By Lee Weyhrich
It was announced at Thursday’s Pinson City Council meeting that the city hall building, which houses the Pinson Public Library, has completed renovations.
Changes have been made to the reception area of city hall and other areas to update the look of the building and increase usefulness of areas.
The library’s computer lab received a significant expansion to twice its original size. The library has exceeded every expectation for usage in the last two years, especially in that area.
“I wanted to thank everyone on the council for pushing through the expansion of the computer room,” Library Director April Wallace said. “We have added additional computers. We’ve slightly more than doubled the space. It looks really nice, really professional.”
According to Wallace, library usage has increased exponentially. Last year, 250 children were enrolled in the summer reading program, and this year that number has doubled. In June alone, 3,000 people used the library, checking out more than 5,000 items.
“I am extremely impressed,” Councilman Robbie Roberts said. “For the size of our library, the usage of the library is incredible.”
The city council also voted to help Pinson Valley High School with the purchase of an end zone camera for high school sporting events. The total cost of the camera will be between $4,500 and $5,000. The camera is mounted on an extendable boom, allowing for much safer shots of sporting events than would be possible by placing camera operators on platforms or rooftops, Councilman Joe Cochran said.
Clay-Pinson Chamber of Commerce Director Ronnie Dixon made a brief announcement at Thursday’s council meeting, saying the chamber has been voted among the top five chambers in Alabama by the Birmingham Business Journal.
At the meeting, Dixon also announced that the California Lima Association has upped its sponsorship level of the Alabama Butterbean Festival. The association will cover the entirety of fireworks expenses for this year’s event, scheduled for Oct. 4-5. The association will also up its shipment of beans from 1,200 pounds to 1,500 pounds of beans.
Not all news was good in Pinson this week, however. There have been a rash of break-ins in Clay and Pinson, Cochran said. The council warned residents to keep their vehicles locked at all times, even at home. Most of the vehicles broken into had been left unlocked by their owners.