Heflin leaders plan to rewrite city laws
Apr. 14—HEFLIN — By the end of the year, Heflin leaders expect to have a completely revised set of laws on the books, ordinances that cover everything from animal control to zoning.
The Heflin City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to partner with the East Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission, taking advantage of agency's help with zoning regulations while the city itself revamps all other ordinances.
Heflin Mayor Robby Brown said the total restructuring is needed because there have been so many ordinances passed by previous administrations which contradict each other and overlap.
"At some point we're going to do something, it is chaotic, we've got businesses coming in and right now we've got people wanting to come in, but we've allowed Joe to do this and now we're trying to tell these new guys that, 'You can't do that, but why was he able to do that, why can't I do that, it's chaos," Brown said.
Brown said that just this week the city has been dealing with the fallout of zoning ordinances that have been detrimental to the city's growth.
"We're dealing with it this week with a specific business that basically, we had to tell the bank that there is nothing we can do about it, we can't have a business there," said Brown.
The project will cost $30,000 with the city obligated to pay $15,000 according to Rajiv K. Myana, senior planner with East Alabama who spoke to the council.
Brown was adamant about pushing ahead with the project which will take six months to complete.
"We're not being fair across the board, we're doing this over here for one person and this next person we're telling them we can't do it for them," said Brown.
"I am held by the ordinances that are in play right now, by being held to those ordinances people that have been able to step outside of those ordinances, it's not fair to the ones that I'm holding accountable," he said.
"The only way to correct that is to scrap every ordinance we've got, go through it one at a time and put ordinances in place and then we abide by those ordinances," the mayor said.
Brown said it will be a total revamp for the city.
"We'll have a steering committee of citizens from each district and from various committees," Brown said.
Brown said all ordinances will be looked at, including animal control, noise and nuisances, trash and limb ordinances.
Brown said that Myana will be more focused on zoning ordinances.
"You've got so many things contradicting themselves here, you don't know what's the law and what's not the law," Brown said.
In other business the council voted unanimously to start using Municipal Intercept Services (MIS) to start collecting overdue bills owed to the city by residents. The MIS works through the Alabama League of Municipalities and will hold back funds from residents' state income tax refunds to pay the overdue bills including trash and water. The service is free of charge to the city, according to the mayor.
Staff writer Bill Wilson: 256-235-3562. On Twitter @bwilson_star.
