Commission approves Bridges at Hastings financing and programmatic historic-preservation agreement; commissioner raises alarm about fire district response

The Jefferson County Commission approved financing for the Bridges at Hastings rental project and a programmatic agreement with the Alabama State Historic Preservation Office intended to streamline routine infrastructure projects that previously required repeated concurrence for work such as repaving.

Community Development staff described the Bridges at Hastings item as permanent financing for a 56-unit rental community and said the programmatic agreement would allow the county to renew an existing arrangement annually so the historical commission need not be asked for concurrence on routine projects. "This agreement has been in place for a while. They are going to change it to what we renew it annually so that we don't have to ask for concurrence from the Historical Commission to do certain projects, especially when we do our road paving projects," Community Development staff said. Staff said the change is expected to save roughly 30 days on the front end for standard repaving projects.

The commission also approved a contract to construct the Bourbon Court storm shelter and an extension of housing rehab and plumbing services agreements, plus a community grant for the Town of Silver Springs.

Separately, a commissioner raised an urgent public-safety concern after a structure for a storm shelter burned completely. The commissioner said residents in Docena and Edgewater pay fire dues to a minor fire district but reported that firefighters did not arrive until after the building was destroyed. "I have a very strong concern about the fact that the structure was burned to the ground, and apparently because of the lack of immediate service in that area, although they pay fire dues, they didn't show up until after the fact," the commissioner said, and asked the county manager to investigate personnel and coverage issues in the fire district.

County leadership agreed to follow up offline. The programmatic agreement and construction contract were approved; the commission did not take immediate formal action on the fire-district matter other than to request the county manager to report back.

What happens next: staff will execute the programmatic agreement and proceed with the Bourbon Court storm shelter contract, while the county manager will review the minor fire district's staffing and response procedures and report back to commissioners.