Nathan Prewett
CLAY, Ala. — The Clay City Council heard a working draft for the upcoming proposed budget from Councilor Carla Youngblood, who chairs the finance committee.
Youngblood pointed out several highlights of the budget, which includes $655,000 for street and road improvements. $100,000 will be used for the removal of unsafe structures in the city.
A third highlight was that the city is spending an estimated $800,000 on debt and includes the interest.
“One of the things that we’re looking at doing is to see if we can pay off one of our actual debts, which would then free up more cash flow for us to do other things for the city as we move forward,” she said.
She requested that a first reading be held at the first meeting in September. She also requested a work session for the council on Sept. 3 at 6 p.m.
Penultimately, the council approved of an ordinance to issue refunds to rental real estate business license taxpayers when it was found that they had been overpaying for some time.
At the previous meeting Mayor Jane Anderton said that the ordinance would bring the city in line with state law but Councilor Nathan Thompson expressed that he did not want to pass it without first reading the original ordinance.
The ordinance briefly discussed on Tuesday night was passed unanimously.
Lastly, the council approved the 2026-2027 Rebuild Alabama Plan. Anderton said that Clay’s portion is $96,479.79 to perform citywide paving and resurfacing.
During council reports Thompson said that he has received a number of concerns from citizens about the use of flock cameras. He suggested pulling out of contracts with flock cameras and instead using funds to hire another full-time officer.
“I have no problem with the technology being there and I’ve got no problem with what’s happening in our local community,” he said. “But nationwide they’re just getting – there’s so many bad things that are happening with those cameras and so many people can access those cameras.”
He cited media reports of police officers abusing flock cameras for personal use as a reason, as well as being a “substantial monthly expense” for the city.
Also mentioned in council reports was Councilor Jody Harris, who said that there were 67 calls placed recently, with 11 being burglar alarms. He stressed to residents that have burglar alarms to make sure that they are working correctly.
Among public comments was Roger Roper, who brought up concerns about water runoff from a hill nearby a cemetery that he said is flooding into a playground area at a daycare facility. He said that it washes out the parks and footing of playground equipment, potentially creating a potentially dangerous problem for residents and children.
Anderton said that this would be looked into.
Meetings take place every second and fourth Tuesday at Clay City Hall located at 2441 Old Springville Road. Pre-council begins at 6 p.m. followed by the regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. Meetings are recorded for the city’s YouTube channel.
Nathan Prewett can be reached at nthomasp6@gmail.com.
