City mulling Air Medcare for employees

Published 6:28 pm Monday, January 23, 2023

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The Atmore City Council discussed the prospect of employees having Air Medcare insurance during a workshop Monday at city hall.

Mayor Jim Staff said employees would be able to enroll for $70 per year. The insurance covers the employee and their family.

Staff said the insurance covers the cost of the helicopter flight to a medical facility.

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Another item of discussion included trash bins on personal property.

District 3 Councilwoman Eunice Johnson said she sees most of them in her district.

Staff, along with other councilmembers, said the bins are all over Atmore.

“If you’re going to have tem, you’ve got to put the garbage in there,” Johnson said. “They’re filed up with everything, but garbage.

“If you go around the city, it looks so bad,” she said.

Johnson asked if the city could come up with a solution.

Staff said he believes the city can do away with them in the future.

District 5 Councilmember Chris Harrison asked if the city could contract with a garbage pickup company in the future. The company would provide receptacles and they’d pick them up each week.

During the workshop, Harrison also asked about the citywide paving project.

Bidding for the project will begin sometime in February, City Clerk Becca Smith said.

As the workshop began to wind down, Staff gave some economic statistics from the city.

Staff said in 2022, new residential construction consisted of 20 houses; an agriculture office was built off of Carpet Drive at Coastal Growers LLC; Alto added on another building; FS Advisors renovated two buildings on Louisville Avenue; Atmore Nursing Center completed a memory facility addition; Atmore Community Hospital completed its Urgent Care Clinic; the Strand Theatre renovation is almost complete; and noted the completion of the boxcar park, a Highway 21 resurfacing project slated for 2023-24, an NRCS watershed project off Pine Barren Creek and the resurfacing of Ross Road.