SILVERHILL, Alabama — After having two of its monthly community events canceled or postponed because of the COVID-19 outbreak, the town of Silverhill will host a Mother/Son Ice Cream Social on Friday, June 12 at Brodie’s Cream & Bean.
A limited number of tickets are available for $10 per mother/son couple and can be purchased through the drive through at town hall. Call 251-945-5198 to check for availability. The social begins at 6 p.m. on Friday at Brodie’s Cream & Bean, located at 16320 Silverhill Ave.
The social, originally scheduled for May, is part of the town’s effort to host at least one community event per month, but a movie night in March had to be canceled because of the coronavirus outbreak and the town’s annual Heritage Day, which was to be the community event for April, was moved to September.
The last community event, a Daddy/Daughter Dance held Feb. 15 at the Community Center, drew about 80 daddies and daughters.
At its regular council meeting on Monday, June 1, the council voted to spend $2,200 to paint and make improvements to the office area at town hall. The improvements also include taking out and eventually replacing the town’s drop box used to pay bills after hours.
A post on the town’s Facebook page Wednesday, June 3 announced that the drop box was temporarily out of order and encouraged residents to utilize the town’s online payment system at silverhillalabama.com.
The council voted unanimously June 1 to approve the measure. Council members Gerald Ardoin and Steve Brooks were not present for the meeting.
In other business June 1, the council discussed and approved a plan for adding new customers after beginning its nearly half-million-dollar water system expansion project over the last few months.
The project, which was slated to begin in 2019, was delayed after bids for the project came in well over budget.
The project was re-bid after the town sent letters to all potential customers offering to cut tapping fees in half, down to $900 from the regular $1,800 to sign on to the project. The council voted June 1 to allow anyone still wishing to sign on to the project while construction is still ongoing at a reduced rate of $1,200.
According to the bid specifications published in Gulf Coast Media, the project includes 12,250 linear feet of 8-inch Class 200 PVC mater main and related equipment, running 8-inch water lines along Broad Street (County Road 55) and replacing 2-inch water lines along East Boulevard. A bid of $455,549.90 from Water Resource Management was approved in January.
The council also voted to recommend approval for the transfer of a liquor license with the ABC Board for Alley Cat Alley, formerly known as The Porch, which is under new ownership.
Mayor Jared Lyles also presented the town’s 2019-20 budget for discussion of any concerns council members might have moving forward to the 2020-21 budget, which is slated for approval in October.
“Right now, I don’t believe there is any cause for concern,” he said. “I just wanted the council to be able to look it over to see if there are any concerns they might have moving forward.
“As it stands, there are a few areas that might be a little behind, such as the collection of court fees, but I expect those areas to catch up as things open back up. Overall, I don’t see that we are under budget as far as revenue or over budget as far as expenses are concerned.”
