By Terry Schrimscher
IRONDALE, Ala. — The Irondale City Council met for the first regularly scheduled meeting of the month on Tuesday night, Oct. 7 at City Hall. The E-911 board meeting was held in the chamber prior to the council meeting to approve a radio maintenance contract.
Mayor James D. Stewart Jr. read a proclamation in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Photo: City of Irondale.
Mayor James D. Stewart presented a resolution on the consent agenda to allocate $30,000 as retention stipends for local school principals. The resolution was approved and $10,000 will be presented to Mr. Taki Sarhaan, Principal at Shades Valley High School, Ms. Jessica Hahn, Principal at Irondale Community School and Dr. Marvin Carter, Principal at Irondale Middle School.
“We enacted this about three years ago. The reason we did it was because they continued to have a high turnover of principals at all of the schools,” Stewart said. “It’s very hard to have that type of turnover and expect the leadership to continue to move the school forward,” he added.
“We decided we would give them this stipend if they completed the school year and we had three principals be able to meet the criteria,” Stewart said.
The council also approved a total of $28,000 to be distributed across all four schools in Irondale including Shades Valley High School, Irondale Middle School, Grantswood Community School, and Irondale Community School plus Jefferson County International Baccalaureate. The funds will be distributed to teachers to assist with classroom expenses.
The council also approved a resolution repealing a 2022 resolution which allowed city employees to sell unused vacation time back to the city.
In his report, Stewart presented a resolution for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. He also noted the city will light municipal buildings in pink for October and announced the city will celebrate survivors and honor loved ones at the Oct. 21 council meeting. Additionally, the city will hold a 2-mile walk at 8 a.m. on Oct. 25 in recognition of breast cancer survivors and those currently battling the disease. Attendance is free and anyone is welcome to participate.
The next meeting of the Irondale City Council will be held at 6 p.m. on Oct. 21 at Irondale City Hall. An agenda for the meeting can be found on the Irondale website prior to the meeting.
