County approves contract for clock tower work
Seven downtown Franklin trees will soon be cut down as the Macon County Board of Commissioners approved funding to revitalize the clock tower square at its Jan. 14 meeting.
Macon County Project Manager Jack Morgan presented the tree removal request as part of a scheduled clock tower square presentation. The commissioners unanimously approved entering into a contract with Carolina Builder Services of Franklin for $27,600, the lowest of three submitted bids. The contract work does not include the tree removal, which will be done by county and town workers.
The contracted project has 17 scopes of work, most related to cleaning the site and renovating the clock tower. Morgan said he wasn’t sure the skylight in the clock tower would survive re-roofing, so the original bid of $22,449.61 had a $2,632.80 skylight replacement addition. The $27,600 includes a 10% contingency on top of the bid and alternate skylight addition if needed.
“That’s a good price,” Commissioner John Shearl said. “And they’re a local company and it’s an eyesore that needs to be fixed.”
The money will come from the county’s contingency fund, which Finance Director Lori Carpenter said had $362,200.
Morgan confirmed that the price is a guaranteed maximum and the contract is for 60 days of work from Jan. 14 onward. Morgan said the pre-bid meeting included letting the contractors examine the clock tower with nothing hidden.
After getting the project approved, Morgan requested to remove five trees at clock tower square and two at Rankin Square. Six of the trees are along East Main Street and the seventh is the largest in clock tower square, nearest to Phillips Street.
Morgan said the Franklin Garden Club requested removal of the seven trees and will eventually replant new, smaller trees. The Garden Club is an all-volunteer group that maintains the downtown natural areas with funding from the Town of Franklin and Macon County.
“They’re working with our Agricultural Extension [office] to find out what would be best to replace it with so in 50 years we don’t have the same problem again,” Morgan said.
Shearl said he and now-former Commissioner Paul Higdon met about the trees not just in the squares but also on Iotla Street.
“If you look across the street at what the Garden Club takes care of, it’s absolutely gorgeous,” Shearl said. “And then you look back across the street at the courthouse, this needs new life.”
Morgan confirmed the downtown trees in question have outlived their life expectancy. Shearl said he is surprised no one has gotten hurt tripping over the bricks pushed up by the tree roots.
All seven trees have roots raising the brick sidewalks near them, causing a safety hazard.
Town of Franklin Manager Amie Owens confirmed she spoke with Interim County Manager Warren Cabe about the project and is in full support. Owens said the county owns the trees while the town manages the sidewalks, so the town will contribute manpower to repair the sidewalks.
“We think the timing’s good now to get it done while we’re doing the clock tower,” Interim County Manager Warren Cabe said. “Traffic’s not as bad on Main Street.
Commissioner Gary Shields said the Garden Club will be presenting to the commissioners soon about the funding for the new trees, as well as removing advertising signs in Rankin Square.
The removal of the trees was a unanimous consensus by the commissioners.
The clock tower has been in that square since 1984 with the clock mechanisms from the original 1881 courthouse, which was torn down in 1972 following construction of the current courthouse.