By Nathan Prewett, For the Tribune
MOODY – The Moody City Council held a brief regular meeting on Monday, Aug. 28, where they adopted a transportation plan before holding a work session where St. Clair Economic Development (EDC) Director Don Smith spoke about strategies for the next five years.
As with other cities, the transportation plan is pursuant to the Rebuild Alabama Act and includes road improvement and upgrade projects. Moody Mayor Joe Lee said that a project to be covered will be upgrades to the crossroads at Highway 411.
The overall cost is $2.3 million.
After passing all of the items on the agenda, the council went into a work session where Smith said that the EDC pursues a strategy plan every five years. Plans are largely implemented based on input from the public, Smith said.
“It’s good to be able to do that because it really helps us keep up with what’s important to everybody,” he said. “Five years ago, tourism was not on our radar at all. But we heard that was something that was important, especially if you live here and able to keep up with all the things taking place in neighboring towns and sometimes even their own communities.”
Smith outlined several goals for the EDC, the first being education and workforce development. The second was recruitment and retention.
“We’re going to continue to strengthen our pipeline and our relationships with developers, brokers, real estate agents, firms and the state and also site selection consultants,” Smith said. “Especially with the new park being open now we need to make sure that everyone in Alabama and outside understands the potential that we have here in recruitment.”
Others were marketing and communication in the form of social media, as well as infrastructure development and public grants for community development.
“Sometimes it’s not just economic development bringing in new companies it’s also growing a community,” he said. “So we’re going to work on that as well.”
He mentioned that tourism is doing well but the EDC is working to attain more grants for things such as Moody’s Oktoberfest and similar events.
In other business, the council:
- Approved Police Chief Reece Smith’s request to hire for two police officer positions,
- Approved Smith’s request for $1,311 in lodging costs to have two employees attend a records software training in South Carolina,
- Approved $760 for a drug prevention class at Moody Middle School,
- Approved Library Director Sara Roberts’ request to renew a subscription for Fold3 Library Edition Database for $1,227.99,
- Approved Fire Chief Larry Horton’s request to purchase traffic safety vests for personnel for $1,800,
- Approved $1,500 for firefighting nozzles,
- Approved the purchase of fire station supplies for $1,000,
- Approved installing three new water hydrants for $15,000,
- Approved Horton’s request to post for part-time employment for one year,
- Approved Horton’s request to post and hire for two full-time preferably firefighter/medic positions,
- Approved a resolution setting Moody’s holiday schedule,
- Passed a resolution accepting the public streets in the Alden Glen subdivision for maintenance and upkeep,
- Approved the 2023 – 2024 fiscal year contract with the St. Clair County Commission for Central Dispatching for $108,432.19,
- Renewed the Pell City animal facility user agreement for October 2023 to September 2024 for $10,000, and
- Entered into an agreement with Michael Spence regarding a utility easement vacation.
Meetings are held on the second and fourth Monday of every month at 6 p.m., at Moody City Hall, on 670 Park Ave.