The Andalusia Chamber of Commerce staff has a new face, but one that is familiar to the local community.
Maggie Jones, a 2011 AHS grad who recently graduated from the University of Alabama, has joined executive director Chrissie Duffy as the assistant director.
Jones spent time working for the city of Tuscaloosa while pursuing a public relations major. She earned minors in biology, psychology and computing technology and applications.
She said she is excited to be home and is ready to get to work helping the community.
Her first major project is working with a local firm to update the Chamber’s website.
Additionally, she’s heading up the annual Chamber golf tournament set for August.
And she’s added more social media outlets to the Chamber’s portfolio.
“I’ve created an Instagram and Twitter account for the Chamber,” she said. “Right now, I’m working on getting followers.”
The Chamber already had a Facebook account, but Jones said she wants to cover all bases to make sure that locals know what’s going on at the Chamber and communitywide.
She’s also been working to get to know the board of directors and Chamber members.
Jones said fate brought her back to Andalusia.
“I applied for Chrissie’s job,” she said.
In March, Duffy announced she would resign as director to be at home with her children, but the board and Duffy collectively agreed it wasn’t time for that transition.
Instead, Jones was offered a position at assistant director... READ MORE>
Andalusia Star News
WKNI TV 25
WKNI TV 25
Tabitha Daniel is shown with the new digital system. | Andrew Garner/Star-News
Gone digital.
That’s what the City of Andalusia did with its recent transition from analog radio to digital.
Citywide, the new digital radio system works on one frequency, which allows the different departments to work in talk groups. Each city department has a talk group.
The digital radios can’t be picked up my analog scanners, which will give the police department a blanket of security when responding to calls.
“That’s the next best thing,” Andalusia Police Chief Paul Hudson said. “We swapped the whole city to that.”
Hudson said the project cost $185,000 to get it all done, as it took several months to make the transition.
“The biggest part was waiting on the (United States Security and Exchange Commission) to give us our license (for the frequency),” he said. “One of the plusses is that nobody can scan it. That’s going to benefit us on some calls.
“If they’re trying to commit a crime and they have somebody listening to the scanners for the dispatcher, they’re not going to hear anything from us,” he said.
Hudson said a lot of people may not like the digital radios, but making the transition was a needed step in the right direction.
“A lot of the departments are headed that way,” he said. “Instead of taking it one step back, we’re taking it one step forward.”
Hudson said the city still has the old analog radio system just in case something happens to the digital radio system.
Andalusia Star News
By Andrew Garner
