BY SARAH STEPHENS, OWNER/EDITOR
PHOTOS BY SARAH STEPHENS AND STUART PETERS
For the last few weeks we here at the Elmore/Autauga News have been meeting with local city officials in our counties, discussing the past year and the hopes for the future. Our focus this week is on the City of Millbrook and our discussions with Millbrook Mayor Al Kelley.
“Looking back at 2019, I am very pleased with the progress that has been made and the groundwork we have established for future growth and development. These achievements are accomplished by the City Council members who are dedicated to their continued goal of sustained, manageable growth, along with our city employees who are important in the implementation of our plans and goals,” Kelley said in his office recently at City Hall.
“We cannot do what we do without every single employee we have, and we want them to know their hard work does not go unnoticed. For 24 years in a row, all city employees have received a raise and in 2019 it was a 5 percent raise,” Kelley added. “We have been very fortunate in Millbrook.”
A lot of commercial/business activity occurred in 2019. The Springhill Suites Hotel opened in early 2019 near I-65, along with road improvements along Cobbs Ford Road. “That has been a huge benefit to our area, and we are in talks about a second hotel there as well. That area is going to be very big for Millbrook and a sales tax generator,” Kelley stated.
New owners took over the Smokehouse Barbecue location on Main Street in 2019. “Business has been booming for them,” said Kelley.
Another new restaurant in 2019 was Grits Café, located in The Village Too shopping center. (The cute, colored houses on the east side of the road.) “We eat there pretty often, and the food is truly fabulous. It has been a great addition to food options for our residents,” Mayor Kelley said.
Waffle House is nearing completion in front of Marvin’s on Highway 14 and could be open by the end of January. Mayor Kelley said, “They are hard at work on that location and a lot of people are looking forward to the opening.”
City officials are working with Popeye’s, which announced in 2019 a store will be located in Millbrook near the interstate. Two other restaurants are also in talks with the city near the same location.
Window World broke ground last year at the corner of Cobbs Ford Road and Main Street and will begin serving customers in 2020. “We are so grateful to Window World for locating here,” Kelley said. “I think they are going to be an incredible community partner,” he added.
Residential growth has rebounded in Millbrook also, with the announcement of new developments that are currently under construction and in process. These include Azalea Place on Grandview Road which will have about 40 new homes; Kamden Kove, in what was originally planned as the Industrial Park on Grandview Road, with 93 homes; and Sherwood Forest on Ingram Road which will have around 61 homes.
Activities relating to City services were numerous in 2019. The Millbrook Economic Development Center and the Millbrook Area Chamber of Commerce moved into the old City Hall in 2019 after a major renovation. “It is just beautiful,” Mayor Kelley said. Having both of those entities sharing space has been a benefit.
Improvements also came for many of the parks in Millbrook in 2019. Minnie Massey Park received a much needed bathroom facility. Mill Creek Park saw many improvements and repairs after storm damage last year. The City Council also approved projects for the coming year for other parks, such as Legacy and Village Green.
The city has also been purchasing multiple land properties, particularly in the downtown area. The city owns the property where the old police station is located, but in the past year bought two other properties right next door. The old homes on the properties were razed recently and soon work will begin on a new Millbrook Senior Center. Currently the Senior Center program operates out of the Memorial Center near the Civic Center. Construction will begin this year on a new 4,500 square foot, self-contained building for the growing Senior program. The surrounding land can also be utilized for outdoor activities, such as a garden.
“I am really excited about this,” Mayor Kelley said. “We have a significant population of retirees and being able to offer them a venue and a place for activities is important. The program has grown at a rapid rate in the past couple of years, and the group is very active. It will be wonderful that they have their own place to call home, and the design is really fantastic. I think residents will be impressed with the old farmhouse style of the building when it is completed.
“We have initiated a plan for the design of downtown that I may not see completed in my lifetime, but we have started a plan,” Mayor Kelley said. “Compared to other cities, we are still very young. The growth of Millbrook was very quick, so a typical downtown area is not what you will find, but we are working to give it a better look and feel.”
Major improvements for The Pines Golf Course were approved in the past year. The city-owned property is popular among area golfers, and this year will see the implementation of a state-of-the-art irrigation system.
The City also purchased 10 acres of land on Ingram Road near the Treatment Plant that will allow for expansion of the facility.
