Category: Uncategorized

Monthly Countywide cleanup day is this Saturday, 8-10-19

Trucks will be at the locations below from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. or until the truck is full.

The pick-up sites are for residents to bring amounts of trash larger than the normal residential trash container will accommodate.

Limbs smaller than four feet and no more than six inches in diameter will be accepted but it is not designed to accept trash or clean-up debris from contractors.

Items such as batteries, appliances, oils and gases, paints or thinners will not be accepted.

These are the pick-up sites for this Saturday:
Coosada Post Office
Holtville High School
Elmore County Judicial Complex
CEWSA – Redland Facility
Emerald Mountain Equestrian Center
Kent – Old Highway Department

If you have any question please contact me.
Bart

Many years back electricity was not available to all residents of rural areas. Some people had access to electricity, and others did not. What many rural residents are currently experiencing is very similar, but the need now is for broadband access. As different as citizens’ needs for electricity and broadband might be in their daily lives, the lack of adequate delivery infrastructure shares the same solution, our electric co-ops.

In the 1940’s our electric co-ops made the commitment to invest in infrastructure needed to deliver an electric current to residents in rural areas and today they are working to solve the lack of broadband access. This past week I attended an event at Central Alabama Electric Cooperative’s (CAEC) office where their wholly owned subsidiary named Central Access commemorated the start of construction of broadband infrastructure in our area.

The information distributed by Central Access during the event shows this infrastructure project will involve installing a 400 mile fiber optic loop to connect CAEC’s 24 substations and 6 offices with broadband services being offered to eligible customers within Phase 1 of this fiber loop. Specific address eligibility can be determined at the Central Access website.

I applaud CAEC, their President/CEO Tom Stackhouse and the CAEC Board of Directors for having the vision to make this investment that will once again serve to improve the quality of life for not only their members but all citizens.

I look forward to continuing to work with the Elmore County Economic Development Authority in their effort to attract investment in broadband delivery infrastructure in Elmore county. The lack of broadband access in underserved areas will not be quickly solved, but I intend on keeping the focus on this issue for many years.

Take time to complete the broadband accessibility survey  the Elmore County Economic Development Authority has published which is a part of their countywide broadband study currently taking place. Many people have asked what can they do to help improve broadband availability in Elmore county and this is an opportunity to assist in that effort.

Thanks,

Bart

Below is information Elmore County EMA received from FEMA/FCC:

Thanks-Bart

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Private Sector Advisory

FEMA and FCC Conduct Nationwide EAS Test

FEMA, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission, will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019.

The nationwide test will be sent to radio and television stations beginning at 2:20 p.m. EDT.

The test is being conducted through FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System. This year, the test message will originate from designated radio stations, known as Primary Entry Point stations, which participate in a component of IPAWS called the National Public Warning System.

All other radio and television stations, cable, wireline service providers, and direct broadcast satellite service providers should subsequently receive and broadcast the test message.

This year’s test will evaluate the readiness of the national alerting capability in the absence of internet connectivity. The test will be approximately one minute long, have a limited impact on the public with only minor interruption of radio and television programs, and will be similar to regular monthly EAS tests. Both the audio message and text crawl should be accessible to people with disabilities.

The test will not include a message on cell phones via Wireless Emergency Alerts.

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Bart Mercer

Elmore County Commissioner

District 4

During this year’s Alabama legislative session, Representative Reed Ingram and Senator Clyde Chambliss led the effort that resulted in the passage of a package of infrastructure funding sources known as the Rebuild Alabama Act. As a result of the experience Representative Ingram and Senator Chambliss had in the past as county commissioners, their knowledge helped guide the process to develop new resources to maintain local and state infrastructure.

One recurring theme in the Rebuild Act is accountability. One such requirement placed on using County Rebuild Alabama Funds is that each county must identify and approve a plan detailing all the projects that will be funded each fiscal year prior to August 31 of each year. At the July 22, 2019 Elmore County Commission meeting, we approved our first County Transportation Plan that will be funded by FY2020 Rebuild Alabama revenue.  The resurfacing and preservation projects total more than $630,000 and are only possible because of the additional revenue made available through the Rebuild Alabama Act.

In the near future, we will begin seeing signs placed along county roads that will be resurfaced with Rebuild Alabama funds. There are other projects being planned utilizing other revenue streams within Rebuild Alabama funding that will include more than resurfacing projects.

Passage of Rebuild Alabama included providing a large amount of technical information to our legislators. This information was provided by many very engaged county engineers across the state along with their support staff. I want to bring special attention to Elmore County’s Engineering staff led by Richie Beyer and Luke McGinty who spent a great amount of time providing very clear data on the transportation infrastructure needs we have in our county and state. Elmore County personnel were very engaged in this entire process, and we greatly appreciate their efforts which will benefit Elmore County citizens as well as citizens across our state.

Even with this new infrastructure preservation revenue available, a very large annual deficit remains if we are to properly maintain our roads and bridges. However, this new revenue will go a long way in our effort to provide the best maintained and safest transportation system possible.

This is the work session agenda for the Commission meeting 7- 22-19.

