Council to focus on problem buildings downtown
The Andalusia City Council on Tuesday agreed to retain a Birmingham attorney to assist with what has been termed a “dangerous buildings and unsafe structures” program.
The agenda item, which was circulated on social media over the weekend, drew a crowd of about 18 to the meeting.
“The City of Andalusia has had ordinance dealing with abatement of properties for many, many years,” Mayor Earl Johnson explained. “That ordinance has been amended only once that I am aware of, when Mayor (Paul) Armstrong was in office in 1994.”
The former mayor was among those in attendance Tuesday night.
In recent years, Johnson said, the legislature enacted laws which made it easier for municipalities to act on the abatement of weeds and grasses.
“The reason for that is quite obvious,” he said. “Weeds grow faster, and need to be dealt with in timely manner.
“What we always do is contact the property owner first,” he said. “We make a request first. When they are not acted on, those cases brought to council for action.”
A building abatement is a much more difficult issue, the mayor said.
“Two weeks ago, an attorney from Birmingham put on basically a seminar for the council and our staff,” he said. Referring to Ben Goldman of Hand Arendall LLC. “This gentleman specializes in this narrow area of the law, primarily with difficult abatement issues and unsafe structures.”
Johnson said the city has ordered a packet of documents from him, which it will turn over to city attorney Mark Christiansen.
“We want him to consult with this attorney on whether we need to amend our ordinance to make it a better ordinance, and thereafter participate with us to clean up some of these buildings.”
Johnson said the council will first target downtown areas.
“Once we get our ordinance in place like.... READ MORE>
Andalusia Star News
Council to focus on problem buildings downtown
The Andalusia City Council on Tuesday agreed to retain a Birmingham attorney to assist with what has been termed a “dangerous buildings and unsafe structures” program.
The agenda item, which was circulated on social media over the weekend, drew a crowd of about 18 to the meeting.
“The City of Andalusia has had ordinance dealing with abatement of properties for many, many years,” Mayor Earl Johnson explained. “That ordinance has been amended only once that I am aware of, when Mayor (Paul) Armstrong was in office in 1994.”
The former mayor was among those in attendance Tuesday night.
In recent years, Johnson said, the legislature enacted laws which made it easier for municipalities to act on the abatement of weeds and grasses.
“The reason for that is quite obvious,” he said. “Weeds grow faster, and need to be dealt with in timely manner.
“What we always do is contact the property owner first,” he said. “We make a request first. When they are not acted on, those cases brought to council for action.”
A building abatement is a much more difficult issue, the mayor said.
“Two weeks ago, an attorney from Birmingham put on basically a seminar for the council and our staff,” he said. Referring to Ben Goldman of Hand Arendall LLC. “This gentleman specializes in this narrow area of the law, primarily with difficult abatement issues and unsafe structures.”
Johnson said the city has ordered a packet of documents from him, which it will turn over to city attorney Mark Christiansen.
“We want him to consult with this attorney on whether we need to amend our ordinance to make it a better ordinance, and thereafter participate with us to clean up some of these buildings.”
Johnson said the council will first target downtown areas.
“Once we get our ordinance in place like
The Andalusia City Council on Tuesday established a Public Educational Building Authority.
The authority, the brain child of the Andalusia Football Foundation, will have a five-year plan and goals of renovating the municipal football stadium, upgrading sports fields, and modernizing and refurbishing the auditorium, Mayor Earl Johnson told council members, who also expect to appoint three members to at their next meeting.
This Authority will raise funds for the proposed work. It is anticipated that board members will be Steve Posey, Paula Sue Duebelt and Charles Eldridge.
Andalusia Star News
Michele Gerlach
The Andalusia City Council on Tuesday established a Public Educational Building Authority.
The authority, the brain child of the Andalusia Football Foundation, will have a five-year plan and goals of renovating the municipal football stadium, upgrading sports fields, and modernizing and refurbishing the auditorium, Mayor Earl Johnson told council members, who also expect to appoint three members to at their next meeting.
This Authority will raise funds for the proposed work. It is anticipated that board members will be Steve Posey, Paula Sue Duebelt and Charles Eldridge.
Andalusia City Council members said Tuesday they have been under heat recently about abandoned commercial buildings.
“We have some buildings with the roof falling in or in the sidewalk,” Councilman Kennith Mount said. “What do we have to do to get something done?”
Most times when the council meets, it abates properties for violations of the weed ordinance. It did so again Tuesday, abating nine properties.
But Mayor Earl Johnson said the Code of Alabama has different guidelines for abating commercial property.
