Mayor's weekly blog
Friday, April 11, 2008 - Sunday, April 20, 2008
Greetings from the Mayor's office. I hope you and your family
enjoyed the beautiful weather this weekend. There were many
families on our Courthouse Square this weekend enjoying the
activities of the Dogwood Festival. Remember the big Car Show
will be on the Square this coming weekend, April 26, and a big
crowd is expected to show up for this.
Friday evening Kay and I went to Sozio's at Five Points in
Huntsville for dinner with the Whitt's. This was our first time
to eat here and we really enjoyed it. The restaurant is located
next to Star Market at Five Points. This area of Huntsville is
where a lot of the younger folks are living. There are many of
the older homes being redone to accommodate young families.
Saturday morning I attended the opening day for the Youth
Baseball program at the Sportsplex. This event had been
cancelled a week earlier because of rain, and today was a
perfect day for baseball. The City Recreation staff had the
fields in excellent condition even though it had rained a good
bit earlier.
Councilman Ron Marks was present for the opening ceremony, and
we were delighted that the league presented an award to Beth and
Shannon Jordan, the parents of our dear little neighbor, Paxon,
who died in a tragic accident last July 4. Paxon played baseball
in the League, and was loved by everyone who came in contact
with him.
I later attended the eighth Annual Breakfast sponsored by the
Frazier Chapel Men of Faith at the Church on South Hine Street.
Walter Benford heads up this group of great men of this Church,
and they do a lot of good in our community. They had an
excellent breakfast, and they had invited Rev. Dennis Ivy,
Pastor of the Tanner Pentecostal Church to speak at the
breakfast. A large group of his Church members attended the
breakfast. The theme of the event is always "Unity In Our
Community". They will also have their service Sunday afternoon
at 2:30.
Kay and I did a few errands today, and I planted the new Maple
tree that I had purchased last Wednesday. I think I did a good
job with this planting. We grilled hamburgers tonight for a few
of our bunch. Whitney brought one of her Athens High classmates,
Jeannie Schrimsher. Jeannie is a good friend of our family, and
teaches school in Madison. She and her sons live in the East
Limestone community.
Sunday morning Kay and I attended Sunday school and Church. I
sang with the Choir this morning. Ryan, our director, was away
with the youth choirs and Ken Culberson directed us. He always
fills in for Ryan, and does a great job.
We had all our kids over for lunch today. Daniel and his family
came over and it was good to see them. I attended the service at
Frazier Chapel this afternoon and enjoyed it.
Kay and I ate supper tonight at the Casa Blanca with the Todds
and Harpers. This restaurant seems to be doing a great business
for a city of our size. The food and service is good, and you
need to try it if you have not done so.
Monday morning I spent with members of the Council and our
Financial Director and City Clerk, doing the mid-year review for
our budget. It is evident at this mid-point of our fiscal year
that we are in good shape, and have two or three things we have
to watch. We are concerned about the cost of fuel, gas and
diesel, and may have to make some adjustments if the costs get
any higher. There is a possibility that we may have to add some
to our employee insurance to meet the more-than-expected amount
of claims in our general fund.
The Council met at 4:00 this afternoon for the regular work
session. We heard a proposal from the Clean Harbor Company to do
a household hazardous waste collection for the city and county
residents. They explained how the collection would be handled,
and that they would take care of everything from setting us the
collection site, to hauling away the hazardous waste. They will
collect items such as paint, pesticides, herbicides, batteries,
oil, and the like. They will advertise the event and let people
know exactly what they can bring and what will not be collected.
They will not take electronic waste, such as computers. The
proposal was to the city and county governments and will be
funded on a fifty-fifty basis. The cost will not exceed $13,000
in total for the City of Athens.
The Council also heard a proposal from John Stewart to hold an
auction and sell the Fire Department property located on Freeman
Avenue. This property is no longer needed since we built the new
station on Lindsey lane to serve the east side of town. The
Council will consider a resolution to declare the property as
surplus at the next meeting, and then give permission for
Stewart to sell it.
The following items of business received action by the Council:
1. A Public hearing was held about the clean-up of property
located on the south side of Brownsferry Street at the corner of
Brownsferry Street/Hine Street. The Council extended the
clean-up for one more month which should adequately take care of
this problem.
2. A Public hearing was held about the clean-up of property
located on the north side of Brownsferry Street at the corner of
Brownsferry Street/Hine Street. The Council is satisfied with
the condition of this property and no further work will be
needed.
3. A Public hearing for the sale of alcohol was held for the
change of ownership for the First & Last Stop Convenience store
located at 19017 Highway 127 North. The new owners are Samuel
Mungalachetty and Narender Reddy.
