The finishing touches are being put on four new storm shelters in Clanton, and city officials hope the shelters will be ready for use by the spring tornado season.

The shelters have been installed and are located off Old Henry Road in the Lomax community, adjacent to the Clanton Senior Center off Enterprise Road, adjacent to E.M. Henry Head Start Center in the West End community, and adjacent to Park Plaza (Fred’s shopping center).

Before the shelters are considered open for public use, some final work needs to be completed.

Clanton Mayor Billy Joe Driver said the shelters at Enterprise Road and West End need to be connected to gas lines (the other two will use propane). Also, sod needs to be laid on the sides of the shelters, where dirt is mounded to further anchor the shelters.

Driver said the agreement with the contractor, Aqua Marine Enterprises, calls for topsoil, grass seed and straw to be placed on the sides of the shelters, but Driver prefers sod.

“I’m really wanting to put sod because it will take hold quicker,” he said.

Existing parking lots will be used at all but the Lomax shelter, where a gravel lot will be installed.

Aqua Marine’s bid of $49,300 per shelter and $231,940 total for the project was the lowest submitted and was approved by the City Council in August 2015.

A grant is covering two-thirds of the cost of the shelters, with the city footing the bill for the rest.

Each shelter will hold about 75 people.

Though there are nine storm shelters in Chilton County, only one of those, the basement of Clanton City Hall, is located in the city.

With delays related to the grant application slowing down the start of the process to open the shelters, and more recently, rain putting off site work, it has taken several years for the shelters to come to fruition.

“We just need to get it where when a warning comes out, people can use them,” Driver said. “We could finish them in no time if it would quit raining.”