Reduced debt by $1.86M in 2017, completed S3N from reserves
The City of Andalusia’s 2017 audit showed the city is on “fine, solid, financial footing,” its auditor said.
Ken Odom of Rabren, Odom, Pierce and Hayes, PC presented the audit, which was adopted, Tuesday night.
“This doesn’t happen overnight,” Odom said. “A lot of this started several years ago.”
During that fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30, 2017, Odom said the city:
Reduced its debt by $1.86 million from the prior fiscal year.
Generated $18.9 million, spent $16.15 million, with an excess of revenues over expenses of $1.77 million.
The city’s government funds balance at year end was $98.9 million $857,257 from the prior year. The difference represents the expense of the city’s match portion for the South Three Notch Street project. Mayor Earl Johnson pointed out that this project was completed without financing.
“Unlike most capital projects of this magnitude, due to strategic planning, none of the South Three Notch Street project was completed with additional long term debt,” he said.
In his letter to be included with the audit, the mayor stated, “In 2013, the city council and I developed a plan to build a capital reserve and increase our commitment to education largely financed through a sales tax increase. Since that time, we have dramatically increased our capital reserves and transferred in excess of $5.5 million in new revenue to Andalusia City Schools for new academic programs and capital projects.”
The Andalusia Police Department dispatchers have been learning to use new software that could make response times a lot faster, Chief Paul Hudson said.
“We got a new software from Southern Software,” Hudson said. “Representatives from Southern Software have been here over the past couple of weeks and will be here till Thursday to make sure everything is OK.”
The software makes it possible to simultaneously listen to a caller, see the caller’s location on a map, and determine which officer could respond the quickest, based on the officer’s current location.
“I think my favorite part of the software is the mapping system,” Hudson said. “Because if something happens to an officer we can pull where they are on the map and be able to get officers out there.”
APD Dispatcher Tabitha Cross is among the dispatchers participating in training.
“I think the main thing that I have had trouble with is learning something new,” Cross said. “Other than that it has been a breeze.”
The employees from Southern Software will be at the police department to make sure there are no bugs in the software.
“When you get technology like this it is always good to make sure everything is perfect before you let the experts go,” Hudson said. “They are here to make sure that there are no bugs in the software and that all of our employees are trained appropriately.”
Hudson said that no one in the county has the technology that the APD now has.
“I am extremely excited to have this opportunity,” Hudson said. “The city will definitely see the benefits of this software soon and I am excited to share this capability with the rest of the county.”
The Covington County Commission approved for the sheriff’s department to acquire similar software, but they will be upgrading their existing contract with Global Software.
The E-911 Department is also looking at similar software.
Part of the funding for the software came from an ADECA grant. The cost of the software was $63,640, and the grant cut that cost by $24,000.
Southern Software is a company out of North Carolina dedicated to building the best software using proven cutting-edge technology, developed with an intimate, personal understanding of their clients’ needs. They set up and train the clients’ personnel about the software.
Tuesday, they were students participating in the Andalusia Public Library’s summer program for teens. By the end of next week’s session, they’ll be the stars of their own YouTube video.
“The kids had a blast,” Christine Lynn, who coached them through the process, said. Lynn works with the A.P.P.L.E. program and formerly worked with WKNI. “They were super ecstatic.”
“We took the Imagine Dragons’ “Believer” video, and they parodied it. The kids had their ideas about what they wanted to do.”
Lynn said because most people use electronics all the time, they aren’t accessing the right side of the brain for arts and creativity as much.
“We let the kids come up with what they wanted to do,” she said. “What I taught them they can do at home.”
The class will continue at next week’s session, when the students will learn to cut, clip and add effects to completely make their video.
“I have a YouTube channel where I’ll upload it, and the library will upload it as well,” she said.
The next teen workshop will be at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 19.
The City of Andalusia’s summer kids golf camp got off to a good start on Wednesday at the Evans Barnes Golf Course.
“We decided to do it a little different this year,” camp instructor Art Gilbert said. “This year, we upped the age requirement and I think that is going to pay great dividends.”
Raising the age requirement means getting more time on the actual golf course, Gilbert said.
“With the older kids, we can get them out on the course,” Gilbert said. “That’s what they want to do. They are more mature and you don’t have to worry about them as much.”
Gilbert said that campers will still spend time on the driving range to hone in skills.
“Although we are going to be playing more golf this year, we are still going to work on skills on driving range and practice green.”
The turnout for this year’s camp has been great, Gilbert said.
“We had a great turnout yesterday,” Gilbert said. “There were 14 kids that signed up and there were 14 kids that showed up. We’ve got several that have been coming to the camp for the past several years.”
Gilbert said that they group has already shown they have a knack for the game.
“I was very impressed with they way they hit the ball,” Gilbert said. “There are probably four or five of them that will go on to play on the high school team.”
Having campers that return each year also helps the instructors, Gilbert said.
“This year I’ve talked to some of the more experienced campers to step up as team leaders for our group,” Gilbert said. “We had a couple of kids out here helping the other campers with the foot and hand placement. That helps us out and will also allow us to get on the course more this year.”
Gilbert said that the camp wouldn’t be possible without the help of others.
“One person can’t do this alone,” Gilbert said. “Without Wayne Lee and Dale Anderson, there is no way that I could do this camp. Dale works with the high school team and has a lot of knowledge about the game. Both of them have a great way of connecting with the kids. I also want to think the City of Andalusia and the staff at the golf course for allowing us to use the facility and providing us with everything that we need.”
The camp continues to run throughout the summer on Wednesday afternoons, Gilbert said.
“We are out here one day per week,” Gilbert said. “Every day that we are out here we are covering different aspects of the game.”
Aside from learning how to play golf, Gilbert said a big part of the camp would be to talk about how to act on the golf course.
“A big thing we want to cover is golf etiquette,” Gilbert said. “That’s a big part of the game of golf. Knowing how to behave on the golf course is very crucial. It’s important to know how to treat the course, as well as how to treat the other players on the course.”