Mayor’s Minute

I often find myself thinking about the hard work and dedication of our city staff and elected officials, and I am incredibly thankful. We are a strong team – always working to keep Vestavia Hills “A Life Above.”

But we know there is continuous work to be done. We want to hear from our residents, but in this day of social media I have come to realize that residents post comments in online forums and we do not always receive their message. And, as the saying goes, you can’t fix what you don’t know is broken.

We recognize that our citizens deserve to communicate with ease and, other than social media, there are two resources available to facilitate that communication: Vestavia Hills Listens and the Vestavia Hills Action Center. Both of these resources have been in use for a while, but I find it is often helpful to remind citizens that these tools are readily available via the city website (vhal.org) and the Action Center app.

Vestavia Hills Listens is a virtual town hall that serves as an online forum for residents to offer input to city officials and staff that can be found at bit.ly/VHListens. Depending on current events, there might be options posted to solicit your input on a specific topic, such as the “Community Spaces Plan questions and comments” topic. 

These specific topics vary, but “The Grapevine” is an area that is always available for any post, whether it be a question or a general statement. If you have a question about anything – from road closures to holiday decorations – “The Grapevine” is the perfect place to ask that question.

The Vestavia Hills Action Center is more service-oriented but still serves as a valuable resource for communicating with city officials and staff. Due to its ability to immediately route service needs, the Action Center is available via the city website at bit.ly/VHActionCenter, but it is also available as an app via the App Store or Google Play.

You can access so many services through the Action Center – report urgent road conditions, request a new garbage can, request pickup of heavy trash or debris, report drainage issues or request permission for a block party in your neighborhood. As a resident, you also have the ability to pay a ticket online or view public notices that might affect you.

I hope that you will utilize both the Vestavia Hills Listens portal and the Action Center. They truly are the most effective methods for contacting city officials and staff in a way that is most convenient for you.

Thanks to Cinnamon McCulley, our communications specialist, for compiling the content for this month’s Mayor’s Minute.

In closing, let’s give thanks for all that we have. I wish you ahappy Thanksgiving.