“It’s the heart of our city, and we need to preserve it,” Hereford said during his State of the City Address Thursday at the Pell City Leadership Alumni Association Dialogue Days at Jefferson State Community College Pell City campus. “I don’t think we need to let that part of our history slip away.”
Hereford said he feels the Avondale Mills property is the perfect site for the city’s new library.
“The property would be very useful,” he said.
Hereford said he has four different architect sketches of how the 28-acre Avondale Mills property could look, including green spaces and commercial use.
“I would love to go out of office knowing we have an Avondale Mills green space or park,” he said.
Former Mayor Guin Robinson agreed with Hereford during the comments portion of the State of the City Address.
“Avondale Mills is the heart and soul of this community,” Robinson said. “I think the community will look back with regret if we don’t get that property.”
Hereford said it was a matter of negotiating the right price with Pell City-Tifton Properties LLC, which owns the mill property.
“We are also excited about the city’s participation in the Coosa Valley Water Supply District,” he said.
Hereford said Councilman Greg Gossett has worked from day one to help see the regional water project become a reality.
“During the past year, Greg’s many years of hard work have paid off as construction began on the water treatment plant,” he said. “This plant is vital to the growth of our city, and I truly appreciate all of Greg’s hard work with this project.”
Hereford said the city currently relies on well water to meet consumer demands.
“We want to ensure our water supply for the future,” he said. “Well water is important, but is not a dependable supply in the future.”
Hereford said a dependable potable water supply is crucial.
“An adequate supply is not enough, we must have enough water for growth,” he said.
Hereford said the city also needs to look at annexation.
“There is one area to the south, a big open space you can hunt in, that is surrounded by Pell City,” he said. “Those people need to be in the city.”
Hereford said annexation would also help the city’s Fire and Police departments, which need to know if they are in or out of city limits.
“I also believe we need to look at going back out in our police jurisdiction,” he said. “We will discuss it in the coming months.”
Hereford said other issues to be discussed include changing the form of the city’s government.
“I believe the upcoming census will determine we have more than 12,000 residents, which would change our form of government,” he said.
Hereford said the city government would change to a non-voting mayor with veto power.
“I think we should seriously consider the idea of a city manager,” he said. “I think that needs to be part of the discussion.”
Hereford said he would love to see the city go back to a part-time mayor with a city manager to run the city administration duties.
“I’m no more trained to be mayor than the man on the moon, with no public administration background,” he said. “That is not to say it can’t be done. I’m doing the best I can.”
Hereford said a city manager and part-time mayor would open up the pool of candidates who could run for mayor.
“A lot of qualified people can’t leave their regular careers to be mayor for four years,” he said. “But many of those individuals would make a great part-time mayor.”
Hereford said those issues would be addressed in upcoming discussions.
“These are not the best of times, but I believe we are positioning ourselves for the future,” he said. “We are in a prime location on the Birmingham-Atlanta corridor (Interstate 20). We have great highway, rail and airport facilities, and we have a great educational system, which includes the state’s premier community college (Jefferson State Community College), and we have our beautiful Logan Martin Lake. Even with all that, our greatest resource is our people. Indeed, the 21st century is ours.”
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