Residents of Lakeview Drive and Pine Street are one step closer to a sewer extension project in their areas after the Piedmont City Council approved a grant application to help fund the construction.The approval was made at Monday night’s meeting.
If awarded, the Community Development Block Grant could contribute $77,000 towards the estimated $230,000 project, according to the resolution approved by the council. The city would bear the remainder of the cost.
City Clerk Bill Fann said there are around 22 residents living in these areas, and nearly all have agreed to connect to the city’s sewer system if the lines are constructed.
Councilman Ed Hanson said he is excited about the possibility of the sewer line extension because of the city’s ongoing effort to provide city services to all of its residents. “I feel like this is something we’ve been looking forward to,” he said. “It’s something that will get us ahead.”
The deadline for the application’s submission is May 15. Fann said it could take between six to nine months before the city would hear whether it was awarded the grant or not.
The council also approved two resolutions concerning the city’s police department.
The first resolution allows Chief Steven Tidwell to apply for a maximum $25,000 grant through the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs Law Enforcement/Traffic Safety Division. If awarded, the department would be required to provide a 10 percent match.
Tidwell said the money would be used to purchase six laptop computers to be installed in patrol vehicles. The laptops would aid officers in using electronic records software and generating traffic citations electronically. None of the department’s vehicles are currently equipped with laptops.
The second resolution approved the participation of the police department in a surplus military equipment program established by the Defense Authorization Act of 1977. The city’s participation in the program allows the police department to apply for surplus government equipment including items like weapons and generators.
Tidwell said the department was able to order four rifles, two M-16s and two M-14s, through the program last year. The department has just received these firearms, he said. “In the future, I’d like to use the equipment we can get for comprehensive city-wide programs, like generators in the cases of [natural disaster] emergencies,” Tidwell said.
The city’s industrial park sign will be installed within the next couple of weeks after the council’s approval to place the sign on the property adjacent to Lusk Animal Clinic on Garcy Drive. Mayor Charlie Fagan said the city wanted to have the sign placed on U.S. 278, but could not gain right of way from the state to place the sign in that location.
Council members applauded the work done by the Piedmont Police Department in Sunday night’s seizure of an operational methamphetamine lab on Mack Alexander Road.
Fagan then announced the city’s plans to order three new patrol vehicles for the department, all of which were budgeted for this fiscal year. The mayor said there is a possibility the city could purchase a fourth vehicle through the state surplus bidding program.
Tidwell said as soon as its two newest officers graduate from the Northeast Alabama Police Academy in July, the department will be in need of the four vehicles.
During the mayor’s comments, he addressed the recent two-part story in The Anniston Star concerning the Ronnie Chandler case and the cold cases of two missing persons. Fagan said the story placed a “negative image” on Piedmont, and did not do justice to the kind of city Piedmont has become. He said the Chandler case and the negative image it left is something the city will always have to deal with. “It’s just something we’ll have to keep fighting,” Fagan said.
Fagan said he wants people to know the city is a different place than it used to be. “Piedmont’s a different place than it was,” he said. “It’s a new town and we’re proud of it.”
The next city council meeting is May 12 with the council work session beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the Municipal Building.
