By Shavonne Potts
spotts@salisburypost.com
CHINA GROVE ó The town board is taking recommendations on construction bids for the renovation of town hall and the fire and police stations.
The board is expected to pick a company to do the construction work at its meeting Tuesday.
The town received nearly a dozen bid packages from local and out-of-town construction companies.
Also on Tuesdayís agenda are three potential financial institutions that have submitted terms for an interim construction loan.
Before the project begins, the town has to obtain interim financing. The interim financing is basically a short-term loan.
The USDA loan approved in March 2010 takes effect only after construction.
The board is expected to choose one of the banks to take out the loan.
Once the bidding process is complete, the town has five years from that date to finish construction.
The project will be done in two phases.
The plan is to move the fire department into the police department space, and then move the police department into town hall. Town hall will then share space with the fire station at its North Main Street location.
The first phase is expected to take about nine months to complete, while phase two should take six months to complete.
The process has taken more than a year and a half so far.
The town board will also:
Discuss reducing the speed limit in the Mill Village area. The board is looking into reducing the speed limit to 25 mph on some roads within the Mill Village community because the roads are narrow and children are picked up and dropped of by school buses.
Several roads could be affected, including streets south of Thom Street, east of U.S. 29, north of Bostian road and west of Central Avenue.
There have been a number of accidents in those areas, none of which had to do with speed, but rather road conditions.
According to a memo from Police Chief Eddie Kluttz there is no sidewalk on any of the above streets except Alexander Place and there are no crosswalk markings at any intersection within the community.
Receive a code enforcement monthly report. The report includes structures that are not in compliance with the townís codes and ordinances and those that have come into compliance.
The board meets at 7 p.m. in town hall at 205 Swink St.
Contact reporter Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253.