Greene County Democrat

Tag: Councilwoman Suzette Powell

  • Eutaw City Council agrees to declare the R. H. Young Community Center as surplus, as a step toward sale of the property

    Police Officer Tyler Johnson named ‘Officer of the Year” . L to R. are Councilwoman Tracey Hunter, Police Chief Tommy Johnson, Councilwoman Valerie Watkins, Officer Tyler Johnson, Mayor Latasha Johnson, Councilwoman Suzette Powell, and Councilman Jonathan Woodruff.

     

    By John Zippert, Co-Publisher

    In response to financial and budgetary pressures, the Eutaw City Council met on December 10, Dec. 17 and in a working session on December 12, to deal with several issues related to the projected deficit in the current Fiscal Year (2024-25) finances. Mayor Latasha Johnson and the Eutaw City Council differ on the best approaches to the financial problems.

    Councilmembers led by Jonathan Woodruff and Tracey Hunter feel the city must curb expenses, layoff workers and sell properties that are not financially sustainable, to avoid deficits. The Mayor argues that she has faith the city will grow and provide new revenues to sustain the workforce, make necessary improvements and hold on to properties like the R. H. Young Community Center. Mayor Johnson also argues that the mayor oversees “day-to-day operations”, which includes hiring and firing of employees to accomplish the on-going tasks of city administration.

    The Council voted unanimously at its December 17 meeting to declare the Robert H. Young Community Center as surplus property, so it can be sold. The City of Eutaw purchased the school from the Greene County Board of Education for $200,000 in the prior city administration of Raymond Steele. The Council’s intention was to develop the former Carver School as a community center, with spaces rented to community organizations and small businesses. While the school, especially the gymnasium has been used for meetings and funerals, the facility has not generated enough income to pay utility, maintenance and repair costs.

    The Mayor stated the city needs a community center and the Greene County Commission may be interested in buying the facility or working together with the city in its development as a community center for all county residents. Councilman Woodruff says, “There is a lack of trust between the city and county because the county did not honor its commitment to put up $70,000 for the matching funds for the Street Scape
    Project to remodel the sidewalks around the old Courthouse Square in downtown Eutaw.”

    Woodruff continued, “We are willing to sell the property to the County at its current appraised value, but I do not think we can work together with them since we have financial problems and no funds for a community center.” Many community residents feel the best way to proceed would be a joint effort of the city and the county seeking public and private grant funds to develop a comprehensive community center out of the old Carver school.

    The City of Eutaw was able to borrow funds from Merchants and Farmers Bank to cover the shortfalls in matching funds for the Street Scape and West End Avenue repaving projects. The City committed funds from its State of Alabama 4-cent and 7-cent roadway repair funds to repay the loan.

    The Mayor presented a revised fiscal year 2024-25 fiscal budget, where she moved expenses around from some funding to repair the old E-911 building and a fund to purchase or repair police vehicles to be able to retain all current staff. The Council voted not to accept the Mayor’s budget revisions and approved the original budget which requires layoff or not replacing vacancies in the street, water, sewer and administrative departments.

    The Mayor voted against this resolution and said the budget was a plan that could be revised based on needs. She asserted that she oversaw day-to-day operations and as long as her spending was within the budget requirements, she could keep staff needed to operate the city. Councilmembers Woodruff and Hunter said they would continue to monitor and evaluate the budget, expenses and the staffing of city departments. This remains as an area of disagreement between the mayor and the council.

    The Mayor said that the city attorney was working on negotiating an agreement with Alabama Fiber Network to sell them a 50 by 50-foot space to place their “middle mile broadband equipment” to facilitate expansion of fiber Internet access in the city and county. The legal paperwork for this sale will be provided by the attorney, for approval by the council, at a future meeting.

    A payment of budgeted support funding to E-911 was tabled until after the city receives its allocation of property taxes in January. E-911 provides dispatch services for city agencies like the police and ambulance services.

    In other business, the Eutaw City Council:

    • Approved travel for Police Chief Tommy Johnson to attend the AACOP Winter Conference in Montgomery on February 9-13, 2025.
    • Approved $150 membership dues for City Attorney, Zane Willingham, for the Alabama Association of Municipal Attorneys.

