Charles DeWeese Construction of Franklin will build about two miles of new sidewalks in Bowling Green this year, under a contract city commissioners approved 4-1 Tuesday night.

DeWeese submitted the lowest bid of four, asking $926,225 for 10,118 feet of sidewalk and 10,441 feet of curb and gutter to run along Cabell Drive, Double Springs Road, Gilbert Street, Riverview Drive and Woodford Street, according to a memo from Public Works Project Manager David Hehner.

For the past several years, the city has put about $1 million annually into new sidewalk construction, in addition to $100,000 for existing sidewalk repair. The new sidewalk program was suspended at least for the fiscal year that started July 1, but sidewalk repair will continue. This two-mile bid will be paid for with money appropriated in the last budget year.

Commissioner Bruce Wilkerson cast the sole opposing vote, suggesting that the city keep the money in reserve. The city reduced its budget by about $3.6 million this year due to falling tax revenue.

Insurance savings

The city should pay at least $161,000 less for its employee health insurance program this year, according to acting Human Resources Director Mike Grubbs. The savings comes from a switch commissioners unanimously approved, taking its backup insurance against very large claims from Symmetra Life Insurance Co. instead of Humana.

Humana has managed the city’s self-funded plan since 2007, but wanted to raise its rates for that extra insurance by 18.4 percent, Grubbs said. So the city had broker Sherrill D. Morgan & Associates shop around, and found Symmetra Life Insurance Co. would provide that extra insurance for 23.7 percent less than Humana charged last year.

Commissioner Brian “Slim” Nash asked for verification that the change wouldn’t affect the premiums city employees pay. It won’t, Grubbs said.

Commissioner Joe Denning asked why Humana wanted such a rate increase and Grubbs said he thought it was because the company was trying to make up for past losses on the plan.

“We’ve had a couple of big claims,” he said.

Enterprise grant

Organizations that serve the Enterprise Community, an area of lower average income on the northwest side of town, have an unexpected shot at sharing $124,963 in federal grant money.

Commissioners accepted the allocation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development office. That agency has given Enterprise Community grants for the last 10 years, starting at $250,000 and steadily decreasing. The federal government just announced that it would continue the program for an 11th year.

The local grants are given out by the Enterprise Community Board. Previous grants have gone to the Housing Authority of Bowling Green, Girls Inc., Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Kids on the Block and others that provide child care, health care, education, transportation and similar community services.

For more information on applying for the grants, call Grants Manager Lisa Ryan at 393-3658.

Mayor’s travel

Though it’s been a contentious issue in the last year, brief discussion of Mayor Elaine Walker’s travel included some humor Tuesday night.

Walker asked for approval of using her city procurement card to buy a $202 airplane ticket for her June 11-16 trip to the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ annual meeting in Providence, R.I., at which she was elected to the group’s governing board.

Though she used the card to buy the ticket – and the fiscal year’s travel budget was already empty – the money was immediately reimbursed through the private fund she set up to solicit donations for her travel costs, Walker said.

Nash asked to clarify that the vote was just on the card’s use and acceptance of reimbursement. Yes, City Attorney Gene Harmon said; it was just a good idea to give formal notice of the card’s use, though it cost the city nothing.

“Which begs the question, what happens if it’s not approved?” Walker said.

“I guess we’ll cut you a check back,” Nash said, drawing a laugh from Walker.

Downtown drainage

At a nonvoting afternoon work session, commissioners heard from Public Works staff about ways to deal with downtown flooding from recent heavy storms.

Options are limited, Public Works Director Emmett Wood said, but there are plans to do some things in the course of downtown redevelopment – with much of the cost borne by developers and the nonprofit corporation formed to oversee the redevelopment effort.

The pipes that drain stormwater from the center of town are decades old, and too small to handle major storms easily, Wood said. The city can continue making small improvements here and there, but major changes would rip up lots of streets and buildings, possibly costing “many millions” of dollars, he said.

“Suffice it to say, we’re going to have to live with the infrastructure we have,” Wood said.

A $150,000 federal grant is going to some improvement on State Street between Sixth and Eighth avenues, and it’s hoped that better drainage there will mean less water flows on down to State Street Baptist Church at the corner of Fourth Avenue, he said.

A number of new drywells are being drilled along State, but with mixed results; the biggest improvement now in prospect is a new retention basin underneath the parking garage that’s going up next to Bowling Green Ballpark – the Hot Rods baseball stadium – Wood said.

Nash asked what it would cost to increase drainage capacity just along State Street at Sixth and Fourth avenues, but Wood said that might require enlarging the pipes further downstream that State Street pipes flow into.

Assistant City Engineer Melissa Cansler said the downtown corporate board has hired Arnold Engineering to look at redevelopment’s effect on drainage, find possible improvements and estimate costs.