Chamber recognizes employees of the year, hears state of the city

The Homewood Chamber of Commerce kicked off 2018 with a chance to recognize city employees and to look forward.

During the Jan. 23 chamber luncheon at The Club, Homewood Mayor Scott McBrayer gave his State of the City address and welcomed city department heads to the stage to recognize employees of the year.

The following employees were recognized:

Firefighter of the year: Lt. David Everson

Everson has been a firefighter with the city since 1999, said Fire Chief John A. Bresnan, and he has consistently dedicated his time to the department. He was the department’s first individual to complete all the rescue technician courses available, and is the department’s lead lieutenant for its Alabama Mutual Aid System unit.

“We don’t have an individual who made a daring rescue singlehandedly like you might hope to hear. What we have is dedicated individuals that keep us in a state of readiness for not only things that happen in our own backyard, but things that may happen across the state,” Bresnan said. “That’s what this individual does.”

Police officer of the year: Officer Matthew Green

Green is a legacy in the Homewood Police Department, said Chief Tim Ross, as his father served in the department and retired as detective sergeant. Since he joined HPD in August 2014, Ross said Green has exhibited the qualities of a model employee.

“’Model officer.’ I don’t use that term loosely or lightly,” Ross said.

Green shows professionalism and dedication on the job, Ross said, and in 2017 led the department in traffic stops with more than 1,400 traffic stops and more than 300 arrests.

Employee of the year: Victor Dubose

Director of public services Berkley Squires said that in the city, it all boils down to the guy who is picking up Homewood residents’ garbage. The citizens recognize those individuals, he said, and if they’re not out there, he’ll get a call.

Squires recognized Dubose, who has been with the city for about 16 years. The city has been shorthanded since Thursday, Jan. 18, due to the flu and other illness, Squires said, but Dubose has been happy to help out.

“He ran his morning garbage route and got back in and hopped on the trash route,” Squires said. “That’s the type of employee Victor is.”

The luncheon was also an opportunity to recognize the city as a whole, as McBrayer gave his State of the City address.

He started his address by offering thanks to the chamber, city council and individuals he works with every day. From the time he gave his first State of the City address 10 years ago to today's address, McBrayer said he learned a lot about the difference between being the mayor and doing the mayor’s job.

Being the mayor, he said, involves a lot of ribbon cuttings and public appearances.

Doing the mayor’s job, however, is much less visible. It’s time spent with department heads, developing goals and working to accomplish new objectives, he said.

“Doing the mayor’s job sometimes requires me to look at the big picture first and then focus on what needs to be done in order to make it happen,” he said. “So it’s why I always try to begin projects with the end in mind.”

With that philosophy in mind, McBrayer said, he looked at what 2017 looked like for Homewood as well as where the city plans to go in 2018.

Homewood benefits from a strong police and fire department, McBrayer said, and statistics backed that up in 2017. Last year, police responded to nearly 40,000 calls, arrests were up 33 percent, and multiple types of crime were down. The fire department, he said, responded to more than 4,000 calls, 67 percent of which were medical emergencies and 2 percent of which were fires, and the department reduced its response time to 6 minutes, 14 seconds. They also spent more than 62,000 hours in training.

He also commended the Homewood Public Library, city magistrate and Melody Saulter, city clerk and finance director, for being exemplary additions to the city. Regarding finances, McBrayer brought up a few numbers on screen to show how the city had ended each fiscal year since he took office with a surplus.

“It hasn’t been easy, but it has been worth it,” he said.

Pre-audit numbers show Homewood finishing FY17 with a $360,000 surplus after funding $323,000 in employee bonuses and transferring $500,000 to the capital projects fund. One factor toward that surplus was increased sales tax revenue, the slide noted, which came from a January 2017 decision to increase sales tax by 1 percent. This increased sales tax revenue by $5.4 million for the partial year, he said.

“I’ll say the state of the city of Homewood is excellent,” McBrayer said.

For 2018, McBrayer said the city plans to continue and pursue several projects. This includes the diverging diamond over I-65, ongoing park projects, the new public safety office and a potential road-swap with ALDOT.

McBrayer has approached ALDOT about exchanging West Lakeshore Parkway for Greensprings Highway, and he said they have almost reached an agreement. This swap, he said, could benefit businesses along Greensprings. The city doesn’t have a lot of say along that road, as it’s a city highway, he said.

“Hopefully if we can get that agreement done, I think that Greensprings corridor can not so much be such a dividing line in our city but really be a gateway and a really nice thoroughfare into our city, and I think it would completely change our look on Greensprings,” he said.