Emily Featherston
The Vestavia Hills City Council recognized the hard work of fire station No. 2, after the crew received an Alabama Remodeling Excellence Award for the station’s recent kitchen and bath renovation.
“They made a silk purse out of a sow’s ear,” fire chief Jim St. John said.
The fire station was built in 1971 and had not been updated until firefighters took it upon themselves to make the station a better place to be.
St. John said everyone who works at the station wanted to make a change, and when he asked if they were willing to help, “there was a resounding ‘yes.’”
The Fire Department partnered with Kitchen and Bath Dimensions, but the firefighters at the station did a majority of the labor, saving the city thousands of dollars.
Mayor Butch Zaragoza, who started his fire department career at station No. 2, said he was happy to see the remodel and thankful of the firefighters' hard work.
Other Council Business:
- City Manager Jeff Downes reported that the Greater Birmingham Humane Society has trapped 67 feral cats in the Cahaba Heights area. Three cats had to be euthanized for either feline leukemia or cancer, but three other cats were deemed adoptable. The remaining 61 cats will go through the TNR program and be released in a “non-residential” location.
- Downes also reported that Charter will commence “re-splicing” cable lines at the future Meadowlawn Park site, with potential outages around midnight for the next week.
- The mayor and city council declared May 15-21 as National Police Week and May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day.
- The council approved two resolutions to further the relocation of the Public Works facilities, including an agreement with Williams Blackstock Architects to design and bid-out a new structure.
- The council voted to declare multiple obsolete computer items as surplus property and available for sale or destruction.
- Two resolutions allowing for power easements at 501 Montgomery Highway for the future Chick-fil-a were approved.
- The council accepted a settlement deal with Bariatrics of Alabama, a former business that closed in January 2016, for $40,000 to settle an outstanding sales-tax lean.
- The council approved amendments to Ordinances 2530 and 2538 to clarify that infrastructure work done by Daniel Realty Company at Patchwork Farms includes work for the future Patchwork Nature Park.
