City approves stormwater management ordinance

While only a small portion of the Cahaba River flows through the city of Mountain Brook, the city still has a great deal of runoff that ends up in the river, said Beth Stewart of the Cahaba River Society at the June 25 Mountain Brook City Council meeting. So to mitigate any potential pollution or damage to the river, building official Glen Merchant presented a new ordinance that will help manage stormwater runoff.

The ordinance was initially discussed June 11 but was adopted at the most recent meeting. Merchant said it was written by a group of attorneys who combined ordinances from Nashville, Montgomery, Mobile, Shelby County and other areas to maintain regional consistency and effectiveness. 

While there will be a series of three ordinances to fully manage stormwater management, this first one is aimed at stormwater management post-construction. Stewart said this is the most important factor of all of them.

“The biggest problem is what runs off after construction,” she said, especially after construction tears down forests — which are inherently good at dealing with large amounts of water. “It’s that increased runoff, the volume of runoff, as well as the pollution in the runoff, that’s causing the erosion that you’re seeing.”

The ordinance focuses on developments, subdivisions, commercial developments and some places that may be an acre or more in size, not single-family homes or individual home owners. Merchant said it will “hold the property owner’s feet to the fire so when we get through inspecting they don’t cause more damage down the road.”

While the city won’t be performing regular inspections on developments due to limited resources, Merchant said they will give fines if inspectors find any deviation from the ordinance upon looking further into the construction site. 

This ordinance will affect construction sites that begin after the ordinance is adopted.

Fire Chief Chris Mullins also presented the fire department’s new challenge coin to the city council during the pre-meeting.

Challenge coins are small coins or medallions that initially began in the military for varying reasons, but now may feature an organization’s emblem and values. Mullins said the coin itself and its many symbols were created by members of the fire department. 

One face of the coin features the spartan helmet of Mountain Brook in front of two crossed firefighter’s axes, encased by a brown band. The brown, Mullins said, is the color of foundation, and symbolizes those who helped build the department to what it is today.

The roman numeral CCCXLIII is also on the front of the coin, which is for the 343 firefighters who were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, and the two stars represent the past and future of the department.

The reverse side of the coin features 64 gold stars, one for each member of the department.

“There’s no big stars, there’s no little stars, and it takes all 64 stars to make the circle complete,” Mullins said. The stars are in a light red band, which is meant to symbolize love. 

The words "Service," "Pride," "Integrity" and "Safety" are then written around the circle with a maltese cross between each, although the cross is very slightly off-center. Mullins said this imperfection was intentional to remind themselves that nobody is perfect.

Moving toward the center of the coin, the fire department included the design of The Old Mill in red and gold with 24 sections of the water trough to symbolize the 24 hours per day the department works to protect the community. The “Old Mill” then surrounds six divided beams that make up Mountain Brook: the community and residents; the mayor and city council; the city manager; the businesses; the emphasis on education; and the city departments and employees.

“So if you took away one of those support beams, the city would not function as it does,” Mullins said. 

And at the center of the coin are three stakes that can be perceived in two ways. 

For those who are religious, Mullins said, they can be seen as the three stakes that nailed Jesus Christ to the cross. If you’re not spiritually minded, they can be the three different shifts firefighters work each day. Finally, four bible verses are listed around the end of the coin (Romans 12:10, Isaiah 43:2, John 15:13 and Psalms 23:4), with a cross between each verse to symbolize those who were a part of the department but have since died.

“It’s very important to us. It has a lot of meaning to us,” Mullins said. “A lot of work went into it and y’all are very much a part of this coin.”

Also during the council meeting, members:

• Approved the minutes of the June 11 regular meeting of city council.
• Recognized William Foster, executive director of the Birmingham Zoo, for his service and contribution to the greater Birmingham area.
• Approved the unbudgeted purchase of an evidence vehicle to replace the vehicle totaled/surplused.
• Discussed a proposed summer work program for 9th and 10th graders. Under the program, small groups of students would perform manual labor-type projects such as painting or landscaping under department heads and be paid by parents. This program would serve as a way for younger students to gain work experience and possible future employment references during their summer season without interfering with other commitments. The council decided to move forward with the program and to review similar programs in other cities to plan for 2019.
• Approved irrigation repair quotes for the fields 3,4 and 6 at the athletic complex and proposed lighting upgrades at field 5. Morris-Shea Bridge Co., owned by Dick Shea, will be replacing the lights at field five with new, LED lights at the field.

The next city council meeting will be on July 9.