4. A Public hearing was held to hear comments about the Coleman
Hill Drainage Project. Several Councilmen commented about the
success of this project and it will be closed out.
The Consent Calendar allowed the Council to approve resolutions
to approve travel expenses for the Wastewater Department in the
amount of $541.21, the Electric Department in the amount of
$306.60, and the Fire Department in the amount of $2,000.
The Regular Calendar included;
1. Approved the resolution for the Master Plan for the 54 acre
Creekside Village Sub-division. This property is located on the
north side of Highway 72 East, east of Piney Creek and Line
Road.
2. Approved an Ordinance for a State Sales Tax Holiday for
Athens during the first full weekend of August, 2008, when the
back-to-school shopping begins.
3. Approved the deletion of an Ordinance regarding the Animal
Control of the city. This ordinance was made obsolete by the
city contracting out its animal control services.
4. Approved the addition of one meter reader to the Utility
Customer Service Department.
5. Tabled a resolution to waive the water taps for the Limestone
County Rails to Trails for a park in the Piney Chapel area.
6. Approved the proposal for the collection of household
hazardous waste.
7. An Ordinance was introduced tonight and will be voted on at
the next regular meeting that deals with the problem of graffiti
that is a big problem in our community. The Ordinance would set
a minimum fine of $500 and there would be a sentence of
community service added.
The Council also had a discussion about the upcoming School
Board appointments. There will be an opening for a person in
District 1 and District 2. The Council had not received an
application from anyone in District 1, and talked about
appointing someone from another district. The Council has, for
several years, not appointed board members unless they apply
through a formal process. To circumvent this process they would
have to change the resolution. I am sure that someone from
District 1 will be found to serve on the school board.
I also notified the Council that I had rescinded a parade permit
I had issued to Slowmotion Soundz of Huntsville to hold a block
party on Somerest Drive to honor Tanque Beavers, the young man
who was killed at Friday's Restaurant in Huntsville some time
ago. I assumed the event was sponsored by the Boys and Girls
club of Athens, because Tanque was a charter member. After
receiving complaints from residents, I found the event did not
have the blessing of the Club or the neighborhood, and rescinded
the permit.
Tuesday morning I attended the Chamber Coffee held at the Athens
Gas Department’s Leak City on Sandifer Road/Highway 31 South.
Steve Carter, our Department Head hosted the meeting, and we had
a good crowd to attend.
I went to WKAC for the regular radio show and talked about the
business of last night’s Council meeting.
I came back to the office and did correspondence generated by
last night’s meeting until lunch. Kay and I went to LuVici’s and
enjoyed the food, along with an overflow crowd. One person we
saw there today was Barbara Davis, who is visiting briefly from
Florida. Barbara’s late husband, Gerald, was a good friend of a
lot of us here in Athens and Limestone County, and died too
soon. It was good to see her.
I left Athens today around 2:00 and drove to Montgomery where I
will attend a meeting with the Municipal League’s Workman’s
Compensation Board, and another meeting with ADECCA to make
application for a grant to build a rail-spur into our industrial
park. Several folks will be in attendance at that meeting. I
arrived in Montgomery around 5:00 p.m., and checked into the
hotel.
Rep. Henry White called and asked me to come by and get him for
dinner. We went to the restaurant and had dinner with Sen. Tom
Butler, David Seibert, Chairman of the County Commission, Mike
Cole, our Consultant, Councilman Ron Marks, and Tom Hill from
our Economic Development Association. We had a good dinner and
discussed our legislative bills pertaining to annexation into
Limestone County, and the proposed rock quarry that Roger’s
Group wants to locate in the Tanner community. Senator Butler
has introduced several bills related to the rock quarry, and
they are opposed by other legislators who are being courted by
the Rogers Group lobbyist.
Our annexation bill still has not been signed and agreed to by
three local legislators, and it the meantime Huntsville
continues to annex more property in Limestone County. The only
way the annexation bill will give protection against the
annexations is if all our legislators support it and give
Limestone County citizens the right to vote on the issue.
Wednesday morning I had breakfast with Senator Butler at the
hotel, and later attended a meeting with our party at the ADECCA
office in the Commerce Building. Bob Johnson is the Director of
this powerful agency. We were there to ask for funds from the
State to build a rail spur for an industrial prospect in our
community. We do have some of the needed funding, but we need
more and want our State to help us pull off this deal which will
create several jobs for our area and retain others. Cathy
McHugh, our grant coordinator, attended the meeting with us.
Cathy does a good job for us and has successfully found grants
for us in several areas.
