Shelby County mayors discuss city progress, projects

The communities within Shelby County face challenges, according to their mayors, but those challenges can be seen as opportunities.

During the Greater Shelby Chamber of Commerce’s “State of our Communities” luncheon on Feb. 28, mayors from around Shelby County gathered to discuss ongoing projects, exciting news and a few of those “opportunities” within their towns and cities.

“When you live in a county like Shelby County, as well-run as Shelby County is, with the population growth we are experiencing and are projected to continue to experience, it stands to reason we’re all going to experience some common problems — traffic, aging infrastructure, economic development and traffic,” said Pelham Mayor Gary Waters.

Aside from those issues, however, there are “unique qualities” to each community.

Those challenges were echoed by many of the mayors speaking at the chamber luncheon, as were steps toward creating or revising comprehensive plans and attracting more businesses or a specific type of business.

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato started his presentation with a comment on school safety. Following the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead, Brocato said the city felt it was necessary to act quickly and add more school resource officers.

“We had a little small hole in the coverage, and we were going to fill it this next budget year, but considering what happened this Valentines Day, we felt that we had to move on it,” Brocato said.

At its Feb. 19 meeting, the Hoover City Council voted to add two school resource officers, ensuring all schools have a dedicated police officer dedicated, as well as back-up officers, Brocato said.

In regard to the state of the city, Brocato said Hoover was working to “reeducate” regarding development.

“Hoover kind of developed quickly over the last 50 years. It was whoever got here first built it … nothing was ever really laid out,” Brocato said, noting that while it’s not possible to undo some of that development, the city can work to plan for future development.

With that in mind, he said, the city is working on a comprehensive plan in addition to encouraging “village” type developments — walkable areas that are close to residential areas.

The city is also aiming to diversify its economy with a focus on brining STEM businesses to the area. IberiaBank is moving to the International Park office complex, and McLeod Software is set to move into the Meadowbrook area. Those businesses, Brocato said, will help establish “STEM” or “technology corridors” in the city as well as bring people from out of state or around the world to Hoover.

Chelsea Mayor Tony Picklesimer reiterated the fact that the county and Chelsea are seeing immense growth, but he complimented the spirit of cooperation seen between communities.

In Chelsea, he said, much needed roadwork on the intersection in front of City Hall is about to get underway. The project “has been years in the making” and will be completed as a result of a partnership between the city and county. Other ALDOT projects, including new traffic lights at Shelby County 47 and intersection work, were completed in 2017.

The city is also in the process of updating its own comprehensive plan, Picklesimer said, as part of a contract with the Regional Planning Commission. This, in addition to a U.S. 280 overlay “will give us control and oversight into the growth that comes into the city of Chelsea.”

Picklesimer said he sees a responsibility as mayor to remove barriers to growth, and that public and government-run utilities should work “hand in hand with our cities to promote growth.”

“All the while, the services to our citizens, and our landowners and our developers should be fair and reasonable and affordable,” Picklesimer said.

In December, the Chelsea City Council voted to authorize the mayor to hire consultants that would investigate the possibility of creating sewer services in the city. About 40 percent of its residents are currently served by privately owned company Double Oak Water Reclamation, Picklesimer said at that council meeting, and the residents view their rates as “unreasonable and artificially inflated.”

In regard to projects that are on their way to completion, Picklesimer noted recent updates to athletic complexes around the city as well as the Chelsea Library’s new location, which is set to open March 26.