Latest news with #MorganCountyCommission
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Morgan County Event Center exterior almost finished, interior work progressing
Apr. 11—Construction of the Morgan County Event Center in Cotaco is moving rapidly, with the exterior largely complete except for what can't be built until finishing the the interior — which includes a walking track and two gyms. "It's going to be good for the whole area," said Morgan County Commission Chairman Ray Long. "It's going to be something for all ages to use. It will be available for everybody, not just the east side of the county. We'll use it for ball games, we'll have different events in it. It's something that everybody will be able to enjoy for years to come." The 34,627-square-foot event center will be located on 24 acres at Luker Road and Union Hill Road, across the street from the District 4 shop in Cotaco. Greg Abercrombie, Morgan County District 4 commissioner, said that about 20 months ago, the county used 3M Co. settlement money to purchase the land for about $180,000. The Morgan County Commission approved about a $7.16 million bid for the event center in April 2024. The county will spend about $2 million from the 3M settlement money and about $5 million from American Rescue Plan Act funds. "Joe Wheeler (EMC) contractors were out there (Tuesday) putting up power lines," Abercrombie said. Abercrombie said the HVAC system has been installed. He said they will need to turn on the air conditioning several weeks before the center opens. "The wood, when they bring it in, it's still in the pallets," he said. "The room has to be the temperature of what we're basically going to keep it once we open them up. So, it has to acclimate to that room temperature for a minimum of a month. That's when they can actually take the wood out of the pallets and begin putting it down on the floor." Abercrombie said the wood will warp if it does not become acclimated to the room temperature. "They want it to stay in the same temperature so it will stay its normal size and not expand and contract," he said. "We need the floor to be smooth." There will be two gymnasiums. The upstairs concrete walking track has already been poured, Abercrombie said. He said the fire alarm and sprinkler systems have also been installed and so have some of the lights in one gymnasium. "Right now, we've been in the process of ordering bleachers and the pads that go on the ends of the walls on the basketball courts," Abercrombie said. Abercrombie said the exterior is almost complete. He said they are finishing bricking the front of the center. "Where the front doors are, they've still got that completely out," he said. "Still having to go back and forth in with a mechanical lift. They can't seal that up yet." The sidewalks are poured on three sides, Abercrombie said. They have not built the sidewalk in front of the center yet due to the lift going in and out of the building. The gutters could be installed this week. "It's really changing right now," Abercrombie said. At Tuesday's commission meeting, the commission approved putting out a bid request for the construction of an onsite sewer system for the center. "For my area, we've never had anything like this, ever, in our district," Abercrombie said. "In my area, I think it's going to bring the communities out that way to one facility to use." Abercrombie said they do not have a date set for when the center will open. "It's probably like any other entity being built like this, everything seems like it's going great in a timely manner, but now and then there will be an item that has been ordered but hasn't come in," he said. With that caveat, Abercrombie said he hopes it will be complete by the first of next year or sooner. Long said he would like to have more event centers across the county eventually. "But funding has a lot to do with that," he said. "Eventually we'd like to have a few more gyms scattered around the county. But we don't have a time frame because money is always the key. Right now, we don't know what's going to happen with the economy — a lot going on." — or 256-340-2460.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Morgan County EMA preparing Hazard Mitigation Plan for 2027
Mar. 12—The Morgan County Commission will pay $25,000 for an Emergency Management Agency Hazard Mitigation Plan to be completed that in the past has always been paid for by a federal grant, however the grant has been frozen by the federal government at this time. Jonathan Warner, Morgan County Emergency Management Agency director, said the Hazard Mitigation Plan is required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency every five years. "What they want to know is how are we mitigating that hazard; how are we preparing for that hazard that's coming," he said. "The weather is a big one. Also, they look for our chemical hazards and our hazardous materials that flow through the county. Of course, since we're in Morgan County, our hazard of Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant. With the river running through, with the railroad running through, main interstates running through." Warner said it even takes into account gas pipelines like the one running parallel to Interstate 65 through the county. "Every kind of hazard like that goes into our mitigation plan, and we prove to FEMA in that plan how we're prepared for these hazards, and how we plan to deal if something goes wrong with these hazards," he said. The plan is due in 2027, however, it takes about a year to complete, Warner said. He said it is a regional plan which covers 10 counties in Alabama. Top of Alabama Regional Council of Governments (TARCOG) has been hired to complete the plan, which was about 1,000 pages in 2022, Warner said. The total cost for all 10 counties, Warner said, is $250,000. Split evenly among the counties, each one pays $25,000. At Tuesday's Morgan County Commission meeting, the commission approved paying the $25,000 out of the general fund for completion of the plan. "The reason it's on the agenda now is typically we get a grant from FEMA. The state applies for the grant and gets the grant, and then the state pays TARCOG to do this Hazardous Mitigation Plan," Warner said. "The state applied for the grant this year, the grant was allocated for this, and the new administration came in and froze everything." Warner said, although the money has been allocated for the plan, the money is untouchable currently. "We don't know if we're going to eventually get this money or not," he said. Warner said the plan is federally required through FEMA, even if the county has to pay for it. "We've always gotten reimbursed for that; it's just a federal thing," said Commission Chairman Ray Long. "So many of the federal dollars are held up right now while they're going through this thing with (Elon) Musk and looking at all the federal contracts, all the appropriations. It's held up in that right now." Long said he is confident the funds will be reimbursed. "EMA is something that Congress has always supported us having money to do our job," he said. "That's not something they're going to cut out. It's just frozen right now, so we can't get it." Long said they have to keep the ball rolling, despite frozen funds. "We can't wait for everything to unfreeze to do what we need to do," he said. "We don't need to sit and put it off three, four, five months, whatever it is. It needs to keep rolling. So, we'll front the money. And, if we don't get reimbursed, then it's still something we need to do. We've got to have a Hazard Mitigation Plan; we've got to have it." — or 256-340-2460.