Shoreline erosion addressed at Council

Clarion Top News

Wednesday, 04 August 2021 11:23

The Scottsboro City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, July 26, 2021 and voted on several items on the agenda.
Erosion has been causing havoc along the shoreline of the Council on Aging and the Scottsboro Senior Center, bringing the water’s edge dangerously close to causing structural damage for the buildings and properties. Council has approved a $5,000 budget amendment out of excess sales tax to cover the cost of repair and prevention with riprap shoreline protection.

Recently the Council approved the motion to post signage throughout the city, prohibiting trucks over a certain tonnage or wheel-count to drive on certain streets. Council also approved for fines to be enforced should the ordinance be ignored. After numerous reports and complaints from businesses and residents, additional signage has been approved. Two additional signs, for each direction, will be placed on Houston at Parks with one being placed at Willow.

The bid for a tanker at the Solid Waste Department has been awarded to K&S Equipment out of Woodland, Alabama. Previously, Council had approved up to $36,000 for a tanker and with the approval of K&S’ $25,000 bid, this now means the surplus of $11,000 will be able to be put back into excess sales tax. Council also approved up to $118,626 out of excess sales tax to cover a used compactor for the SWDA. While the Street Department was in possession of a compactor the SWDA could have used, it would not have been efficient to meet their needs as it was only 1/3 of the size the SWDA had been using previously, setting them back detrimentally.

A budget amendment was approved to allow $10,140 to come out of excess sales tax to cover the cost of repairs for one of the Street Department’s dump truck repairs, and another amendment was also approved for a tractor for the Cemetery Department, coming in at $32,076.92 out of excess sales tax.

Previously, the Scottsboro-Jackson Heritage Center received a bond from the City, designating $500,000 to go toward an addition at the center. The bond entailed the city would pay expenses incurred by the center up to this designated amount. Having fulfilled their part of the obligation, City Council voted to approve allowing the museum commission to approve any remaining invoices for the Heritage Center addition project as they will now be their sole responsibility.

A budget amendment and agreement was also approved for up to $17,000 out of excess sales tax to allow for quality vegetation management on Goose Pond Island, and an allocation for the Goose Pond Fourth of July fireworks in the amount of $4,000 was approved to come out of the tourism fund.

by Martha Smith