PIEDMONT – The Piedmont City Council heard a presentation Tuesday evening from Senior Regional Planner for the East Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission Rajiv Kumar Myana concerning the Ladiga Trail in its work session.

Myana spoke to the council about a comprehensive plan for the Piedmont Trail Loop, which includes painting and marking key Ladiga Trail crossings on South Center Avenue, Dailey Street and South Church Street. The project is intended to direct visitors to downtown businesses and points of interest within the city.

District 4 councilman Caleb Pope encouraged Myana to petition the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) to incorporate the Main Street trail crossing as well. Main Street is a part of Alabama Highway 9.

“The whole purpose of this from the city’s point is to get people to come into the city and buy stuff, to look and see downtown,” Pope said.

“I just think it’s very important to get something started in the right direction,” District 5 councilman Greg South said concerning the trail plan. “It gets you looking around and seeing what’s going on in downtown Piedmont.”

The council approved Myana’s plan for the trail crossings during its regular meeting.

Also during Tuesday’s work session, the council heard from Piedmont Recreation Director Jeff Formby concerning field lights at the sports complex.

Formby said recent storms have caused damage to several lights and wanted to make the council aware of the problem. He said he’s lined up a representative from Musco Lighting to talk to the council about the city’s options at its next meeting on Jan. 19.

Formby also asked the council their thoughts on upgrading civic center memberships. He said he’d like to bring before the council pricing on new software to keep track of memberships better and also possibly implement a 24-hour access point.

“We usually have 150, 200-plus (members),” Formby said. “There are a lot of memberships that are senior memberships. We’re always trying to find ways to increase our membership and bring activity to that facility. It would be a lot easier if we had a system where they had an ID card. We’d scan them in and know who’s coming in and out.”

In the regular meeting, minutes from previous December meetings were approved, as were bills for payment totaling $559,510.12.