“Our problem is not with the infrastructure of the sewer plant,” Mayor Kelley said. “The problem is with infiltration and inflow of water, such as rainwater. We have several manholes that were never accounted for in the early days of the city, and we are still finding them. Some don’t even have covers anymore. This has been an important focus. We run under capacity on a daily basis, but it is close even on a good day. When you add rainwater to the mix, it can start to cause problems. We plan to expand the treatment plant, increase our capacity and make some major improvements.”
In addition to this, there is upkeep of an aging system, such as a pipe that broke on New Year’s Eve in Grandview Pines. “It was a valve that wouldn’t close, but we replaced it. There will always be upkeep issues, but we are planning on major improvements for the entire system. The City of Millbrook is in excellent financial shape and we can make this happen,” Kelley added.
New body cameras and a new CAD system were approved for the Millbrook Police Department in 2019. “Though expensive,” Kelley stated, “this was much needed for communication between first responders and dispatchers. We have updated with the most modern equipment available that will allow us to access a lot of new programs and make it much easier to keep up with statistics.”
Tunes on the Green was added in 2019 to the Village Green Park and will be expanded this coming summer. “As the first year presenting this event, I was really impressed with the crowds and the quality of performers,” Mayor Kelley said.
Also in 2019, the City established a much-improved website that makes it easier to access information on city services. “The look of it is great and it is user friendly. We will continue to build on that,” stated Kelley.
In 2019 the City passed a strong ordinance relating to the demolition of abandoned structures throughout the City. “We have a list already and when this begins you are really going to see a lot of areas cleaned up that have needed addressing for a while. This new ordinance is tried and tested in other communities and has teeth to get done what we want to get done. It allows us to go after property owners that have refused to take care of the land or the building,” Kelley stated.
The Mayor said the City is also enjoying the benefits of the Elmore County Rebuild Program which is allowing for repairs and paving of roads in the coming year. Also known as the “Gas Tax,” Kelley said the City receives about $10,000 a month in revenue. “We let that ride until we have a good amount to do some work in different areas,” he said. Some of those areas that are set for improvement in 2020 include Ingram Road and Highway 14 and Oak Tree and Highway 14. There are multiple other paving projects as well throughout the city.
“We did a lot of work on Browns Road this past year, with widening and adding turn lanes on either end,” Kelley said. “We are still finishing a few things, but I believe it has already made a big difference there.”
A much needed traffic signal was finally added at Highway 14 and Grandview Road, thanks in part to the City’s continued requests for help from ALDOT. The City used funds to pay for a traffic study in an effort to prove the need to ALDOT. With a lot of citizens backing, it became a reality in 2019. The intersection was one of the deadliest in Millbrook, with a multitude of accidents with serious injury and fatalities.
In 2019 the City continued discussions with the Grandview Family YMCA and the Elmore County Board of Education concerning a Master Plan for the YMCA. “The possibilities for growth at that location are pretty amazing,” Kelley said. “Last year the YMCA broke ground on the new Wellness Center and that is really just the beginning of positive things coming to the location.”
In this New Year, a big focus of Mayor Kelley is to get the word out concerning the Census and encourage all residents to fill out the information for a proper count. The City formed a Millbrook Complete Count Committee representing people from all walks of life to help spread the word this year for people to take part in the Census.
“I cannot express enough how important it is to this City that our residents take part and we achieve an accurate count of the current population,” Kelley said. “We believe that we were under counted in the last Census and population numbers go hand in hand with the ability to get grants and other funding.”
As for future expansion of the city, Kelley said there are issues and limits that deal with boundaries. To the north is Deatsville, the south a flood plain, to the west Prattville and Coosada to the east. “So, we have a limited area in which to work, and that makes it imperative that we plan for the future and focus on what types of new projects we approve,” Kelley said.
So, overall, Kelley said Millbrook saw more than just a good year. “We had a fantastic 2019, and I think with more announcements that will be made this year, we are going to be able to do a lot more for residents, and offer more choices in multiple areas. I know that people want everything right now, but economic development doesn’t work that way. I wish I could snap my fingers and say, ‘Boom, here is your (insert whatever your wish is) and make it happen,’ but it takes entrepreneurs that want to come to this City. As a City, we cannot open up someone’s favorite restaurant chain. That comes about by discussions with businesses and making Millbrook a place they want to locate. No one can make promises that a particular restaurant or business will locate here. If only it were really that easy.”
Kelley encouraged residents to attend regular City Council meetings which are held at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month in the Municipal Courtroom. “I think it is pretty important to understand the workings of the City where you live rather than just relying on what you are told. We are open and we want to hear from our citizens,” Kelley said.
Below are just some of the photos involving new businesses, new projects and activities in the City in 2019.
