The Jefferson County Commission on Friday named Cal Markert as the new county manager, effective Oct. 1, 2021. Markert has been deputy county manager while the commission looked for a replacement for its first county manager, Tony Petelos, who retired in June. Read more.

Jefferson County Commissioner Steve Ammons urged county employees and department heads Tuesday to be careful of excessive spending when traveling on behalf of the county.

“I was just making sure that employees understand that we’re still keeping an eye on travel,” Ammons said following the commission’s committee meeting. “It’s not a vacation.”

Ammons’ eye was drawn to a trip someone from the county compliance office will take Sept. 18-22 to the Compliance & Ethics Institute Conference in Las Vegas. That trip will cost $3,354.55. He said some trips are to places that are expensive, but supervisors should be keeping an eye on expenses.
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The problem of extended ambulance response times didn’t pop up overnight, and the solution won’t either, according to a consultant Jefferson County is bringing in to address the situation.

“This is our first day on the project,” Joseph “Jay” Fitch, founding partner of Fitch and Associates, said Tuesday at the committee meeting of the Jefferson County Commission. “We’re going to be to touring your 911 center and working with an advisory group of municipal officials and fire chiefs today.”

Fitch said the first part of the project is discovering data so his company knows when and where emergency calls occur. Knowing that, he said, the company can look at different kinds of options for emergency medical service coverage.

Commission President Jimmie Stephens said long ambulance response times has been an ongoing problem for more than nine months. He said the extended wait times for an ambulance for emergencies, including heart attacks, sometimes exceeds three hours. Read more.

A pair of road projects are closer to fruition after the Jefferson County Commission on Thursday approved resolutions related to those two projects.

Each project is in the city of Hoover. One authorizes a joint services agreement with Hoover and Jefferson County and CSX Transportation on improvements to South Shades Crest Road, to which a third lane will be added from Alabama 150 to Eden Ridge Drive.

That project includes replacing a bridge that passes over CSX train tracks.

The other project authorizes paying for tract 6 of the Galleria Boulevard extension project. For years, motorists have driven through the parking lot of Ashley Homestore as they’ve made their way from Alabama 150 to Lorna Road on the other side of the hill.
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The Jefferson County Commission today approved a resolution to provide economic incentives for Bill Smith’s latest venture – Landing – but not before Lashunda Scales had her say.

The matter passed 3-1, with Scales casting the dissenting vote. Sheila Tyson was absent.

Scales expressed concern, saying she wanted to see what efforts the company will make to give priority to hiring residents of Jefferson County. Additionally, she said she is concerned that a long-term plan for the company was not presented even though the incentive plan covers six years.

The District 1 commissioner said that while the company currently arranges apartments for rentals, she is afraid the operation will go beyond apartment rentals
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A pair of long-awaited road improvements came a step closer to fruition as the Jefferson County Commission moved those matters to the agenda of Thursday’s commission meeting.

Each road project is in Hoover – extending Galleria Boulevard from John Hawkins Parkway to Lorna Road and widening South Shades Crest Road. The latter project would add a third lane to the heavily traveled stretch of road. Read more.

Tony Petelos had planned to have his replacement in place before he retired from his position as Jefferson County manager. But a new county manager has yet to be hired as Petelos counts down to the end of his county career.

He laughed Tuesday at the notion that the delay in hiring his successor is because it’s so hard to replace him.

“The commission waited,” he said. “They lost two months before they decided to move forward with hiring somebody to do a national search. For two months, nothing happened.”

Petelos’ last day officially on the job is Friday, June 18. He has vacation days lined up, so he will remain on the payroll for a while. His will be an uncommon retirement process, he said.

“Technically, the way it works is when people retire, we’re still paying them but they’re not here,” he said. “They clean out their desk and they’re gone. I’m gonna do mine a little different. I’m not gonna clean my desk out. I will come back if they need me on certain things.”
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As today’s Jefferson County Commission meeting reached its end, Joe Knight rose from his seat in front of the dais and put his name plate in front of the one for Lashunda Scales.

“When we return, I reclaim my seat,” Knight declared.

Steve Ammons, who like Knight has been seated at a table below their fellow commissioners, chimed in. “I’m tired of being a second-hand commissioner,” he joked.

The lighthearted banter came as commissioners announced that today’s meeting will be the last one held during the state of emergency Gov. Kay Ivey declared last year to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Social distancing requirements and then recommendations have been part of public safety orders the governor has issued during the state of emergency. Read more.