Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Demopolis City Council will begin a process of eradicating a cluster of beaver dams that are slowing drainage in the area of Demopolis High School.

During a city council meeting last week, Demopolis Projects Manager Mike Baker said the beaver dams are causing continuous problems with storm water drainage south of the high school and Walmart. Baker added that the Alabama Department of Agriculture would have to be involved as destroying the dams will require the use of dynamite.

“GPS has shown 13 dams that need to be blown,” Baker said. “There is also quite a bit of water to displace.”

A key part of destroying the dams will include the catching and removing of the beavers and Baker said he has made contact with someone who will charge the city for each beaver that is caught.

The council approved spending up to $5,000 for the beaver dam removal and instructed Baker to identify beaver dams in other areas of the city.

Other items discussed by the council included the following.

• Approving a Core Values and Mission Statement for the city as proposed by Hunter Winborne, personnel manager for the city. Winborne introduced a health and safety manual, which includes policies and procedures for using equipment.

He also introduced, and the council approved, a city mission statement and core values. The mission statement reads, “This City of Demopolis takes pride in being open and honest with the citizens, as well as being dedicated to providing responsive municipal services, growth and beautification of the city, and enhancing safety and wellbeing of the citizens all while fostering partnerships that enhance the City of Demopolis’s livability.”

The Core Values include: teamwork, accountability, dignity, equality, excellence, public trust, professionalism, and libery.

• Buildings Superintendent Julius Rembert reported that a demolition of a property on Third Avenue would be done by the owner and that five other notices regarding dilapidated properties have been sent.

• Baker reported that Doric South, who has been contracted to do work involving the damaged downtown monument, will be disassembling the monument and re-erecting it at a facility in Georgia to assure all the pieces fit together properly.

• The council voted to allow Mayor John Laney to enter into an agreement for a street sweeper.

• Approved public assembly requests for Ann Braxton that will involved closing a block on Cherry Street on Oct. 30, from 5-9 p.m., as well as other requests from Sandra Daniels and DHS for this year’s homecoming parade, which Police Chief Tommie Reese said would be held in the evening hours this year.

The city also approved a request from a group of churches to use George Franks Field for this year’s Community Harvest Festival on Sunday, Oct. 28.

(This article originally appeared in the Wednesday, September 12 issue of the Demopolis Times.)