The City of Andalusia will be closed on Mon., Jan. 19, in observance of the MLK holiday. Monday's garbage routes will be picked up on Tuesday, along with Tuesday's routes. 

The Andalusia Police Department had fewer calls for service, fewer burglaries, fewer theft cases, and no murders in 2025, Police Chief Paul Hudson told the Andalusia City Council this past week.

Of the 13,838 calls answered by the APD in 2025, approximately a third, or 4,475 of those were traffic stops, from which 1,341 citations and 217 warnings were issued.

Hudson said burglary cases decreased from 66 to 49 in 2025; theft of property decreased from 337 to 284 cases in 2025; and there were no murders in 2025, compared with one in 2024.

All told, the department made 555 arrests in 2025, 34 of which were for DUIs.

“That averages 1,153 calls a month,” Hudson said.

The council met in an extended workshop session to set goals for the current quadrennium, and asked department heads to discuss anticipated needs.

Hudson expressed his appreciation for the investments made in equipment for the department, and especially for additional cameras.

“Y’all approved our camera system in December of 2024, and it is now all installed,” he said. “Since it’s been installed, we’ve made five cases using them. It’s been very useful in just a short period of time.”

 Hudson said he currently is researching the issuing of photo tickets, and using AI to help analyze traffic footage.

“We’re not trying to be a speed trap,” he said, adding that at the busiest times, making traffic stops on the bypass could make it less safe.

He said a system he’s investigating to help analyze traffic data could save officers hours of time.

“Right now, if we’re looking for a certain color and style of a vehicle in relation to a crime, we have to watch footage from numerous cameras, and that takes a a lot of time,” he said. “If we can implement this system, it could help us solve crimes more quickly.”

Hudson said he also is researching the possibility of asking the council to address a new ordinance addressing the feral cat population, an issue Councilman Terry Powell has put on the table for discussion numerous times. He said one of his constituents has a serious problem in his yard because his neighbor feeds a large number of feral cats.

Hudson said one possible solution is to fine anyone caught feeding a feral colony, as they are potentially helping create a nuisance.

Enhancing the quality of life for local residents will again be a major goal for the Andalusia City Council, based on discussions in an extended workshop meeting brainstorming with department heads as city leaders plan for the next four years.

Planning Director Andy Wiggins said the installation of new playground equipment in Robinson Park will begin in February, and will take four to six weeks to complete.

Struthers Reaction, LLC was the low bidder for the project, which will be funded in part with a $400,000 Community Development Block Grant.

Wiggins said that even though the City just completed its 2025 Candyland event, planning has already begun for next year, when all of the features traditionally housed on the City Hall campus will move to Heritage Park.

“In a new location, it will be new and different like we just started again,” Wiggins said. “It won’t be nearly as congested.”

Needs for Johnson Park also were discussed. City Recreation Board and School Board member Billy Bergfeld was among those attending the meeting, Bergfeld said one thing parents have requested is shade structures over the seating areas, which could also offer foul ball protection. Bull pens also could increase safety, he said.

Parks and Recreation Director Willie Edwards said drainage work is needed in the areas used as auxiliary fields, and possible an additional restroom and concession area. The number of students participating in youth sports has grown, he said, especially in basketball and volleyball, which was added two years ago.

Councilman Jeremy Craig also expressed a need for additional soccer fields to support a newly-formed soccer club, Andalusia United.

The Council also addressed upgrades to Cooper Pool.

“We’ve talked about an indoor aquatic center,” Mayor Earl Johnson said. “We cannot afford an indoor aquatic center.

“Those are plain facts,” he said. “To build a true indoor facility that would be attractive for hosting meets would cost between $12 million and $15 million to build and another million dollars a year to operate it. We are not going to have that kind of money.

“Now, that being said, we do want to improve our swim center,” he said.

Wiggins said the city has explored the cost of new construction vs. upgrades to the existing facility, and that needed repairs at Cooper Pool will likely total $1.2 million. The City had a geologist survey the property last spring after swim coach Darren Forry, who attended the planning meeting, alleged it was hollow underneath and dangerous for children.

“That’s an aluminum liner in the pool,” Wiggins said. “It’s not hollow underneath. When you let the water out of the aluminum, it expands and contracts, and the aluminum has nowhere to go but up. That’s why it appears to you to be buckled. The biggest problem is in the filter house. As the water circulates, the old pipes are leaking. We’re going to need to dig everything up and put new pipes back to it.”

The $1.2 million estimate also includes the construction of new restroom facilities.

The Council also discussed needs for police and fire protection, as well as future paving projects and the continued need for workforce housing.

Local Realtor Sue Wilson attended the meeting with photographs she had taken that morning of bungalow-type houses that need work.

“Therse are in lower-value neighborhoods,” she said. “All of these pictures show junk, but abatement won’t take care of the problem completely. We need an emphasis in the spring about clean up, paint up, fix up,” she said. “The City could offer incentives to help people.

“Maybe we could start the beautification awards again, emphasizing smaller neighborhoods,” she said. “They just need help. They just haven’t thought about putting things off the front porch.”

Mayor Johnson asked Wilson to lead that effort.

“I think this would be better received coming from citizens, and not the government,” he said. “People resent someone from the government making them do something.”

Wilson said owners of bungalow homes “don’t understand what they’ve got.”

“Andalusia could be a beautiful place,” she said.

The Council is expected to adopt a resolution formalizing its goals in the coming months.

The City of Andalusia will need to look at building a second fire station in the future if it is to maintain its recently-improved ISO rating, Fire Chief Russell McGlamory told the Andalusia City Council this past week.

The Insurance Services Office (ISO) monitors fire departments’ abilities to respond to emergencies, as well as infrastructure, water departments and many other agencies that factor into an area’s overall safety. ISO then rates the overall safety of an area on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the safest and 10 the most unsafe. High ISO scores can increase home insurance rates in the community.

In May, Andalusia’s ISO rating improved from Class 4 to Class 3, the best it’s ever earned.

“We are very, very proud of that rating,” McGlamory said. “The number of departments with a Class 3 rating is small. But with expansion and more and more things, there will come a time when we will have to have a second station to maintain that rating.”

McGlamory said that aside from an additional physical location, the biggest requirement for the station would be additional manpower.

“We can spread the trucks out,” he said. “The issue is having someone to respond quickly.”

He also pointed out the cost for equipment is rapidly rising. The newest truck, purchased in 2019, cost $458,000.

“That truck is now twice that,” he said.

He also said the city could qualify for grant funding to replace its ladder truck, because the 1984 model is the only ladder truck in the county and the department provides mutual aid for fire departments in Opp, Sanford and Hopewell.

The council met in an extended workshop session to set goals for the current quadrennium, and asked department heads to discuss anticipated needs.