Town of Huntingdon Hears Report on Street Conditions

HUNTINGDON (February 25) — The Town of Huntington Mayor and Council received a report of a comprehensive plan for improvement of street paving throughout the city.

Emily Ritzler of WSP provided an assessment of each street in the city and its level of repair.

Levels of repair were given a numeric value of: Good (86-100), Satisfactory (71-85), Fair (56-70), Poor (41-55), Very Poor (26-40), Serious (11-25) and Failed (0-10).

The report indicated the city streets’ overall condition has an averaged weighted value of 59, which is ‘poor’ by the evaluation standards. The field survey indicated .4 percent of the roads are listed as ‘failed’, 6 percent are ‘serious’, 9 percent are ‘very poor’, 21 percent are ‘poor’, 33 percent are ‘fair’, 28 percent are ‘satisfactory’, and 3 percent are ‘good.’

An estimated annual cost for the next five years to maintain the current condition is $391,013; in the ‘target’ condition of a rating of 71 ‘satisfactory’, is $998,779 annually and for $1,657,095 annually for greatly improved condition.

The field survey of the roads was conducted in July 2024, said Ritzler. The report was funded by the Tennessee Department of Transportation and serves as a roadmap to address the ongoing repair in a systematic manner.

Ritzler said it also provides a plan to seek additional grant funding.

A Storybook Trail is in development at Kelley Sports Complex. Huntingdon High School JAG (Jobs for America) and Mustang Mentors is installing a trail of storyboards, based on children’s books, that allows children and their parents to read one board before moving to the next to continue reading the story. The stories will be changed on a periodic basis.

HHS students, under the director of teacher Ginger Taylor and with technical assistance from Jimmy Crossett, are now installing the storyboards.

Storyboard trails foster a sense of community pride and excitement. The students take pride in knowing they have created an early literacy, family literacy, interactive, family-fun activity for the community.

The Council voted on second and final reading to create the position of Police Chief and Fire Chief and eliminate the single position of Public Safety Director, which is now Walter Smothers, who supervises both departments. The city will advertise for candidates for the appointed positions. Each office has minimum requirements to qualify for the position.

The Council also eliminated the position of Director of Public Works.

An LED video wall for the performance stage of The Dixie Carter Performing Arts Center was purchased at a price of $149,477.

Frank Dodd, Jr., technical director at The Dixie, and Angela DeMaris, executive director of The Dixie noted the lighted display board allows performing artists to have video graphics displayed during the performance. It will enhance the performance and is a necessary addition to attract some artists.

Internally Sound was the lone bidder for the project.

Dodd said the screen is designed to ‘fly’ up or down on the stage.

The project will be paid through grants from Tennessee Tourism and Tennessee Arts.

A new heating and cooling unit at the Huntingdon Public Safety Building was approved at a cost of $14,000 from Cross Heating and Air, LLC. There were three other, higher bids.

The Huntingdon Recreation Advisory Board was approved. The members include Todd Simpson, Mike Henson, Jonathan Kee, Natalie McMasters, Gerald Taylor, Mayor Chad Edwards, Public Works Superintendent Ronnie Breeden, and Councilman Andrew Maddox.