PIEDMONT – During a lengthy meeting at the Piedmont Civic Center on Tuesday, the Piedmont City Council addressed several departmental needs in both its work session and regular meeting.
In the work session, the council heard a presentation from Sequel Electrical Supply representative Jerry Cash on new lights at the Piedmont Sports Complex. Cash presented a bid for the sports complex lighting project last week when bids were open. He brought one of the lights as an example of what the city would be purchasing.
In its regular meeting, the council approved a bid from Sequel in the amount of $97.400, which includes 80 LED lights and 10 mounting brackets.
Abatement officer Charles McDonald updated the council on a couple of cases within the city, and police chief Nathan Johnson presented the council with information on purchasing new vehicles for the police department.
Johnson said he’s spoken with Stiver’s Ford in Montgomery about Ford Explorers, which he said they advised they had some on order which could be delivered by June or July of this year. The base price per vehicle is $30,545, with upfitting done by Stiver’s a total of $44,480.
Johnson also spoke with Sunny King Ford in Anniston, which is a part of the East Alabama Cooperative Purchasing Association for vehicles. They currently have four Ford Explorer Police Interceptor packages on hand and have priced the vehicles to Piedmont at $33,500 each.
Johnson said if the council chose to make a purchase from Sunny King, the vehicles would be sent to Interceptor Public Safety Products in Forsyth, Ga., for upfitting. The quote given for upfitting is $11,831.01, which would bring the total per vehicle to $45,331.01.
“Let’s come back in two weeks, and Nathan, we’ll be talking in the meantime,” Mayor Bill Baker said. “I know time is of the essence. We’ll put it on the agenda in two weeks.”
In the regular meeting, the council agreed to purchase new mowers – two each – for both the street department and recreation department. They also re-appointed Bruce Adderhold to the Piedmont Board of Education, as well as the appointment of Brian Young to the Commercial Development Authority. The council also approved District 5 councilman Greg South to continue serving as an Alabama Municipal Electrical Authority representative.
The council voted to start proceedings to begin a land swap on a small piece of property with James Bennett. The property is located along US Hwy. 278 East.
“There’s a triangle piece of land that he is farming that we own,” Piedmont City Clerk Carl Hinton said. “He’ll get it surveyed, and whatever size it measures, he’ll give us a rectangle running the original line. He’s willing to pay for the survey. It will be no cost to the city on anything.”
The council also approved minutes from the previous meeting, as well as bills for payment in the amount of $686,709.98.
In his closing comments, Baker announced the city would be taking part in the Calhoun County cleanup day is this Saturday. Trash bags will be provided for citizens who want to go out into the community and pick up trash. A dumpster will be set up outside the armory for the next two weeks for citizens to dispose of trash.
Baker also spoke of two other events going on in the city this weekend: The Piedmont Assisted Living Easter event this Saturday from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., and a bicycle criterium downtown that begins at 8 a.m. on Sunday. Roads in the downtown area will be shut down beginning at 6 a.m. for the race. The last race is expected to begin around 2 p.m.
Following the meeting, the council toured the civic center to assess what improvements need to be done to the facility.
The next council meeting is scheduled for April 19.