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Prattville Mayor Bill Gillespie Year-End Report: City on the Upswing as we Move into 2020

By Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer

On Tuesday, December 10, Mayor Gillespie sat down with me to give an overview about the performance of the City of Prattville in 2019 and how he projects the the city to look in 2020.

The first question, which comprised the majority of the interview, revolved around the state of Prattville’s economy and how it compared to previous years.

“Growth has been good. We’ve gone up a few percentage points every month and it’s been that way the last several years. Prattville’s been blessed to be located right here in the middle of the state, with the interstate and Maxwell so close. We’ve also been a great stopping point as state residents make their way to the coast,” Gillespie said.

In terms of business growth, Gillespie says it’s remained steady compared to previous years.

“Business growth has been about the same. We’re on a positive path with that one. There are some businesses that have left the area, but also some that we’ve welcomed this year as well. It’s not an easy endeavor for a lot of people to start their own small business, but at the end of the day, they’re the lifeblood of the economy,” Gillespie said. “We have some big companies coming in, like the James Hardie plant which will give us around 200 more jobs. We hope to have that up and going around late Spring, early Summer time. We’ve had eateries, retail, and other general businesses come through this year. We’ve seen a little bit of all indicators moving in and moving up as well.”

As far as the projections for 2020, Gillespie says the city should be trending upwards.

“We have a great relationship here with our Chamber of Commerce and we utilize them a lot with the economic development of the city. One of roles here is to provide an environment for private enterprise to flourish. Christmas is always a big time of year for all municipalities in the state of Alabama because of the way municipalities are structured for their revenues. So far, all those trends seem to be trending upward. Rooftops are coming on, which means more people, more people means more spending, which ultimately requires more services.”

With a growing population like Prattville, a city that already has around 38,000 people, Gillespie understands that infrastructure and resources need to match the ever-expanding city.

“Prattville’s services are split a little bit. The Water Board is a separate entity and they’ve made some improvements on that. The Waste Water is under the city banner, and we’ve spent a little more than $30 million doing some upgrades and improvements in one of our waste water plants. As far as streets, we have a pavement schedule that we’re on. For 2020, we’re going to pave Martin Luther King Drive, as well as some storm water and pavement projects that we have planned throughout Prattville, a few of which are on Washington Street and Easy Street. We’re keeping infrastructure on the forefront, but we could always use more – there’s no doubt about it. But we do have a very thorough plan for keeping up the city’s growth,” Gillespie said.

As far as the recent budget that was passed is concerned, Gillespie was quick to talk about the pay raises that were given to include police officers.

“The City of Prattville is a service orientated organization. We have to have people and we have to have equipment. We need well-trained people and quality equipment. The police officers in our city have a very difficult profession, but very much needed. One of the things that makes Prattville so desirable is that we’re a safe community. For that safety, you have to have police officers,” Gillespie said. “We did a pay-plan study that showed we were behind the curve a little bit with having our employees compensated at a fair rate compared to other communities of our size. So, across the board, everyone got their pay adjusted and we’ll continue to work on that year in and year out,” Gillespie said.

As the conversation ended, Gillespie wanted everyone to know that the City of Prattville is here to help private enterprise flourish. They’re here to provide services to the citizens, and anytime you can have a healthy, enjoyable environment, then you’re going to have a successful city.