Ok guys, I had nice long chat with Mayor Williamson today and we went over a long list of questions, some of mine and mostly those from some of you. I found out a lot of things I didn't know about on how tough a job a new mayor has when taking over the position from a long running mayor. Let's just say things weren't handled as efficiently as they could been while Caldwell was in office.
Here is summation of the questions and answers we came up with:
Question:
What ever happened to the rifle range project?
Cecil said the biggest problem they've come against with this is finding and obtaining a location where it would be completely safe to shoot different kinds of firearms. It has to be completely isolated since ammo can travel for great distances if it misses it's target or ricochets off.
Even if the land was donated the city would still have to maintain insurance on it and hire someone to be there during open hours due to liability. It is still on the agenda but not at the top of the list of things to get done.
Question:
Why does it seem that ALL major decisions from the mayor tend to happen in executive session?
Cecil was really taken back by this as she doesn't recall any major decisions that have been made in executive session pointing out that it is illegal to do so. She said the executive session is strictly for dealing with personnel issues. She said if someone feels this is not the case for them to please email her with more specific cases that she can reply on.
Question:
What are the plans for the Rosenbush Building?
The Rosenbush building is on hold at the present due to cost of fixing it up. She said insurance and maintanence for the buildings are high and at the moment the primary concern is for the building for the police and fire department to be finished. She said the facility where they are housed at the present is horrible and it upsets her to no end. She has been working hard at getting the necessary funding to complete the building so they can get moved in.
Question:
What is the status of the HWY 43 4 lane project?
She said she has been hounding the state officials over this weekly to get this started. The first priority was finishing the hwy 80 4 laning and since that is pretty much in the can she is hoping that they will start soon on the hwy 43 and get it to come through Demopolis and not Greensboro which is a possibility.
Question:
What is the possibility of putting in an activity center or YMCA in the area?
She said she has looked into getting a YMCA but their requirements are such that we don't have enough population for them to build it and even if we did the starting cost is up around a million dollars, that is same with a bowling alley. It is hopeful that once the walmart supercenter is built that more businesses will be attracted to area and with it more recreational type attractions as well.
Question:
What is her view on the Arch Street Project?
She said she has not made up her mind as yet on this but has been studying every piece of information that has come in concerning it and is asking for those who have an opinion on it to please email her and she will also forward them to the council members for the next meeting. I gave her my ideas on it while I was there.
Question:
Is Jeff Manuel going to continue as Acting Police chief and also Public Safety Director.
The answer is yes. As long as Jeff is willing to take on both positions they feel he is doing a great job and is saving the city the yearly salary needed to hire a separate position.
Question:
What is Demopolis doing or planning to do to bring young professionals back to the community after they finish their degree?
The city has started an entrepreneur class for learning how to develop businesses. They are constantly talking with companies to locate in our area and applying for grants for city developement. A big concern is also the downtown area. She is trying to get funding to create a committee that will travel to other small towns that have done well with revitalizing their downtown areas to get ideas and info that can be brought back and discussed for our town. (This I'm all for!)
Question:
Why is the city license for a home builder so much higher than Linden, $25 versus $125?
Cecil said she did not know about license fees and suggested the person talk with the Probate office or License bureau that issues the License for that information.
Question:
Why doesn't the mayor get on this website where we would facilitate a Q&A section?
Cecil said she would consider doing a Question and Answer section, possibly once a week but only if the questions were posted to her on a pm basis with the actual name of the person asking the question. She said she didn't feel comfortable talking with people about matters and she not knowing who she was talking with. She did say what she is wanting to do is have a possible monthly get together with the media, DemopolisLive included, over lunch for a question and answer session. She wants to be open to everyone and prefers to sit down face to face and discuss whatever is on their minds.
I really enjoyed my talk with Cecil and feel she is doing everything humanly possible to do a good and responsible job as Mayor. I hope you all will give her chance. Instead of bad mouthing her on issues, contact her yourself and talk with her about it. There are a lot of issues concerning different aspects of the projects in question that you need to know before passing judgement one way or another. Email city hall with your concerns and you will hear back.
Congratulations AngelWing! You have successfully completed a live interview for DemopolisLive! You took our questions to the Mayor and came back with answers, some meaningful, some still elusive. Maybe the Admins should consider putting you in charge of any weekly interview sessions to be held with the Mayor!
