Council Begins Action On Land, Buildings
Monday evening, the City Council took steps for property development in the area, and the first action will come at a council work session Thursday evening. At that session, the panel will decide on hiring professionals for an inspection of a number of pieces of property.
According to Monday's council, the council will meet for informal discussions on business previously discussed. These issues could include the review of leases at the old Piedmont Hospital and Nursing Home property, review the final Mountain View lease cancellation and review surplus land and buildings.
The council made a step in that direction by voting to declare surplus one parcel of downtown property. The land fronts on West Ladiga Street and was the former location of Guttery Insurance Agency. The motion to dispose of the land included a provision to enlist the aid of the Commercial Development Authority.
Authority chairman Lane Weatherbee told the council that proposal should be requested, rather than bids. This would allow interested parties to provide information on the use, construction time and appearance of the site. Once proposals were advertised and received, the authority will review them, determine the ones best suited for the city and recommend the choice to the council.
The group got a jump on the property decisions under city scrutiny. On a motion by Councilman Doug Goss, the council approved the purchase of the old PCA insurance building on the north side of the current city offices. The only dissenting vote came from Councilman Eddie Baldwin. The building will be used for an expansion of the city and county office, and half the $56,000 purchase price will be paid from county coffers.
Work is currently underway to revamp the building for use as offices. The new space will allow for housing the water, gas, sewer, electric, county and city administrative offices. It will also house a meeting room and other amenities.
In other issues dealing with property use, the Planning commission will meet in two sessions to review revisions of the current zoning map. The first will be Jan. 19 for the map review, and the second on Jan. 26 to conduct a public hearing on the "comprehensive plan" governing property use within the city limits.
According to City Clerk Bill Fann, a number of local residents had been using security lights at no cost. Fann said the city was guilty of not billing the customers, and there would be no penalties involved. In most cases, the customers will be billed as if the lights had been recently installed.
Fann reported that the new computer software had been pressed into use, and all city payroll checks had been generated by the program. He said it included the number of compensatory hours and accrued leave time on each check.
By the end of the month, the software will be conducting the city's general accounting
Mayor Charlie Fagan said much of the work at Veterans Memorial Park had been completed, included the installation of the new flags and their bases. Next on the agenda is to install railing around the flags and the monument.
Fann told the council he had been asked about a cost-of-living increase for city retirees. He reported he had researched the matter and learned that no action could be taken until next October.
The cost of the four-percent benefit increase is $8,700 per year.
Fagan told the council most of the business houses in the downtown area were improved and functioning, with the exception of the Dean Humphrey and Buster Miles buildings. The council will decide on hiring a professional inspector to examine the structures and recommend any action to be taken by the city.
The mayor reported the Water Department had encountered some problems with its new dump truck, but the dealer had corrected the malfunctions and the vehicle was now in use.
Fann cautioned the elected official of the necessity of filing their annual ethics forms. He told the group the deadline was drawing near, and the Alabama League of Municipalities was providing forms on the Internet. The forms could be completed "on line," but must be printed and sent to the Ethics Commission.
The only other business at Monday's meeting was the approval of paying $288,356.96 in monthly bills. Of that amount, $110,679.51 was paid to the Alabama Municipal Electric Authority for electrical energy, and $73,168.11 was for the operation of the water, gas and sewer departments.

City Is Returning Local Utility Deposits
City officials say the much anticipated refunds on utility deposits began in December and would continue for the next several months.
Customers, however, should not expect a refund check on their deposits. Instead the refund will be in the form of a credit on their utility bill. The amount, of course, will depend on the amount paid as a deposit.
Employees began with route one and would continue in sequential order until route 24 is completed.
³Itıs going to take some time before all the routes are completed, perhaps up to six months,² said City Clerk Bill Fann. ³The timing of the credit will depend on the route number assigned to the residence or business.²
Mayor Charlie Fagan announced in a City Council meeting in May that the deposit account being used for these funds contained approximately $312,000 and eliminating the account would save the city money in accounting fees.
Customers requesting new utility service from the city are now required to pay a fee to establish service instead of making a deposit. The fee is non-refundable.
Fann also noted that some utility customers may notice the absence in jumps in their water bills.
Misreading the meter or not reading it at all caused some customers to have lower water bills for a time, followed by an unusually high bill.
He said that in the past some water meters had not been read on a monthly basis as they should have been and the employee or employees responsible for the neglect were no longer employed by the city.
Dennis Peek has been named as supervisor of all the meter readers and Fann said Peekıs conscientious work habits will ensure customers meters will be read in a timely and consistent manner.

