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City Flag Contest
To all interested individuals:
The City Council of the City of Talladega is sponsoring a contest to create the first official City flag. This contest is open to the public, and all submittals will be considered. The City Council has allotted a prize of $500.00 for the design selected.
The rules are as follows:
- The design may be submitted in either hard copy or digital format.
- The flag must be relative to the history, future, intent or mission of the City.
- The flag should encourage pride, ownership, and direction for the City and its citizens.
- A written explanation of the reasoning behind the design process must be submitted alongside the proposal.
- Entries must be submitted to Heritage Hall, 200 South Street East, Talladega, Alabama 35160.
- Entries must be submitted by April 30, 2014.
The staff and board of Heritage Hall will review all entries and submit the most promising to the City Council for consideration. The winner will receive $500.00 plus recognition at a City Council meeting.
Meet the newest member of the Talladega Police Department
The newest member of the Talladega Police Department is an 18-month-old Belgian Malinois named Andor. His partner and handler will be patrolman Daniel Chesser, and the two will be heading off to complete their training together this weekend.
"We're really happy to have progressed to this point with our canine program," Chief Jason Busby said Wednesday. "I would like to thank the manager and council who backed us up, the generous support of the Talladega County Sheriff's Office and all the private businesses and citizens who contributed. I think they will see pretty quickly what a great asset having a dog of this type is to the public safety of the citizens of this city and county."
Andor has already been trained in narcotics detection, tracking and apprehension, Busby said. "He's very impressive."
Chesser and Andor will be heading to Indiana Sunday for a six week course to let the dog and handler learn to work closely together, Busby explained. "It's intense physical and mental training, that covers a lot of legal issues, too," he said. "This facility is world renowned, they have dogs serving in all branches of the military and with law enforcement agencies worldwide."
When they come back, their vehicle should be fully outfitted, also.
This is not Chesser's first time working with a canine, he said. He also served as a handler with the Harpersville Police Department for about four years.
"I've always loved dogs," he said. "And I have always believed that dogs are an absolutely crucial part of police work."
Although the dog and handler both work for the Talladega Police Department, they will be available to other agencies in the area as well, especially since the Talladega County Sheriff's Office helped provide some of the financing.
Chris Norwood/The Daily Home
Road Closing
A portion of Spring Street, beginning at the intersection of McMillan Street and ending near Spring Street Recreation Center will be closed beginning on Tuesday, February 11th. Access to Spring Street from Gary Street and Sunset Drive will also be closed at this time. The purpose of this closure is to allow for the replacement of the drainage culvert under Spring Street, and associated utility replacement. It is estimated that this section of road will be closed for a minimum of 4-6 weeks. This closure was initially scheduled for early December but was delayed due to adverse weather conditions.
Water service is expected to be interrupted on Tuesday, February 11th as initial demolition of the culvert takes place. Service is expected to be restored by noon of the same day. The areas impacted are: Spring Street South, Pinehurst Drive, Alicia Avenue, Glenwood Road, Dabney Road, Sunset Drive, Gary Street, Bradford Avenue, Short Street, and George Holdridge Lane.
Signage will be installed to direct drivers onto alternate routes during this construction period. Citizens are advised that the timetable for initiating work may be modified based on weather conditions.
Operations at the Spring Street Recreation Center will not be impeded by this closure and both parking lots will remain operable at this time.
Citizens should note that the recycling bin is still located at the Rescue Squad building on George Holdridge Lane, pending completion of work on the western boundary of the park.
TFD to install free smoke detectors
The Talladega Fire Department will be giving out and installing free smoke detectors to homes with elderly people and school aged children, thanks to a federal grant.
The grant, worth approximately $30,000, was awarded through the federal Fire Protection and Safety Program and aims to assist segments of the population most vulnerable to fire-related injury. Firefighters will assist with the installation of the alarms.
Qualified residents may download the application below and return the completed application to Station 1.
For more information, please call 256-362-3149.
Click here to download the Smoke Detector Application.
Veterans Park Renovations
At the Council meeting of July 8, 2013 the Council approved a contract with Waites Construction for the renovation of Veterans Park. The park will be closed to the public beginning Wednesday, July 17th to allow for construction.
Items addressed in this project include:
- Reshaping of the drainage channel
- Completion of the northern walking track
- Installation of new pedestrian bridges
- Installation of underground park lighting
- Construction of overflow parking lot
The renovations will take place over the next 120-150 days, during which time the Park will be closed for all activities. During this period citizens are encouraged to utilize the walking tracks at Hill-Pope Park, Duncan Pinkston Park, and the Alabama School for the Deaf.
Thank you for your understanding and patience during this time. The City looks forward to reopening the revamped Veterans Park in the near future for all to enjoy.
Click here to view the Veterans Park proposed improvements.
Safe Routes to School Project
Construction of the City's Safe Routes to School project, funded by the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) in 2012, will commence at the end of July. The City partnered with the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind (AIDB) to apply for $150,000.00 in funding to improve the walkability of South Street and surround areas. These improvements will include:
- Construction of new sidewalks on Astrid Place, Johnson Street, and Norman C. Woods Street.
- Installation of multiple elevated crosswalks
- Installation of ADA compliant curb cuts
- Crosswalk striping
Triple J. Construction, the project contractor, is expected to begin work on July 22, 2013. The timeline for completion is approximately seven weeks.
The completion of this work will provide increased opportunities for students at AIDB, Zora Ellis Junior High, and Graham Elementary, to walk to school each day. All residents of the area will benefit from the elevated crosswalks, which will make pedestrians more visible to drivers. Elevated crosswalks also serve to calm the speed of traffic in residential areas, which traffic counts of the area have deemed to be an issue of concern.
Arbor Day
The City of Talladega planted a Japanese Cherry tree at the entrance to the Police Department in honor of Arbor Day. Pictured are Phillip Horne (Alabama Forestry Commission), Brian Muenger (City Manager), Alan Watson (Police Chief), Mitch Bast (Community Appearance Dept. Director) and Emily Rowland (Forest Ranger). There will be an Alabama Forestry Commission "Tree Give Away" on Thursday, February 28, 2013 starting at 10:00 am in Veterans' Park in Talladega. The City of Talladega has been a "Tree City USA" member since 2008.
M-Tek comes to Talladega
Representatives of city, county and state government as well as numerous business interests turned out Thursday morning for the ribbon cutting ceremony at M-Tek, in the Coosa Valley Industrial Park.
Pictured to the right are Akai Harris, Gerald Cade, County Commission Chairman Kelvin Cunningham, Mayor Larry Barton, Gov. Robert Bentley, plant manager Dale Grant, CVEC vice president Leland Fuller, Talladega County Economic Development Authority Chairman Cleve Jacobs, Mark Vandevelde of Honda Manufacturing of America, Masaaki Maeda of HMA, Masaki Sugisawa President and CEO of M-Tek, Kuniyuki Watanabe president of Kasai Kogyo Co., Ltd. Kasai Kogyo is the parent company of M-Tek.
The company, which makes interior trim pieces for Honda, currently employs 54 people, but that number is expected to increase to 128 by the end of the year. The company employs a total of 3,200 associates in five plants nationwide. The company reported earnings in excess of $700 million last year.
Bob Crisp/The Daily Home
Messages
To Report Street Light Outages call the Public Works Department at (256) 362-2825.
Customers having garbage/yard waste curbside more than the three days prior to collection or leaving their cart curbside more than one day after collection are guilty of a misdemeanor and will be subject to a fine or penalties as stated in City Ordinance #1580.
