
Photo by Sam Chandler
Mayor Stewart Welch (right) presented Bromberg’s owner Ricky Bromberg with a proclamation and key to the city at the Mountain Brook City Council meeting Nov. 25.
The Mountain Brook City Council, on Monday, Nov. 25, approved a resolution authorizing the city’s participation in Alabama’s 2020 Severe Weather Preparedness Tax Holiday.
From Friday, Feb. 21, through Sunday, Feb. 23, customers will not have to pay state and local sales taxes on certain severe weather preparedness items purchased at stores in the city.
They include a host of items that are $60 or less, such as ice packs, self-contained first aid kits, tarps, duct tape, plywood, non-electric food and water storage containers, non-electric can openers, flashlights, radios, cell phone chargers and batteries.
Also included are portable generators and power cords $1,000 or less.
Non-exempt items include coin batteries, along with automobile and boat batteries.
City Finance Director Steve Boone said Mountain Brook will participate in the ninth annual tax holiday since it won’t adversely affect the city’s overall sales tax collections.
“Our chamber is for it, and we don’t see a tail-off in our sales tax,” Boone said. “The idea behind these holidays is that it prompts people to come out and spend money that they may not have otherwise spent.”
Also at the meeting, the council approved a resolution authorizing an agreement for about $181,409 between the city and Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood Inc. The architecture and engineering firm will design renovations for a few of Mountain Brook’s recreational athletic fields.
“The fields were built like 30 years ago, most of them, and they really haven’t seen any kind of improvements in that amount of time," Parks and Recreation Superintendent Shanda Williams said. "And the programs are growing and there's a need for more space, and we’re really landlocked, and [there are] not many opportunities to expand, so we’re trying to make what we have better and more usable."
According to the approved agreement, renovations are planned for Field 1 at Mountain Brook High School, the four youth baseball fields at the Mountain Brook Athletic Complex and the youth recreational fields at Cherokee Bend Elementary School.
Planned updates at Field 1 include conversion to synthetic turf from natural grass, excavation of the entire field and the additions of a perimeter concrete curb, fencing, backstop netting, lighting and concrete walks. Updates at the four youth baseball fields include excavation of all four infields and conversion to synthetic turf in those areas.
“Right now, we have a lot of rain-outs,” Williams said. “When the fields get wet, we have to have down time, so this will let more people use it for longer periods of time.”
Updates at Cherokee Bend include reconfiguration of the fields and installing irrigation, Bermuda sodding, fencing, batting cages, netting and sports field lighting.
Williams said the designs should be completed by spring and summer 2020, with work to commence shortly thereafter once bids have been awarded.
In other business, the council:
- Authorized an agreement between the city and the Mountain Brook school board regarding the School Resource Officer program. As of Oct. 1, the school system began reimbursing the city for half of the SROs’ salaries and benefits, Police Chief Ted Cook said.
- Recognized Bromberg’s jewelry store, which is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its Mountain Brook Village location, and awarded a key to the city to the store’s owner, Ricky Bromberg. Mayor Stewart Welch gave Bromberg the key and said that Bromberg’s is the oldest, family-owned retail store in America. The first location opened in Mobile in 1836.
The Mountain Brook City Council will hold its next meeting Dec. 9 at 7 p.m.