Daphne Council Took Up $450,847 for Lake Forest Drainage Repair on Ridgewood Drive
Two resolutions on the council's May 18 agenda would authorize a drainage repair at the 600 block of Ridgewood Drive in the Lake Forest neighborhood and appropriate nearly $451,000 from the city's general fund.
The Daphne City Council on Monday, May 18, took up two resolutions to authorize and fund a drainage repair in the Lake Forest neighborhood — awarding a roughly $392,000 construction contract and appropriating $450,847 from the city's general fund to cover the work.
Excerpt from the May 18, 2026 Daphne City Council agenda, page 3.
Resolution 2026-32, listed as Item 11.C, accepts a construction bid for the project the agenda designates as "2026-G-Lake Forest Drainage Repair at 600 Block Ridgewood Drive." According to the resolution, the city received five bids and staff recommended the contract go to WR Mitchell Contractor, Inc. as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, at $392,416.22. The resolution notes that Alabama law (Section 39-2-2 of the Code of Alabama) requires competitive bids for public works contracts exceeding $100,000, a threshold this project clears.
Resolution 2026-32, accepting WR Mitchell Contractor's bid, from the May 18, 2026 meeting packet.
A companion measure, Resolution 2026-33 at Item 11.D, appropriates the full $450,847 from the General Fund and transfers it to the Capital Reserve Fund for the project. The resolution breaks the total cost into construction ($392,416), engineering ($29,000) and a contingency ($29,431). Because the repair was not anticipated when the council adopted the fiscal 2026 budget on Sept. 15, 2025, the appropriation amends that budget to add the money.
The 600 block of Ridgewood Drive sits within the Lake Forest subdivision, one of Daphne's largest residential neighborhoods. The council listed the bid award and the appropriation as separate actions — one to authorize the contract, the other to fund it.
Both resolutions appeared on the council's regular agenda at the 6 p.m. meeting at City Hall, 1705 Main St. The full agenda and packet are posted on the city's public meeting portal.