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By JOYANNA LOVE | Managing Editor

Clanton’s director of utilities Stanley Higgins has taken the next step in his career by completing his Professional Engineers License from the Alabama Board for Engineers and Land Surveyors.

Higgins completed his engineering degree at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, but had never pursued the license.

“(I) never held a position that I really needed to be a professional engineer until I came to work for Clanton,” Higgins said.

Clanton Mayor Jeff Mims encouraged Higgins to complete the license and become a professionally registered engineer.

“He likes to encourage people to pursue improvement in their educational as well as professional lives,” Higgins said.

Securing the license included meeting experience requirements, providing references and taking a test. He received notification of successfully completing all of the requirements in mid-December. Mims announced Higgins accomplishment at a recent Clanton City Council work session.

This achievement brings benefits to Higgins and to the city. For Higgins, it is the next step in professional development and career advancement. For the city, having a professional engineer on staff can eliminate some of the cost of developing project plans.

“Being a professionally registered engineer, I can draft and prepare plans and specifications for the city of Clanton,” Higgins said. “They don’t have to pursue an outside engineering firm … Hopefully, we will be able to do more projects that are smaller in scope that may not have gotten done otherwise because the engineering costs may be prohibitive, so it should allow the city to complete more work.”

Higgins said examples would be a project to improve the layout of some roads or intersections for better traffic flow and possibly small utility projects.

Clanton has been without a city engineer for decades.