Another traffic signal coming to Chelsea

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The Shelby County Commission approved another traffic signal to be installed in the city of Chelsea during their Dec. 14 meeting. 

It will be located at the intersection of CR-36 and CR-11 at the railroad crossing. 

The project will cost $144,062.50 and will be done by the only responsive bidder, Stone and Sons Electric. 

Shelby County Engineer Randy Cole said the city of Chelsea agreed to split the cost with the county. The signal will also include a gas generator that will automatically switch on when the electricity goes out. 

Chelsea Mayor Tony Picklesimer was in attendance at the meeting and said he appreciated the  partnership of the commission on upcoming projects and said it’s remarkable what the two entities are doing together. 

“Our playground at Melrose Park is absolutely awesome,” he said. “We are excited about the five mile track at the Chelsea Athletic Complex. We appreciate the help with the light at CR-36 and CR-11. We are looking forward to the CR-39 and CR-47 project going out for bid in January. It’s good to be part of Shelby County and that’s one of the reasons I gladly accepted a second term as mayor.”

In addition to the traffic signal, several other resolutions were approved including:

  • A bid for liquid aluminum sulfate to Southern Ionics for $0.1625 per dry pound
  • A bid for a refurbished L3 WESCAM MX-10 camera package to Global Aviation Helicopter Division for $170,300. This will help in search and rescue situations and be available to all municipalities in the county. 
  • A retail liquor and retail beer license for CJ’s Liquor located at 5485 Chelsea Road, Columbiana. 

During the county managers report, Chad Scroggins said the county is highly sensitive to the COVID-19 environment more so than ever as case numbers continue to rise. 

“We are missing a few today, and missing several staff members,” he said. “We had the first death among our staff members, a young man who worked for the county who was 27 years old. Over the next few weeks with the holidays, we are stressing the severity of what's going on amongst staff members and remain at a high level of concern.”

Scroggins mentioned the continual progress being made on the new 280 County Services building and the successes in the economic development area. 

CFO Cheryl Naugher gave a financial update. Since the county budgeted a 6% down turn, the rental tax is holding steady. The lodging tax is still lagging behind there (down 33% from last year). Gas taxes still have a slightly negative variance compared to last November and the 

Rebuild Alabama funds are slightly below in actual collection to actual variance.

Scroggins said that in 2021, Shelby County will brand and market itself more aggressively and more proactively and will entail a tie in with event recruitment.

“We are aggressively trying to do a better job in tourism recruitment to generate more lodging tax funds,” Scroggins said.

A resolution was read honoring the retirement of Carol Hill, a retired educator who served in the Shelby COUnty School System for 25 years, a board member with the Shelby County Arts Council and served in the role as Chairman of the Voter Registrar’s Office. 

The commission “thanked her for exceptional record of professional achievement and dedicated service” and offered her best wishes for good health and happiness during her years of well-deserved retirement. 

The commission approved to have their next scheduled meeting on Jan. 11 at 8:30 a.m.