From The Trussville Tribune staff reports
TRUSSVILLE — The Trussville City Council met in regular session on Tuesday night taking actions on several agenda items.
An ordinance was passed to declare city owned property at 110 North Chalkville Road as surplus. The former Herb’s Hardware store will be transferred to the Trussville Redevelopment Authority for $10. TRA plans for the property are not known at this time.
The city owned building at 110 North Chalkville was the former location of Herb’s Hardware.
The city had originally planned to put a connector road at that location as part of the downtown loop. At the suggestion of traffic engineers, the connector road will now be a little further north on North Chalkville Road to allow more distance between the loop and the Main Street-North Chalkville Road intersection.
The council passed a resolution in support of changes to small cell telecommunications legislation to protect local control of public right-of-way and assets. The move comes after the FCC enacted sweeping regulations in 2018, removing local control of many streets and public utilities. According to the resolution, the FCC regulation also requires the public to subsidize the cell phone industry.
The council will send a letter to Sen. Richard Shelby, Sen. Doug Jones and Rep. Gary Palmer, urging them to support legislation to be presented by Rep. Anna Eshoo to overturn the FCC regulations.
The council passed a resolution to award a bid for concessions in the sports complex to Dana Brooks of Allstar Concessions in exchange for 18 percent of gross sales to be returned to the city. Brooks has extensive experience in the food and concessions industry.
Councilors also approved a Brew Pub designation for Ferus Brewery. The new designation allows sale of food, manufacturing and wholesale of beer, and is a technical correction in the original designation.
A $2,500 contract with Prescott House was approved for services benefiting the police department in the investigation of crimes against children. Counselors at the Prescott House assist in interviewing children in criminal cases.
Mike Hinson was named interim financial director after Melody Salter resigned to take the city clerk position for the city of Homewood.
Mayor Buddy Choat reported that engineering work was underway for the widening of Main Street from Cedar to Parkway.
Almost 40 people have signed up to volunteer in the Trussville 2040 range planning for the city, Choat said. He said he hopes to have as many as 200 to 300 citizens involved in different aspects of the planning sessions.
In council reports, Alan Taylor said the police force currently has 64 sworn officers and 19,710 calls in 2018.
Following the meeting, Police Chief Eric Rush said the department was almost at full staff.
“I’ve had one officer retire and another left the department,” Rush said. “When we get those two positions filled, we’ll be back to the number of officers that we need.”
Taylor also said the Dancers against Cancer Gala is planned for Saturday night at Civic Center. This is the second year for the event.
