By By Adam Prestridge
Councilman Jim Staff sadly approved the payment of the City of Atmore’s bills Monday afternoon during the city’s regularly scheduled council meeting.
Monday’s meeting was a somber one, the first held since the passing of mayor pro-tem John Watkins last Thursday evening.
Watkins, 79, passed away Jan. 10 at Atmore Community Hospital following a bout with pneumonia. His wife of 55 years, Veola, was at his bedside. A black bow was placed in front of the veteran councilman’s seat marking his absence following his 16-year stint in municipal government.
A special scheduled council meeting will be held at 8:30 a.m. Friday morning for the council to appoint Watkins’ replacement.
Following Shell’s request to have the official minutes of the meeting reflect Watkins’ absence, business continued as usual.
City engineer Paul Darnell revisited the city’s extensive street resurfacing project first spoken about during the Dec. 17, 2007 council meeting. He recommended to the council that they award the project to Roads, Inc. out of Cantonment, Fla. with a base bid of $534,150 from Roads, Inc. and the additional alternate bid No. 2 in the amount of $23,625. The total awarded was for $557,775.
Roads, Inc. recently repaved a few streets in Atmore including McRae Street and Liberty Street.
In other business, the council: