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By DAVE DOMESCIK | Staff Writer

MONTEVALLO – Mayor Rusty Nix updated Montevallo residents and city employees on the state of the city at the Montevallo Chamber of Commerce’s annual business meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 15. The meeting was held at Parnell Memorial Library beginning at 11:30 a.m.

Nix’s address consisted of various statistics and general updates on developments that occurred in Montevallo throughout the 2024 calendar year, as well as the city’s plans for the future.

The meeting began with a welcome from Adele Nelson, the Chamber’s executive director. She introduced the sponsor of the luncheon, Trustmark National Bank. Stephanie Benitez, the branch manager of Trustmark’s Montevallo location, gave background on the company and its deep roots in Montevallo.

“Trustmark has been around for 135 years,” Benitez said. “Now we also have ties to Montevallo. Merchants & Planters was opened in 1907, they moved to the location Trustmark is in in 1960. So we have been part of Montevallo for a very long time. We love to take in the history as well as all of the new and exciting things coming to Montevallo.”

After Benitez’s remarks, Deborah Miller, who works with Bob Butterworth State Farm, was introduced as a new member of the Montevallo Chamber Board of Directors. Miller also serves as a children’s pastor with Amazing Grace Church in Alabaster.

After an invocation from City Clerk and Treasurer Steve Gilbert, lunch was served, catered by Indigo Café and Bar. Nix then proceeded to give his address.

Nix began by recognizing all of the city employees present at the luncheon.

“Everybody give yourself a round of applause,” Nix said. “Y’all are what run the city. I just get credit for steering the ship.”

Nix officially started by reading Montevallo’s mission statement, which reads “to enhance, enrich and empower the lives of everyone who resides, studies, visits, works or plays in our city.”

He then shifted his focus to the city’s public health and safety developments. Montevallo police added a new patrol car in 2024, and also received grants for new body cameras for officers to replace outdated equipment.

“I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for officers to have body cameras,” Nix said. “We’ve had situations where an arrest is made and the person getting arrested will have accused the police officer (of abuse), and you look at the body (camera) footage and everything went fine. Our officers are trained to be very courteous, and so we’re thankful for the body cameras.”

Nix closed his remarks on the police by adding that the city is looking to add an additional school resource officer to have one SRO at each school in Montevallo. There are currently only two school resource officers in Montevallo, and one official splits time between Montevallo Elementary and Montevallo Middle.

The Montevallo Fire Department received a new fire truck and emergency vehicle in 2024, but the emergency vehicle will not be ready for service until June or July 2025 at the earliest. Nix added that the city plans to purchase another firetruck as well.

“We started an account because we know down the road we’re going to purchase another fire engine,” Nix said. “It’s going to be close to $1 million. We have started putting $45,100 a month in the account so we can start getting the money up.”

Nix also took time to complement the fire department as a whole.

“Our fire department has an ISO rating of 2, which is unheard of for a volunteer fire department,” Nix said. “So, to me, we’ve got one of the best volunteer fire departments in the nation.”

An ISO rating, otherwise known as a Public Protection Classification, is a score that indicates a fire department’s success in protecting the community or communities it serves. The scale runs from 1 to 10, with 1 being the best and 10 being the worst.

Nix then shifted his focus to Montevallo’s Parks and Recreation department, and announced the development of a new facility for the growing organization.

“We are in the process of getting a parks & rec community center, getting it underway for our youth and also just our community to use,” Nix said. “It’s going to be a big undertaking, but we are in the steps of getting renderings of it.”

Nix added that the Stevens Park concession stand remodeling project received a $70,000 grant, helping the project move forward.

The Parnell Memorial Library, according to Nix, had 44,112 visits to the building in 2024. More than 6,000 books were read from the library in the summer of 2024.

Montevallo Main Street added four new businesses in 2024, and the city spent close to $80,000 protecting the district from vandalism and crime.

“It’s a shame you got to do that (spend money), but we have eliminated a lot of vandalism,” Nix said.

Nix then shifted his focus to the city’s capital improvements, including the city’s improvement of Intersection 119 and 22.

“The project, once it gets started and we start turning dirt, which will hopefully be midsummer, is going to take about 120 days to complete,” Nix said.

The retail center attached to the project, according to Nix, will have a new grocery store yet to be revealed.

“Once that whole center is complete, it’s estimated to generate $2 million in tax revenue coming back to the city,” Nix said.

A hotel is also being developed in Montevallo in the place of the Victory building, which is set to be torn down.

Nix shared that the total projected revenues for Montevallo in 2025 add up to more than $8 million.

“We’re growing the revenue,” Nix said. “Of course, with revenue, your expenditures are going to go up sometimes too. But, we’re still at a net over $1 million.”

With the final discussion on overall revenue, Nix concluded his address. The meeting closed with various announcements on upcoming events in the city of Montevallo, including the upcoming Martin Luther King Celebration March and annual health walk.

To learn more about Montevallo, visit Cityofmontevallo.com. To learn more about the Montevallo Chamber of Commerce, visit Montevallochamberofcommerce.com.