Looking Back At 2005, The Second Installment JULY
A giant slide, climbing tower and rides on the cityıs bucket truck were part of the activities available to the nearly 2,000 people who attended the annual Independence Day celebration at the Clyde Pike Civic Center. Members of the city administration staff distributed food and drink certificates while city office employees handed out soft drinks and bottled water during the dayıs events. The Piedmont Male Chorus entertained and area veterans were recognized during the patriotic portion of the event.
City employeesı 15 percent increase in claims and 52-percent increase in prescription coverage added to a 76-percent increase in major medical costs caused Blue Cross Blue Shield to increase employeesı share of the insurance plan to increase to about $80 per week. City officials were concerned yet did not have a solution for the problem faced by employees whose take-home pay threatened to drop below $200 per week.
Piedmont experienced heavy rains and fairly high winds from Hurricane Dennis but was not affected in the same manner as others areas of Alabama. City crews spent a long night sitting and watching the progress of the storm on July 9. During the storm, there were several brief power outages, with most being caused by fallen limbs.
Heavy smoke from a wood-burning furnace in Garner subdivision brought a resident to the City Council meeting to voice their complaints and ask for action.
As the city began preparing for the coming fiscal year budget, a report from the JSU Economic Development Department indicated that Piedmont was below average in its pay for beginning police officers and the salaries of some office employees were below the average of similar size cities.
City crews worked diligently to remedy the drainage problems at Piedmont Middle and Elementary schools before the opening of the school year in August. The work was a part of the cityıs pledge to assist local schools and saved the school system about $100,000.
Fagan requested the councilıs help on locating areas where street signs have been stolen and looking in the districts for additional street repairs. He promised the installation of the traffic light in the center of town would be complete ³soon.² AUGUST
For the first time in the cityıs history the proposed budget approached $10 million, Fann explained that it was up by about 40 percent because of the cityıs acquisition of the Water Works, Gas and Sewer Board. The City Council began looking at the cityıs surplus property for possible sale and interviewed seven candidates competing for the position of Parks and Recreation Director made vacant when Danny Stone retired in June.
The stop signs in the middle of town were finally removed and the traffic signal was once again in charge of determining who went when.
The Bulldogs opened the ı05 football season in Randolph County under slightly different rules and Spring Garden opened their season in a game against Jacksonville Christian.
Work at the Veterans Memorial Park was in full swing as crews built a retaining wall and re-routed the water safely around the monument site.
Hurricane Katrina struck the southern coastal areas and cause more local damage than Hurricanes Dennis or Ivan
After more than 20 years of service Terry Kiser retired from his duties at the Piedmont Police Department and was honored with a retirement party at the Clyde Pike Civic Center. SEPTEMBER .
Local residents teamed up to lend a helping hand by donating and transporting supplies to the victims of the storm.
Consolidated Publishing announced Susan Fann had joined the staff at The Piedmont Journal-Independent and was training in all aspects of the newspaper business.
In mid-September, the City Council voted to terminate the lease with Mountain View and ordered all city vehicles, with the exception of fire and police chiefsı vehicles, to be parked after normal working hours effective immediately. Later Fagan issued an executive order that put the vehicles back into service after reviewing the cityıs Personnel and Policy Procedure Manual. In the following council meeting, Mountain View and city employees, as well as outraged residents, filled the chamber room in support of the facility and the mayor.
Shortly before the Oct. 1 deadline , the council finally passed a budget that called for the transfer of some unrestricted funds and allowed the purchase of drainage pipes, street paving and maintenance of the old hospital building. It also gave gas utility managers the authority to raise gas rates when wholesale gas prices began to rise. OCTOBER
Preferred Heath Care transferred the deed to old hospital building back to the city but company president Jerry Culbertson cautioned beforehand that the building had some areas that would soon need repairs.
In late October, the unexpected death of Carol Weatherbee shocked area residents.
Drs. Rey and Joy Gavino announced the opening of their office at 214 Rome Avenue was set for November 1.
The city surplus property auction netted the city $28,810 and helped move old equipment out of the way.
The City Council agreed to continue to share in the cost of developing the regional airport and approved $13,333.33 as Piedmontıs share of the project. Fagan again requested the council members make note of streets in their districts in need of repair and streets signs that need replacing.
The city announced its intentions on using the new Calhoun County Animal Control Center for stray and uncontrolled animals.
The Piedmont Water Filtration Plant received an award from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management for its continued production of quality drinking water. NOVEMBER
Coach Michael Bobbitt cited personal reasons for resigning his position as head coach at PHS and school officials began the search for his replacement.
After working on the Charter Communication franchise for more than five year, the council passed an ordinance outlining changes in technical requirements and total gross receipts. It also adopted a new business license ordinance used by other municipalities in Alabama.
The Christmas Parade Committee announced a week-long calendar of events beginning Dec. 4 that promised the ³best Christmas ever² in Piedmont.
