By Rebekah Martin
Associate Editor

The Opelika City Council recognized two citizens at Tuesday’s meeting for their contributions to the city and local campaigns.
Mayor Gary Fuller recognized former OPD officer Billy Goldborough with an “Attaboy” award for exceptional service. Goldborough was first hired as a police officer in June 2009 and moved to Human Resources in June 2012 and currently serves as an analyst for the department and heads up the city’s safety committee. Under his leadership, all city employees go through “Run, Hide, Fight” training and all new hires are also completely trained within three months of employment.
The Mayor also read a proclamation honoring Mattie Clark for her efforts with the National Night Out campaign. NNO is an organization in it’s 32nd year and works to raise awareness and work toward crime, drug and violence prevention. This year’s theme is “Take Our City Back” and is slated for Aug. 4. The resolution stated that the event offers Opelika the “unique opportunity to join forces with thousands of people from across the country in promotion of police and community cooperation and crime prevention efforts.” The event is sponsored by the Opelika Housing Authority, the City of Opelika, Breaking the Cycle, Inc., the Opelika Police Department and various community churches and civic clubs.
In other business the council:
-heard an update from City Administrator Joey Motley that focused on the city’s monthly building and the year-to-date building permit reports. Motley said the reports fair well for the city, stating that the revenue collected totaled more than $20 million.
-approved a resolution granting a special use permit to Verizon Wireless allowing the company to  construct a new 109 foot cell tower to be located at 10 Veterans Parkway. The resolution the council approved stated that both city and Verizon customers will benefit from this addition.
-approved a temporary street closure for the “Run For Your Life 5k Race” to be held October 17.
-approved a resolution authorizing the execution of the Alabama Recycling Fund Grant Agreement the city has with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. The resolution states the East Alabama Recycling Partnership has been selected for project funding totaling more than $124,000 and the city will invest approximately $40,000 in local matching funds to upgrade its recycling facility to accept single-stream, in addition to rolling out a new subscription bi-weekly curbside recycling program.