As far as members PM'ing her and revealing their identities, I don't look for that to happen. There will be a couple of members to do it, but I feel most would rather choose to remain anonymous and field questions through a facilitator or moderator such as you have done here.
Ya did good Angelwing! I think I may just sign myself up for an interview in the near future. There were some observations that I had on some of her responsese though:
Question:
What ever happened to the rifle range project?
Cecil said the biggest problem they've come against with this is finding and obtaining a location where it would be completely safe to shoot different kinds of firearms. It has to be completely isolated since ammo can travel for great distances if it misses it's target or ricochets off.
Even if the land was donated the city would still have to maintain insurance on it and hire someone to be there during open hours due to liability. It is still on the agenda but not at the top of the list of things to get done.
This is understandable, but with the public intrest for this area in this, it should be a much higher priority.
Question:
What is her view on the Arch Street Project?
She said she has not made up her mind as yet on this but has been studying every piece of information that has come in concerning it and is asking for those who have an opinion on it to please email her and she will also forward them to the council members for the next meeting. I gave her my ideas on it while I was there.
This sounds a bit too much like a "wanna please everyone" response. With the amount of discussion concerning this project, and the amount of money involved, I find it really hard to believe that she hasn't made up her mind yet. I really think she was dodging on this question, rather than owning up to a particular view.
Question:
Why doesn't the mayor get on this website where we would facilitate a Q&A section?
Cecil said she would consider doing a Question and Answer section, possibly once a week but only if the questions were posted to her on a pm basis with the actual name of the person asking the question. She said she didn't feel comfortable talking with people about matters and she not knowing who she was talking with. She did say what she is wanting to do is have a possible monthly get together with the media, DemopolisLive included, over lunch for a question and
answer session. She wants to be open to everyone and prefers to sit down face to face and discuss whatever is on their minds.
I found this a little hard to swallow as well. Granted, I will always be partial to this site, but I really think she missed the point here. Coming on to the site, but only answering questions via PM and asking the member to no longer be anonymous is ridiculous. What is the problem with having a simple forum where members could post specific questions, and ask for specific responses from someone that works for them?
Great job! I'm not familiar with the requirements for a YMCA, but I'm pretty sure there aren't any for a bowling alley. We had one for years when the population was less.
Quote:
She is trying to get funding to create a committee that will travel to other small towns that have done well with revitalizing their downtown areas to get ideas and info that can be brought back and discussed for our town.
We really need another committee to tell them the obvious? Really?? We have a committee that does nothing but look for dilapitated houses. It's not as though these places are hidden from view, yet a committee was formed to report the obvious.
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Thank you AngelWing. That was very interesting and encouraging to know that she is open to discuss anything and willing to answer emails. You did a great job.
Great job! I'm not familiar with the requirements for a YMCA, but I'm pretty sure there aren't any for a bowling alley. We had one for years when the population was less.
We really need another committee to tell them the obvious? Really?? We have a committee that does nothing but look for dilapitated houses. It's not as though these places are hidden from view, yet a committee was formed to report the obvious.
Guess I wasn't too clear on that one, the population requirement went only for the YMCA but the funds needed, not necessarily by the city was for both.
I'm not sure what you mean by "hidden from view". What the committee would do is talk with the people in these areas that have had success with their revitalization efforts and learn what they did,how they got started, what they would have done differently, etc for us to use the info to best go about building up our downtown. I do believe some first hand experience would be a big help in our efforts which I am all for. I still believe if we lose our beautiful historic downtown we are going to lose what brings many of the tourists in and many of the people looking for a town to settle down in.
Again, I urge all of you, if you have questions that you feel aren't being addressed by either Mayor Williamson or other members of city hall, send in your emails. Much of what was said in the meeting was just plain heart to heart talking. You lose a lot by how a person really feels about a subject through bits and pieces you pick up here and there. If you want to know how a person really feels on something take time to ask them yourself. Don't rely on hearsay or just what you read in the paper or even on here. You lose a lot that way. I did feel honestly that Cecil was genuine in her talk with me and is trying very hard to do good job as Mayor. As she pointed out, she is the type of person that has to look at all aspects of a project, from every angle before making up her mind on how she feels. That's why it's so important for the citizens to make their voices heard at City Hall either by sitting down with the mayor or emailing her your concerns. They will get heard. While we were sitting there discussing the Arch Street Project she showed me the email that Dave had sent in and said that she is going to also send it on to the other counsil members so they hear his side as well.