The Elmore County Commission meets on the 2nd Floor of the Historic Elmore County Courthouse, downtown Wetumpka.

Work Session starts at 5:00 p.m. and Commission meeting soon after, normally about 6:00 p.m.

If you want to share a thought or have a question on any item please let me know.
Thanks,
Bart

The Elmore County Commission has been working with the Elmore County Economic Development Authority (ECEDA) on improving broadband connectivity in our county.

In order to increase the likelihood of additional broadband infrastructure investments being made in Elmore county, there needs to be a very clear understanding of the current status of broadband accessibility and level of demand for services.

ECEDA has today announced they are requesting citizens input on a Broadband Connectivity survey that will be a part of the overall broadband  study currently being conducted in the county. Statement from ECEDA concerning this survey is below.

Please take time to complete this survey and also and encourage your fellow Elmore county citizens to complete it as well.
Thanks ,
Bart

ECEDA Connectivity Survey 

A portion of Rucker Road in the Town of Elmore is currently closed due to an overturned log truck.

Fire Department, Law Enforcement and County EMA personnel are currently on the scene to assist.

Bart

Reminder: Monthly Countywide cleanup day is this Saturday, 7- 13-19

Trucks will be at the locations below from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. or until the truck is full.

The pick-up sites are for residents to bring amounts of trash larger than the normal residential trash container will accommodate.
Limbs smaller than four feet and no more than six inches in diameter will be accepted but it is not designed to accept trash or clean-up debris from contractors.

Items such as batteries, appliances, oils and gases, paints or thinners will not be accepted.

These are the pick-up sites for this Saturday:
Elmore Town Hall
Holtville High School
Elmore County Judicial Complex
CEWSA – Redland Facility
Emerald Mountain Equestrian Center
Kent – Old Highway Department

If you have any question please contact me.
Bart

The County Commission is working with Advanced Disposal to correct ongoing trash collection issues experienced throughout the county; this is our primary goal in this particular matter.  An additional  frustration related to Advanced Disposal is  many citizens report having very long hold times when attempting to report a service issue to Advanced. The County Commission can provide immediate relief to this problem. Please see the statement below released by the County Commission today detailing the situation.

Bart

Commission Working to Ensure Service Issues Addressed

Since 2003, Advanced Disposal (previously called Sunflower Waste) has been the residential solid waste contractor for the citizens of Elmore County. As with any other service, the performance ebbs and flows as staffing shifts and outside influences impact operations. The Elmore County Commission is sensitive to these factors and how they affect the citizens of our county. From time to time, services provided by Advanced Disposal have been tweaked to better meet the needs of the citizens all while keeping costs to our citizens as low and reasonable as possible.

In a fast growing county like Elmore County though, sometimes the market demands outpace available resources and require additional changes to operations. The Commission continually communicates with Advanced Disposal on a number of topics including the periodic service related issues. Two specific issues of late are keeping routes running on time and when routes are delayed, communicating those delays effectively to customers.

The current service contract requires once a week pickup to a paying customer by Advanced. With individual customers having prescribed pickup days established by Advanced, frustrations mount when a mechanical malfunction or human issue causes a route to be delayed a day or two. Understand that the Commission has a keen sense of this frustration, but is also aware that trash is being serviced in most all situations within the prescribed timeframes. The Commission desires less frequent interruptions in service delays and has been actively engaged with Advanced Disposal as they get these issues under control.

The second and probably most important issue is the communications end. Way too many times, the County Commission or county staff hear reports of long hold times or poor information being disseminated to paying customers by Advanced Disposal’s customer service call center. Centrally located in Moody, AL, this call center has been the subject of frustration for our citizens and even local Advanced Disposal representatives. Ongoing conversations, training and feedback are all mechanisms being employed to assist Advanced Disposal in correcting this important issue.

To assist with the communications piece of the puzzle, the County Commission is offering an additional method to have service issues relayed to local Advanced Disposal representatives. Our Report a Recycling or Trash (under the Contact Us tab on our website, https://www.elmoreco.org/report-a-problem) delivers messages via an email address of [email protected]. Where phone calls and social media posts about issues may have their time and place, citizens who have had an unsuccessful effort getting Advanced Disposal’s customer service to address their issue are encouraged to share their issue with the County Commission via the Contact Us tab or more directly by emailing us at [email protected]. Through this additional means of reporting, the County Commission will be able to track service issues in a more effective manner and relay these items onto local Advanced Disposal representatives.

Ultimately, the County Commission desires the citizens of Elmore County to have a quality service provided at a reasonable cost. The County Commission fully anticipates that Advanced Disposal will respond accordingly to address these deficiencies and return their service to the standards that the County Commission, our citizens and Advanced Disposal desires.

CSX Railroad has notified the Elmore County Commission they will start a rail maintenance project in our area beginning July 15,  2019.

This maintenance project will include rail replacement at three intersections:

• Deatsville Hwy
• Cypress Road
• Co. Rd. 85 (Autauga County)

The project is estimated to last for two weeks and only one crossing will be closed at a time with signage being posted along detour routes.

If you have questions please let me know.

Thanks

Bart