    • Tabled repairs to a manhole behind Ms. Suzzette Quinnie’s property until the ownership of the sewer line can be documented between the City and the Greene County Housing Authority.

    • Heard a presentation from Lamar Martin, of the Secure Wellness Group on a Self-Insured Medical Reimbursement Plan for city employees. The Council voted to provide information for a payroll census, without personal information, so he could develop a plan for the City of Eutaw and
    present it at a future meeting.

    Mayor Johnson indicated that City Hall would be closed on December 24 and 25, 2024, December 31, 2024 at 12:00 Noon and January 1, 2025, for the holidays.

  • Eutaw City Council hears citizen complaints about water quality in Boligee

    The Eutaw City Council met for its regular fourth Tuesday monthly meeting. All council members were present. The Council handled mostly routine business. In the public comment period, at the end of the meeting, several residents of Boligee complained about the quality of water they are receiving in Boligee.

    The residents who were complaining about the water felt they did not get adequate answers to their questions and wanted the Eutaw City Council to schedule a “town hall meeting” where residents could express their concerns and get better responses. Several members of the Council said they would consider the request for a town hall meeting in the future. They also said that residents could attend their work session meetings and raise questions in more detail.

    The Council for the second time, tabled a motion to increase the salaries of the mayor and councilmembers. These increases would not go into effect until after the next municipal election for those persons elected at the next municipal election in August 2025. Mayor Latasha Johnson stated that she is opposed to these raises until the council approves raises for employees. These decisions will be made as part of the next fiscal year budget, which begins on October 1, 2024.

    Several projects were listed in the ‘old business’ section of the agenda, which are projects to clean vacant lots and remove unstable buildings, old cars and other problems. The areas listed were: Ditch between Edwards Drive and Roebuck Avenue, Burned house on Banks Avenue, Holes in the road by Mrs. Bessie Harris’ house, House on O’Neal Street next to Mollie Rowe’s house, and House on 3rd Avenue.

    Mayor Johnson said that the city was implementing a new ordinance, wherein, if the homeowners do not clean up these vacant lots, the city can do the clean-up and charge the property owners for the cost. The city has acquired the proper and necessary stickers and a police person, with a car, trained to act in accordance with the new ordinance. The Mayor said she would report on progress at these sites in future meetings.

    In other business, the Council acted on the following:

    • Approved registration, travel and per diem for Councilwoman Suzette Powell to attend the AARC Training Conference in Huntsville on October 6-9, 2024.
    •Approved registration, travel and per diem costs for Assistant Police Chief William Smith to attend a Command Leadership Institute in Huntsville on October 21-25,2024.

    • Received financial reports on City bank accounts in Merchants and Farmers Bank through August 31, 2024, from Financial Advisor Ralph Liverman. These reports will be used to prepare a budget for the coming fiscal year. Liverman plans to visit in early October to help prepare the budget in consultation with the Mayor and Councilmembers.

    • Received a letter on the new Alabama Municipal Official Training Act which requires the mayor and councilmembers to receive a minimum of 40 hours training in their first year of service and at least 5 hours of training every year thereafter.

    • Approved payment of outstanding bills.

    Mayor Johnson in her report said that she could not do her job, “without God, the Council, the staff and the residents of the City of Eutaw”.

    After adjournment, the Council opened for public comments and questions. Several Boligee residents asked about the safety of drinking water from the municipal system since it was often brown in color and seemed dirty to them. Iris Sermon asked about the Boligee sewage system,
    which was still spilling sewage on the ground at pumping stations.

    Delores Smith, a Lock 7 resident complained about land taken for eminent domain for the airport. She reported that the City was selling her land and wanted to get her land back since it had not been used for the airport. The Mayor said that she did not know about the sale of this land but would check with the Eutaw Airport Authority about the situation.

    Mayor Johnson indicated that she would try to schedule a meeting, with the city engineer present, to discuss the status and progress of the City of Eutaw – Boligee water and sewer improvement project. At this meeting, they would try to answer resident’s questions and concerns about the project.