Shelby County Manager announces retirement

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Shelby County Manager Alex Dudchock announced his upcoming retirement at Monday’s Shelby County Commission meeting.

Giving a 12 month notice, Dudchock plans to retire March 31, 2020 after 30 years of service to Shelby County — 26 of those as county manager. He thanked the commission, saying it has been an honor to work with them and previous commissions as well.

“I have enjoyed my tenure and plan to finish strong,” Dudchock said. “I will continue to do my job as you expect it, but today is my official notice preparing for transition. Thank you for what you mean to me, my family and Shelby County.”

The commission voted to pass the resolution to acquire right of way for the intersection realignment for County Roads 47 and 39 in Chelsea. Mayor Tony Picklesimer was in attendance at the meeting, and thanked the commission for all they do for the city of Chelsea.

The gas tax resolution was a major topic of discussion at the meeting. Dudchock discussed how the county would receive an estimated $2.4 million upon full implementation after the full 10 cent gas per gallon tax is implemented.

“Cities will benefit from it as well, from the largest city to the smallest city,” he said. “The money is sorely needed for bridge maintenance and road maintenance.”

Dudchock said that Chelsea is due to get $129,000 per year from the gas tax and asked Mayor Picklesimer to share how it would impact the city of Chelsea.

“This is brand new money for our 22-year-old city,” Picklesimer said. “We would be grateful to get it and thankful for our legislators that had the courage to pass it. It’s not popular, but I was happy to see them step up and approve this.”

Commissioner Lindsey Allison broke down the multiple layers in which the gas tax will assist in five areas, “City money, county money, money to share with other entities or pool application for grants, state money to properly fund large projects for us and taking federal regulations out so we have flexibility with the money so we can cut out higher costs and do projects on a local level.”

County Engineer Randy Cole added that since the bill calls for pools of money, partnering with ALDOT can be done for various improvements, including partnering with Pelham, Hoover and Helena to help alleviate congestion on Highway 261.

Commissioner Mike Vest said that the gas tax would have a monumental impact on residents, and commissioner Robbie Hays added “if people are not looking at the investments that can be made in Shelby County and the state, they’re not looking at (the bill) right,” adding he doesn’t want to pay more taxes either, but "we have got to invest."

Water Services Manager, Michael Cain, said that after the recent incident at the Shades Mountain Water Plant, Shelby County was able to assist them with water for a week.

“I’m glad we were able to help them out through that situation,” Cain said.

Other items discussed at the meeting include:

  • Improvements to various areas of County Road 26 outside of the urban boundary from a $75,000 grant, only requiring the city to pay 10 percent (or $7,500). Upgrades will include clearing the right of way, scoring and edging lines and striping.
  • An agreement for cooperative participation between the Alabama Secretary of State and Shelby County which would allow for electronic processing of the recordation of filing activities by business and nonprofit entities required under Title 10A.
  • Free landfill days for the Shelby County landfill will be April 6 and October 5.
  • Resolution approved to award the bid for Document Conversion Services to Imaging Solutions and Services for $34,622 for technical needs.
  • Update on construction at Taterstall Park on Highway 119/U.S. 280. The master plan has been updated to add another restaurant and a Bridgestone-Firestone location. The businesses will be in the City of Hoover but on the Shelby County Water System.

The next Shelby County Commission meeting will be March 25 at 6 p.m.