By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



The Gardendale City Council had a full agenda at its Monday night meeting, including a resolution to hire six new firefighters.

The hiring of the personnel was approved in the 2007-2008 budget for the city.

Mayor Kenny Clemons said while the new firefighters would help fill a needed gap, the city needs twice that many.

Clemons said resolution to place a 10 mil property tax on Gardendale residents would have given the city the necessary funds for more personnel and for an additional firehouse on Fieldstown Road. However, that resolution did not pass.

“We’re getting spread out,” Clemons said Tuesday. “We need six at the current fire station and six more on Fieldstown Road to really cover us. Since the tax didn’t pass, I don’t see the money there right now.”

Clemons said at the meeting that the positions would not be filled immediately, and some firefighters may require training before they can begin.

The city also passed a capital budget of more than $2.2 million for city improvements and new equipment.

Some of those expenditures will include a new firetruck, six new police cars, a new backhoe loader, leaf machine and money set aside for improvements to the civic center, Celebration Park and expanding the Martha Moore – Gardendale Public Library.

In other business, the council also adopted a business license ordinance to go into effect on Jan. 1.

The ordinance is part of the Business License Reform Act of 2006, passed by the state.

Gardendale City Clerk Keith Mosley said the new ordinance had mandatory requirements from some business owners. He said other provisions of the bill were already in place. “The general purpose of the act was to try to make as much as possible uniform from one city to the next,” he said.

One of the biggest changes involves the renewal period for businesses to renew a license. Owners must now renew business licenses before Jan. 31, or face a 15 percent penalty in February and a 15 percent penalty every month thereafter.

Businesses previously had until the end of February to renew licenses with a 10 percent penalty after Feb. 28.

“Up to this point, we’ve been somewhat generous, compared to other cities,” Mosley said. “This will be more restrictive. We don’t want the businesses to pay more than they have to. We don’t want anyone to be caught off guard.”

Other changes concern deliveries into the city. Gardendale is now required to allow businesses to have a delivery license that will apply to businesses located outside the city.

Previously, merchants outside the city would have been required to pay the same license fee as a merchant located inside the city. However, Mosley said the new license will only cost about $100, with the provision that value of items brought into the city is less than $75,000. In that case, Mosleysaid the city is allowed collect the amount of a full license.

Mosley said some license rates will increase, especially on builders. However, he said it would only affect larger contractors and builders. He said the rate would increase from about $600 to $800 or more for the larger builders. Likewise, the rates will also increase for larger retailers. “If there was going to be an increase, we didn’t want it to be on the smaller mom and pop stores,” he said.

In other business, the council:

• had a hearing of a weed control ordinance at 2624 Decatur Hwy. The council voted to cut and assess the cost to the owner, Landmark Lighthouse Assembly.

• authorized three new fire hydrants in the Turnberry Ridge subdivision

• hired Mark Thomas as a full-time laborer in the Public Works Department

• appointed Dr. Patrick Armstrong to the library board

• created an administrative assistant position at the civic center and promoted Georgiann Pickens to that position

• hired Joseph Clete Foshee as a police officer

• hired James Watkins as a part-time public safety dispatcher in the police department

• authorized a new street light at the intersection of Fieldstown Road and Cades Cove Drive

The council will meet again on Oct. 5 at 6 p.m.