I later attended the Workman's Compensation Board meeting which
took a couple of hours. We have been revamping our investments
because the losses that have hit the market have caused us to
suffer the same thing. Programs such as this one, invests the
premiums paid into it to make money in order to operate the
program. We have been doing very well the past few years, but
have to make adjustments for the downturn in the markets. Much
of our investments have been tied into the companies that were
adversely affected by the sub-prime loan problems. We have made
a lot of money, but now have to stop any losses that we can
during the downturn. We took action today which we hope will put
us on the road to recovery.
I drove back to Athens and arrived late this afternoon. I went
by Athens/Limestone Hospital tonight to visit our niece, Della
Johnson, the newlywed. She and Brian have recently returned from
their honeymoon, and she comes down with three kidney stones.
She has been there for a couple of days, but still has the
stones. She and I seem to be the only ones in our family that
are bothered on a regular basis with stones, although her Dad
has had a couple over the years.
Thursday morning was a court date for the city for motion
hearings in a lawsuit against the city. I accompanied our
attorney to the hearings and listened to several hours of legal
discussion between both attorneys and the Judge. It is always
interesting to listen to these legal discussions and watch each
lawyer rebut the other’s position or point in the case. The
Judge surely has a lot to consider when he finally makes the
decision. The Judge did cut to the point early on in the hearing
in order to frame the suit and focus it to an understandable
position for a jury, and for the possibility of the case being
appealed to a higher court.
I went to the Branch Creek Apartments today for their monthly
covered dish luncheon. Jimmy Gill, Ron Marks, Tommy Carter,
Jimmy Woodruff, and Jerry Batts were there for a delicious
lunch.
I attended the Chamber “After Hours” this afternoon at the
Canebrake. I did not get to stay too long because of another
meeting. There were several Chamber members and guests there,
but I haven’t heard how many finally made an appearance.
Kay and I attended the North Alabama Mayor’s meeting in Madison
tonight. The speaker for the meeting was Neal Wade, Director of
the Alabama Development Office. Neal talked about the services
his office provides to local communities. The bottom line of his
comments did not sound too good for us. He said monies available
during the next year will not be nearly enough to cover projects
that are now planed by cities like Athens. Local governments are
being asked to contribute more and more money as incentives to
entice industrial prospects to locate in Alabama. He also said
the film industry did not make one film in Alabama last year but
did about forty in Louisiana. He feels more effort needs to be
made to get more interest in Alabama from the film industry.
Friday morning I went to the Cooper and Company TV Show to talk
about annexations. Ron Marks was also there to talk about the
same thing. Athens native, Troy Black, was there to discuss his
competition Cooking career. He had a brisket that was about as
good as anything I have ever tasted. He will be doing a seminar
later at Athens State University.
I met with Economic Development officials and City people this
morning to discuss the annexations that are on-going in the
County to the south of our city.
Later in the morning, two Councilmen, a Department Head, and I
met with landowners to discuss the annexation situations here in
the County.
I met my children for lunch at LuVici’s. Daniel had come over to
see me and Whitney and her daughter, Kaleigh, dropped by to see
me at the same time. I enjoyed the time we had together.
Our City employees held a yard sale at our Police station today
to raise money for the Relay for Life Program. They were
successful and all of the ladies who planned this event worked
very hard and in shifts to see that it came off as planned.
Kay and I attended the dinner at the Council on Aging Center
tonight with other cast members of the Polk Sallet Revue. This
is sort of an appreciation dinner from the Council on Aging for
the cast members who give their time to raise money for the
program. A large number of cast members attended and enjoyed a
wonderful meal, then watched the recast of the program. This is
the first time many had seen all the show. When you are
performing in the Revue, you don’t get to see all the numbers
because you are involved in something else.
Saturday morning I went to the Courthouse Square for the start
of the Tour de Pig Bicycle Tour. There were several dozen
serious riders who would ride many miles before the day ended.
Buzz Estes lined everyone up on the Courthouse steps for a group
picture, and then I sent them off and running.
Later Kay and I attended the kids Doo Dah Parade that is a
fixture for our Dogwood Festival. We rode the Lions Club Choo
choo in the parade around the Square. I was in the car with Doc
Thompson and Lisa Shields. There were fifty or more kids with
their bikes, trikes, four wheelers, wagons, and other means of
conveyance decorated with spring flowers that made up the
parade. The entrees were judged and prizes were awarded to the
kids.
We later listened to the Athens High School Jazz Ensemble
perform on the Courthouse steps. I was amazed at how talented
these young folks are in the field of music. They had two young
ladies singing some great songs that were popular many years
ago. One of my favorites was the song, “Fever”.
The Festival included food vendors, music, arts and crafts,
plant and tree sales. As far as I could tell, the events went as
planned, and the crowd seemed to be a good one. We hope the
event brought more customers to the downtown area for our
merchants. I appreciate all the hard work that made this event
successful.
