By Gary Lloyd
Trussville Mayor Gene Melton said in his state of the city address to the Trussville Area Chamber of Commerce members Thursday that the city is doing “extremely well” with its finances.
“We are solid,” Melton said.
Melton said city officials watch sales tax revenue daily and monthly to determine what the city is bringing in compared with what it’s spending. He said Trussville is “doing very well in controlling our expenditures.”
Melton also touched on schools, noting that the Trussville City Board of Education is moving forward with plans for two new community elementary schoolsthat will solve overcrowding issues at the Paine campus.
Melton talked a lot about compressed natural gas. Melton drives a Honda Civic that runs on CNG, and he told a story about driving it to Duck Key, Fla., and back to Trussville. The roundtrip covered 2,042 miles. It took Melton just 40 gallons of CNG — roughly 51 miles to the gallon — to drive to Duck Key and back.
“That is the fuel of the future,” Melton said.
Many city vehicles — Trussville Parks and Recreation, Trussville Police Department and others — now run on CNG. There is a CNG filling station at the Chevron on Deerfoot Parkway, where the CNG is $1.55 per gallon.
“It’s a clean fuel, and it saves the environment,” Melton said.
Melton said he hopes to have a parking lot and landscaping around the veterans memorial at Civitan Park completed this fall. He said the Alabama Department of Transportation has been “extremely supportive” of the project, which has hit some speed bumps.
“It will look outstanding when we get it completed,” he said.
The mayor, in his fifth term, said Green Drive will not be open prior to school starting Aug. 19. Green Drive needs a culvert replacement, a result of one collapsing in May. Melton said the city was “real fortunate” that no one was hurt when the culvert collapsed. The city council approved Schoel Engineering doing the engineering for the Green Drive repair at a cost of $30,600 last month.
Green Drive remains closed from Norrell Drive to Trussville-Clay Road.
Full video of the mayor’s speech is in the video below.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.