By Nathan Prewett, For the Tribune
LEEDS – Leeds City Council held a short meeting on Monday, July 18, where they approved a payment to ALDOT for a past road project and heard from a resident on the ongoing matter of library funding and staffing.
In his report, Mayor David Miller announced that there is an opening on the Leeds Jane Culbreth Public Library Board. Nominations will be accepted for two weeks, ending at 7 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 1. Applications can be filled online.
The council heard from Police Chief Paul Irwin, who reported that the police department was holding active shooter training for officers and will be working with the school system on how to deal with such situations.
During the regular meeting, the council approved a budget amendment to pay an ALDOT invoice for a project on Rex Lane Road that took place more than a decade ago. The project widened the road from two lanes to four lanes.
“I will mention that this is an item that’s 12 years old,” Miller said. “All of a sudden, we get a bill from ALDOT. We’ve tried to work with them to see if they can find another way for this to be paid, but we’re down to the point where we either pay it, or we get in trouble with the state.”
The invoice was paid in the amount of $329,718.47.
Afterward, the council approved awarding a contract to Southeastern Construction Partners for repairs and renovations to the City Court in the amount of $520,622.
During public comments, Carol Hawkins spoke to the council on the matter of the library. The subject has come up in many past meetings regarding the issue of funding and the number of employees.
“My concern is: as you know, we started with five full-time employees at the beginning of the year, and now we only have two,” she said. “And as a temporary employee, the hours are just not there so they can adequately secure, maintain collections of books and media. So I’m hoping that we will fund full-time employees and staff.”
She went on to urge “working together” in further funding and support. No others spoke in public comments.
In other business, the council:
- Held a public hearing to declare a property on Willow Street to be a nuisance in which none spoke for or against, and
- Declared a property on Clairmont Drive to be a public nuisance.
Meetings are held on the first and third Mondays of every month at City Hall on 1400 9th Street Northeast. Agenda packets can be seen online at the City of Leeds website.