Complaint aired at council meeting
Published 8:56 pm Tuesday, July 10, 2018
VALLEY — A woman complained to the Valley City Council Monday evening that she had been treated unfairly in a recent two-vehicle accident.
Judy A. Davidson told the council that she’s a nurse who does a lot of traveling and that the city impounding her car after the accident had impacted her doing her job. Davidson said she had been hit from behind on June 21.
A report of the accident, she said, claimed that she did not have insurance on her car and for that reason her car was towed. She disputed that the car was not insured and that AAA should have covered the cost of having it towed. She instead was sent a bill for $235.
“I wasn’t treated fairly,” she said, “and I’m seeking damages for that.”
When Davidson had completed her presentation to the council, Mayor Leonard Riley asked Police Chief Tommy Weldon to discuss VPD’s side of the story.
“She was issued a citation for driving with a suspended license,” Chief Weldon said. “You have to tow it when that’s involved. It was towed to an impound area on Highway 29.”
Davidson countered that her license had not been suspended but the state had been holding it up for reasons unknown to her.
On another matter, Council Member Randall Maddux said that he’d gotten some complaints from city residents that the Mr. Green Jeans limb truck had been skipping some streets while they had been doing roadside pickups. He wanted to make sure everyone was being treated equally.
Council Members Marquetta Madden and Cassie Carlisle thanked Public Works Director Patrick Bolt and his department for some needed work they’d done in their districts. Council Member Paul Story said the July 4 fireworks display was nice but that he’d gotten requests from some Valley residents that they would have liked for the Community Center to have hosted more events on the holiday.
Valley Parks and Recreation Director Laurie Blount said that a free swim had taken place at the indoor pool from noon until 3 p.m. on the Fourth. The Community Center was open from 7 a.m. till 4 p.m. that day. The crowd started gathering for the fireworks around 8 p.m. and the show started a few minutes before 10, when it was completely dark.
“We will put those suggestions on the backburner for next year,” Blount said.
Blount added that work will start on replacing the gym floor at the Community Center on Monday, July 23.
The gym area will be closed for four to five weeks while this work is under way. The indoor track will be closed from time to time while the work is under way.
“At times, there will be fumes and dust going up while they are working,” Blount said. “We don’t need people walking on the track when this is taking place.”
Blount said this past Friday had been a very busy day at the Farmers’ Market.
“We had our biggest crowd of the season,” she said. “We had ten farmers there. We had lots of produce for sale.”
Blount said that Valley would be well represented in upcoming boys and girls youth baseball and softball tournaments in Childersburg, Eufaula and Montgomery. She wished each team well.
“We’re proud of them,” she said.
There will be lots of activity going on at the Community Center on Friday, July 13 and Saturday, July 14.
The District swim meet will be taking place there, and big crowds will be there both days. Bolt said that this year’s road paving is winding down.
“We’re finished with everything but River Road,” he said. “That’s the only part left, and we should be finished with it by Friday.”
There may be some delays in the area around Trammell Block.
“We will have to mill that section,” Bolt said.
Mayor Riley said that this had been a big year for paving in the city.
“We did $1.8 million in paving,” he said. “That’s the most we’ve ever done in one year.”
The single biggest project was the long stretch from Trammell Block in Fairfax to School Street in River View.
“Those two roads were close to failing,” Mayor Riley said. “We had to do a lot of patching on both roads before we could put the Permaflex down.”
It’s a very smooth ride now on portions of the road that have been completed. Some backfilling is needed along the edges and the roads will have to be striped.
Mayor Riley urged everyone to go and vote in the Tuesday, July 17 runoff races.