Photo by Savannah Schmidt
The Chelsea city government will see a new structure after the 2025 elections with the addition of a council president and vice president.
There will be plenty to watch along the U.S. 280 corridor in 2025. To kick off the new year, we’re highlighting five things worth attention in the new year, including changes to Chelsea's governmental structure.
Chelsea’s new mayor will be a non-voting member of the city council because the city will have a new government implemented after the 2025 municipal elections.
“Changing government is probably the biggest thing we've got going in 2025,” Chelsea Mayor Tony Picklesimer said.
The fast-growing town in Shelby County has exceeded the amount of people it can have under its current form of government.
In Alabama, only municipalities under 12,000 residents may have a government comprised of a city council with the mayor as a council member. The change means the mayor will be separate from the council.
Chelsea has grown leaps and bounds in the last 10 years, from just over 10,000 people in the 2010 census to more than 15,000 residents in the 2020 census. Now the U.S. Census Bureau estimates the town has nearly 17,000 residents.
The new council will elect a council president and a council vice president. Currently, the mayor presides over the council meetings, with a mayor pro-tem who presides in the mayor’s absence.
“The meetings will look the same, but the mayor will not be sitting on the bench,” Picklesimer said.
The mayor will not be able to vote as part of the council under the change, but state law allows the mayor to have veto power, which can in turn be overridden by a 2/3 council vote. All of Chelsea’s council, including the mayor, are elected at-large by the whole population, so any changes upcoming will not affect voting districts.
Check out the rest of the articles in our 5 Changes for 2025 series here.
