Jimmie Stephens said Anita Ward and Gloria Gaynor, a pair of disco queens, will be added to his playlist after announcing Tuesday that he has completed his treatments for cancer.

“I promise you they will,” said Stephens, president of the Jefferson County Commission. “I promise you they will.”

Ward produced her lone hit – “You Can Ring My Bell” – in 1979. A year earlier, Gaynor rose on the charts with “I Will Survive.”

Stephens opened the meeting by declaring that he had received his final radiation treatment Monday. The announcement was met with applause from around the room.

“I got my mask and I rang the bell,” Stephens said. “The doctor said, ‘Now, go home and heal.’ I want to thank everyone for their prayers and thoughts.”

The District 3 commissioner said he had kept his promise to not miss any meeting if he could help it. He acknowledged having missed the Jan. 21 committee meeting because of a scheduling conflict with a medical appointment.

“I have fared remarkably well healthwise through this,” Stephens said. “That’s not me but y’all and your prayers. I sure do appreciate you; I really do. Thank you for putting up with me though this.”

Following the meeting, the commissioner said residents of Jefferson County and the city of Birmingham are blessed to have the University of Alabama Oncology Center, one of the world-renowned cancer centers.

“I feel comfortable that I have received the best care possible,” Stephens said. “That was a long journey, a journey I would not want to wish for anyone. But it is bearable and it is doable, and there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

Stephens announced at the Dec. 5 commission meeting that he had been diagnosed with a treatable form of cancer. The commissioner said that doctors discovered a squamous cell carcinoma that had moved to his axillary lymph node.

Taxes, Bridges and Community Funding

During the committee meeting, commissioners sent to Thursday’s agenda a resolution that would approve a 10-year tax abatement for the expansion of the Publix Distribution Center in McCalla. It is a requested $15 million abatement of property, sales and use taxes, but not education taxes.

Jeff Traywick, the county’s economic development adviser, said the center has more than doubled its workforce, with 424 jobs. Over the life of the project, he said the project is expected to generate more than $480,000 in new revenue to the county’s general fund and more than $1.6 million to the county’s education fund.

Commissioners also advanced a resolution to refund $98,510.77 to benefit House District 52, money that had been part of former Rep. John Rogers’ state discretionary community funding allotment.

“Funds each year are allocated from us to the Community Foundation, $3.6 million,” said Joe Knight, chair of the commission’s finance committee. “It’s basically a discretionary fund to the senators and the House of Representative members.

“John Rogers had his allocation and after his issues, there was still like $98,000 in his allocation money that came back to the county,” Knight said. Rogers last year pleaded guilty to his part in a kickback scheme and resigned from the Legislature. He was released from prison last month after having heart surgery.

“What we’ve (set in motion) today is reissued that money to the Community Foundation so that can go to the new representative’s district, which rightfully it should go to. That would be Kelvin (Datcher).”

Another matter placed on Thursday’s agenda was a non-reimbursable agreement with Bessemer Water Services to relocate facilities that are in conflict with the replacement of the Harmer Street Bridge over Valley Creek. That work will be included in the roadway contract but paid for by Bessemer Water Services.

“That bridge is in very, very poor condition,” Sheila Tyson said. “It’s a dangerous bridge and it’s a hazardous sign put on there. There was a grant written from the county to ALDOT. That’s how we got that bridge. I went down there and we talked to them, and we applied for a grant and we got the grant.”

The state grant was for $1 million. The total project, including discretionary funds from Tyson’s office, is about $1.3 million.