30 minutes with Mayor McCamy

Clarion Top News

Thursday, 04 August 2022 12:07

Scottsboro City Mayor Jim McCamy updated The Clarion Newspaper on various topics on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. The first of which is Highway 72 and County Park Road, which is still on course to begin within the September-October timeframe.
“We’ll be excited to get that started because they’ll start the frontage roads on both sides of 72. Those will be the first parts of it that are done,” the Mayor stated. “We’ve actually got a couple of repairs we’ve got to make on one of the frontage roads. We have some drainage failures we’re repairing.”

Highway 72 will also be seeing construction beginning on the new Whataburger that is on track to begin in September-October timeframe as well. Currently, Whataburger is shooting for a February 2023 opening. All this construction in one area is bound to cause some headaches for drivers.

“We ask everyone’s patience as those projects get started until they are completed,” McCamy stated. “It’s already a challenge there with traffic and construction as we go through that for the next several months. It will continue to be even more of a challenge, but you’ve got to go through some of these growing pains to progress. We’ll manage them as best we can, and we ask for your patience.”

As far as Publix, the first week of November is still holding as the opening date for the new development.

The boat launch at Mink Creek is also underway. The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) was in town this week to speak to the Mayor, and the project began last week. The City has partnered with the ADCNR to enlarge the boat launch, add more parking and widen the road to the parking lot, with the ADCNR paying the largest portion to accomplish this project.

The ADCNR Commissioner Chris Blankenship also discussed trail programs with the Mayor, such as the Singing River Trail and the Tennessee River Line. They are hoping to install more safe, hiking opportunities in this area.

“We met with him today, and we had some proposed trails for Singing River Trail that would be using public lands that already exist as public lands, to help increase our tourism opportunities for hiking trails and that kind of thing, “ the Mayor stated.

The city’s department heads have been hard at work establishing their budgets for the upcoming 2023 fiscal year.

“We continue to work on our budget and have our budget meetings. The next step will be getting with the Council and the department heads to talk through some items so we can get that all done,” stated the Mayor. “It’s going to be an interesting budget year with the increased fuel costs. I know in June, our different departments were about 40% over budget for that point in the year, and that hasn’t really changed. So, that’s going to have a significant impact on the way we have to look at the budget this year.”

The Mayor stated another obstacle is the lapse in the supply chain that has been drastically slowing down when projects can be completed. The Mayor stated one particular project for the Street Department, wherein they are still waiting on drainage tiles to complete a project. The Mayor also requests everyone’s patience with that issue as well.

The Mayor wished to remind every to take extra caution when driving in the City with the start of school.

“Please be careful,” he stated. “We have road construction by Caldwell School on Broad Street that will be continuing for the next couple of weeks. The Water Board still has work, and the Street Department still has some work. Please use extra caution for the next couple of weeks.”

The Mayor also discussed school security. Since school is back in session, and in preparation for the coming year, Scottsboro City Schools Superintendent Amy Childress and her staff have been meeting regularly with the Scottsboro Police Department and the Scottsboro Fire Department to ensure Scottsboro’s schools and students are as safe and prepared as they can possibly be.

by Martha Smith