Special Council Meeting Gives the Town a Glimpse of What Lies Ahead

Last night, the Lake View Town Council was called to a special meeting by Mayor Paul Calhoun. The stated purpose of the meeting was to cast a vote to hire a clerk for the police department prior to January 1, 2017 so that the new hire would coincide with the beginning of the calendar year. However, two other matters were included on the agenda, an appointment to the GUSC board for the position held by Nancy Ray and Ordinance 138-122716.  While larger municipalities restrict special meetings to only addressing the stated reason for the meeting being called, in this case the hiring of a police clerk, in Class 8 municipalities like Lake View it is permissible to have other matters handled at these meetings though it is advised to restrict such additions to urgent business. Beneath the surface of a seemingly uneventful special meeting, there were several things that concerned citizens could learn. As always, the devil is in the details.

Audit Review: Fiscal Responsibility Left Us in a Good Place, Can We Stay There?

Quite a bit has been said about the prior council during this most recent election cycle. In particular the hard-line stances on financial responsibility taken by former Councilmen Weathers, Thomas, and Nichols were up for debate. The three who didn’t quit often deadlocked the 2012 – 2016 council by insisting that the budget be adhered to and that new spending be accompanied by new ways to spend the taxpayers’ money more efficiently. Often they were derided for being controlling, but in the end it appears they left the town in a better place, at least financially. Former Tuscaloosa County Commissioner Don Wallace, the CPA in charge of the town’s financial audits, completed his annual report on the town finances through September 30, 2016 and he made his report to the Council at last week’s meeting. The results show that the current council will inherit the most stable financial situation of any administration in town history, now it is up to them to make sure it stays that way.  Here are the details.