Malia Riggs
Elmore Autauga News
Top Photo: Prattville Mayor recognized former District 5 Councilman Blair Gornto for his service. Gornto’s position will now be filled by newcomer Michael Whaley.
The Prattville City Council met for their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday night where all items on the agenda were adopted. Mayor Bill Gillespie recognized former District five Prattville City Councilman Blair Gornto and Patty VanderWal of the Prattville Area Chamber of Commerce.
Former councilman Gornto was recognized for his three-year-service on the council where he received a plaque with his name plate and dates of his service, from November of 2020 through October of 2023.
“I appreciate all the time and energy that you put forth with the city and also with our government and the service to the country as well. It took us a while to get this, but we wanted to give you our gratitude for your hard work and dedication to the community within district five,” Gillespie said.
Gornto went on to thank his wife and wished the council elect, Michael Whaley, good luck and congratulations.
“District 5, you’re in good hands,” Gornto said.
Gillespie also stated in his mayoral report that the Arbor Day celebration last Saturday was a success and that the Right Tree Right Place program will be blooming again.
The Mayor went on to also congratulate council elect Whaley for the unofficial winning of the district five city council seat. Gillespie also congratulated Patty VanderWal with the Prattville Area Chamber of Commerce.
VanderWal has been selected for the U.S Chamber Foundation Education and Workforce Fellowship program and was the only attendee from the state of Alabama. Gillespie confirmed that this fellowship provides state and local leaders with business leaders opportunities to engage nationally on critical education and workforce issues.
Gillespie noted that this week is also national engineers week and Gillespie went on to thank the city engineers and the engineers that the City of Prattville works with for the numerous projects going on within Prattville and surrounding areas.
The Prattville City Council made numerous resolutions Tuesday evening, from the release of funds for the Fourth of July public firework display to the purchase of a TruNarc Solution Kit for the Police Department.
At the end of the meeting, the public was allowed to address the council with concerns. Each person who spoke talked of the current Autauga-Prattville library and/or its board of directors. The majority spoke of concerns with new board appointments. These speakers said that the library should be inclusive to the entire community, and they feel that the LGBTQ-Plus are being ignored. One person stood to say that he feels the system in place for marking books based with warnings if there is sexual content, is good in his opinion.
This has been an ongoing issue for many months, and those who oppose the labels said they hope the Council will do the right thing in the future regarding the library, as far as making everyone feel welcome.
