Traffic study approved

Published 7:20 pm Tuesday, August 15, 2017

The Brewton City Council made another step in the move to bring 300 new tech jobs to the area.

Monday, council members approved $10,500 traffic study to determine how traffic will be impacted during the daylight hours near Dogwood Hills Park.

Last month, Provalus, a company specializing in business technology service and support, announced its plans to invest $6.5 million to open a third party IT solutions and help desk for Fortune 2000 companies.

The 15-year lease agreement outlined terms for the construction of three buildings on 10 acres of the former Dogwood Hills Golf Course property. The site will serve as Optomi’s “flagship U.S. facility,” said Provalus/Optomi President Church Ruggiero.

Brewton beat out other locations in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia and other sites in Alabama, he said.

Monday’s decision to hire Goodwyn Mills & Caywood is one of the project’s beginning construction steps.

“What they’re going to be looking at is the impact the new industry will have on the area, specifically the intersection at The Oaks and Walmart and in front of Dogwood Hills,” Mayor Yank Lovelace said.

Part of the cost will cover an improvement plan for areas of concern.

In other business, the council:

• approved the refinancing the city’s general obligation warrants. The reduction in interest represents $417,000 in savings, Lovelace said.

• approved a $25,150 one-time appropriation to the city’s state retirement account;

• voted to spend $3,600 for a bridge inspection at the Hwy. 41 Murder Creek bridge and the Kings Branch bridges on Martin Luther King Drive and Sowell Road;

• voted to apply for a state sewer grant; and,

• reappointed Jason Waler to the water board.