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SPORTS, PAGE A7
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THE WETUMPKA HERALD Elmore County’s Oldest Newspaper - Established 1898
Wetumpka, AL 36092
50¢
WEDNESDAY • AUGUST 23, 2017
THEWETUMPKAHERALD.COM
VOL. 119, NO. 34
City to seek CDBG grant to demolish structures
By DAVID GRANGER Managing Editor
The Wetumpka City Council voted Monday night to pursue a Community Development Block Grant to pay for the demolition of several structures in the city. The Council also took the first step toward paying the city’s retirees a onetime lump sum each that would equal a total cost of $17,688 to the city. There was also a degree of
disagreement between a member of the council and a city employee on how to move forward in the pursuit of an Alabama 200 bicentennial grant, with Councilman Percy Gill urging application as soon as possible and the city’s economic development director, Lynn Weldon, maintaining that a concept was needed prior to applying for the grant. At the public hearing on the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), which was part of the council meeting, Greg Clark, executive director of
the Central Alabama Regional Planning and Development Council, detailed the types of grants available through the CDBG program. After the public hearing, the council voted unanimously for a resolution to apply for a CDBG Community Enhancement grant that would pay for the demolition of 17 identified structures at a cost of $171,000. “That would include the cost of the work, the notice and, as I understand it, a buffer for legal costs,” said David
Gill, Washington election contest goes to trial
Search continues in case of missing woman, son
By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
Nearly a year after the municipal elections that returned every incumbent elected official, a simmering legal battle simmering coalesced in an Elmore County courtroom this week. The election contest called by District Two City Council Member Percy Gill’s opponent, former council member Lewis Washington Sr., entered its trial phase Monday before Circuit Judge Sibley Reynolds. Algert Agricola Jr said the outcome was not yet determined but the case was over as far as the presentation of evidence. He said Reynolds took the matter under advisement, and now they are awaiting his deliberation. “He’s going to issue an order at some point in the future,” said Agricola. Reynolds could instate Washington on the council or Gill could remain a council member. He said they presented the testimony of a number of See ELECTION • Page A3
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Robison, planning and program director for Wetumpka. The city’s required match for the grant would be $19,000. The council also heard the first reading of a resolution to make the one-time lump sum payments to its retirees. Councilman Gill asked if the city had investigated making the payments as a single lump sum versus in installments and by what way, if either, the city would fare best. After some brief discussion during which See COUNCIL • Page A2
By DAVID GRANGER Managing Editor
David Granger / The Herald
THE GREAT ECLIPSE
Jason and Kendall Lett share a pair of eclipse glasses to view “The Great American Eclipse” from the front steps to the Elmore County Courthouse. The eclipse reached its peak at about 1:30 p.m. Monday afternoon. Many eclipse viewers in the area came away from the experience disappointed while some animals were fooled. Roosters could be heard crowing as if at daylight from outside The Herald office.
The Elmore County Sheriff’s Office continues its search for a missing woman and her 15-year-old son Osborne reported missing on July 29, according to Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin. No one has seen Susan Osborne, 42, and her son Evan Chartrand, 15, since before that date. Since that time, school Chartrand has started and Chartrand, a student at Holtville High School, has not attended. Franklin said the case continues to be classified as a missing persons case and will until evidence points otherwise. “It’ll always be a missing person until we find out otherwise,” Franklin said. “What we’ve got is a situation where we’re collecting any kind of data and some intel evidence, we’ve sent several things off to forensics See MISSING • Page A3
Main Street seminar touts federal, state historic tax credits By DAVID GRANGER Managing Editor
About 35 people turned out last Thursday at the Wetumpka Civic Center for a seminar on state and federal tax credits for people who improve historic buildings. According to Jenny Stubbs, executive director of seminar sponsor Main Street Wetumpka, the idea for the seminar was born of attendance by her and Main Street President Dennis Fain’s attendance of the Alabama Scenic Byways Conference, where they learned more about recent legislation concerning the historic tax credit. “The topic is relevant to helping us encourage Wetumpka property owners to utilize the credits in helping finance property rehabilitation,” Stubbs said. Presenters at the seminar
included Laura Williams of Jackson Thornton’s Montgomery office, who discussed federal historic tax credits, and Chloe Mercer of the Alabama Historical Commission, who discussed state historic tax credits. Williams explained that, under federal law, a person is allowed a credit for the “qualified rehabilitation expenditures” made for any “qualified rehabilitated structure” or “certified historic structure.” Williams said that the type of expenditures that qualify include renovation, restoration, reconstruction, architectural and engineering fees, site survey fees, legal expenses, development fees, construction period interest and taxes and other construction-related const that are added to the basis of the property. Types of expenditures that do not See SEMINAR • Page A2
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David Granger / The Herald
Laura Williams, a CPA with Jackson Thornton in Montgomery, discusses the federal historic tax credit for rehabilitating historic homes at Main Street’s seminar on Thursday.