By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

The road connecting Shelby County 52 with the Pelham City Hall will forever honor a city police officer who died in the line of duty.

The Pelham City Council voted unanimously to rename the road from Church Street to Philip Davis Street in honor of the officer who was shot and killed during a Dec. 4, 2009 traffic stop.

The road, which used to contain the old Pelham First Baptist Church building, now houses the Pelham Police Department. While renaming the street, the city will change the department’s address from 3174 Church St. to 32 Philip Davis St. in memory of Davis’ badge number.

“He would be so honored, and he would be so embarrassed,” said Paula Davis, Philip’s widow. “He didn’t like a lot of people showing him gratitude.

“He would be so honored that you named the street after him,” she added.

As part of the resolution, the city agreed to name a road after any Pelham employee killed in the line of duty in the future. Shortly before the council passed the resolution, Pelham Mayor Don Murphy declared Dec. 4-11 as Philip Mahan Davis Week.

“I do agree with you that any first responder that is injured in the line of duty should be honored,” Paula Davis said. “I do appreciate all you’ve done tonight. Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you.”

Murphy said he wanted to preserve Davis’ memory in the city forever.

“Paula, I respect you and your family, and I respect what Philip did for us,” Murphy said. “As long as we are here, he will be here.”

Council President Mike Dickens praised Murphy’s “behind-the-scenes” work to bring the project to reality.

“Mayor, I know personally what you’ve done behind the scenes,” Dickens said. “It hasn’t been acknowledged publicly. I know that’s not why you did it, but I know what it meant to this city.”

In other business, the council:

Agreed to allow the Alabama Department of Transportation to demolish six structures along Shelby County 261 in preparation for a widening project of the road. The project likely will begin in early 2011.

ALDOT will demolish structures at 100 Cobblestone Terrace, 116 Aaron Parc Court, 2995 Valleydale Terrace, 4076 Saddle Run Circle and 8300 Helena Road. The state already owns all property to be demolished, said Pelham City Engineer Jesse Jowers.

– Distributed a total of $129,416.85 to the city’s five schools. Murphy distributed checks to the principals of Valley Elementary School, Valley Intermediate School, Riverchase Middle School Pelham High School and the Linda Nolen Learning Center.

The city donated $29,255.15 to VES, $24,296.65 to VIS, $23,304 to RMS, $9,421.15 to the LNLC and $43,138.95 to PHS.

“This is an investment in our future, and we are blessed as a city to be able to do it,” Dickens said. “It’s easy for us as a council to say ‘here it is,’ but keep in mind that this is a gift from the citizens of Pelham. We don’t ever need to forget that.”

– Accepted a $17,128.28 bid from the Chicago-based CDW-G company to purchase 50 licenses of Microsoft Office 2007 Professional Plus.

– Accepted a $64,879 bid from Greenville Turf and Tractor to lease a John Deere riding greens mower and a greens roller and transport trailer for the Ballantrae Golf Club.