Later this year, Bainbridge citizens will have the opportunity to chart the city’s future course.

At their Tuesday meeting, the Bainbridge City Council voted unanimously to hire Robert & Company to produce an update to the city’s long-range comprehensive plan.

A community assessment will be done this summer, while the kickoff meeting with the public is scheduled to take place in August. Work will continue through the rest of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010, with the City Council’s hearings on the final plan’s adoption set to take place in April 2010.

In a letter prefacing its proposal, Robert & Company stated it is an employee-owned U.S. corporation licensed to practice planning, landscape architecture, engineering and architecture in Georgia and has provided those services for more than 90 years. Robert & Company stated it has worked on several comprehensive plan updates for Georgia cities and according to Hobby, the company also consulted on updates to Bainbridge’s future land use and zoning maps in 2005.

Robert & Company would use Web-based collaboration, surveys and visioning workshops to “elicit meaningful community input that will help shape the goals and policies of the plan.

“The full comprehensive plan update will outline a complete community assessment, including issues and opportunities, existing and future land use maps, community date analysis, a community participation program and the development of an agenda to address future goals and concerns.”

Bid and project costs

Nick Pergrakes, the principal in charge, would be paid $5,400 for 40 hours of work at $135 per hour.

Osman Ercin, the project manager, would be paid $14,400 for 160 hours at $90 per hour.

Scott Brown, the project planner, would be paid $30,080 for 376 hours of work at $80 per hour.

Project work hours would total 576 hours for a subtotal of $49,880. Direct reimbursable expenses, not to exceed $5,000, would include printing and reproductions, postage and handling of project related documents and transportation and living expenses, for an estimated project total not to exceed $54,880. According to the proposal, both Pergrakes and Ercin are certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners.

The only other bid on the project came from the Genesis Group, who developed the partial update to the comprehensive plan in 2007. Genesis’ bid totaled $50,550.

According to Hobby, Robert & Company was selected because it scored higher on a bid analysis conducted by the city manager, City Planner Dustin Dowdy and Community Development Director Amanda Glover.

Other business

• Approved, by unanimous vote, an alcoholic beverage license request from Chiray N. Patel, doing business as Bearcats Express, 500 Calhoun St., for sales of beer for off-premises consumption. Hobby said Patel’s store will occupy the building formerly known as the C&S Food Store.

• Heard from citizen Ted Snell, who pointed out problems with stormwater runoff affecting residential streets off College Road. Snell advocated for the usage of larger drainage ponds.

• Selected, by unanimous vote, Hobby to serve as a voting delegate for the Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia’s annual election. David Peacock will serve as an alternate delegate.

• Approved, by unanimous vote, a request from Reginald Bryant to close Orange Street and St. Luke Street between 4 to 9 p.m. on Friday, April 10, for a neighborhood block party.

Bids and Bills

Bills: $3,126.24 from Adams Brothers of Bainbridge for prime and tack for paving of Alice Street.

Bids: Four bids awarded to outfit new ladder fire truck: $31,541.30 from Fireline of Winder, Ga., $4,979 from American Safety & Fire House of Atlanta, Ga., $15,195.31 from NAFECO of Decatur, Ala., and $39,978 from Ten-8 Fire & Safety Equipment of Forsyth, Ga.; $11,349 from Blankenship Contracting of Dothan, Ala., for work on water main looping at College Street and Old Quincy Road and 564 tons of graded aggregate road base; and $4,586 from Consolidated Disposal Systems of Smyrna, Ga., of packing cylinder and pins for garbage truck.