By Dale Barnett
Elmore/Autauga News
The Elmore County Commission held the second of their monthly meetings on March 28 in the old historic Elmore County Courthouse in downtown Wetumpka. County Commission Chairman Troy Stubbs (District 3) called the work session to order at 5 p.m. with Commissioners Henry Hines (District 1), Mack Daugherty (District 2), Bart Mercer (District 4) and Desirae Lewis (District 5) all present, along with various other heads of County departments.
Jake Allison, of Edgewood Academy, Recognized by Commission for State Champion Achievement
During the meeting, the Commission approved a resolution recognizing Jake Allison for his accomplishments at the 2022 Alabama Independent School Association (AISA) State Powerlifting Meet. Jake won the 2022 AISA State Championship in the 275-pound weight class. Jake is a senior at Edgewood and plans to attend Auburn University to study Material Engineering.
Commissioners praised Jake for his accomplishment and thanked his parents and coaches for showing their support throughout the years as well.
“We certainly recognize family, coaches, teachers and others who have supported you along the way. You have a few months left of high school at Edgewood Academy,” Chairman Stubbs said. “I encourage you to be a great example to those that will follow your footsteps. When you accomplish things in life…when you are a champion, you take on responsibility to be an example to those around you and lift them up.”
In other business, Commissioner Hines updated the crowd on information pertaining to Arrow Disposal taking over the county’s contract for garbage service.
“We are finalizing the contract with Arrow. They will be getting with residents at the end of April and in May to sign up for service. If you have not been contacted, don’t worry, they will be contacting you.”
Only those citizens living in the unincorporated areas of Elmore County, along with citizens served through the City of Wetumpka, Town of Elmore, Town of Deatsville and Town of Eclectic, will be served by Arrow through this new contract.
The remainder of the municipalities in Elmore County were offered to be a part of the new trash service contract but chose not to participate. Those not changing are City of Millbrook, City of Tallassee and the Town of Coosada.
If you still are not sure if your service is changing, please contact the Elmore County Commission office. However, if your service is changing, you will be notified by Arrow in the coming weeks, if you have not already received notification.
Commissioner Hines also discussed the importance of the upcoming Elmore County Clean Up weekend April 22-24. Volunteers across the County will be picking up trash around neighborhoods, waterways, and roadways. The Lake Jordan Hobo Association, along with the Lake Martin Boaters Association, will also be involved with clean up on the lakes. Citizens of the county are invited to contact the County office for details of getting bags and information on locations to place the filled bags. Sign up deadline is April 13th. County employees will pick up the trash bags for proper disposal. For questions, please call the Elmore County Commission office or visit their website shown in the graphic below.
Commissioner Daugherty praised the County Emergency Management Department, staff and county road crews for their hard work during severe storms. Daugherty said the work the EMA staff does to keep the citizens informed of impending severe weather is vital for the safety of so many. They also work with the county road crews to keep the roads cleared of debris after storms.
With possible severe weather again threatening out area overnight, Daugherty said he knows that crews will be ready in the event they are needed.
Commissioner Mercer mentioned there are currently a few bills in the state legislature, that could impact Elmore County. The legislature has just seven working days left to finish passing any bills in this session. One of those bills, HB3, would make all the county EMA departments eligible to be under the Public Safety title and provide public safety services. This would also allow them access to increased funding.
HB70 concerns the services related to mental health for those incarcerated. The bill would allow law enforcement to partner with agencies to allow greater access to mental health services.
HB371 will allow tax lien auctions to be conducted online. This would give citizens greater access to place a bid on a property.
Commission Mercer also discussed the low employment rate in Elmore County and how important it is for the County to continue to see more business coming to the County. As of February, unemployment was 2.5 percent compared to 3.1 percent this time last year.
“Elmore County is in a very good position in relation to the unemployment rate. Four percent is considered fully employed. Those are very good numbers but one number that really stuck out to me is our available workforce. We realized an increase of 255 citizens of Elmore County that joined the workforce and we had 63 fewer people on unemployment benefits for the month of February. I think that speaks volumes for the stability of our local economy.”
Commissioner Lewis asked the citizens to keep her in mind when dealing with issues in which she may be able to assist.
“With happenings in District 5, if you ever go to Crenshaw Community Park we have new play stations for the kids. I know that has been a hot topic for many years on getting new toys out there.”
Chairman Stubbs discussed the pending Alabama state legislation to allow an increase in the ad valorem tax for Elmore County to benefit the County School Board of Education. It would also add revenue for public safety and Broadband. If that bill passes the legislature, the citizen of the county will be allowed to vote on the issue.
“We do have an item of pending local legislation that is a result of our public hearing we held several weeks ago,” Stubbs said. “The school board voted unanimously to move that forward to the county commission. We voted to move it to state legislature. For your information, when it moves from us to the legislature, our local delegation has to take action to move it to the floor to be potentially voted on by the state legislature. Subsequently, there would be the opportunity for Elmore County to vote. This bill would, if passed, benefit the education system, schools, public health, economic development, volunteer fire departments and public safety in general. I think that it is important for the public to know that process has now moved through from the board of education, to county commission and is now in the state legislature. If that bill does not get taken up in state legislature it will, for lack of a better word, die. It will not move forward and it will be a non-event. It is our position it should be moved through legislature and should be voted on by people of Elmore County. For me there is nothing more American than the people getting to vote on their own taxes. Anything that is voted on by the people of Elmore County is then local money, which means our local BOE can expend those funds on what they deem necessary.”
The next Commission meeting will be on April 11 at 5 pm at the Elmore County Courthouse downtown. Meetings are open to the public, with the exception of an executive session.
