By Keith McCoy
City City Hall 3
The Mountain Brook City Council, at its regular meeting for Monday, July 26, approved a contract with a provider of E-911 services for the city.
The three-year contract is between the Mountain Brook Emergency Communications District and the Shelby County Emergency Communications District.
Shelby E-911 will provide call answering and public safety dispatch services for Mountain Brook.
In addition to Mountain Brook, Shelby E-911 also provides these services for some other emergency communications districts and communities in Shelby and Jefferson counties.
E-911 services for Mountain Brook are currently provided by dispatchers employed in-house and supervised by police personnel.
The contract must still be approved by the Shelby County Emergency Communications District, said Mountain Brook Police Chief Ted Cook.
The effective date of the contract had not been pinned down, but it should be July 26, pending approval by Shelby County, said Steve Boone, Mountain Brook Assistant City Manager.
Following the effective date of the contract, there will be five-month implementation period, lasting until about Jan. 10, 2022.
After the implementation period, services are expected to begin in January, Boone told Village Living.
Mountain Brook will pay a one-time fee up front of $132,000 for hardware and other equipment costs, according to a draft of the contract in the council’s agenda packet.
The city will then pay a monthly charge of $43,500.
Councilor Billy Pritchard, who chaired the meeting in the absence of City Council President Virginia Smith, said that the contract has been thoroughly and carefully discussed.
“It’s been discussed by our police chief, our fire chief, our lawyers,” Pritchard said.
The council also approved the following:
- A resolution authorizing the execution of a three-year agreement between the city and Trobaugh and Company LLC to provide tax and license auditing services.
- A resolution authorizing the execution of an agreement between the city and Avenu Insights & Analytic,LLC to provide tax and license discovery services.
- A resolution recommending that the Alabama Alcohol Beverage Control Board issue a special events retail license to TRO Inc., which presents the annual Otey’s Fest. The event will be held at Otey’s Tavern on July 31.
- The reappointment of Jennifer M. McInerney to the Jefferson County Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Authority to serve a six-year term without compensation through July 27, 2027.
Eagle Scout project
The council also approved a project by Eagle Scout Grayson Hydinger, who is creating a dog park at the lower end of the playing field at Mountain Brook Elementary School. Hydinger told the council that he had already received approval from some other city bodies, including the planning commission and the Parks and Recreation Department.
“All funding will be direct donations through the Eagle Scout process,” Hydinger said.
Hydinger said he is only asking that the city run a water line about 70 feet to the site of a water fountain that will be part of his project.
He also asked for some help in clearing some natural debris at the site, including some rocks and limbs.
Local honors
Mayor Stewart Welch III read a proclamation honoring three Mountain Brook police officers who were killed in the line of duty since the Mountain Brook Police Department was created in 1942: Sgt. Freddie Jackson Harp, killed on Aug. 6, 1973; Officer George Todd Herring, killed Sept. 19, 2987; and Officer Theron Houlditch, killed Dec. 14, 1990. To honor the men, the city will fly the U.S. flag at half staff each year on the dates they were killed.
The mayor also read a proclamation honoring two long-time Mountain Brook merchants. One proclamation honors Buddy Selman, who owned and operated Selman and Company barber shop in Crestline Village from 1969 until July 2021. The other proclamation honored Dale Meisner, who co-owned the barber shop beginning in 1981.
The next regular meeting of the City Council is Aug. 9 at 7 p.m.
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