Rick Cason addresses the council
HANCEVILLE – Questions of city jurisdiction outside the city limits were on the front burner at Thursday night’s Hanceville City Council meeting. The City of Hanceville, as do other municipalities in Alabama, has the authority to enforce ordinances up to 1-and-a-half miles outside the city limits; that distance encompasses the city's police jurisdiction.
Rick Cason, of the Hanceville City Planning Commission, brought concerns about property being developed just outside the city limits near the Hopewell Road and College Drive intersection, intended to become a mobile home community. Pointing to conditions among mobile homes along Edmondson Road near Dales (which are also outside city limits), he expressed worry that a new trailer park would create a new and larger haven for drug activity in the Hanceville area.
Police Chief Bob Long responded to that concern by pointing out that the Hanceville Police Department deals with very little drug activity in the area’s two existing mobile home neighborhoods.
Mayor Kenneth Nail warned that an extension of ordinance enforcement outside the city limits could not target a single entity like a trailer park, but would have to be equally applied to all areas within the jurisdiction.
"I'm not going to have any part of selective enforcement," said Nail. "That's just not right."
Nail also stated that he does not want to extend city services to residents who want the benefits of those services, but do not want to be part of the city.
He said, "Some of them have this attitude: 'Do everything that we want you to do, but we don't want to live under the rules of the city.' And I'm just not for that."
Ultimately, the council took no action on the matter.
Cason also expressed the need for the City to have a master plan for future development, and presented a plan to have selected City personnel attend classes to receive certification as planning and zoning officials. The council took no action on these matters, but did agree on the need for a plan, and to consider certification classes. Several people present showed interest in such training, and even offered to pay part of the cost themselves.
In other business, the council approved a motion to sponsor free city cleanup and landfill pickup Apr. 17-21, leading up to the scheduled PALS cleanup day Apr. 22.
A motion to sell nine police vehicles as surplus on GovDeals.com also passed, with the proceeds designated to help pay for the outfitting of the City's new police SUVs.
The council also approved the appointments of Faye Parker and Nolan Bradford to the City's Industrial Development Board.
Chief Rodger Green reported for the Fire Department that the final outfitting of the department’s new ATV has run $380 over budget. The council did not express any problem with the cost, but showed approval of the department having a vehicle that could perform cross-country operations. Green also gave an incident report for February:
- 3 building fires
- 2 brush/grass fires
- 51 EMS-related calls
- 3 motor vehicle accidents
- 1 search for a person
- 2 unauthorized burning
- 8 false alarms or calls canceled en route
Long gave the police department’s February numbers:
- 5 felony reports
- 26 misdemeanor reports
- 2 incident reports
- 6 accident reports
- 13 arrests with warrants
- 37 total arrests
- 109 traffic citations
- 15 non-traffic citations
- 15 vehicles towed
- 1,680 total call volume
Community announcements concluded the meeting:
- Hanceville math team 5K run this Saturday, Mar. 11
- Archery tournament at Hanceville High School next Thursday and Friday, Mar. 16-17
- PALS cleanup day Saturday, Apr. 22
- Senior Fish-o-rama Friday, Apr. 28
- Kids Fish-o-rama Saturday, Apr. 29
The Hanceville City Council meets the second and fourth Thursdays of each month at Hanceville City Hall at 6:30 p.m., with work session at 6 p.m. The public is invited to attend.
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