Homewood in 'excellent' condition, mayor says in address to chamber
The city of Homewood is in excellent condition and for a lot of different reasons, Mayor Scott McBrayer told the Homewood Chamber of Commerce today.
McBrayer gave the state-of-the-city address at the chamber's first luncheon of 2016 at The Club. He discussed the projects Homewood has completed, is working on and plans to pursue in the future.
“The state of the City of Homewood is excellent, and I don’t know if you know how good it feels to say that, but it’s excellent for a lot of different reasons,” McBrayer said.
He attributed the city’s success to a hard-working City Council, staff and department units with hard-working employees. The council serves as a sort of safety net for him, McBrayer said, and helps make sure things are in order through the hours they put in and phone calls or emails they make.
“It does take leadership, but it also takes a team of people who understand the vision, and I’ve always been blessed with a great City Council,” McBrayer said. “And I like to think of us more as a group of neighbors.”
At the end of 2015, the city once again had a surplus, McBrayer said. The surplus was around $800,000, and McBrayer noted he plans to talk with the council about moving that surplus to the capital projects fund.
As he reviewed 2015, McBrayer discussed projects the city started work on, including the West Homewood revitalization project, plans for another greenway trail, a traffic plan and new ramp for Interstate 65, new sidewalks, 18th street revitalization efforts and new vehicles for the police and fire departments.
Proposed projects for the new year include a renovation project on South Wildwood, a new parking garage and office building for Brookwood Medical Center, Samford University renovations, a new addition for HealthSouth Lakeshore Rehabilitation Hospital and other projects.
“That’s really just a portion of what we have going on in the city of Homewood,” McBrayer said. “We’ve been blessed.”
The city’s fire and police departments also shared statistics from 2015 with McBrayer. The Police Department answered 38,113 calls in 2015 and reported home thefts are down by 34 percent. Car burglaries, McBrayer said, are the only crimes that are up in numbers. Car break-ins are up by 17 percent, he said, and 95 percent of the incidents involved unlocked cars.
“So here’s the public service announcement — stop doing that,” McBrayer said, regarding unlocked vehicles.
The Fire Department had a record year, McBrayer said, with 3,776 responses — the busiest in Homewood’s history. In addition to those calls, the Fire Department had more than 62,000 hours of training.
Also at the luncheon, the Firefighter of the Year, Police Officer of the Year and City Employee of the Year were recognized.
Homewood police Chief Tim Ross said this year he believed two police officers were equally deserving of Police Officer of the Year. Ross selected Sgt. Steve Hensley and Office Scott Blake.
“Both of these officers performed courageously and heroically during the separate events that occurred in 2015,” Ross said.
Both Blake and Hensley were in situations where an armed suspect posed a threat to officers and another suspect. Ross commended the officers, who reacted and shot those suspects when they were firing on officers.
Homewood fire Chief John Bresnan recognized John Praytor as Firefighter of the Year. Praytor teaches CPR classes, is involved in maintaining and testing the personal protection devices used by firefighters in situations involving hazardous materials and is one of the department’s tactical medics. Praytor has been with Homewood Fire Department since 2000.
Melanie Jennings, who manages the accounts receivable and cash collections for the city, was recognized as Employee of the Year.
The next Homewood chamber luncheon is Feb. 16 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The luncheon will be in the State Room at The Club.