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Editorial

Walking through the new county service’s building off U.S. 280 and Dunnavant Valley Road alongside County Manager Chad Scroggins, it quickly hits you what our county’s leaders are doing to continue making Shelby County the best county in the state.

We could sit here all day and list off why this is the best place to live, but only one word says it all—passion.

Not only listening to Scroggins, but other leaders not just talk about our county and working with different municipalities, but the passion for which they talk about it.

Scroggins himself often gets carried away, jumping in and out of every conversation about different projects with a smile on his face almost wanting to jump up and down with jubilation with each word.

On the tour of the new state-of-the-art county service’s building, you could get that sense of excitement very quickly with each room in the building bringing a new reason for Scroggins to share what it would mean to the county.

The building will house multiple facets of county operations, including an upgraded area for Shelby County 911, a Shelby County Sheriff’s Office substation, a county license office, an Alabama Law Enforcement Agency driver testing office, Central Alabama Wellness, economic driver 58 INC. and several other areas for county and state personnel.

It’s convenience for the county not only includes an easily-accessible spot, but will provide much shorter lines and will even offer a drive-thru and an ATM to do renewals.

As if that project wasn’t enough, the county is also adding two new parks to the area with miles of hiking and walking trails throughout the Dunnavant Valley and Double Oak Mountain area.

All of those projects will continue to increase the quality of life in Shelby County, but it is just a small piece of what makes this area so successful.

Now, there will always be hidden political agendas, but in Shelby County those are far and few between.

Most take their positions because they truly do have a passion for helping make their city or the county as a whole one of the best places to be with the goal of making improvements not gaining votes.

If you don’t believe that, or if you have concerns, invite someone who represents the county or your municipality for a cup of coffee. They want to hear your concerns and do everything they can for you.

And that is what’s great.

Is everything perfect? No. Nothing is. But in Shelby County, we are striving to be as close to that as possible, and we should be proud of the example we set for the rest of the state.