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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

The Jemison City Council approved a resolution to join other entities in Chilton County to improve communications for the county’s public safety responders at its meeting on April 15. The council voted to pass resolution 04-15-24R that approved a contract with the Chilton County Commission, Chilton County 911 District, City of Clanton, City of Thorsby, Town of Maplesville and the Chilton County Board of Education that will upgrade the county’s radio infrastructure.

The new infrastructure that will be implemented is the P25 700 MHz Public Safety Spectrum, an important swathe of spectrum available for both commercial wireless and public safety communications. The location of the 700 MHz Band, that is just above the remaining television broadcast channels, gives the band excellent propagation characteristics which allows 700 MHz signal to penetrate buildings and walls easily, and cover large geographic areas with less infrastructure.

The new infrastructure will expand the radio coverage area for first responders in Chilton County and implement an interoperable radio system that will be good for 10 years.

The council also approved a motion to approve the purchase of a maintenance excavator for $50,000 during the meeting. The purchase was made due to the current excavator being so big that it blocked a lane of traffic while it was in use near roadways. The new mini-excavator will be more practical for citywide maintenance being smaller in size, and the water and sewer department will be using it the most. The council also approved a motion that declared the city’s old Bobcat and miscellaneous old equipment as surplus and available for sale, and the proceeds from those sales will be applied back to the purchase of the maintenance excavator.

Resolution 04-15-23 regarding the proper installation and placement of fire hydrants within the city limits of Jemison was approved by council. Jemison is anticipating growth, and to be better prepared for that, the resolution will standardize that all future fire hydrants are installed on the same connection which will allow firemen to connect quickly. According to Jemison Fire Chief John Dennis, there are currently between three to five different types of fire hydrant connectors throughout the city. The different connections cause delays for the firemen getting connected, so future installations will now not have that issue following the approved resolution.