“I’m sure you’ve all noticed the painting of the 17 streetlights downtown, and it’s looking much better,” noted Red Bay Mayor Charlene Fancher during the Wednesday meeting of the Red Bay City Council.

The city’s downtown lighting overhaul project has begun.

At its July 6 meeting, the council had approved Robinson and Sons Construction to complete the painting project, at a cost of $27,605.17.

To continue forward progress, Fancher said she had obtained quotes to replace the old lights with LED lamps.

“I’m a shopper,” said Fancher. “Out of three quotes, Shoals Electric out of Muscle Shoals was over $11,000 cheaper than the other two.”

The quote includes material, labor and supervision for the project – replacement of 17 street lighting fixture heads on Fourth Avenue in downtown Red Bay.

“They will demolish existing fixtures and provide and install new replacement fixtures at a cost of $15,7770,” continued Fancher.

The council approved the quote. The money is to be paid from the general fund.

Refurbishing these 17 light poles and replacing the lamps constitutes part one of the city’s three-part plan for lighting upgrades.

For the second project the city will coordinate with ALDOT to pursue replacing all 30 downtown traffic lights. This would also include pursuing the feasibility of encasing wires in decorative poles for holiday lights.

The third project would be to replace the existing standing poles downtown, primarily across from Heritage Park.

“There are poles there that are just for wires to light the trees for Christmas,” explained Fancher, “and so we would like to replace those poles with decorative poles that serve the purpose and have outlets for lighting purposes for the holidays. It will give downtown a beautiful, new, clean look.”

In other business, Fancher gave a report about the sewer department. She said two grant projects have been completed in the past two weeks, one being the City Beach and Sewer rehab grant that was on Eighth Street, Seventh Avenue and part of Fourth Avenue in front of Piggly Wiggly.

She said the CDBG-ED grant, an infrastructure grant on Water Plant Road/Ninth Street to benefit Southeast Sales, has also been completed.

In other business, the council:

• Discussed and approved quotes to install two steel beam guardrails – one on 11th Avenue Northeast and one on Fifth Street NW, with the 11th Avenue one coming in at $10,425 and the Fifth Street NW one coming in at $5,000, to be paid from the general fund.
• Discussed and approved a quote of $2,700 from Freeman Insulation to foam insulate the roof of the parking garage of the ambulance building.
• Discussed and approved a resolution authorizing the City of Red Bay to join the state of Alabama and other local governments as participants in current and future opioid settlements. This is part of a statewide initiative.
• Approved reappointment of Pat Stamper and Kristy Crandell to the City of Red Bay Zoning Board.
• Discussed and approved an annual resolution required by the 2019 Rebuild Alabama Bill HB2 for fiscal year 2022-2023.

The council’s next meeting will be held Aug. 17, with a work session beginning at 3 p.m. and the meeting following at 3:30 p.m. at Red Bay City Hall.