City’s projects, finances, future focus of mayor’s talk to Rotarians

While his talk was not an official State of the City speech, Mayor Woody Collins Wednesday gave Rotarians an update on how Demopolis is faring and what he has learned since taking office in the fall of 2019.

“The last year and a half have probably been the busiest…of my life,” he said. Knowing that, he strongly encouraged a good look at any future mayoral candidate who claims to be able to hold the post on a part-time basis.

The city’s finances are great, but that scares him. The federal stimulus packages gave consumers money to spend during the pandemic, which improved sales tax income, but Demopolis cannot expect those revenues to continue. “We can’t base this community on that,” he stressed. “We’ve got to base it on stability.”

His goal since entering the office is to put $6 million in reserve, about half the city’s annual budget, in case of emergencies. “I’m trying to be very, very cautious with the city’s money.”

The city has a healthy bank account, but much that money is allocated already and cannot be spent. He said three pickup trucks were ordered this year for the Public Works Department, but dealers told them none would be available until 2024,

“It’s so frustrating to try to weed through the financials,” Collins said. He thanked the city’s financial advisor Rob Pearson for helping him wade through the process.

Street paving projects that were started under the previous administration are almost completed, but issues with the subsurface has caused problems and cost the city money.

The City Landing project “is a project I would take to a national level.” He said seven governmental entities are working together and pooling the money to make it a reality.

Originally it was to cost $1.2 million, with the city kicking in its required match. With prices rising rapidly, the project now is estimated at $2.9 million. The city and its partners will be chipping in what is needed to make the match.

Collins gave a special shout-out to Hugh Overmyer and Walker Reynolds for spearheading the City Landing efforts and to the Demopolis representatives on the Marengo County Commission, Jason Windham and the late Freddie Armstead.

Demopolis has been greatly involved in Drax, the new pellet mill which is close to coming on line. It is expected to employ 80 people in high-paying jobs when it opens.

Working with the Alabama Department of Transportation, the city is trying to work out traffic control problems along U.S. Hwy. 80. Temporary pylons have been erected to determine the best fix for the congestion along the route.

“We’ve got a wonderful airport renovation going on,” he continued. It includes a new terminal building and cleaning up the grounds.

Finding solutions to problems impeding business growth also is part of his job, Collins said. At one point he got a call from the construction arm of Taco Bell telling him they were going to pull out of plans to build a restaurant because of a water line problem that would cost an extra $120,000.

The mayor made a few phone calls and determined the change in water lines strictly was a convenience issue. Taco Bell was shocked when Collins called him back within 20 minutes to say the problem had been resolved. “Mayor,” he asked, “could I put you in charge of six other projects I’ve got going on?”

Collins said a group in Demopolis is working very hard to revitalize downtown as part of the national Main Street program. The City of Jasper, where Main Street has been in place for five years, has seen downtown occupancy rise from 30 percent to 90 percent.

“We’re working hard to see that program can be brought here and can work here,” he said.

Collins continued his talk by giving credit to his department heads. “I couldn’t ask for better.” Since he cannot do any of their jobs, he joked that it’s his job to fire them if they don’t do their jobs.

“If we don’t put good people in place and allow them to do their jobs nothing’s going to be done,” he said.

Collins also praised the men he works with on the City Council. While they might not agree all the time, “at the end of the day we work with each other.”

He said the economic engine in any community is the attitude of its people. “It’s all how you treat folks,” said Collins. There is no reason to be adversarial.

“We’ve got a lot of good things going on,” Collins ended. “We’ve been blessed.”