Department superintendent honored by commission

The Coffee County Commission presented an award to Highway Department Superintendent James Kelley during a regular meeting, Dec. 10.

Kelley, who has served as superintendent for 18 years, will be retiring as of Dec. 31.

Prior to taking his current position, Kelley served as an equipment operator for the department for 14 years, for a combined 32 and half years of service to Coffee County.

“James has shown outstanding leadership as well as tireless contribution, dedication and loyalty to the highway department,” said Coffee County Engineer Randy Tindell. “The public has been very fortunate to have James serve in this roll for a number of years.”

In other news, the commissioners approved a request from Tindell to purchase four pickup trucks for use by the county’s highway and engineer department at a cost of $69,000.

Tindell said his department would also be selling five older pickup trucks and estimates $30,000 in revenue from the sale.

The commission approved the purchase as a contingency line item in the county’s budget, which Tindell requested.

The council also approved a motion to replace the ice machine at the Zion Chapel Senior Citizen Center.

In other business, Sheriff Dave Sutton addressed the commission to discuss the Coffee County Sheriff’s Departments recent participation in “Operation Toy Drop,” a combined effort from several Alabama counties to provide toys for children at Children’s Hospital of Alabama in Birmingham.

“It was a pleasure to be part of this operation,” Sutton said. “We couldn’t have done it without the help of our community and our county.”

Sutton said that more than 1,000 toys were transported to Birmingham, Dec. 7, some of which were even donated by former prisoners.

“We still have a room that is completely full at the office where people have continuously brought toys in,” he said. “To see something like this happen is amazing, but it didn’t amaze me because I knew our county would support us.”

In other business, Sutton warned people of increasing numbers of burglaries in neighboring counties as people get into the bulk of their holiday shopping.

“Be careful what you put on the Internet,” Sutton said. “These thieves are smart and they are watching Facebook and other websites to see when people are buying gifts and when they are away from home.”

Sutton also encouraged residents not to leave boxes from new purchases, such as televisions, outside their homes until the day of the trash pick up, as it could let a thief know about a recent expensive purchase.

“We are stepping up our patrols and doing everything we can do to make your holiday safe, but we need your help,” he said. “If you see something suspicious call us and we’ll send someone out to take care of it.”

Commissioner Dean Smith addressed his follow commissioners, saying Coffee County has a littering problem, and several rural roads in the county are perpetually littered with trash from fast food locations.

“We need to make the public aware of how much of an eyesore it is to have trash up and down the roads,” Smith said. “We have got to do a better job teaching our kids and other adults to take pride in their county and not throw trash out the windows of the their cars.”

The Coffee County Commission will meet again at 9 a.m., Jan. 14, in the community room of the Coffee County Complex.