New trucks approved for Chelsea fire department
The Chelsea Fire and Rescue Department will be receiving three new fire trucks in early 2022 thanks to approval from the Chelsea City Council during their Oct. 5 meeting.
Each of the three stations in the city will be home to a new truck. They will be purchased for $1,754,600.00. Fire Chief Joe Lee thanked the mayor and council for the approval and said the trucks are much needed.
“We formed a committee on how to be good stewards of the money and we did not waste a dime on those trucks,” Lee said. “We spent a lot of time going over what we needed and what was necessary and we’re not asking for a dime of anything that wasn't useful to provide the best emergency service we can to this city. We did our due diligence proud and thankful yall allowed us to spend this money.”
The council approved for Ward Sellers to take over handling revenue and tax matters on behalf of the city. He will replace Larry Kirvin, who has handled these duties for the past four years. Mayor Picklesiemer said Sellers began as a part-time contract employee for the city on Oct. 1 and has extensive experience in revenue management. He worked for Alexander City from 1988 until June 2021.
Each of the five schools in Chelsea were awarded funds from the Nick Grant Program totaling $76,738.18.
Chelsea Park Elementary received $11,976.80 for technology items, manipulatives, magazine subscriptions for Scholastic science and other miscellaneous items.
Forest Oaks Elementary received $21,129.69 for technology items, manipulatives, alphabet games, phonics items and other miscellaneous items.
Mt Laurel Elementary received $9,431.69 for technology items, printer ink, copy paper, books, and other miscellaneous learning items.
Chelsea Middle School received $20,363 for technology items, along with an education puzzle subscription and garden tools.
Chelsea High School received $13,837 for technology items and art class supplies.
The deadline for the first semester applications has passed, but there will be several more grants authorized at the next council meeting.
A resolution was added to the agenda to authorize the mayor to seek an opinion of the attorney general to find out when the provisional period began after the 2020 census numbers were released. There was conflicting information in the Alabama State Code, so information is needed to determine whether the city, which passed the milestone of over 12,000 residents, would have a mayor-led council or council-led council moving forward.
Two annexations were approved by the council: Janice Watkins for property at 210 Country Manor Drive, Sterrett consisting of +/- 3.7 acres and Nicholas and Ashlon New for property located at 2228 Hwy. 336, Chelsea +/- 0.83 acres.
During the community forum, Emily Sims of the Chelsea Library announced that they had received a $5,000 community service grant from Sen. Dan Roberts. The funds will be used to help those who struggle with reading or ESL (English as a second language).
Kay Darden from the Chelsea Historical Museum shared that Kim Johnston, author of Haunted Shelby County Alabama will be the featured speaker at the quarterly meeting on Oct. 24 from 2-4 p.m.
The Chelsea Community Center has been nominated for a Shelby County Tourism and Recreation Award, and Melrose Park (which includes the playground and splash pad) was nominated for the category for a place that has been in operation less than one year.
Signup for fall and winter sports is available at chelsea.recdesk.com. These include wrestling (boys K-6), basketball (boys K-12 and girls K-6) as well as cheerleaders for basketball season (K-6).
Important Dates
Oct. 11: City Hall closed for Columbus Day
Oct. 19: Council meeting, 6 p.m.
Oct. 25: Chelsea Planning Commission meeting, 6 p.m.
Nov 2: Council meeting, 6 p.m.
Nov. 11: City Hall closed for Veterans Day
Nov. 16: Council meeting, 6 p.m.