KEITH READY, Courier Contributor
Wednesday, March 7, 2012 6:49 am

After a late start due to the lack of Woodbury Board Of Mayor and Aldermen in attendance during their monthly meeting Tuesday night, the board ended up awarding a bid that might result in future court activity.

Only four aldermen were in attendance. Vice Mayor Charlie Harrell had to assume the Mayor's seat for the meeting due to the fact that Mayor Harold Patrick was sick.

Aldermen Fay Knox was absent from the meeting and the sad news of the unfortunate passing away of Alderman Slade Cason left only Dottie Duggin, Joann Davis and Lois Larimer, in addition with Harrell, to make a quorum.

A formal bid opening for the Water Plant Drainage Basin Improvement project was held February 2. It was discovered after the low bid was
submitted by Henley Construction that there were obvious calculation errors. After working with the numbers, the construction company then turned in a bid of much higher dollar amount.  

Subsequently the next lowest bidder, Gillespie Construction, did not submit at the time of bid a valid Drug Free Work Place Affidavit, a move that was challenged by the next lowest bidder, J. Cumby Construction out of Cookeville.

J. Cumby sought to have Gillespie Construction's bid disqualified based on the project specifications stating that all prospective bidders comply with the Tennessee Drug Free Workplace Program and submit a valid affidavit certifying the fact.

Through their insurance program, Gillespie Construction from McMinnville had let the Drug Free designation expire. After bringing it to their attention, they quickly fixed the issue and became certified within a matter of days. The argument was that Gillespie recieved certification before the bid was awarded by the Aldermen and not at the time in which they turned in their bid.

After almost an hour of debate the motion was made to consider the mistake a minor defect and award the contract to Gillespie but no one seconded the motion. Then a motion was made to table the matter until the next meeting by alderman Joann Davis with Dottie Duggin seconding the motion, but the motion failed with a 2-2 vote as Lois Larimer and Charlie Harrell voted against tabling the matter.

Alderman Davis then changed her stance and presented a motion to consider the mistake a minor defect and award the contract to Gililespie and this time the motion was seconded and unanimously passed.

In other action Tuesday:

• The board approved the formal resignation of Woodbury Police Chief Tony Burnett effective March 15th and appointed Assistant Police Chief Kevin Mooneyham interim police chief for a period of 6 months. Anyone who wishes to apply for the permanent position may do so. Current Woodbury Patrolman John House has already submitted his resume to the mayor.

• The Aldermen gave approval of several fundraising roadblocks. There will be a roadblock this Friday starting at 3:00 till dusk for the Cannon County FCCLA organization so they can raise money for their state trip in April. The Cannon County High School Tennis program will have roadblocks this Saturday and on the 17th from 9A to 12P raising money for uniforms. The Cannon County High School Soccer team will have a fundraising roadblock Friday, April 6th from 3 in the afternoon until 6 in the evening and again on Saturday April 7th from 9A-1P.

• The Board gave approval to Lindsay Graham of the Cannon County Senior Center for the First Cannonball run on Saturday May 19th as part of the Good Ole Days events. The Run will start and finish at the Arts Center at 7AM that day. The 5k run will have a route similar to that of the Cannon Blast run.

The Cannon Courier will have more information on the police chief position in next week's edition.