LANETT — The Lanett City Council has taken action toward upgrading the city’s electrical substation on the south side of town. Garnet Electrical Company of Sheffield, Ala. has been awarded a contract to install 15 circuit breakers at the substation.

The action was taken in a unanimous vote at Monday’s council meeting.

Garnet Electrical offered the lowest bid in a competitive process. It offered to install the new circuit breakers for just under $80,000 Two other companies made bids that were well in excess of $100,000.

The city’s consultant, Stewart Engineering, Inc., recommended that the city take the offer submitted by Garnet.

Alan Summers of the city’s electrical department told the council that the present substation circuit breakers are 30 years old and in need of replacement. Replacing them, he said, would help the city’s electrical department in keeping power flowing through the city.

In other business, the council approved an off-premise retail beer and wine license for the Fred’s 2180 discount store, located in the Cherry Valley Shopping Center.

Council Member Shirley Motley recently had surgery and was absent from the meeting. Members of the council wished her a speedy recovery.

Members of the council took turns congratulating the Lanett High basketball team on recently having won its third straight 2A state championship.

“We went a long time without winning one and now we have three in a row,” said Council Member Charles Looser, a former Lanett High principal and superintendent of the Lanett City School System. “That’s great and we’re really proud of the team. Congratulations to the players, the coaches and their families for representing our community so well.”

Ashley Crane, the executive director of the Greater Valley Area Chamber of Commerce, was present at the meeting to make a quarterly report of Chamber activities.

“We gained 30 new members over the past quarter,” she said. “We had 36 new members for the previous year. That shows that we are heading in the right direction.”

Crane said that the Chamber recently partnered with the Valley campus of Southern Union State Community College in a very successful job fair. A total of 20 companies were represented, collectively having more than 400 jobs that need to be filled.

Crane said the Chamber has gotten lots of positive c0mments on the life-sized Christmas cards that were on display in front of local city halls this past holiday season. The GVACC has an ad in the 2018 issue of Alabama Advantage. The magazine has close to 20,000 readers across the state and larger numbers than that online.

The full-page ad on page 43, notes the Valley’s proximity to West Point Lake and the Chattahoochee River and the abundant recreational opportunities that are available locally. It also has the Strength Woven In logo and promotes the Valley’s proximity to Atlanta., Montgomery and Birmingham.

Crane said that she was really looking forward to a Community Education event that will be coming up very soon. Some 240 people have signed up for it thus far. The event will spotlight the contributions being made by many people in local education.

The Chamber had its first Lunch N Learn event in mid-March at Valley Community Center. Mayor Leonard Riley discussed recent progress taking place in Valley. Other local cities will have similar programs. Lanett’s Lunch N Learn will be in May. At that time, the city should be in good position to showcase the work that’s been going on in the streetscape project.

Some of the decorative lamp posts have gone up along Lanier Avenue. They look much like the ones in downtown West Point, but they are black in color rather that green.

“You should be able to show off what you’ve been doing downtown,” Crane said.