Commission hears from residents and candidates during meeting

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At Monday’s Shelby County Commission meeting, Chad Scroggins had his first day in the county manager’s seat while Alex Dudchock watched from the audience. Dudchock is preparing for his upcoming retirement effective at the end of next month on March 31. 

Similar to the previous commission meeting, several people were there to show their opposition to the proposed Coosa River Bridge and two residents who live near the area of the proposed bridge spoke out against it. 

John Campbell of Paradise Point said that of the 4,500 vehicles coming across the bridge, only 500 are going north and that Tim James’ route would be seven miles longer. He also believes it would be a disservice to the Alabama 4-H center. 

George Kenderdine of Shelby Shores said he has been looking at all the traffic maps and it would only save 12 minutes but affect hundreds of homes. 

“It’s going to hurt more than help while tearing up a place people moved out of the city to live,” he said. 

Lauren Hathaway addressed the commission and audience as a representative for Bradley Byrne who is running against Doug Jones. She described him as a Republican conservative fighter and said it doesn't make sense that Alabama has a Democrat as the state’s senator.

“Bradley is truly a fighter and he will go after Democrats who are pushing their agenda on the  American people,” she said. 

Alan Miller, candidate for Shelby County District Court Judge spoke about his campaign and his experience in the county. 

“For the last 16 years, I worked as the county's District Attorney’s and worked in every courtroom in the courthouse," Miller said. 

Miller also had the opportunity to start Compact2020, a comprehensive county-wide drug prevention and intervention program and has been involved in veteran’s court programs to assist veterans coming back from service. He also said he wants to work to clear the county’s court case backlog.

“We need to see this not just as a district judge position, but a judicial seat,” Miller said. “The job that exists needs to be done better.” 

There were 13 bid awards approved by the commission that included: automotive light truck tire installation, automotive brake services, oil changes and related services, stone and sand, pressure sealed forms for property tax commission, cleaning items, water meters and fluorosilicic acid.

For the EMA, bid awards approved included backboards and restraining equipment, EMS basic life support equipment, EMS advanced life support equipment, fire services equipment and electronic monitoring devices and equipment. A flood damage prevention ordinance was also approved. 

The commission approved Tim Nelson and Dr. John Stewart III for re-appointments to the Shelby County Park and Recreation Authority for a six year term.

EMA manager Hub Harvey spoke about last week’s storms and said a confirmed EF-2 tornado touched down in Helena. It had a ground speed of 55 miles per hour with maximum sustained wind gusts of 220 mph and was on the ground for 9.9 miles. Had the track been any different, the results would have been much worse. 

“If it shifted 3 or 4 miles east, it would be a completely different story,” Harvey said. 

Harvey also discussed the Shelby ALerts emergency notification system and how it has helped since its implementation on Dec. 2, 2019.

“Currently, there are over 5,000 people signed up for the service,” Harvey said. “The warning for the Helena tornado came at 2 a.m. contacted 23,536 individual points of contact and 4,183 acknowledged receipt."

Community Services Manager Reggie Holloway gave a reminder about the upcoming 2020 Census and said the county will continue advertising to raise awareness. 

“We are working very hard to make sure all of our residents are counted,” he said. “Our goal is to have a 90% response rate, which is 10% higher than 2010. On March 12, all of our residents in Shelby County will begin to receive an invitation to participate in the 2020 census and we are urging everyone to complete the census as soon as they receive the notice.”

Manager of Water Services, Michael Cain, said the south water treatment plant was working to meet goals set by the EPA for optimization of plan in regards to treatment and the employees completed training classes and the facility was awarded optimization from ADEM and EPA for 2019. 

The next commission meeting will be held Feb. 24 at 6 p.m. at the County Administration Building in Columbiana.