SILVERHILL, Alabama — The Silverhill Town Council should vote at its next meeting to amend its ordinance to set water and tap fees for commercial properties, in preparation for a development coming to the town in 2021.

“Our ordinance addresses water and tap fees for residential properties, but not for commercial properties,” said Mayor Jared Lyles, “and since we have a commercial development coming in that will require the installation of both 3-inch and 2-inch lines, we needed to be able to address that issue.”

At its meeting Jan. 4, the council decided to set the fees at $2,000 for the installation of 2-inch water lines on commercial properties, plus the cost of materials with a tap fee of $1,200.

For 3-inch water lines, the fee will be set at $5,000, plus the cost of materials, with a tap fee of $1,600.

In order to change an ordinance, the town is required to advertise the change for at least two weeks prior to the vote. The council should be able to vote on the ordinance change at its next meeting, which will be held Tuesday, Jan. 19. The council voted Jan. 4 to change the meeting date from Monday, Jan. 18 because all town offices will be closed in observance of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.

In other business Jan. 4, it was announced that debris removal from Hurricane Sally was set to be finished by the end of the week and the town should be able to present final totals for FEMA reimbursement by the end of the month.

It’s been nearly four months since Sally swept through causing massive amounts of destruction countywide. In October, Lyles estimated the cost of debris removal at about $1.2 million. Following the Jan. 4 meeting, Lyles said they had kept a running estimate of debris removal costs, monitored by an independent contractor, and a final tally should be available soon after cleanup was completed.

FEMA should reimburse 75 percent of the total cost of debris removal. Gov. Kay Ivey has also stated that the state of Alabama would reimburse another 15 percent, leaving municipalities to cover the remaining 10 percent.

The council also discussed changing the town’s personnel policy regarding vacation carry over.

Lyles said the town currently rolls over vacation days for town employees with each employee able to carry over up to 30 days of vacation time.

The town is considering changing its policy to carry over accumulated vacation time over 30 days as sick time. If an employee leaves the town, Lyles said, they would not be reimbursed for the additional sick time, but if the employee retires, that sick time would be added to the employee’s retirement benefits.

Lyles said the town needs to check with the Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA) before taking action on the matter.

“We don’t believe that there will be a financial impact for the town,” Lyles said. “We just need to make sure we’re doing everything the right way.”

In other business Jan. 4, the council:

• Approved the purchase of two new computers for front office staff at a cost of $815 each.
• Approved workers comp estimated billing for 2021 at a cost of $13,435.