BY SARAH STEPHENS

NEWS ELMORE/AUTAUGA

The Elmore County Commission, at its last regular meeting in June, appointed Conrad White to the board of the Central Elmore Water and Sewer Authority.

In other cases:

The Commission approved accept the recommendation of Invest in Alabama Counties (IAC) to reject all offers to scan records, personal protective equipment, and COID-19 testing.

COO Richie Beyer said new offerings will be launched later when the information is updated.

A joint project with the Commissionthe town of Wetumpka, ALDOT and the school board have been approved to install a traffic light and right-turn lane at the intersection of Chapel Road and Alabama Hwy 14.

“Over a year ago, a joint request was sent to ALDOT to perform a traffic analysis and signal mandate study for this intersection,” Chief Operating Officer Richie Beyer said. “The school board has an entry and exit point for school bus traffic on Chapel Road near this intersection. Increased Council traffic, along with growth along Chapel and on the Coosa River Parkway, has created a situation where the signal is warranted. We met with ALDOT earlier about a potential partnership project that would put ALDOT in a position to do the installation with its labor and equipment if the city, county and council were able to find the funds to pay for materials and signal. . I don’t know if this will be accomplished before classes start, but if you are able to give your approval it will start the process to get it in place as soon as possible. Additionally, this includes adding a small right-turn lane out of Chapel onto Coosa River Parkway and will increase yield. There are around 1,200 vehicles making this move at peak times of the day, which creates part of the problem with cars backing up.

The Commission will invest $40,000, Wetumpka about $35,000, and also signs the agreement for continued maintenance. The Elmore BOE will invest $75,000.

Chairman Troy Stubbs said he lives on Chapel Road and can testify to the traffic in the area and the many shipwrecks that have occurred.

The Commission approved a motion authorizing President Troy Stubbs to execute a building agreement to widen, resurface, and strike Marion Spillway off Ingram Road at SR 143.

Beyer explained, “This article and the next two are complementary to the resolutions you passed at your last meeting to advance these COVID-funded transportation projects through the NPO. Unlike some of our other construction projects that go through the NPO and wait closer to construction and rental deadlines, due to these special funds, ALDOT sent us the agreements and asked us to execute the agreement . These are also scheduled for the next calendar year, so it’s not too far ahead of schedule, but normally it’s around six months and we’re getting ready to run them.

The Commission approved a motion authorizing Presidents Stubbs to execute a construction agreement to resurface and strip First Avenue from SR 143 at Balter Road (Site 1) and on Baltzer Road from First Avenue to Flatwood Road (Site 2.)

The Commission approved a motion authorizing Presidents Stubbs to execute a building agreement to resurface, strip and widen to complete bicycle/pedestrian amenities on Chapman Road from SR-143 to the town limits of Millbrook and improvements at the intersection from Chapman Road and Airport Road.

The Commission approved the consent file, which includes:

Approval of travel memorandum

Approval of the proposed dish for the right-of-way of Daisy Lane.

Approval of the proposed dish for Thornhill Ridge Plat No 1.

The Commission then approved staff notifications, which include:

Hiring of Morgan Ballard, Equipment Operator 1, effective June 13 and subsequent resignation effective June 20.

Promoted Cameron Compton, Correctional Officer to Assistant, effective June 21.

Notice of resignation of Lee Ann Rhodes, Tier II Dispatcher, effective July 1.

Resignation of Nathaniel Tuck, Captain, effective July 1.

Hiring of Jana Woodall, collections clerk (replacing R. Hanks), effective June 21.

Reports to the Commission:

Richie Beyer: “We continue to work on the development of the FY2023 budget. We have completed most of our meetings with department heads. We still have some work to do with our IT and facilities to schedule them and we are also working on our ARP allocations. We had a meeting with our IAC staff and went through the different elements and tried to make sure we broke this down into what will fall in fiscal year 2023 and what will fall beyond that in the 2024 cycle .

“We continue to finalize the reconstruction and the ARP 2023 plan. Part of that is that these road projects will also take place over the coming year.”

Beyer said meetings will begin with commissioners in the coming weeks regarding the redistricting.

“It was last week that Waste Management announced that it would be collecting all cans in the county. We’re not sure they’ll get them all back by the end of the week. We are working on a program for citizens who want to get rid of this, where they can drop them off at the collection point during our normal hours. If we collect all of those on our property, we may use some of them in our other facilities.

Commissioner Henry Hines: “The big issue is that Arrow Disposal will be delaying their service. It will be delayed until Tuesday from the routes as Monday is a public holiday. All is well. Arrow is doing a great job of following up on complaints.

Curator Bart Mercer: “In terms of our ongoing efforts to expand broadband in the county, we have done many things within our power to promote broadband expansion. We conducted a study on the accessibility of broadband which we used. We also installed hotspots across the county that are still in use. But our county is very limited in what they can do in terms of working with a vendor to facilitate the installation of infrastructure in the county. In November, there will be a constitutional amendment on the ballot where citizens can decide if they want to give counties the option of partnering with a vendor for the expansion project. In anticipation of this, we would like to put together a group called the Elmore County Broadband Task Force, which will be led by ECEDA. The purpose of this group will be to develop the plan so that Elmore County is in the best possible position. That way, if the constitutional amendment passes, we can work with our suppliers to complete as many fiber expansion projects in the county as possible. We will continue to work with ECEDA on this project. It’s a big deal for everyone in Elmore County and the state.

“The second thing I have is about our unemployment rate. In May, Elmore County had an unemployment rate of 1.9%. As a reminder, industry standards are 4% for the full employment. The average for the state of Alabama was 2.4%. There are two numbers that come out of this report that are very encouraging. There were 238 more people employed this month than the month We had 362 more people entering the labor market.

Commissioner Desirae Jackson“Just a reminder that we have a Community Cleanup Day on July 9th. We will be targeting the following roads including Crenshaw Road, Cane Road, Copeland Road, Chapel Road, Cobbs Ford Road and Alabama River Parkway. The time will be between 7 a.m. and noon.

President Troy Stubbs“I appreciate all the commissioners and the hard work they do on a regular basis with our staff, our emergency personnel and our first responders.”

Stubbs said storms can be common in the summer months, can come and go quickly, but cause a lot of damage in a short time. He also encouraged everyone to consider water safety during the summer to avoid tragedies. He reminded everyone that the YMCA Wetumpka has a new pool and is working on future swimming lesson opportunities.