The city’s designated inspector must write a letter to the property owner, give the property owner time to respond, then have it examined by a structural engineer, Johnson explained.
“If it creates a public danger, we can deal with that right away,” Johnson said.
“If you want to do away with it all together, you need a structural engineer to declare it dangerous or unsound. Then if the property owner doesn’t clean it up, we have to file a lawsuit in circuit court. It is a long, drawn-out affair,” he said.
And also a process he hopes not to have to use.
“We’ve talked about it often in these meetings,” the mayor said. “It’s hard to get that out to the people. There are a lot of other factors we have to factor in to actions we take. There are other negotiations going on. It’s a tough rabbit to catch without killing the rabbit.”
However, he said, the city has set a meeting with an attorney from a Birmingham firm who specializes in these issues.
“We have asked him to come here, and basically lay out what we are empowered under present law to do.”
The process for dealing with noxious weeds and grasses in residential areas has been simplified in recent years, Johnson said, allowing the council to act swiftly.
In other business, the council agreed to buy two garbage trucks for the public works department. The trucks, which are $145,000 each, will be leased for a period of three years.
The city currently has four trucks, three of which will be sold as surplus property. The oldest of those trucks is more than 30 years old.
Andalusia Star News
By: Michele Gerlach
Average commute is 17.2 minutes for Andalusians
Andalusia named the top commuter city in Alabama recently.
The Obrella Insider, a website that analyzes and reports on insurance related issues, released a survey titled “The 25 Best and Worst Commuter Cities in Alabama.”
To determine the rankings, Obrella analyzed traffic data from the 2013 survey released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Considering only Alabama cities whose population exceeded 5,000 at the time of this report, Obrella analysts sorted cities by average commute time and used other available data points to help visualize the breakdown of commute types and commute lengths.
The survey concluded that average Andalusia commute time is 17.2 minutes.
Additionally, 85.68 percent commute alone; 10.07 percent use a carpool and 1.67 percent work at home.
Some 62 percent of workers commute less than 15 minutes.
Also in the top 10 are.. READ MORE>
Andalusia Star News
Average commute is 17.2 minutes for Andalusians
Andalusia named the top commuter city in Alabama recently.
The Obrella Insider, a website that analyzes and reports on insurance related issues, released a survey titled “The 25 Best and Worst Commuter Cities in Alabama.”
To determine the rankings, Obrella analyzed traffic data from the 2013 survey released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Considering only Alabama cities whose population exceeded 5,000 at the time of this report, Obrella analysts sorted cities by average commute time and used other available data points to help visualize the breakdown of commute types and commute lengths.
The survey concluded that average Andalusia commute time is 17.2 minutes.
Additionally, 85.68 percent commute alone; 10.07 percent use a carpool and 1.67 percent work at home.
Some 62 percent of workers commute less than 15 minutes.
Also in the top 10 are Auburn, Monroeville, Fort Payne, Homewood, Foley, Opelika, Mountain Brook, Troy and Florence.
The top 10 worst commuter cities are Helena, Alabaster, Clay, Moody, Lincoln, Pell City, Arab, Pinson, Center Point and Clanton.
On average, Alabamians commute 23.8 minutes, which is slightly less than the national average of 25.2 minutes.
Covington County Economic Development Commission Director Rick Clifton said the ranking confirms what his office tells potential companies when he is recruiting business here.
“Andalusia and Covington County is a retail and business hub for our region,” he said. “People who work in Andalusia want to live in Andalusia. To keep them wanting to live here, we have to have jobs that people can go to and have retail options for them.”
Clifton said it shows they are doing something right.
“It’s great that it has been acknowledged,” he said.
South Alabama Regional Airport will host a Military/Veterans Appreciation Day from 10:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. on Wed., Aug. 12.
SARA will provide free steak dinners to all active or retired military personnel. Meals for the non-military general public will also be available for a cost.
A drawing for four, free airplane rides around Covington county will be held at 5:30 p.m.
The event is set for South Alabama Regional Airport Entrance No. 3.
If anyone has questions, call the airport at (334) 222-6598.
Andalusia Star News
South Alabama Regional Airport will host a Military/Veterans Appreciation Day from 10:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. on Wed., Aug. 12.
SARA will provide free steak dinners to all active or retired military personnel. Meals for the non-military general public will also be available for a cost.
A drawing for four, free airplane rides around Covington county will be held at 5:30 p.m.
The event is set for South Alabama Regional Airport Entrance No. 3.
If anyone has questions, call the airport at (334) 222-6598.