PIEDMONT – Carl Hinton had the interim tag removed from his city clerk position at Tuesday evening’s Piedmont City Council meeting, as the council approved his full-time appointment. Hinton served on an interim basis following Michelle Franklin’s retirement from the post following 30 years of service in September.
“I appreciate what he has done for the city,” Mayor Bill Baker said. “I’ve been very, very pleased with some of the things he’s implemented. I think he’s done a very, very good job, and I just think it’s going to continue to even be better.”
Several members of the council echoed Baker’s sentiments. Hinton then briefly thanked the council for their vote of confidence.
“I hope I live up to your expectations,” he said. “My goal is to work for the city throughout this term and then retire when the sun sets. Hopefully I can live up to your expectations.”
The council also heard from Terry Batey of the Piedmont Arts Council regarding the city’s downtown fall festival last Saturday. Batey, as well as the council, were pleased with how the event was received.
“I want to take a little time to thank all the city services, from our mayor to each one of our council members to each department employee who helped to make this fall festival a successful venture,” Batey said. “I’d also like to thank the group of volunteers who worked at the festival, publicly and behind the scenes. It really gave me a sense of the community pride this town can put forth if they want to put it forth. We just want to make this thing continue to happen. As we do each one of these events, we’ll continue to grow and get a little bit better.”
Batey presented the city council a breakdown of the event, which netted the city an income of $1,359 following expenses.
Baker and the city council thanked Batey and the arts council for their efforts in making the event successful.
“Somebody had to pull all this together. Your group did that, and we appreciate you,” Baker said. “It was just wonderful. It turned out so good.”
In its work session, the city council heard from Allen George, the commander at the 7th Judicial Major Crimes in Anniston; Piedmont City Recreation Director Jeff Formby; and DeForest Tuggle, who is the Special Projects Liasion for the University of Alabama Center for Economic Development.
George detailed to the council what his organization does in helping reduce violent crime in Calhoun and Cleburne counties and asked for their support with funding.
“I think we definitely want to help you,” Baker said. “We’ll get some information and have that on the agenda for our next meeting. We definitely want to contribute. You do a good job and we appreciate what you do for Piedmont. I think it’s only fair we pay our fair share too.”
Formby presented the council a packet with an updated contract for the Piedmont Criterion race that was held in July.
Tuggle presented the council with plans for a walkability assessment project, which will involve approximately 80-100 Piedmont High School students. The date of the project will be Tuesday, Nov. 16.
“Basically, walkability is just a measure of how walkable a place is,” Tuggle said. “It’s a way to measure how suitable the area is for walking. This can cover sidewalks, bike lanes, anything like that.
“As far as the way we’re going to do this, we’re going to use your high school students. We’ll send them out and they’ll each have a block to walk, maybe a little more. What they’ll do is walk the block and fill out some assessment forms. Basically they’re just going to be looking at crosswalks, where there are crosswalks, where there might need to be crosswalks, different types of intersections. They’re also going to look at the state of the sidewalks. Is it a good, even surface? Are there cracks and bumps that might make it difficult for somebody who might be in a wheelchair? We want to keep those in consideration. They’ll also be looking at driver behaviors. Are drivers playing attention at crosswalks? Are they speeding right up to the stop sign and then skidding? Things like that.”
Tuggle said the data they collect from the project will be important for the city to secure future grant funding.
“This particular project is not going to do any type of improvement, but we are going to help create a data set, so when you do apply for grants for walkability, you can say this is exactly what we have and this is what we want and this is what it’s going to take to get where we want,” Tuggle said.
Baker felt the council should do its part for the kids taking part in the project, which includes designing a t-shirt and pizza for them.
“We love our school system. We appreciate all they do, and we want to do our part too to help out,” Baker said.
“The thing that excites me more than anything was the fact it would enhance grant opportunity, especially sidewalks,” Baker continued. “We have looked into some sidewalk grants in the past. It’s very, very expensive. It may still be expensive. It may be something we can get at a cheaper cost based on what we do with this group. I think it’s something we need to do. We’ll certainly do our part to be a partner and look forward to seeing what the kids can come up with and what the project folks can do to make this happen.”
Minutes from the previous council meeting were approved, as were bills for payment totaling $343,426.46. The council also passed a resolution to declare three Ford Crown Victoria model vehicles (2003, 2004, 2005) as surplus and place them for sale on Gov Deals.
The next council meeting is scheduled for Nov. 16.