The Colony mayor and council will be taking a field trip next month to see a veterans tiny home community in action. 

At Tuesday’s Colony Town Council workshop, Chris Warnick and Karla Albertus asked the council for a land donation for a tiny house community in Colony, but, before making any decisions, the council decided to visit one of the existing Forever and Always Patriots villages.

Warnick, founder of the Carpenter’s Cabinet food bank, said they were asking the town to donate a 10-acre property and another 43-acre property, upon which the group could build tiny homes for homeless veterans. “There are about 3,200 homeless veterans in Alabama,” he said. “We’d like to close that gap.” 

In an earlier interview Warnick told the Times that a typical stay in the all-veteran community would last from 12 to 18 months, and would come with specific requirements in order to assure that vets are investing in their own success.

“Each veteran would need to qualify for the program and would be required to do 24 hours of community service as a condition of living there,” he explained. “There would be a 24-hour on-site proprietor, as well as a requirement that they stay on their medications and meet with their doctors on a regular basis. They’d be required to be home at a certain time overnight, and to have no overnight guests. We want it to be very focused on veterans’ efforts to become independent in society, and to work on the things that may be holding them back.”

The village would include some veterans services and, possibly, a veterans administration clinic, he said. Albertus said they may also include a small store on the site, as well as a woodworking shop where veterans can sell items they make.

Councilman Melvin Hammond, who is a veteran, said he has some reservations about the town donating the land. “I like the idea, but we need some financial benefits,” he said. “We have no other business here to improve the Colony financially.”

Albertus said the veterans would pay for water and electricity, bringing some revenue to the town. In addition, she said, the veterans would be required to perform community service. “They bring a lot to the table,” she said. “There’s just so many avenues you have out here that we can help our homeless veterans and they want to help the community.”

The council decided to leave the final decision to the next administration, which takes office in November, but in the meantime, they are planning a trip to one of the villages in Dora to see how it operates. 

“The new administration will take a close look at it,” said Councilman Curtis Johnson, the incoming mayor.

During the regular town meeting, Councilwoman Ethel Alexander said she’d been asked by some local parents for assistance with virtual schooling. 

“They were having problems getting their kids online and virtual learning,” she said. In response, Alexander is working with them three days a week at the Colony Education Complex. “What I’m doing is just assisting them in whatever areas they have concerns with,” she said.

The students – kindergarten through 6th grade – meet in the main auditorium where they can social distance and do their classwork. 

“The three mothers are working well together,” she said. “They’re doing a very good job as a team and I commend them for even trying. With the support of the community backing them and supporting them, I think they will do very well.” 

At the urging of Mayor Donnis Leeth, the council voted to provide $50 per month to purchase supplies and incentives for the students.