Mayors give city, town updates at chamber luncheon

The cities of Shelby County have gotten a lot done in the last year, and a lot more to look forward to, according to mayors from around the county.

Shelby County’s 12 mayors gathered at the South Shelby Chamber of Commerce’s Sept. 7 luncheon to discuss the state of their cities and towns. Many mentioned businesses that have come or will soon come to their city, ongoing and upcoming road projects and other updates.

Chelsea Mayor Tony Picklesimer, who spoke at last year’s mayor’s panel as mayor-elect, discussed several ongoing projects in the city.

“This has been a very exciting year in the city of Chelsea,” Picklesimer said. The city was named one of the fastest growing in Alabama, falling just behind Fairhope. “That growth, I’m proud to report, is continuing. Our residential growth is strong.”

There are several new developments and subdivisions on the horizon, he said, as well as new businesses with upcoming groundbreakings.

“Our problem in Chelsea is that everyone gets up and leaves to go to work, so one of my focuses has been to try to grow our retail and commercial development to the point that we can add jobs,” he said.

The design phase for a road project at County roads 39 and 47 is coming to a close, he said, which will hopefully alleviate frequent traffic jams in that area. The city also has the renovation of its new library building and other road improvements along U.S. 280 to look forward to.

In the 2016 election, Picklesimer went from being a city council member to mayor, and the only returning council member was David Ingram. Picklesimer commended the new council for their hard work.

“I went from being one of the young guys on the three councils I served to being the old guy,” Picklesimer said. “I’ve got all these young folks on the city council, and it’s a good thing because they run hard and they push me hard.”

City of Hoover Chief Financial and Information Officer Melinda Lopez also spoke on the mayor’s panel, in place of Mayor Frank Brocato.

“We would like it to be about $130 million. As we all know, there are many more wants, may more needs than there are resources,” Lopez said. That budget includes a $5 million contribution to Hoover City Schools, which Lopez said is a high priority.

She referred back to Helena Mayor Mark Hall’s comments, which emphasized the importance of good schools.

“As your schools go, so does your community,” Hall said.

Hoover’s budget also includes roadwork on South Shades Crest Road and investment in IT infrastructure upgrades.

“Even though it’s kind of a service for all the departments, it’s very important at this time because we’re a 24/7 operation now,” she said, discussing the needs of Hoover’s fire and police departments.

Economic development is also a goal for the city, she said, and there are several residential and commercial developments on the way. The city also plans to expand around the new Finley Center, building more fields at some point next year.

In the next few months, Brocato’s Future Hoover initiative will kick off. There will be community forums during which the public can discuss what they would like to see in and around the city.

“[Residents] can just talk about the needs they want, we have these needs, how we’re going to get financing for these needs, because like I said we do not have unlimited resources,” Lopez said.