Supporters rally for preservation of water tower

The new mayor of Demopolis and City Council members began their four-year terms Thursday facing a room of partisan supporters campaigning to keep the 89-year-old Commissioner Street water tower from being demolished.

The tower and the land it sits on are the property of the Water Board. Jay Reynolds, chairman of the board, said its members have no problem with the tower remaining, but the city would have to agree to certain conditions before the contractor begins demolition on Monday.

The Council had granted an 18-month period for the city’s Historic Preservation Commission to find funding to preserve the tower, but that action was taken after the Water Board already had let the bid for demolition.

Reynolds said the board has offered the tower to the city “numerous times over the last eight years. Those offers were either rejected or there were stipulations the Water Board would not accept.”

The tower, he continued, “is a liability to the board and needs to be removed from its ownership.” He said the board will give the tower and land to whatever group wants to take it over. In exchange, whoever assumes the property must accept all liability and pay any costs to cancel the demolition bid, satisfy the contractors and be responsible for legal expenses to transfer the property.

For more than an hour, speakers gave opinions on why the tower should be preserved. Brian Brooker, a member of the Demopolis Preservation Commission, used a slide presentation to argue why the tower should be kept and enumerated the possible economic and recreational benefits to the city. The tower is a beacon, a monument and provides a sense of place, he said.

Once the tower is preserved, he continued, it can be used as a focal point for a wide range of events in addition to being lighted to reflect the various holidays during the year.

Kirk Brooker, curator of the Marengo County Historical Society, presented several letters of support from groups around the state.

“You don’t have to look at (the tower) as a historic structure,” he told the Council. It can be a place for people to have fun.

He said when people learned of the imminent demolition of the tower, a groundswell of support to keep it began. On on-line petition gathered 350 signatures in 24 hours. When the public learned about it, they got behind it, he said.

“Listen to the people, and create something for the people,” he urged.

Admitting it is hard to tell a friend “no,” Mayor Collins said, “We were put here for a reason to be good stewards of the city’s money and resources, and I hope we’re doing that.”

Questions also were raised about the liability involved if there were any environmental issues surrounding the tower and the land it sits on. The tower is covered with lead paint. The contractor hired to demolish it is qualified to supervise and remove the paint and make any needed cleanup after demolition.

Further action on the solution to raw sewage running behind Richard Fountain’s house on Ash Street was postponed until the next meeting. Foundation, who says he has been fighting the problem for 25 years, expressed his irritation.

“I can promise you we’ll get things done,” said Collins.

Fountain has been complaining for years about the problem, but it wasn’t until last month that his concerns were confirmed. Samples of water were taken at five points upstream from Fountain’s home that registered sewer infiltration, with levels high enough to show problems.

In other action:

• The mayor announced his appointment of Amanda Smith to fill a vacancy on the Beautification Commission.
• The Council voted to reappoint Thomas Moore and Allen Bishop to the Whitfield Regional Hospital Board.
• Work on Roman Alley is underway.
• The September 2020 financials were approved.
• The Council okayed a budget adjustment for the Police Department.
• A resolution was passed to update names on a safe deposit account at Robertson Banking Company.