UPDATE: Tonight is the HMS Fundraiser at Zaxby from 5p-9pm. Buy some chicken and help them raise money. They get a percentage off every sale!!
Congrats to the Ace Mohicans who won 1st place at the Cheersport competition in Atlanta. It is largest National cheer competition in the nation. Cameron Jones, from Helena, AL, is on the squad.
Grethel Van Epps will be offering basic photography classes in March. It includes learning to use a DSLR Camera and functions like ISO, Shutter Speed, lighting, composition, live shots, and post processing. You can find out more at her website: LINK
Sports Update
Congrats to the Helena Softball team who won their opening game against Clay 13-0
The Pelham baseball Team defeated Oxford 12-2 in their season opener.
HMS Soccer team won their opening game as well 4-0
Also the Shelby Starlets junior and senior division teams both won first place at the Twirl Mania International Baton competition in Orlando FL at the ESPN Center... Way to Go to Everyone!
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The webcam at the Depot is up and running. I bought the external webcam, but Robbie Howerton configured it, Jack Gray ran the cables, and Matt Bishop is hosting it at the Helena Depot. We would like it to stream live HD video, so news stations will say, "Let go look at the Helena Waterfall". I am also worried about people stealing or vandalizing it so keep an eye out for it for me. Also go see Matt at the Depot and get your picture taken. The images are uploading every 60 seconds HERE.
City Council Meeting
We had a Helena City Council meeting last night. You can get an official copy of the minutes from the City Clerk. Here are the highlights from it.
Discussion on Pavilion Rentals: Leigh presented the Mayor and Council with a draft program which would allow people to reserve the pavilions at Joe Tucker and Cahaba Lily park. Currently it is first, come first serve. We discussed fees, who would responsible for scheduling, and the cost to rent. She is going to rework the rules and bring it back to Council. The fees would be around $25 for 2 hours and a $50 deposit. If everything is worked out, they would implement in April.
Discussion on the Shelby One Project: We discussed the proposal from the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce to join the Shelby One project which would help us recruit businesses. We agreed to join, but need to put on the agenda for next meeting so it can be approved with an official vote.
Newsletter Bid Discussion on the new RFP for the newsletter bid: Mike Jones wrote a revised bid which will be put on the City website tomorrow. The last day to accept bids will be on March 4th at 4:30pm.
The March 18th Council meeting will be moved to March 25th because of Spring Break.
Bills: We approved the bills for the month and it was three pages long but here are some of the big ones:
$15,873 community center monthly payment (We will be paying on it for awhile)
$12,498 Alabama Power
$1,500 Bridge Inspections
$1,194 Tires for Fire and Police vehicles
$37,737 Health Care
Mayor Report
Mayor Hall gave an overview of the Public Safety numbers for the month. The Helena Police had 3,562 calls last month. They had 35 misdemeanor arrests, and 11 felony arrest. The Fire Department had 53 calls and the majority of them were medical related. Also the Bond refinance was delayed due to auditing issues. We should know something in two weeks.
The City presented donations, from the 1 cent education sales tax, to the schools in Helena:
$10,000 HES, $10,000 HIS and $10,000 HMS. Also the bids for the Helena High Football Stadium, Sport building and fields are due on the last Thursday of this month, so we should have more news about that.
Helena Street Light Project : This project is ongoing. We had 14 street light bulb replaced at no cost to the city last Friday. Keep emailed me addresses of where lights are out and the Helena police will also check them as they go on patrol. We also found out that Alabama power has started charging for new light installation so we will have to be careful about where we decide to add new light fixtures. We will also meet with engineers to find out the plans of Alabama Power and Shelby County so we are no overlapping.
Work Day: Report from Park and Rec liaison regarding first work day:
Leigh Hulsey reported that volunteers worked at the sports complex, and Penhale Park. They painted all pressbox wood, doors frames, and railing and cleaned bathrooms. They also replaced the windstring, turf in cages, and soccer nets.
If you are interested in getting involved the Park and Rec committee meets on 2nd and 4th Tuesday of everyone month at 6pm at the Recreation Center center in the Penhale Room (downstairs to the right)
Approve Landscape project for the entrance of the Rec center: The Council approved the Mayor to make improvements to the Sports Complex. He would also like to see the gravel removed in areas and replaced with sod.
Pole banners for city light poles. Mayor Hall paid for the Husky banners at the 261/52 intersection with his own money. He would like the Council to look at replacing the older banners throughout the city. They cost between $40-60 dollars each.
Update on Buck Creek Trail project: They are ready to turn in the final plan to ALDOT. If there are no major changes, then it could bid out by the end of July.
4 comments:
I'm glad they're thinking of pavilion rentals, at least for weekends and holidays. As long as it's kept affordable, I think it's a great idea. We had a birthday party at Cahaba Lily in April 2003 and got there at 8 am and someone sat at a pavilion with our stuff until it was party time!
I don't think it is a good idea at all. Our tax money already paid for the pavillions. When we shop in Helena we pay a city tax on our goods, that tax goes to the parks. So you are renting something you already paid for. Maybe there should be a systems to "reserve" it but not rent it.
In all honesty, I don't mind paying a nominal fee to rent a pavillion. A few years ago, I wanted to have my daughter's birthday at Cahaba Lily, got there at the CRACK of dawn, and found that someone had apparently spent the night up there to hold their spot. We ended up having her party at our house, which turned out great, but was a stressful nightmare. Thanks to the City Council for considering rentals and developing guidelines - we plan to take advantage of our city parks more often for events now!
It is good to get this feedback. I had just spoke to Leigh yesterday about it. So far, the vibe I am getting is that people like the idea of reserving the pavilions but...
from theses comments and others on facebook... There seems to be some division about whether it should be free or not.
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