In its regular meeting March 6, the Russellville City Council approved a resolution accepting a sealed bid opened at noon that day, received for the construction of a performance stage at Sloss Lake, located at 27965 Highway 24 in Russellville. Russellville Mayor David Grissom said it’s a project the city’s been working on “for some time.”

The bid was awarded to Hovater’s Metal Works, located in Russellville, as the lowest responsible bidder, with a base bid of $105,000.

“I believe the stage will be a wonderful addition out at Sloss Lake. It will be great for our Jam on Sloss Lake event on the Fourth of July each year and should open up opportunities for more family fun events throughout the year,” said Grissom. “It’ll probably be a little larger than the one we’ve been renting.”

The terms stipulate all work is to be completed within 90 days after receiving written notice of bid acceptance. Work not completed within specified time shall result in the city retaining the sum of $500 per day for each day beyond the specified completion date.

“We plan to start on the stage next week. We feel confident we can be finished within the stipulated 90-day period,” said Greg Hovater. “We’ve already got a lot of the material ordered and already have some of the things that are hard to get.”

Estimated completion date is June 6.

“It’s basically a 35-foot by 50-foot roof that overhangs the stage a little bit,” Hovater explained. “I think the ends overhang the stage 5 feet each way. It’s going to have power; it’ll have lights; it should be real nice.”

Russellville City Councilman Gary Cummings said the stage “is going to be a major plus for our town.” Cummings coordinates the Jam on Sloss Lake activities each Fourth of July. “This will give churches, civic organizations and others an avenue to use for having local events.”

Cummings stressed the positive impact of increasing the possibility for hosting more events.

“Maybe in the future the stage can be used for events connected to the Handy Fest or Helen Keller festival. It’ll give people things to do locally, which is even more important with the price of gas and other expenses increasing,” he added. “This is going to provide a lot of opportunities for our community.”

Hovater said the planned stage “will differ from the stage (the council) looked at (as an example) in that that one is hollow on the bottom, and this one will be stone and blocks of concrete.”

In other business, the council also approved a commercial service dumpster agreement and prices. The city has determined it’s in the best interest of the city and its citizens for the city to operate an exclusive garbage collection service within its city limits.

In a previous meeting Feb. 20, the council passed a resolution authorizing the establishment of an exclusive solid waste franchise in the city and the purchase of used dumpsters, located throughout the city, from the Franklin County Commission. The commission approved the sale of approximately 185 used dumpsters to the city at $500 per dumpster.