Leah Ingram Eagle
Chelsea City Council
meeting Aug. 4, 2020
The Chelsea City Council during the Aug. 4 meeting voted to endorse the Chelsea Comprehensive Plan. Mayor Picklesimer thanked Samuel Parsons who worked diligently to get this plan put together over the last year and the citizens for their input.
“For over 500 people to take the time to submit ideas on our Plan Chelsea Comprehensive Plan, I am grateful for that and glad to get it endorsed after our planning commission adopted this document last Monday night,” Picklesimer said.
Parsons, an ACIP Community Planner with the Greater Birmingham Regional Planning Commission did a brief review of the comprehensive plan and said they are at the very end of the process.
“We have made all the revisions except a few photos and we will print final copies and send them to you,” Parsons said. “Y’all have been a great municipality to work with, always organized and on top of everything. It's been a fun process.”
During his mayor's report, Picklesimer asked for citizens of Chelsea and the surrounding community to continue to pray for Fire Chief Wane Shirley. He and his father, Donald, are both in ICU in separate hospitals.
“Their family is going through a difficult time,” he said. “We are a believing city overall, no doubt about that, and a praying city. We’ve seen it so many times people have responded when needs arise, so we ask you during this time to pray for the Shirley family.”
The mayor also announced that during the Aug. 18 council meeting that there will be a public hearing on the relocation of the Chelsea Post Office. Two hearings were previously scheduled at the Community Center, but were canceled, as the USPS did not want the liability of hosting a public meeting during the COVID-19 pandemic. The post office needs more space and Picklesimer said he is very encouraged that something positive is going to happen.
“The public is encouraged to attend and submit questions,” Picklesimer said. “We will have the chamber set up to hold the maximum number of people allowed, and this is an important meeting for our city going forward.”
Chelsea’s municipal election will be held on Aug. 25. There is only one seat being contested, Place #3, in which Chris Thomas is running against incumbent Chris Grace.
Resolutions for the upcoming election were approved to:
- Appoint an Election Manager
- Appoint an Absentee Election Manager
- Appoint Poll Workers
- For the mayor being elected without opposition
- For Place #1 being elected without opposition
- For Place #2 being elected without opposition
- For Place #4 being elected without opposition
- For Place #5 being elected without opposition
Other resolutions approved during the meeting include:
- To award Nick Grant funds to Chelsea High School in the amount of $28,344 for a concrete project near the stadium entrance.
- To authorize an agreement with ALDOT to maintain road frontage (in front of the new Auto Zone).
- To accept the lowest responsible bidder for residential garbage collection and curbside recycling services to Republic Services, who is the current provider.
- To provide grant money to all five schools in Chelsea. This money is not from the Nick Grant Program, but comes from the general fund from the city’s budget and the city has been doing this for over a decade.
- Approval of City of Chelsea Bills to be paid
During the community forum, Deputy Fire Chief Joe Lee also asked the community to pray for Chief Shirley. He announced that he and the other captains are working on operational changes to help the department be more efficient at providing services.
Emily Sims from the Chelsea Library said the summer reading was wrapping the end of this week and programming numbers have risen over the summer and they will be working on more virtual activities and look forward to having people back in the building [for in person programming] as soon as possible.
Upcoming dates:
Aug. 11: Coffee with the Mayor at the new Weldon Pavilion at the Hwy. 11 Sports Complex at 8:30 a.m.
Aug 11: Blood Drive with the American Red Cross at the Chelsea Community Center from 11 a.m.- 6 p.m.
Aug. 18: Next city council meeting. Precouncil at 5 p.m. and meeting at 6 p.m.
Aug. 24: Planning Commission meeting. 3 zoning requests will be heard. 6 p.m.
Aug. 25: Election day at Chelsea City Hall from 7 a.m.-7 p.m.