By By BILL CRIST – Publisher
Admitting that it was going to be difficult to write an ordinance that will cover every area of the city and every situation, Councilman Dennis Dunaway presented a draft ordinance that would prohibit parking on sidewalks, would limit parking commercial vehicles in residential areas for more than an hour, unless they were loading or unloading and would prohibit parking stand-alone semi-trailers in the Brewton Commercial Business District.
Dunaway said that he wanted to present the draft in order to open discussion about the wording and parameters, as well as to remind the council that in order for the ordinance to be effective, it would have to be enforced. He pointed out that there are already laws in place about where people can and cannot park, and that many of them are not enforced.
The draft will be submitted to the council as an ordinance at its next meeting.
Byron Dunn, director of ATN-Brewton, told the council that he would like to upgrade the city's government access channel, Brewtontv (Mediacom channel 6). He said the city could purchase an upgrade software and hardware package that would allow the channel to run more information across the screen in a rolling stream, similar to what many cable news channels have. Those messages could feature local news or weather, as well as other information about upcoming city events. It will also allow the channel to be broadcast over the internet.
The cost of the upgrade will be $16,251.76. For its part of the project, ATN Brewton will provide $6,500 worth of in-kind services. According to Dunn, those might include 3-5 minute videos about the city that would be put on CDs or DVDs for distribution as an economic development tool.
Brewton Mayor Ted Jennings said the money for the project would come from a grant administered through the governor's office for technology development.
Danny Howard updated the council on the North Street-Joseph Street Bridge project, displaying photos of progress on the job. He reported that the total cost of the project was $175,000, $100,000 of which was paid through a state grant.
Brewton Police Chief David (Mickey) Lovelace reported that the city currently has 677 outstanding warrants. He said that during the current calendar year, his department had collected $10,715.24 in outstanding warrant fees and that he was working with the magistrates office to help serve the remaining warrants and collect the balances.
The council also discussed a recent incident when emergency response personnel had trouble locating an address on Forest Hill Drive due to the numbering and names of streets in an Alco neighborhood. The E911 board asked the council to consider renaming one of the streets and for permission to re-number the homes located in the area to avoid similar confusion in the future. The council gave the board permission to work on the numbering and councilman Mervin Huff will look into renaming the street after visiting with residents.
City Clerk John Angel told the council that the company Alabama Direct Concepts was operating under the wrong type of business license and asked for permission to revoke the current license (distributor) and try to obtain a peddler's license since representatives of the company were making sales calls directly to businesses and individuals. He also reported that the city has not received sales tax revenue from the company, although it claims it is included in the price of the its products.
The council approved his sending a certified letter saying the current license had been revoked and what type of license the business will need to purchase. He will also follow up on the sales tax issue.
In other business the council;