City of Hanceville

Hanceville’s summer concert series is shuffling its plans to give a wide berth to the coronavirus pandemic.

City officials announced Thursday that the first concert in the series, originally scheduled for May 9, has been postponed and rescheduled for Oct. 10. Held at the Hanceville Civic Center, the concert will feature Gospel singers The Kingsmen, who’ll appear alongside Gadsden-based Gold City.

“We just didn’t feel, by May 9, that a lot of folks would feel like getting back into a crowd of 200 or 300 people,” explained mayor Kenneth Nail. The three-show concert series also includes a headlining concert currently scheduled for Sept. 19 featuring Confederate Railroad. So far, there’s no word that the date for that concert has been affected by the pandemic.

During the emergency period, municipal leaders are taking additional measures to keep their meetings compliant with pandemic safety protocols. Beginning with Thursday’s regular meeting, the city council has temporarily shifted its meeting times to 4 p.m. from their usual 6 p.m. start, and has dispensed with the 30-minute work session that precedes each meeting.

Council members wore face masks and spread themselves out around the room inside City Hall at Thursday’s meeting, and emphasized that audience attendance is not encouraged during the pandemic.

In terms of actual business, the council approved financing for a pair of new vehicles Thursday — one for a replacement police patrol truck valued at $31,000; the other for a budgeted SUV for the fire department valued at $34,700.

The council’s next regular meeting will be held April 23 at 4 p.m.