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Event center and new Falkville Senior Center among Morgan County projects
Feb. 28—At Thursday's State of Morgan County Forum, the chairman and three of the commissioners discussed last year's accomplishments and this year's plans, including completion of the event center in Cotaco and a new Falkville Senior Center. "The state of Morgan County is great. It's booming right now," said Morgan County Commission Chairman Ray Long. "Everyone that wants a job has a job. The economy's booming; people are spending again. We've got houses going up everywhere." The annual forum was hosted by the Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce and took place Thursday morning at the DoubleTree by Hilton Decatur Riverfront. District 1 Commissioner Jeff Clark said West Morgan Road has been closed for about three years for safety reasons but is finally close to being rebuilt. He said the project has gone out to bid. "That should happen in the next 90 days, and construction should start around August, I think," Clark said. "It won't be completed this fiscal year, but it will be started this fiscal year and finished next year." There is another part of the project besides redoing the bridge, Clark said. "When they complete that bridge and get it opened back up, we're going to do an intersection improvement at the intersection of West Morgan Road and Lamon Road to take out that dangerous curve right there," he said. "We're waiting right now because that's the only way people have to get in and out." Clark said it is a dangerous curve. "People do not slow down and they get in both lanes," he said. "We're going to straighten that curve out and bring it in at a 90 degree (angle) and put a stop sign there at the three-way stop. ... They should fix the bridge in the spring of next year then in the summer do Lamon Drive." North Park in Priceville is getting two additional ball fields and another concession stand. "The ball fields are just about done," Clark said. "We're going to start the turn lanes we're hoping in the next month on North Bethel Road and East Upper River Road. ... I don't think it will take that long; I would say within a month we would have it completed." District 2 Commissioner Randy Vest said the gymnasium at West Park has been operational for about a year and a half and is going great. "We've got activities going on every day," he said. "We've got basketball with 100 county teams, we've got pickleball with all ages. We just started volleyball for female youth." Vest said the Council on Aging is also utilizing the facility. "The seniors stopped by last month," he said. "In March, they're having a county-wide senior citizen dance. So, it's just great what takes place there with the gym." Long said the county wants more gymnasiums and plans on having two or three more in the county in the next 10 years. It was District 3 Commissioner Matthew Frost's first forum as a newly elected commissioner. He said the county purchased a former Dollar General store near the Falkville Senior Center. "We're going to remodel it for a senior center (to) give them more room for day-to-day operations," Frost said. "They're in the smallest one there is right now." The new building is over 9,000 square feet. "You couldn't have built a building for what it cost to buy and remodel this one," Frost said. He said the county has yet to decide what to do with the former senior center. He said the remodeling project has not gone out to bid yet, so the county does not know what it will cost. South Park in Falkville is also getting two additional ball fields while another concession stand has been completed. "They're coming along pretty good. We have the fencing up; all we're waiting on is lighting," Frost said. The new ball fields were needed "to give more room for the kids and to get more games in." District 4 Commissioner Greg Abercrombie was unable to attend the forum, but Long spoke on his behalf about the Morgan County Event Center being built in Cotaco. "We're hoping by at least the end of the year to have it up and going. They'll be playing ball games in it when we start the new season," he said. "Right now, they've got the roof on and working on the walking track. They should be pouring the concrete hopefully next week on it. Once the roof is completely enclosed, they'll move inside. "In the next few months, you'll be able to see a big difference out there. But there's a lot of detail work." The center will consist of two gymnasiums, an upstairs walking track and several meeting and event rooms. The center is costing about $7 million, with $5 million being American Rescue Plan Act funds, and about $2 million being money from a settlement with 3M. An organization donated about $4 million to the county to build an agriculture center to share a parking lot next to the event center. However, the agriculture center will cost more than the $4 million. "We're still working on a design. We've looked at a couple to try to model it after," Long said. "We don't have the funding to build it right now. We feel like it's going to be about $8 million or so. In the next couple of years, we're going to be looking for funding for that." Long said the center is much needed. "When they sold the Celebration Arena, FFAs, 4Hs, they have nowhere in Morgan County that's big enough," he said. "There'll be rodeos, there will be a lot of stuff it's used for." The county has not yet hired an architect, Long said. Long said the county is in a much better position than it has been in the past. "Twenty years ago, we weren't where we are today; we were a divided county. But today, everybody's unified; we're working together," he said. "People see that, and that's why we're growing so much." — or 256-340-2460.
