Cedartown puts Lankford Events Center on backburner
The City of Cedartown has made their decision official on post posing construction on a project on South Main Street meant to attract more traffic and visitors on the Silver Comet Trail and to Polk County as a whole.
Bidding came back two times in a row well over the costs expected according to city manager Bill Fann. So much so the city had to choose between two competing projects: sewer improvements and the Lankford Events Center.
Following discussion by the Cedartown Board of Commissioners, they voted t o reject bids during their latest work session and table to project for the time being for the Lankford Events Center until such time as the money becomes available to move forward.
Work on the project technically began last summer when the commission approved a move forward on bids for construction and demolition and clearing work that has already been completed.
Though the space is now an empty lot with grass beginning to grow back over, Fann said it won’t be forgotten since an agreement for the Lankford family to donate the land included a stipulation the events center be built on the property.
“We fully intend to move forward with the project, we just want to wait until we have the money to do so,” he said.
Cedartown city commissioners had tried to reduce costs after the first round of bidding came in hundreds of thousands of dollars over expectations, but even with changes in materials and a scaling back of building requirements didn’t help.
In fact, the $1.9 million pricetag the first time around went up again to $2.1 million in the second round of bidding, despite cost-cutting measures.
Plans for the 4,200 square foot structure included parking, a gazebo-style area and parklike setting as landscaping to allow for interconneted indoor- outdoor events at the center. Project plans also included a kitchen area for preparing food, large doors to be raised for market- style events, and more.
Fann said the idea will be for the city to postpone the project until the workload for contractors across Northwest Georgia slackens, with the hope that costs will be reduced when less work is available for construction firms and thus allow for a more competitive price to be generated in bids for the event center.
In the meantime, city officials have also cleared this plan with the Lankford family, who Fann said understand the city’s need to try and save money.
The city’s work session for February also included a presentation on emergency airlift services that could be provided for city employees or city residents at contracted prices, and a decision not to put forward a Georgia Municipal Association delegate for 2017.
City commission chair Jordan Hubbard is cur- rently serving as the district vice president.
The commission was set to meet for their February regular session on Monday, Feb. 13 after the Standard Journal press time.
An agenda was not yet available by press time either, but look for full coverage of the meeting in next week’s edition of the paper.