Jefferson County Commission

Proposal Would Create Department of Security for Jefferson County Courthouses

Jefferson County commissioners were taken aback today when they learned during their committee meeting of an effort to establish a department of security for the courthouse. Commissioner Sheila Tyson suggested the action, which was presented by county manager Tony Petelos. Weeks ago, Commissioner Lashunda Scales suggested that security at the courthouse be beefed up. Commissioner Joe Knight, the chair of the budget and finance committees, said he was caught off guard by the proposed resolution. “That’s another department, that’s another staffing,” he said. “We want to know how’s it going to be staffed. How many people do you need? Where are they going to be? And will this transpose over to our criminal court building to help over there with the safety over there across the street?” Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Scales Seeks Birmingham Council’s Attention to Eastern-Area Crime

Jefferson County Commissioner Lashunda Scales came across Linn Park today to speak to the Birmingham City Council, pleading for help for what she said are rising instances of crime in the East Precinct. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Three North Jefferson Zoning Proposals Win County Commission Approval

Three zoning matters approved today by the Jefferson County Commission provide evidence that growth is coming to the northern part of the county. Commissioners approved one zoning case in Morris and two in Mount Olive. The property at 950 Kimberly Cut-Off Road in Morris set the stage for a two-lot residential subdivision, changing the property from A-1 agricultural to R-1 single family. One case heard today makes way for a 63-lot subdivision at 4901 and 4851 Newfound Road in Mount Olive, rezoning from I-3 industrial and A-1 agricultural to R-7 planned unit development. The other proposes 204 lots at Brookside Coalburg Road and 3885 Hodges Cemetery Road in Mount Olive, shifting the site from I-3 surface mining and I-3 industrial to R-7 planned unit development. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Jefferson County Commission Debates Putting Victim Interview Offices in Eastern Birmingham

Efforts to establish a pair of new Jefferson County Sheriff’s offices in eastern Birmingham are at least on hold until law enforcement leaders in the city and county demonstrate they are in agreement on the move. Commissioner Lashunda Scales broached a discussion about the offices. They were on the Jefferson County Commission committee agenda as “substations,” but the discussion shifted to them being offices of the Sheriff’s Department’s Violent Crime Victim Unit, which now is based in the Sheriff’s office downtown. Scales told her fellow commissioners that Tony Serra, owner of Serra Automotive Management, had agreed to lease a pair of buildings to the Sheriff’s Office for $1 per year. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

JeffCo Commission Approves Fees for Credit, Debit Card Payments to Revenue Department

Travis Hulsey was a bit late for the Jefferson County Commission meeting this morning at the courthouse in Bessemer. “I got caught up in some traffic,” he said later. Upon arrival, Hulsey learned that his request for convenience fees on credit and debit card use for over-the-counter payments to the county’s Revenue Department didn’t face the traffic jam it did two weeks ago. It passed on unanimous consent along with 49 other resolutions. The resolution that passed was Hulsey’s original request of a 1 percent convenience fee, with a $1.95 minimum. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Jefferson County Commission Will Discuss Revenue Department Card Fees on Thursday

The question of whether convenience fees will be added to over-the-counter transactions with the Jefferson County Revenue Department will be answered when the County Commission conducts its meeting Thursday at the courthouse in Bessemer. Outgoing chief financial officer John Henry said nearly two weeks ago that a plan for addressing the shortfall in the Revenue Department’s budget that came because of increased use of credit cards and debit cards would be unveiled at today’s committee meeting. Henry said the matter goes back to the commission meeting, as it previously had been discussed in committee. “Because of the way they tabled it, they’ll have to bring it up on Thursday instead of Tuesday,” said Henry. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Jefferson County Commission Delays Vote on Fee for Card Payments

John Henry twice said his goodbyes on Thursday – first at his final meeting of the Jefferson County Commission and then at a farewell event in his honor later in the afternoon. But the final wave goodbye for the county’s chief financial officer will likely be his input in a tabled matter concerning the proposal to add a 1% convenience fee of no less than $1.95 to over-the-counter business conducted by credit or debit card with Jefferson County. Henry suggested that commissioners table the matter for two weeks so he and Revenue Director Travis Hulsey can find an answer to a revenue department budget shortfall because of the increasing use of credit and debit cards. “We definitely understand the concerns in reference to the hit to constituents,” the outgoing CFO said. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Jefferson County Commission Moves to Preserve Downtown Jail Where Martin Luther King Jr. Was Held

The Jefferson County Commission today took the first steps toward acknowledging and preserving remnants of the jail where Martin Luther King Jr. was held. History often refers to King’s Birmingham incarceration in 1963, during which he penned his Letter From a Birmingham Jail. But months before his 1968 assassination, King was again jailed in Jefferson County, first in Bessemer and a day later on the seventh floor of the Jefferson County Courthouse in downtown Birmingham. Mark Pettway, the first black elected sheriff of the county, said he is proud to be part of this memorial to King. “We have an opportunity to tell the full story about someone who came to Jefferson County to change the lives of all those who lived here,” Pettway said. “We want to make sure that that hidden treasure that is here in this building … is memorialized to make sure that the full story does not end in Bessemer but continues here in this part of Jefferson County.”

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Jefferson County Gets New Human Resources Director, Raising Hopes for Lifting Consent Decree on Personnel Practices

Jefferson County Commissioner Joe Knight offered a predictable straight line after Caroline Brown was introduced as Jefferson County’s new human resource director at Tuesday’s commission committee meeting. “Can you get us a good deal on a Toyota?” Knight asked, referring to her long tenure with the automaker. “Not anymore,” the Montgomery native said as the boardroom burst into laughter. “Not anymore.” While Brown can’t provide the hook-up for a fleet of motor vehicles, county manager Tony Petelos calls her “the missing link” in the county’s efforts to escape from the consent decree on personnel practices with which it has dealt for nearly 40 years. Read More

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Should Jefferson County Charge More for Credit and Debit Payments? The Commission Mulls the Question.

The Jefferson County Commission will decide Thursday whether persons and businesses doing business with the county will have to pay more for the convenience of using credit cards when paying bills at the county’s Revenue Department. The department sought a resolution during today’s committee meeting to add 1% to a transaction amount with a minimum of $1.95 for over-the-counter electronic payments. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.