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Construction will begin today on the industrial access road which provides access to the future site of the Conecuh Ridge Distillery in Troy.

“We’re actually breaking ground (Wednesday) for the industrial access road,” said T.J.  Kelly, a representative of CDG Engineering. “This is for the road, not the distillery. I don’t have any information on that.”

Kelly was updating Troy City Council members on the progress of the access road as part of a request to approve the engineering and inspection contract for the road, at a cost of $77,078.

“ALDOT (Alabama Department of Transportation) will pay $66,00 of that and the city will be responsible for $11,078,” Kelly said. The $593,000 cost of road construction will be paid by a 100 percent Industrial Development grant.

The distillery project, which was announced in September 2017, would include the construction of a distillery, restaurant and entertainment area off Trojan Way.

In other business on Tuesday, the Troy City Council:

• Approved the engineering and inspection contract for the multi-use sidewalk project that will create an 8-foot wide sidewalk on the south side of Elm Street from Veterans Memorial Drive to George Wallace Drive. The cost of the contract is $71,873. The city’s portion is $24,193 and TAP funds will cover the balance. The cost of the sidewalk construction is $541,000.

• Approved a resolution to approve additional ATRIP funding of up to $100,000 from the state as part of the auditing close-out of the McKinley Drive project. The project, which was completed in 2017, is undergoing the final closeout audit. Because it was an ATRIP project originally, the state is allocate surplus ATRIP funding to be used in case of auditing issues or overages.

• Approved a professional services agreement with JMCM Consulting to assist with FEMA grant applications for the Troy Fire Department. Chief Michael Stephens said the consultant fees are 5 percent of any awarded grant totals. The city has used the consultant previously.

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