Council okays new WRH signage, airport grant application
Demopolis City Councilman Thursday approved amendments to the city’s sign ordinance for Whitfield Regional Hospital as the medical facility continues its construction projects.
One amendment allows for 10-foot lighted signs directing people to the Emergency Department at the intersection of U.S. Hwy. 80 and Cedar Street and at the entrance to the ED on Cedar. The previous ordinance set sign limits at six feet. The second amendment permits the hospital to have more than one sign on the building.
The Council approved a resolution to let Jason Pendergrass, airport director, to apply for an FAA grant that would provide a new taxilane and airport parking in the first phase of expansion. If approved the $1.2 million grant would require a 5 percent local match, or $60,000, and require the city to operate the airport for at least 20 years.
The expansion is part of the continuing improvements to the airport, including a new terminal, which has been an ongoing project for a decade, said Pendergrass.
The airport provides “a lot of things that contribute to the community,” he said. It is for “more than rich people going on vacation.”
The Council approved a request from Rhae Darsey, Main Street Demopolis director, to designate the Public Square as an entertainment district for Bark in the Park Thursday, Sept. 22. Also approved was the closing of West Washington Street from Walnut to Main avenues after business hours.
Brenda Lambert, a resident of Third Avenue, spoke to the Council about problems on her street. Trash is piling up, drug sales go on in the neighborhood and potholes in the road need repair, she said.
“It’s not fair,” Lambert told Council members. “I want my property value to grow as much as you want yours to grow.”
She asked for more police presence and that abandoned and dilapidated buildings be torn down.
Mayor Woody Collins directed the Street Department to fill the potholes, but it takes a long process for the abandoned buildings to be removed, he told Lambert. Police Chief Rex Flowers said he would assign more patrols in the neighborhood.
Collins read a proclamation designating Friday, Sept. 16, as POW/MIA Recognition Day. After the meeting he and two members of VFW Post 5377 raised the POW/MIA flag on the pole in front of City Hall.