathy L. McRae;

• 820 Garfield St., Protax 04 LLC;

• Churchton Street, Marc Propertoes LLC;

• 1125 Sprigg St., Robert D. Dugan

No representatives of the following unclean properties attended Tuesday’s public hearing, so the city will clean them and bill their Tax ID number:

• Jerry and Marilyn D. Graham, 320 W. 17th St.;

• Aureus LLC, 216 W. 16th St.;

• Middleton Green (J.W. Wright Estate), 856 E. 18th St.;

• Mary Frances Gilmore Dunn (John Reed), northeast corner of Palmer/Sprigg streets;

• Helen M. Washington, 104 Oak St.;

• ACC Tax Sale Properties, 1635 N. Joe Wheeler Ave.;

• Cynthia Round, northwest corner of Joe Wheeler Avenue and 16th Street.

The council will meet again at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 2.

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