Leadership group works to improve city

A group of Mountain Brook High School juniors and seniors plans to not leave their city as they found it.

For the past few months, the students have been working on city improvement projects as part of the Leadership Mountain Brook class.

Through a partnership between the Mayor’s office, MBHS and the Chamber of Commerce, students spent their first semester learning from city officials about how the City of Mountain Brook works, and this semester they applied what they learned. The class is taught by MBHS teacher Amber Benson and Hannon Davidson of the Chamber.

Through the project proposal preparation process, each group worked with city officials and businesses to create their plans, facing real-life challenges like working within a budget and waiting on people to return phone calls.

Some groups presented project proposals to the Mountain Brook City Council on April 14, and others are going through other city channels to put their projects in motion. The projects are as follows:

City Flag

Lindsey Kirk, Haley Fenn, Brooke Littleton, Jordan Tynes

Following a lead that Mayor Terry Oden had mentioned his desire for a city flag, this group took note of how such a flag would act as a recognizable unifying symbol for the community that it, unlike surrounding communities, lacked.

The group worked with Graham Nash at Mountain Brook Sporting Goods and an artist on a design that would showcase the area’s natural features and community values. They arrived at a simple design with a majestic tree and the words “Mountain Brook” printed above it and “Est. 1942” below it. The tree, group members said, represents the natural beauty of the city as well as a family tree in how the community is close knit.

They plant to hang one flag at each of 11 locations where flagpoles are already in place, including all six schools and the Municipal Complex.

“It’s cool to think it could be around [for many years] and that everyone will get to enjoy it,” Lindsey Kirk said.

Jemison Lighting

Christina Harmon, Madeline Marx, William Tynes

One night while driving on Mountain Brook Parkway, Christina Harmon noticed a runner holding a flashlight as he traversed along Jemison Trail. The incident confirmed her group’s idea that lighting needed enhancing on the trail. On a subsequent trip to the trail, group members noticed that some lights were rusted and overgrown with ivy, some had new lights and some were old, some were yellow and some white.

In a meeting with the Friends of Jemison Trail, the group decided it made the most sense not to add new lighting so as not to disturb wildlife. Since then, they have been looking into how the city can amend its contract with Alabama to replace the existing fixtures to make them more efficient, consistent and aesthetically pleasing. 

Jemison Exhibit Signs

Joseph Davidson, Frances Carson, Turner Hull

In order to enhance people’s experience on the Jemison Trail, this group is looking to replace and enhance damaged exhibit signs about wildlife along the trail.

“Especially with the new [Grand Bohemian] hotel and visitors, it will be an important addition,” Joseph Davidson said.

Parks and Recreation Director Shanda Williams gave them a book, Jemison Park: Sketches of a Streamside Park, to draw information from about wildlife along the trail.

The Parks and Rec department will make the 10 new wooden signs like the existing ones on which they plan to affix a weather-resistant plaque with the wildlife information. Pictures and facts on the sign will be presented in a way that’s easy for visitors to read.

Police Department Exercise Equipment

Griffin Cope, Louis Wade, Jake Ferguson

When the Leadership Mountain Brook class toured the Mountain Brook Police Department earlier in the year, some members noticed the equipment in its exercise room was old and outdated. After discussions with Police Chief Ted Cook, the group worked with Wright Exercise Equipment, which also sold the equipment for the MBHS field house, to arrange a discounted price and select a collection of multi-function machines. 

Now they are looking for individuals or businesses to help sponsor part of the $11,000 cost of the equipment and are considering asking the city for money if they are unable to secure it through private donors.

Blue Light System

Jake Fleisher, John Buchanan, Anne Merrick Hamilton, Mary Parker Wetzler

Having seen “blue light” emergency call boxes on college campuses, this group decided to bring them to Mountain Brook. Meeting with the Mountain Brook Police Department, they learned that such call boxes, with a direct connection to the department, would decrease response times, as calls made from cell phones at parks are sometimes routed to other police dispatches. 

They plan to install the call boxes at Mountain Brook Athletic Complex behind the high school and Rathmell Sports Park as well as the new Cahaba River Park.

The group is hoping to present to the city for them to incorporate it in next year’s city budget.