HANCEVILLE, Ala.- The Hanceville City Council on Thursday night passed the City’s FY 2020-2021 budget, coming in at $4.67 million with expected revenues of $4.7 million. The small margin concerned both the mayor and council and led to the decision to limit spending until spring, when business license revenues come in.
A public hearing was held at the beginning of Thursday’s meeting about the City’s 2020 Comprehensive Plan. The process of updating the City’s comprehensive plan each year began last year. This allows suggestions and concerns from Hanceville citizens to be heard and the plan to be updated to reflect those. Hanceville’s Planning Commission adopted the plan Aug. 31.
Following the public hearing, the council passed a resolution adopting the 2020 Comprehensive Plan. Copies of the plan were unavailable at the meeting.
Valerie Hitt, owner of Trinkets and Traditions, spoke on behalf of the Hanceville Downtown Merchants. She asked the council for approval for the Downtown Merchant Block Party to be held Oct. 24 as a complement to the Mud Creek Marching Festival and to boost visitors to Hanceville’s downtown.
The block party will be from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. with a car show, live music outside and many different activities. Lemonade, candy apples, pumpkin painting, face painting, a bake sale and hot chocolate were just a few of the extra activities mentioned. The merchants hope the visiting marching bands and their supporters will visit the downtown area as they come to Hanceville’s Ray Talley Stadium.
Said Hitt, “We hope to have a shuttle; we are still working on that, from down there to downtown. That way people who have paid for parking don’t have to leave.”
Shuttle and event details are still being planned.
The council agreed to close Bangor Street on the day of the event from Blountsville Street to Stadium Drive with Commercial Street open. The council also agreed to waive the City’s peddler’s license for the event.
Hanceville Fire Chief Roger Green and Assistant Chief Bart Absher introduced a plan to replace some of the department’s aging fire trucks. Hanceville Fire and Rescue hopes to purchase a small pumper truck and a large pumper truck in the near future. Green and Absher said if the trucks were ordered now, it would be a year before they were delivered, and payments would not start for two years. The funding for the trucks would be from fire dues.
The council agreed to table the decision until the next council meeting to give all council members an opportunity to study the proposal.
Councilman Jimmy Sawyer said, “I missed the last meeting and somehow, I didn’t get the packet. It’s a huge purchase, $750,000, and I’m just not ready to vote on this tonight, myself personally, until I have a little time to review the packet and sit down with you guys for any questions I might have.”
Hanceville’s Kids Night Out is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 26 at C.W. Day Park. The event will start with a free swim at the park’s pool from 4-6 p.m. followed by the main festivities from 6-8 p.m. in the park.
“Make sure you come through the designated entrance points to get your tickets. If you don’t have tickets, you don’t get food,” said Nail. “There’s going to be two entrances, a north entrance and a south entrance. Everybody that comes in will have their hands sanitized. If you refuse, you gotta go. I’m sorry. We are not requiring face masks. If you want to wear a face mask, wear a face mask. Our people will be wearing facemasks. If you want to wear a face mask, we encourage you to wear a face mask, but we aren’t going to drag anybody out that doesn’t wear a face mask. Also, try to keep a 6-foot distance the best you can and if you are sick, DO NOT COME! Please, do not come. If you are out there snorting and blowing and this, that and the other, we’ll probably take your temperature. If it’s over 100, you gotta go.”
There will be inflatables and a mechanical bull at Saturday’s event. There will be stringent sanitizing processes throughout the event.
“We are trying our best,” Nail said. “We don’t want to cancel everything.”
At the end of Kids Night Out, there will be something new and special. The City will have a firework show lasting approximately 15 minutes.
The next Hanceville City Council meeting will be Thursday, Oct. 8 at 5:30 p.m. with a work session beginning at 5.
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