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Jurisdiction of road maintenance dominated the first half of the Demopolis city council meeting on Thursday, May 1. With all council members in attendance, and differing opinions on the status of Broadway Street, options were weighed and a vote passed to allow the county to pave the road – which is a county road located within the city limits – and turn over maintenance to the city thereafter. 

Councilman Nathan Hardy brought the motion asking the council to accept the deal with the county that the cost to resurface Broadway Street would be split between the city and county, at $40,000 each, and then turn it over to the city. Mayor Woody Collins objected to the idea, stating that the county would not follow city specifications, and would thus leave the city with an effectively substandard road to maintain.

“Broadway was not done by city specifications, by an engineer,” Collins said, “So, we’re going to demand that of our developers, but we’re going to break our own rules? I’m not in favor of that.”

Councilman Charles Jones countered Collins, saying that they have had no professional expert state that the road needed to be stripped all the way down, and that in fact the county engineer said that it didn’t need it. The only optional deal available would be for the city to pay the full $80,000 and the county would keep the road under their maintenance.

Collins argued that a precedent would be set allowing developers to ignore city specifications, which Jones and others argued would not be the case.

After lengthy discussion, the vote resulted in a four to two decision to take over maintenance of Broadway after the county paves it.

Moving on, the council unanimously nominated and voted Ben McCurdy to the school board.

The council also decided to push back an upcoming public hearing to June 5 due to schedule conflicts.

Central Alabama Crime Stoppers then addressed the council, with spokesperson Tony Garrett taking the podium to present the 2024 Central Alabama Crime Stoppers Officer of the Year Award to DPD Lieutenant Paul Johnson. Johnson was nominated for the award by Chief Rex Flowers due to Johnson’s six years of dedicated service and exemplary leadership as chief investigator for the city of Demopolis Police Department. 

“Over the course of his tenure, our city has experienced eight murders,” Flowers stated, “and under Lt. Johnson’s guidance, his team of investigators has made arrests in every single one of these cases.”

As a result of the award, Johnson will also be nominated for Crime Stoppers’ State Officer of the Year.

 

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