By Nathan Prewett
For the Tribune
TRUSSVILLE — At a regular meeting on Tuesday night, the Trussville City Council read a proclamation for World Autism Awarness Month to raise awareness of the condition. April was proclaimed as World Autism Awareness month and will be considered a city-wide event.
Councilor Jef Freeman read the proclamation aloud and explained autism as a neurological condition that can result in “significant lifelong impairments” for those who have it.
“Whereas the City of Trussville is honored to take part in observance of World Autism Awareness Month and World Autism Awareness Day and hope that it will lead to a better understanding of the disorder,” he read.
World Autism Awareness Day is April 2. The resolution was listed as 2018-002 and was passed unanimously.
The council also heard from Joellen Ives who has three out of four grandchildren with cystic fibrosis. She requested that that the city make Blow Away 5K a city-wide event in support of children with the illness. The council later acknowledged the event and said that it would help to publicize it.
The event will be held on Nov. 10 this year in Trussville.
The council afterwards passed several resolutions, including a resolution to oppose House Bill 110 and Senate Bill 130 on the Simplified Sellers Use Tax Program unless amendments, suggested by the League of Municipalities, are made. The council voted unanimously to oppose the bills.
Choat said that the bills were changing the way that the city was receiving the use tax and that Trussville was “going to be cut out,” receiving 2% instead of 4%.
After several more resolutions were passed on purchasing several pieces of properties in Trussville, as well as selling a portion of 1465 Gadsden Highway, the council approved a resolution to appropriate $1.5 million from First Commercial Line of Credit to the Trussville Redevelopment Authority for downtown redevelopment activities.
A brief discussion was held on Sheepdog Firearms on Deerfoot Parkway and a plan to provide better soundproofing in the building. Loud noises being issued from target shooting in the building has been a subject brought up by nearby residents complaining about the noise. In an effort to address these concerns, representatives from the facility said that they would build a soundproof wall to limit the noise.
At the meeting tonight, Choat said that an order was placed for materials to be brought to the building and that installation should be completed by March 12.
Before the meeting was adjourned, Choat mentioned the body that was found at U.S. Highway 11 and Commerce Drive recently. He said that he spoke with the chief of the police department and said that the investigation is still in “preliminary” stages but that the deceased, identified as Joe Fred Skelton, was not from Trussville and that the police believe he did not die in the city.
On the consent agenda was Trussville’s entrance into an “Opioid Litigation Agreement,” which other cities throughout Alabama are also entering into after the use of opioids was considered a crisis both nationwide and in the state. Recently, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a lawsuit against an opioid manufacturer for allegedly deceptive trade practices, contributing to the crisis.
The entrance into the litigation is at no cost to the city, Choat said.
“It’s our way of saying that there is definitely a crisis here and that we’re addressing it the best way that we can to eliminate some of the problems,” he said.
In other business, the council reappointed Nora O’Connor to the Beautification Board through Jan. 14, 2023. The council also approved a purchase of a wide-platform copier/scanner for inspections in the amount of $8,395.
The council hired two people for Parks and Recreation and Public Works. Mark Card was hired to Parks and Recreation as a laborer and Robert Sandon Stults was hired to Public Works also as a laborer.
The next regular meeting of the Trussville City Council will be held at 6 p.m. on Feb. 27. The meeting will be preceded by a workshop on Feb. 22 at 5:30 p.m.