By Crystal McGough
Pinson City Council member Shannon Galamore recently accepted a position teaching 11-12th graders at The American International School – West Campus in Cairo, Egypt. She served her final meeting of the Pinson City Council on Thursday, July 16, 2020. The mayor and council bid Galamore farewell with a resolution offering her special recognition.
Resolution 20-24 states that “Shannon Galamore was elected to Place 2 on August 23, 2016, and continued to serve in many extracurricular roles at Pinson Valley High School while serving as a Pinson City Councilor; and WHEREAS, Shannon Galamore was faithful to her duties and performed them with honesty and integrity; NOW BE IT RESOLVED that the Mayor and Council of the City of Pinson desire to recognize Shannon Galamore for her dedication and acknowledge and express appreciation for her service.”
“I saw (the resolution) on the agenda, but I had no idea what it was,” Galamore said through tears. “I did want to thank the city of Pinson and its residents for allowing me to serve you for the past three and a half years. It’s been a very humbling experience for me, and I just appreciate it. I’m going to miss the city of Pinson and Pinson Valley High School and all of you guys. Again, I just thank the city of Pinson very much for the opportunity.”
Center Point Fire District Chief Gene Coleman also presented Galamore with a Center Point Fire Department Challenge Coin.
“Ms. Galamore, we’ve enjoyed working with you over the years,” Coleman said. “This (coin) is our newest edition. The base of this coin represents family, which is internally and externally – our internal fire family and then our families at home. One of our other core values is compassion, to make sure that we are compassionate to those that we work with and to those that we work on. Then as far as pride, taking pride and dedication in the job, doing the things that give spirit to our community. And then dedication to duty.”
During the meeting, Jefferson County Schools Board of Education President Ronnie Dixon was presented as a guest speaker to inform the council of the latest updates regarding the opening of Jefferson County schools.
“Where school starting is concerned, we don’t know,” Dixon said. “We have made plan after plan after plan, and it’s almost as if when we say we’re ready to implement and tell the parents what we’re going to do, one of the health officers will say, ‘Well, we think we need to take another step back.’ So, that happened again today. On the table is that we will start on Aug. 25. I have made a recommendation that we push that till Sept. 8, the day after Labor Day, to give us a couple of weeks to gather information from school systems that are starting the 20th and beyond; also to give us more time to figure out if masks on children are affective, or if they’re dangerous. Those questions have not been answered. We have opinions and feelings that are guiding our medical professionals. They’re still practicing, so we don’t know. I wish I could tell you what we’re going to do.
“What I do know is we have about 24,000 students that rely on Jefferson County to eat breakfast and lunch, and we can’t, in good faith – at least I won’t vote for it, in good faith – say that we’re going to have virtual learning and not be able to feed these kids. There are enough precautions, we have 56 schools, we have big enough schools, that we can put a system in place where we can have kids go to school and go to school safely and keep the teachers safe. We have to forget the fear that is being implanted that is not rooted in science. … If you look at the CDC numbers for total number of all-caused deaths, 2019 over 2020, from Jan. 1 to June 6 of this year is lower than last year. That’s for all causes: traffic accidents through flu through COVID. So we have to get a better handle on what’s being given to us.”
Dixon said that the school board is ready to make a decision regarding school, but that they “keep getting upended” by the health officials.
“We’re getting to the time where we need to fish or cut bait because we’ve got to get these kids and teachers ready to go,” he said.
Under new business, the council unanimously passed a motion regarding the purchase of COVID-19 school supplies, including Flexfiber head scarf face masks for the athletes.
“In trying to help the high school with masks, I was in talks with football, particularly Joe Cochran, on working with them in getting football players some masks,” Councilor Dawn Tanner said. “As we were talking, we started discussing other sports, and then we led into the band and theater and all that.”
The quote before the council was for 1,200 masks for the school, at $4.95 per mask, but Palmerdale Fire District also approached the city with interest for the same masks. Tanner proposed to up the number from 1,200 to 1,500 to help the Palmerdale Fire District, as well, for a total estimated cost of $7,425.
The council also passed a motion to approve the purchase of COVID-19 related telephone and technology equipment for city employees, to help them space out in compliance with COVID-19 safety procedures. The council approved the quotes, which totaled $2,161.36, with an additional $12,000 added to implement COVID modifications to city hall.
Under old business, the council passed Resolution 20-28, authorizing the mayor to execute a contract for COVID expenses with Jefferson County.
“This simply is a contract where we agreed to follow the rules and request reimbursements for bona fide COVID-related expenses through Jefferson County through the federal grant (CARES Act),” Mayor Hoyt Sanders said.
The council also held a first reading of an ordinance concerning debris procedures in the city, and passed the following motions, ordinances and resolutions:
- A motion to purchase a COVID-19 sanitation misting machine with additional gallons of citric acid for a total of $1,500
- Ordinance 2020-12, adopting changes to the city’s zoning ordinance in regards to small cell technologies
- Resolution 20-25, regarding the abatement of property at 4284 VFW Road
- Resolution 20-26, regarding the abatement of weeds at 6833 Brittany Place
- Resolution 20-27, regarding the abatement of weeds at 4018 Saint John Way NW
The next meeting of the Pinson City Council will be Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020, at Pinson City Hall. Pre-council begins at 6:30 p.m. and the regular council meeting begins at 7 p.m.