July 8, 2021
Jennifer Haynes
Chief Ledbetter led the meeting off asking for emergency assistance for the purchase of two repeater systems for the fire department and police usage. A radio repeater simultaneously receives a radio signal and re-transmits it at a higher power so it can cover greater distances. He had sought advice from an inspector on how to improve the current problems. Ledbetter said they have lost signal over the North side mountain and in a few low areas they had no reception. This is very dangerous for the fire department and the police officers to have no contact with base. Upon inspection of the old equipment, Ledbetter was informed the current system was out of date and there are no parts available to work on it in case it malfunctions. He was then advised to buy new repeaters. The antennas and coax cable were still in good condition and compatible with a new system. Each unit costs $9,728.83. Ledbetter requested two units to replace current units. During the meeting the council deliberated and concluded Ledbetter should purchase the repeaters from the general fund. Due to Covid the components are taking longer to produce causing up to a two month wait. Councilman Caleb Pope asked would this bring us up to speed with the rest of the world. Ledbetter said no, but it’s a start. He stated it was expensive to replace current equipment with newer equipment including their radios. Pope asked Officer Tyler during the last call they had to Weaver were there any issues with their radios. Tyler said yes. Piedmont currently uses Motorola DTR600 and DTR700 radios, and were the only station not running Motorola 800 radios. He stated they were asked to stay off their radios as it made it harder to listen to the 800 radios. The officers paired with other officers to stay informed which made it harder to monitor the situation. Tyler also stated there were communication issues during the 4th of July celebration. Councilman Williams and Feazell both agreed we needed to look into fixing this issue and updating the systems. Pope asked if there was an issue what would be the back up. Ledbetter said they have a two way transmission but it’s no where near as affective.
Ledbetter then read the June Fire Department Activity log.
Structure Fires – 2
Automatic Alarms – 4
False Alarms – 4
Vehicles Fires – 1
Woods/Grass Fires – 1
Vehicle Accidents – 6
Ambulance Assist – 5
Service Calls – 8
Established Landing Zones – 1
Hazardous Materials Calls – 1
FF’s Rhett Burdette and Ethan Floyd were hired full time and began Shift rotations. Opened 1 fire investigation for a structure fire. Conducted in house hazardous materials refresher training. Conducted in house search and rescue for volunteers after pandemic. Began annual fire hydrant testing.
Scott Stewart a Piedmont resident, was next to address the council. He stated in 2003 a lean was placed on him for $8,349 for sales tax due on his businesses. Years later when his mother was in bad health, he was put on her property as part owner. The house was sold after she passed and the lein was taken out of sale of the home. Stewart states the statute of limitations for collection of the taxes was already passed at the time of the sale. He is asking that the notice of lien be rescinded. Attorney Ron Hunt stated at the time the lien was placed on Mr. Stewart it was an accurate lean imposed by the judge at that time. Stewart argued that the lien should not have been on his mothers house that he had no ownership of at the time the lien was imposed. The attorney stated the lien was on Mr. Stewart personally so it affected any property he would ever own till the lien was satisfied. Stewart stated if the lien was not rescinded by the city he would seek legal action.
In the meeting the previous minutes were approved. Bills totaling $916,172.88 were approved. This included 4 weeks of payroll totaling $267,199.25.
Mayor Baker spoke on a previous resolution of naming Councilman Greg South the AMEA Representative. Resolution 2021-14 was passed.
Visitors comments. Mr. Keller, a Piedmont resident, asked Mayor Baker had anything been done about a prior conversation concerning a building near his home. He wanted to possibly turn it into an area the kids could play. Mayor Baker said they are waiting on grants, and the East Alabama Planning Commission had just stared opening grant money again. Baker asked Keller to come to his office soon so they could investigate possibilities together.
District Comments:
District 2 Williams said Thank you to Terry Batey and all involved for a job well done on the celebration. The bike race also had a great turnout. Thank you to all the city workers as well.
District 3 Feazell said thank you to Chief Ledbetter for bringing the equipment issues to our attention. Feazell added he and Nathan Johnson decided a 7% or $1 per hour raise should be given to anyone working the night shift at the police department including dispatch. Kiser agreed, Ivey seconded. Feazell had also been looking into giving someone a tax break to take over the OK Tire Store. He was informed legally the tax break couldn’t be given on the property, but to the actual person that purchases the property. He thanked Terry Batey and Ashley Jones for all there hard work on the several projects just passed.
District 4 Pope. Thank you Terry Batey and Ashley Jones for all your work and you did a great job. Thank you to the city workers.
District 6 Ivey. Thank you Chief Ledbetter for informing us of the issues. The electronic request system is working now making it easier to access work orders and process them faster.
District 7 Kiser. Thank you to Sergeant West and Officers Quinn, and Giddy for assisting during the hostile situation in Weaver.
Mayor Baker said a heartfelt thank you to Terry Batey, Ashley Jones, Rick and Don for everything you do and have done to make these events a success. The mayor said Jeff Formby wanted to say thank you and how much he appreciates the city for showing up.
The 10 and under Baseball team made State Champions. The Mayor wants to invite them to a meeting and possibly give them a commemorative keep sake.
