COLONY – Colony welcomed Director Phyllis Little of the Cullman County Emergency Management Agency (CEMA), and officially signed off on the agency's emergency evacuation plan for Smith Lake Dam (Lewis Smith Dam) at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
Should the dam fail, Colony is an area of the county that would see significant flooding.
Little said, "For the past year my office has been working with other emergency response agencies in the area to develop a better evacuation plan, in the event of a catastrophic failure of the Lewis Smith Dam. That is a possibility, but not a very high probability. I was asked (at another local meeting) if it had anything to do with the dam that was failing out in Oroville, California; it did not. We started on this a long time ago.
"We feel like we've got a good plan in place. The fire departments in the area helped out on this and worked with us. Between them, my office and the Revenue Commissioner's Office that helped us identify properties that would be in a high flood zone, we feel like we've got something good in place that we can work with."
With Colony's acceptance of the plan, Little will meet next with Good Hope, Hanceville and Dodge City.
(See: http://www.cullmansense.com/articles/2017/02/23/cullman-county-ema-issues-new-emergency-plan-smith-lake-dam)
Colony is also making final preparations to host a National Weather Service Storm Spotter class on Thursday, Mar. 2 at 6 p.m. at the community center.
(See: http://www.cullmansense.com/articles/2017/02/15/colony-host-national-weather-service-storm-spotter-class)
The council also heard from Kim Searcy, representing the Girl Scouts. She requested council input on the possibility of starting a Girl Scout troop in Colony. She noted that the closest troop is located in Good Hope, and that many Colony area girls have no way of getting there for meetings. Searcy hopes to locate the new troop at the library or community center. Mayor Donnis Leeth agreed that having a troop in Colony would be a good idea, but the council took no action, choosing to wait on more information about the level of interest among girls and families in the area.
In other council business:
*Councilwoman Jamelle Dimbo shared that the town's budget and procedure manual are both complete and ready for review by the finance committee.
*Councilman Julian Fields reported that two stop signs need to be replaced on Wooley Road.
*Councilman Curtis Johnson reported that he is still attempting to get toilets installed at the community center, and may seek another plumber since he has had trouble reaching the present plumber.
*Councilwoman Myra Twitty reported that PALS meetings have been moved to 8 a.m. on the third Thursday of every month, instead of Wednesday. She also stated that the town's scheduled cleanup day is Apr. 22 with an if-needed rain makeup day on the 29th.
*The council passed a resolution to purchase new flag poles for the town hall.
*A motion to consider purchasing a sponsorship of the Ms. Senior Cullman County Pageant was tabled until more information could be gathered by Town Clerk Patricia Ponder.
The Colony Town Council meets at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday evenings of each month at Colony Town Hall. The public is invited to attend.
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