By Terry Schrimscher, For the Tribune
SPRINGVILLE – The Springville City Council issued two proclamations Monday night, May 1, to honor Police Chief Wayne Walton and Fire Chief Richard Harvey for service to the city. Walton and Harvey are both celebrating 25 years with Springville.
Mayor Dave Thomas read each of the proclamations aloud, thanking both men for their dedication to the city. Thomas and Councilmember Herbert Toles discussed ways to preserve the proclamations with a plaque or framed print.
Harvey has previously served as a building inspector for the city and has been Chief of the Fire Department since November of 2001. Walton was promoted to Chief of Police in November of 2020.
“If we’ve got others with the city who have put in decades of service, we need to recognize them,” Thomas said. “We’ve got several employees that are pursuing additional training for their jobs, their responsibilities; as those are completed, we also want to recognize them as well.”
The Springville High School Softball team visited the Council during the meeting to accept a $2,000 donation to the school to support the team. The team recently moved into first place in class 5A and will host a regional tournament this week.
The Council approved a resolution authorizing the State of Alabama to collect sales, use, rental and lodging taxes for the city. Springville previously contracted with Avenu Insights & Analytics to collect taxes but did not renew the contract last month.
In the work session prior to the meeting, Dean Goforth presented a financial update. As of March 31, Springville has total revenues for the year of $6,171,511 and expenses of $5,675,033. The total cash balance in all accounts is $8,677,044, with $1,334,703 in the general fund.
He made the recommendation to consolidate some accounts and explore other opportunities to invest the funds. Goforth also suggested the Council consider using some funds to buy police cars when they find available vehicles because of multi-year delays on orders for new police cars.
At the end of the meeting, Toles announced the city’s electronic recycling and paper shredding event. He invited everyone to bring recycling to City Hall on Saturday, May 6, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. A list of accepted items can be found on the Springville Facebook page.
The next meeting of the Springville City Council will be held on May 19, at 6 p.m., with a work session at 5:30 p.m.