City officials received a letter from Mountain View asking for reimbursement of expenses for renovations at the old Southside School and announced they would vacate the premises by Dec. 31. DECEMBER
Piedmont Elementary Schoolıs Victory Gym was officially opened in a ribbon cutting ceremony that included state and local officials. The PTO continued to raise funds for the gymıs flooring by selling snacks to faculty and students. Calhoun County Commissioner Rudy Abbott matched the groupıs $5,000 donation with county coffers.
Matt Akin announced Steve Smith as the new head football coach and athletic director at PHS in a special meeting of the Piedmont Board of Education.
The City Council took action to save residents and businesses money on the cost of natural gas by authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement with a Tennessee-based firm. It also promised to re-evaluate the purchase of the building next to the city administration building for purchase.
The Housing Authority completed its annual audit and received a good report from the public accountants. Strictly Personal
Levelized Billing May Be In Piedmont's Future...
Folks, anyone who tries to stay warm in cold weather realizes the increase in the cost of heating. Please, don't call the city offices, but there is help on the way. Each time I have mentioned this topic in news stories, people have started calling the utility offices. Before you grab your phone, read the rest of this column.
First, the average mental midget is blaming the city's control of all utilities for the higher natural gas prices. I guess no one has heard or read that natural gas, fuel oil, diesel and gasoline have jumped in price. It's not just in Piedmont; it's all across the nation. The only factor driving the higher prices is greed on the part of the suppliers. The City of Piedmont has kept prices competitively low. If you don't believe, compare your natural gas or electric bill with the folks who are served by Alabama Power or Alabama Gas. Their bills are also higher because of higher fuel costs.
There is no way to fight higher fuel prices. Congress is both unconcerned and powerless to do anything about it. The people who will suffer, as always, are the poor working person and the people on low fixed incomes. The rest of the nation can find a way to feed the greed of the oil barons, but there are others who suffer.
The only thing that it available to local utility customers is a way to avoid the oppressive mid-winter and mid-summer utility bills is a method of being able to budget your utility costs.
I guess there are a dozen or so names for this method, but the most common in Alabama is levelized monthly billing. It is a mathematically simple practice, and can involve several figures. When I was an Alabama Power customer, the method used was taking the current bill and averaging it with the past 11 months' charges. That way you had a yearly average each month.
Lets look at an example. We all know that the weather in Alabama is as predictable as a rattlesnake, but for the sake of this column, let us declare March, April, May, September, October and November as moderate months. You and I both know that September is often as hot as August, and that the heaviest snows have come in March, but this is only an example. Therefore, lets say the utility bills for an average home run $100 during each of these months.
We all know that we have some mild weather in December and January, but these are normally our coldest months. In this example, we will say the average utility bill will cost $200 for each month.
Of course, June, July and August always bring scorching temperatures to Alabama, so lets make the average utility $200 per month during this quarter.
Here comes the math. Because of the greed of the energy companies and the ineffectiveness of our federal government, we know that February's bill will be higher that any we have experienced during the year. Therefore, lets say next month's bill will be $250.
This is the amount we will have to pay this year, but if the city puts the levelized monthly billing into practice, you would take the $250 and average it over the past 11 months to come up with a $145 bill.
Don't misunderstand what I'm telling you. Yes, the levelized billing will save you money in the extremely cold and hot months, but you will pay for it in the long run.
Using the figures assigned to each month, you will pay more when you use less energy. Using the same formula and assuming your consumption would be the same, your average for the March bill would be in the $140 range, because of the average billing over the past 11 months. That's about $40-$45 more than you would be paying
In short, you would pay an average bill each month, and you would eliminate the extremely high bills in the very hot and very cold months.
This option is not available now. Don't call the city. The new software for city billing computers is in place, but the date for past histories is not installed in the new system. The software was installed in July, and it will be at least June before the computer can establish an average.
City folks tell me it was impossible to cram all the previous billing records into the new system. I can understand that, and so should anyone who deals with computers and installing new programs.
Once the levelized billing is installed, I plan to sign up for it, but it may not be for everyone. The city will have the right to refuse this option to people who have a record of not paying their bills. There are others who would prefer the lower bills in the spring and fall, and can deal with the higher utility costs in the summer and winter.
The levelized billing system will not reduce your utility bills. It is not for everyone, but it will give most customers the opportunity to budget utility costs. That would mean a lot to me, but it will be your decision, and the city can refuse this service if you haven't paid your bills on time.
Again, levelized billing is not available now. It may be available this summer, but you can't sign up for the program today. Don't call the city. The program can be helpful in being able to manage your financial planning throughout the year.
By the way, Piedmont is one of the few municipal utilities that will be offering this service.