By Fred Woods
Editor
The Round House, a small business incubator, is open for business at 1016 South Railroad Ave. in Opelika. Executive Director Kyle Sandler told the Opelika City Council that his firm aimed to “… create local entrepreneurs that would increase local jobs and increase (Opelika’s) tax base.” The City of Opelika will provide, at no cost to the business, one gigabyte of high-speed internet service for a period of 24 months. A public hearing was held on the agreement at this week’s Opelika City Council meeting. Subsequently the council passed a resolution approving the agreement.
The council also adopted a new rate schedule for city cemeteries, with small increases for opening and closing graves. ESG Director Mike Hilyer said the increases, the first since 2006, ranged from $25 to $50 and were primarily due to increased labor costs.
Two Opelika Police officers also came in for well-deserved special recognition:
Officer Craig Vickers, over the past two years and working on his own time, installed 17 radars in police cars at a tremendous savings in installation fees and is also considered the go-to guy when anything goes wrong with those radars.
Capt. K.C. Foxe, the man who nominated Vickers for his award, also came in for commendation for completing (and graduating from) the ten-week National FBI Academy recently. Foxe is the first Opelika police officer to graduate from the FBI Academy in a number of years and one of only four from OPD to accomplish this feat.
The council also:
approved the 2014 update to the Lee County Solid Waste Management Plan.
approved an agreement for consulting services in connection with the Carver-Jeter Master Plan for the 2015 calendar year at the rate of $5,000 per month with Canvas Planning Group of Atlanta.
approved a change in the city’s Master Plan to rezone 56 acres of land owned by East Alabama Paving from medium density residential to manufacturing. The property is located in the 400 block of Old Columbus Road.
approved issuance of $9,165,000 of General Obligation Warrants to refinance indebtedness related to the cost of constructing Sportsplex. This action will result in a savings in interest costs to the city of $900,000.
conducted other more or less routine city business.