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Solomon Crenshaw, Jr.
Richard Caudle
Mountain Brook traffic engineer Richard Caudle at the pre-council meeting Dec. 8.
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Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Mountain Brook Police Chief Thomas Boulware.
Mountain Brook Police Chief Thomas Boulware.
Mountain Brook City Attorney Whit Colvin will draft and present an ordinance to address restrictions on commercial trucks at the next meeting of the city council in January.
Traffic engineer Richard Caudle, Police Chief Thomas Boulware and Colvin led a discussion in the pre-council meeting on Dec. 8 about the city’s ordinance concerning commercial trucks. The discussion was prompted by communication — including photos and videos — from some citizens who suggested that the city should draft a weight-based ordinance for regulating commercial trucks.
Caudle explained that would not work for Mountain Brook.
“The discussion that we had is the city of Mountain Brook currently has no equipment and no training, and [it] doesn’t have really enough personnel to put on the road to be weighing trucks,” he said. “The bottom line of our recommendation on that one is we believe that it’d be appropriate for the city to decide whether you want to target three-axle trucks or two-axle trucks and pick certain wording based on those and not consider doing any type of weight-based ordinance.”
Council President Billy Pritchard said he wants an ordinance that can be enforced — “something to give it teeth.”
Boulware said an ordinance that begins with two-axle trucks would broaden the scope of vehicles that could be ticketed.
“A lot of the vehicles that we’re seeing [supplied] video or pictures of are the larger-type red trucks or Enterprise trucks that are very large two-axle trucks that previously would not be subject to the ordinance,” he said. “This would allow us to address those issues.”
The chief added that the discussion opens the door for landscaping trucks, including small pickup trucks that pull trailers that obviously have equipment for commercial use.
“The language in the ordinance would allow us to address those issues,” he said.
During the official meeting, the council approved the purchase of a new Engine 3 pumper for the fire department as Fire Chief Chris Mullins described the challenge of buying fire engines.
“We’re continually trying to get ahead of the curve on ordering fire trucks, but it continues to be a moving target,” Mullins said. “We have two on order right now. One of those was supposed to be delivered in June of ’25. Now I project that it will be December ’26. That’s the first one. We have another one that we’re hoping to get early in ’27.
“Again, we’re trying to get ahead of the curve on this.”
The chief said the city has to move fast on ordering another engine because a price increase of 5% to 8% will come in January.
“That’s between $60,000 and $100,000,” Mullins said. “If we can go ahead and get it on order now, which we’re looking at delivering on that … hopefully a June 2027 target. We were promised the next truck in 18 months. Now it’ll be 38 months.”
City officials valued the chief’s efforts.
“I appreciate all the hard work and looking to save where you can … I’m all for it,” said Gerald Gann.
Said City Manager Steve Boone: “As long as we’re going to be in the fire business, we’ve got to have fire trucks — fire trucks that work.”
In other action, the council:
- Awarded a bid of $1,323,110 to Acre Group for Fire Station No. 2 landscape maintenance service.
- Authorized the city’s participation in the 2026 “Back-To-School” Sales Tax Holiday.
- Authorized a $3.4 million transfer from the general fund to the capital fund.
- Authorized the sale or disposal of certain surplus property.
- Awarded a bid of $221,730 to Southern Emergency Consultants for the fire department ambulance remount.
- Made the mayor and president of the city council liaisons to the First Responders Foundation.
- Granted conditional office use for Carlisle Moore Architects.
- Approved the purchase of a new engine pumper for the fire department.
- Mayor Graham Smith appointed Jack Darnall to the Planning Commission.
The next regular meeting of the city council will be at 7 p.m. on Jan. 12, 2026.
