The Piedmont City Council met on Tuesday (February 21) for their regular bi-monthly meeting. The council voted to approve an amendment to the city ordinance concerning parking on the street within Piedmont city limits. The new ordinance establishes a city wide ban on parking in the street, with few exceptions. Registered owners of vehicles in violation of the city ordinance will receive parking tickets for the infraction. Tickets will start at $25, and double with each successive violation, not to exceed $500. Residents or businesses without access to a driveway or parking lot will be exempted from this ordinance.

A proposed amendment to the Piedmont zoning ordinance for recreational vehicle parking and storage was tabled by the council. Several council members were concerned about the ramifications of the amendment to law abiding citizens, as well as the actual need for the amendment, which was originally proposed due to a single resident’s action.

A concerned citizen voiced continuing concern about the fallen leaves that persist throughout the city, voicing particular concern about the alleyway behind his residence. Mayor Baker promised to write a work order the next morning to tackle the leaf problem behind the resident’s home, and stressed to the entire chamber that the city is catching up after suffering extended mechanical failures of the city’s leaf collection vehicle. The Mayor also suggested that the districts organize independent ‘clean up days’ where volunteers could clear leaves on a district by district basis.

The council also discussed the problem of pothole repair throughout the city. Mayor Baker announced that a new source of asphalt had been secured, Advanced Asphalt Products in Jasper, and that they would be delivering 30 tons to the city the following day.

Attention was drawn to a particularly problematic strip of road near burger king that turns out to be privately owned. For the city to be allowed to repair the damaged road, they would need to purchase the strip from the property owner. The owner of the land has offered to sell it to the city for five thousand dollars. Mayor Baker would like to spread the cost of that purchase by working with affected businesses to collaborate on the purchase.

Chief of Police Nathan Johnson presented the January police activities report to the council, which included the following stats for Piedmont PD from the previous month:

• 34 arrests made with 5 of those being felony arrests
• 50 traffic citations issued
• 6 traffic accidents worked
• 302 calls, 89 of which resulted in a filed police report
• $15,832.37 collected in court collections
• $907.15 of which was retained for the city