The Sun-Courier looks back at memorable moments from 2021

The Daleville Sun-Courier looks back at some of the memorable moments in 2021

Jan. 13 issue

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“A day of new beginnings, new opportunities not only for our children but also our parents and our community,” is what Boys & Girls Club of Daleville Chairman of the Board Joel Adams said as the club housed in the former Boy Scout Hut on Donnell Boulevard officially opened its doors as a children’s after school program. From an initial membership of 18 children, the club, under the direction of Site Director April Spencer now maintains a waiting list.

Feb. 10 issue

Retirement benefits for some city of Daleville employees improved after the Daleville City Council voted to change the Tier II benefit plan at the first meeting in February. The change went into effect in the next fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.

A participant in the Retirement Systems of Alabama pension system, the city had the option to provide Tier I retirement benefits to their Tier II employees under the provisions of recently enacted Act 2019-132, Assistant City Clerk Kathryn Eubank had explained to the council at a work session held Feb. 1.

The council approved the resolution with the single “nay” vote cast by Councilwoman Jo Reese. “I just do not have enough information, sorry folks,” she said.

Feb. 24 issue

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The Daleville Board of Education was told that Windham Elementary School had been recognized by the state board of education for its improvement after the school had received an “F” on the Alabama Academic Report Card in 2019.

WES raised their score from an “F” to a “C” on the Alabama Report Card in one year.

The Academic Report Cards are the result of the Legislative School Performance Recognition Program Act, created by the state legislature, which legally requires a letter grade assessment to be assigned to each public school. The state law passed in 2012 but was never implemented until three years ago in conjunction with federal law.

The board was told that the Legislative School Performance report from the Alabama State Department of Education listed Windham Elementary School in the top 25 percent of public schools “demonstrating exemplary progress by improving their overall annual ranking by at least one letter grade.”

March 10 issue

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A man who has spent more than 40 years serving his country was hired as the Dale County Emergency Management Agency Director. Willie T. Worsham was named as the new EMA at the Dale County Commission meeting March 9.

A Dale County resident, Worsham served most recently as the Emergency Manager at Fort Rucker from 2006 until 2020. Before that Worsham served at Fort Rucker as a Department of the Air Force weather forecaster from June 2006 until being named EMA at Fort Rucker. Worsham served in the United States Air Force from 1979 until 1999.

“I’m here because I love this area and I look forward to serving the citizens of Dale County,” said Worsham, who filled the position vacated Jan. 26 by Jonathan “Kurt” McDaniel who had served as Dale EMA Director since 2015.

March 24 issue

In what councilmembers called a “critical action” the Daleville City Council unanimously approved a new pay scale for Daleville Department of Public Safety officers at the council meeting March 16.

The decision to give more competitive pay to the police officers was made after a work session March 15 during which DPS Capt. Allen Hendrickson and DPS Chief Allen Medley told the council that the Daleville law officers were among the lowest paid in Dale County and that the force was at 50 percent capacity on patrol.

The mayor and council also expressed the opinion that the issue of pay raises for all city employees would be revisited during budget meetings for the next fiscal year.

May 19 and July 7 issues

Lynne McWilliams was appointed by a majority vote to the Daleville Board of Education at the Daleville City Council meeting May 4. She was appointed to fill the vacancy created by Debra Latremore, who opted not to be reappointed to the board. McWilliams assumed the post June DBOE meeting.

McWilliams worked for Daleville City Schools from 1995 to 2019. She was first hired by then- Superintendent Frank Moore in 1995 as a personnel director, payroll and school bookkeeper. She was promoted by then-Superintendent Eddie Hill to Chief School Finance Officer in 2005.

McWilliams also is a product of the Daleville City School system, graduating from Daleville High School in 1973.

With 10 years’ experience on the Daleville Board of Education, Johnny Buchannan was appointed in July to fill a second unexpired term on the board. Appointed by the Daleville City Council to fill the one unexpired year of Barbara Davis’s term, Buchanan was re-introduced at the DBOE meeting June 30.

