By Terry Schrimscher, For the Tribune
CLAY – The Clay City Council met for the final regular meeting of the year on Tuesday night, Dec. 19, at City Hall. There were no petitions or hearings and the Council moved quickly into the short agenda in a meeting lasting slightly more than eight minutes from opening prayer to the motion to adjourn.
Resolution 2023-30 was proposed to officially name Chalkville Mountain Road/Chalkville Road as Chalkville Mountain Road after a change was made to emergency response maps.
“We’re doing it in support of Trussville and Jefferson County,” said City Manager Ronnie Dixon. “They’ve already passed their resolutions. It says Chalkville Mountain Road has always been known as Chalkville Mountain Road and the county wants to change it back. … For some reason, when they set up this new 911 some years ago, they put ‘Chalkville Road’ from Old Springville all the way to Highway 11.
“Fire departments and mail and all kinds of things are getting confused, so they want to officially make this Chalkville Mountain Road,” Dixon added. “The reason this came up is there was either a fire or paramedic call that they sent the wrong department.”
Dixon said Trussville recently decided to keep their own dispatchers as part of Trussville and separate from Jefferson County dispatchers. Officially naming the road is expected to help prevent the wrong first responders from being called to an emergency in the future.
In November, the Trussville City Council and Mayor Buddy Choat heard complaints from local citizens about plans to move the service to Jefferson County in January of 2024. When plans were announced to combine the services, concerned citizens created a petition online.
As of press time, Trussville has changed directions and opted to keep the services separate.
In other business, the Council passed resolutions to establish meeting times for city meetings. The Council will continue to meet on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m., unless otherwise announced.
Planning and Zoning will meet on the third Thursday of each month. The Board of Adjustments will meet as needed. The library board will continue to meet quarterly on the fourth Tuesday of the first month in each quarter.
The next meeting of the Clay City Council is scheduled for 6 p.m. on January 9, 2024 at City Hall.