Demopolis City Council considers $150K contribution to city school's athletic department

The Demopolis City Council is considering giving $150,000 to the Demopolis School System’s athletic department.

The issue will be discussed at the next city council meeting after City Councilman Hugh Overmyer asked for it to be placed on the agenda for the Feb. 19 meeting.

“Anytime you talk about economic development and survival of small, rural communities, you hear, ‘You’ve got to have a good hospital and a good school system,’” Overmyer said. “Let’s do something for the school system.”

Overmyer said at the city council’s Feb. 5 meeting that the school system has spent $150,000 of its own money on athletics “for the first time in my adult lifetime,” and a matching contribution from the city would “help retain students.”

“They have a new athletic director and a new coach, and they’re spending their money to improve their facilities. This will give some encouragement,” Overmyer said of the contribution. He said he will propose the contribution be given as a lump sum to be allocated however the athletic department chooses.

City Councilman Charles Jones Jr. said wasn’t on board.

“I don’t buy it. This isn’t flying with me,” Jones said.

Councilwoman Dawn Hewitt said she thought a contribution should be given for a particular item.

Overmyer replied, “I’m requesting that it be put on the agenda, and it can be voted up or down.”

In other business, the Demopolis City Council approved a temporary six-month moratorium on mobile homes in the city limits. Mayor Woody Collins said the Demopolis Planning Commission will work with the city attorney on a permanent resolution relating to mobile homes.

The planning commission is also working on updating the city’s comprehensive plan.

The city council will consider at least three nominees to fill two empty seats on the planning commission, including the seat Overmyer vacated when he was elected to the city council. At their next meeting, the council members will consider Jim Stafford, Craig Plowman and Jimmy Yelverton for the commission.

Several seats on the Demopolis Board of Zoning Adjustment must also be filled.

The Demopolis City Council and the Marengo County Commission will work out maintenance agreements on several streets where jurisdiction over repairs is unclear. The city council voted to split the $34,000 cost of a damaged sewer line on Poe Road with the Marengo County Commission, but the city and county will get together to formalize road maintenance agreements on Poe Road and several other streets that the city and county have argued over for years, Collins said.

The city will soon hire a police officer to enforce city codes, and officials will meet with state engineers next week to discuss sidewalks near the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences. Collins said they will look at sidewalks and crosswalks on Cedar Avenue and Highway 80 and from the school, which is scheduled to open in August 2027, to downtown Demopolis.

Collins told the city council that the request to the Alabama Legislature to annex 305 acres near Galion has been withdrawn, as reported by the Black Belt News Network. More information on the annexation can be found here.

Overmyer said he wanted to “clarify for the record” that the decision to delay the annexation was made by all the parties – the Hale County Commission, the Demopolis City Council, the property owners and legislators – not by the Demopolis City Council alone.