By Scott Buttram
Burnett Civil Contracting, the contractor for the Civitan Park project in Trussville, is no longer on the job and the Alabama Department of Transportation is seeking a replacement, according to Trussville City Councilman Buddy Choat.
“I really don’t have a lot of details,” Choat said. “I just know that we were told that, as of about two weeks ago, the contractor was no longer on the job and ALDOT is working on getting a new contractor to finish.”
Choat said that David Vinson, head of Trussville Parks and Recreation, was allowed to send his crew into the construction site to cut grass and clean up the area last week.
“We offered ALDOT any assistance that we could provide as a city to move the project forward,” Choat said. “One thing they requested was placing a fence around the area to protect the construction site. We were happy to do that and the fencing will have construction gates to allow vehicles and workers in and out.”
The project is 80 percent funded through a federal greenway grant, with the city making up the additional 20 percent. The construction site is now under the control of ALDOT. Third Division Engineer Brian Davis was not immediately available for comment.
The project has seen several delays and drawn complaints from residents as well as city officials for the appearance of the park as well as the length of time the project has taken to be completed.
Recently, the city was cited by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management for numerous violations from sediment runoff into the Cahaba River, which runs through the park.
Mayor Gene Melton spent much of Memorial Day weekend at Civitan Park as crews from ALDOT worked to address the problems ADEM listed. Trussville could have faced a $50,000 fine had the problems not been corrected.
The city council last month approved of paying Cahaba Disaster Recovery up to $25,000 for work it did to clear debris from the Cahaba River on Memorial Day weekend. Melton said at the time that about 768 bales of hay were purchased and spread around the river at Civitan Park.