Kay and I attended Stella Whitt’s first birthday party at her
home on Coleman Avenue this afternoon. She had many guests from
both sides of her family. Her Mom, Jennifer, had relatives from
Mississippi and Montgomery to attend. There was a lot of good
food, then cake and Kreme Delight ice cream for the party.
I went to the Round Island Mission on Lucas Ferry Road this
afternoon to welcome and support the people attending a meeting
relating to combating spiritual addictions and illnesses of all
kinds. They had a large crowd present for this and had a dinner
planned for later in the evening.
I later attended a reception at Dr. Sahu’s home to meet his
daughter and her husband. They were married in February in India
because most of the relatives of both families are living there.
She will be in her medical training for two more years, and he
is now a surgical Oncologist. They have not decided as yet where
they will live and practice medicine when she completes her
training to become a Dermatologist.
Several of Dr. Sahu’s employees were at the reception in the
pool area of his home. There were neighbors and friends of the
family attending, and everyone enjoyed the ribs, chicken, and
vegetables prepared on the grill by Jimmy Gill and David Malone.
Sunday morning we attended Sunday school and Church. There were
a lot of folks at Church today, and our Choir sang very well.
Our family went to the new Chinese restaurant in the new mall in
Huntsville to meet our son Daniel, and his family for lunch. We
enjoyed our outing very much.
I came back to Athens and visited the Athens City Cemetery to
see the new memorial dedicated to Civil War Veterans buried in
Limestone County. There are eighteen tombstones in this memorial
of men who died in the war, and are buried in the cemetery, but
their gravesites cannot be identified. The Sons of Confederate
Veterans organization built this project and held a ceremony
this afternoon to dedicate it. There were visitors from several
states visiting today, and one even came from California.
I am including the Chamber of Commerce schedule of events for
the next few days:
Apr 23 at Noon – Administrative Professionals Day Luncheon
sponsored by the Athens Ladies Civitan Club at the Central
Church of Christ, 256-874-7490
Apr 25-26 at 7 PM – 7 AM – Relay for Life at the Athens
Sportsplex, 256-535-1082, 256-318-0590
Apr 25 – 27 at 6 PM on the 25th at 8 AM on 26th – Southside
Church of Christ Homecoming Celebration at Athens Middle School
Auditorium. Enjoy beautiful acappella singing and much more,
256-206-9127
Apr 26 at 7 AM – 2 PM – Limestone County Churches Involved Bass
Fishing Team Tournament sponsored by Lindsay Lane United Appear
Fund at the Elk River Lee High Ramp, Limestone County, AL,
256-431-1553, 256-233-6784
Apr 26 at 9 AM – Athens on the Square Car Show & Poker Run, over
350+ antique vehicles are expected to converge on the Athens, AL
square, FREE to the public, lots of beautiful vintage vehicles
will be here for your viewing. To enter your vehicle or for more
information call 256-603-1227.
Apr 26 with dinner at 6:30 PM and show at 7:30 PM – Yesterdays
Showband Featuring Kevin Adams, enjoy the show and dancing,
contact www.yesterdaysevents.com to make your reservations.
Apr 26 – Southern Crossroads Best Buckin BBQ Cookoff, at the
Limestone County Sheriff’s Rodeo Arena, Hwy 99, Athens,
Admission $5.00, 256-232-4008
Apr 26 at 8 AM – Annual Rails-to-Trails Horse Ride at Elkmont,
AL, 256-732-4211
Apr 26 at 7 PM – Wild Game Supper for Limestone County Churches
Involved at the Freedom Christian Center, 26449 Salem Minor Hill
Road (at the end of Easter Ferry Road). For more information
call 771-5667 or email kieth@finishedwork.com.
April 26, Charity Softball Tournament at Athens SportsPlex. Hwy
31. Raffles, Door Prizes, 50/50 Draw, Concessions ADMISSION $4
per person All children 12 and under free All proceeds go to Amy
Martin Medical Fund. Donations can be made at the Redstone
Federal Credit Union to the Amy Martin Charity Fund. For
information or entry forms call Brian@ 206-6308 or Lori@
642-9752. www.athensplus.com/softball.htm
Apr 29 at noon – Beautification Board Fashion Show (tickets must
be purchased in advance), at the First United Methodist Church
Beasley Center, Athens, Tickets are $25.00, 256-232-8728
Apr 29 – register at 7:30 AM – Shotgun Start at 8:30 AM – BBB
2008 Integrity Classic Four-Man Scramble Golf Tournament at
Canebrake Golf Course, Athens, 256-355-5170
I guess this is enough for this time. Take care and I’ll see you
next time. mayordan
All of the local
'Events & Activities'
can be found on AthensPlus.com,
with contact information and full details.
www.athensplus.com/tourismhighlight_april.htm