“I am not a stranger to this board,” Buchanan said. “I served two terms from 2007 through 2017. This begins my 11th year.”

Buchanan retired from civil service as a GS-11 in 2018 after serving 28 years as an environmentalist at Fort Rucker. He came to the area after spending 10 years in the Air Force, attaining the rank of captain.

Oct. 13 issue

A budget with a 3 percent cost of living increase for Daleville City employees was passed at the council meeting Oct. 5.

The council approved the 3 percent cost of living increase for city employees, with the exception of the police officers—who received a pay adjustment previously—and salaried personnel.

“I think we need to focus on the employee’s raises,” Daleville Mayor Jayme Stayton said at the budget meeting Sept. 20. “Some of this stuff we could squeak by another year without but we have to have raises. As the mayor, I see keeping people here and trying to recruit people here as a priority.”

Oct. 20 issue

The Dale County Commission raised garbage collection rates for the first time in a decade.

At the Dale County Commission meeting Oct. 12, the rate was raised from $14 to $18 a month, with a 5 percent discount for one payment yearly of $205.20.

This rate change is the first since 2011 when the county garbage pickup rate changed from $12 per can each month to $14 per can each month. Two years later Mark Dunning Industries was awarded the garbage pickup contract for Dale County when the county decided to privatize garbage pickup in 2013.

MDI began distributing the 95-gallon rollout garbage carts in Dale County in December 2014 and began weekly household garbage pickup services in February 2015 to those in the Dale County Solid Waste service area at that time to include the city of Level Plains and the town of Clayhatchee. The city of Daleville has a separate garbage pickup service provider.

The MDI contract was rebid in April 2019 after then-Dale County Commission Chairman Mark Blankenship told commissioners that MDI had asked to renegotiate the contract. With MDI requesting material changes in the original contract, it was required by law that the contract be rebid.

At the Aug. 17 meeting this year, Dale County Commissioner Chris Carroll noted that at the rate the department’s expenses were exceeding revenues, the fund would be depleted in two years. At that same meeting, Dale County Commission Chairman Steve McKinnon said that having to raise the garbage rates was inevitable in order to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ money.

Nov. 3 issue

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Authorizing an election to renew a tax that has supported school students in Dale County for more than 100 years was unanimous at the Dale County Commission meeting Oct. 26.

The Dale County Commission voted by individual voice vote unanimously to allow the election to decided on a renewal of the tax which will benefit the school systems in the county to be voted on Jan. 11, 2022.

“This is a renewal. This is not a new tax,” stressed Dale County Schools Superintendent Ben Baker who spoke on behalf of area superintendents who were at the meeting in support of Baker’s request to the commission. “Every 30 years, the property taxes that support the school systems and students in Dale County have to be placed before the qualified voters in Dale County for renewal.”

Daleville City Schools Superintendent Dr. Lisa Stamps, Enterprise City Schools Superintendent Dr. Zel Thomas, Ozark City Schools Superintendent Reeivice Girtman and Dothan City Schools Superintendent Dr. Dennis Coe attended the commission meeting in support of Baker’s request.

Nov. 10 issue

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Nominations for a new name for Fort Rucker were accepted through Dec. 1 of this year. The call for nominations was from the Department of Defense commission evaluating the renaming of nine military installations named for Confederate leaders.

Fort Rucker, named for Col. Edmund Rucker, a brigade commander in the Confederate Army during the Civil War—who was given the honorary title of “general”—is one of the bases.

Chaired by retired Navy Adm. Michelle Howard, the commission will present a written report to the House and Senate Armed Services Committee by Oct. 1, 2022 that includes a list of identified assets, the costs to remove or rename them and the criteria and methods developed to identify those assets, according to the commission website. Congress mandated incorporating “local sensitivities in the process and recommendations,” according to the naming website.

The plan will be implemented by Jan. 1, 2024. “While we anticipate that renaming activities would take place around that time-frame, the role of the commission is strictly to provide recommendations, not execute activities on behalf of the Department of Defense,” according to the naming commission website.