Oakwood is encouraging its sister cities in Hall County to team up on a joint resurfacing venture and possibly save money in the process.

“I just think it makes a lot of sense,” City Manager Stan Brown said. “The more (jobs) you can pull together on a project, the more likelihood you’re going to get a better price.”

Last year, Oakwood, Clermont, Lula and Braselton linked arms in the endeavor.

“It went really well,” Brown said. “It eliminated all four cities having to put out separate contracts, and we were able to select a contractor that was able to perform the work. They did a good job and were able to perform it in a timely manner.”

Cost savings are hard to judge because the cities never got a price for doing the work separately.

However, “It took what our project would have been, which was less than $200,000, and we ended up with something that was approaching $400,000 (for the four cities),” Brown said. “I felt like we had a good economy of scale there.”

Brown mentioned the joint venture again this year to members of the Hall County Joint Municipal Association at a recent meeting in Buford.

The joint effort would be as part of cities’ taking advantage of the Georgia Department of Transportation’s Local Maintenance Improvement Grant.

“I’m just opening it up to whoever wants to do it,” he said. “I’m leaving it open until the end of the year.”

Flowery Branch City Council is set to discuss its road resurfacing program for 2013 at its meeting Thursday night.

City officials expect to participate with Oakwood, according to a city document showing $245,244 in projects.

And Braselton, which is in Hall, Gwinnett, Barrow and Jackson counties, also is giving the partnership a look.

“I’ve asked our public works director to see if we have identified roads for next year so we can join in,” Town Manager Jennifer Dees said. “It worked very well last time.”

Brown said the joint venture is “more efficient, if nothing else, from a contract administration standpoint and a bidding process. I think it saves time for the governments, as a whole.”

He expects the joint project could be put out for bids in January or February, with a contract award by the end of February.

“And then, we’ll have a notice to proceed as soon as the weather (cooperates),” Brown said.

Hall County is moving forward on its own $2.9 million resurfacing program, with work on nearly 20 miles of road expected to be completed by April 30.