We saw Dr. John Kvach, the executive director of the Singing River Trail, at the Greenbrier Restaurant with Anna Clem of Athens. Looking and sounding like the Singing River Trail may be doubling its staff to two employees.
State Auditor-elect Andrew Sorrell has big plans to rebuild the state auditor position in Alabama. The beleaguered position has frequently been referred to as the “Official Counter of Desks” by a certain garrulous talk show host.
Undeterred, the former North Alabama legislator is heading to Mississippi this month to meet with its State Auditor Shad White, famed for stopping the largest public fraud in state history and making the largest civil recovery after an auditor’s investigation.
Sorrell will have his work cut out for him. Just last year, a bill was filed by State Sen. Andrew Jones (R-Centre) to do away with the Office of State Auditor completely. We hear Jones could possibly be changing his tune with Sorrell in charge and could potentially support his efforts.
U.S. Rep.-elect Dale Strong is aiming high for his first term. Alabama’s Fifth District Congressional Representative is reportedly tapped to serve on the powerful House Armed Services Committee.
In the development world, we hear a 70-acre parcel on Pulaski Pike is garnering substantial interest. The Freedom Industrial Park put forth by Freedom Real Estate is adjacent to Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Meta (Facebook), and Aerojet Rocketdyne. Projections put the total possible space at 700,000 square feet of industrial warehouse and logistics space. Pay attention to what lands here, OTR expects another home run from the Freedom team.
After the fireworks at the Madison City Council meeting Monday night between Councilman Teddy Powell and Mayor Paul Finley, sources say they will be moving forward as a team. At issue was bringing up a vote to authorize millions of dollars in funding to refurbish the old Three Springs building into a Community Center.
During the meeting, Powell told the mayor, “You’re not going to sit up here and attack me and tell me we are not engaged and not let me speak.”
Finley called the project critical to the city.
It seems everyone agrees it’s a great plan that the council supports but several members requested additional time to review capital improvement plans. The council eventually decided to postpone the vote until further discussion.
A shiny, new Starbucks is reportedly taking over the site of the closed Ruby Tuesday by Cracker Barrel on Tom Thrasher Lane in Madison. The new location from the largest coffee chain in the world will be situated right off Wall Triana and I-565.
In the Alabama Legislature, Speaker-elect Nathaniel Ledbetter says the new crop of incoming legislators is getting acclimated and will be ready for the session kicking off in March. The rural DeKalb County native has announced a handful of key leadership appointments including Rep. Rex Reynolds as chair of the powerful General Fund Committee. Rumor has it that there will be more North Alabama members placed in key committee chairmanship roles.
In Leighton’s quest to become the best small town in Alabama, we hear they are following up their immensely successful Pine Hill Haints downtown concert with another announcement soon. We will keep you posted.
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