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By NOAH WORTHAM | Staff Writer

ALABASTER – The Alabaster City Council approved 17 new positions throughout the city during a regularly scheduled City Council meeting on Monday, Sept. 25.

During the meeting, the council approved multiple items from its consented agenda that were pre-approved in its fiscal year 2024 budget which include several new positions within the city.

The new position within the city include the following personnel:

• Three additional full-time police officer positions within the Alabaster Police Department
• Nine additional firefighter and paramedic positions to the Alabaster Fire Department
• One new fire department position for fire captain ambulance management
• One full-time operator position within the Public Works Department
• One full-time sewer inspector position within the Environmental Services Department
• One full-time maintenance mechanic supervisor position in the Public Works Department
• One full-time public works superintendent position in the Public Works Department

The Alabaster City Council also approved a bid to its lowest responsive bidder, Varsity Sports, for uniforms for its 2023 Youth Basketball Program at $173.15 per unit. A second bid by BSN Sports was received for $210.35

“We did approve the uniform bid for the 2023 basketball season,” Councilmember Zach Zahariadis said. “Two bids came back from the same two folks that usually come back to us and try to throw their bids out there. We went with Varsity Sports who gets a majority of our business, so we’re glad to continue to support them and they’re supporting us as well.”

During the meeting, the City Council reappointed Joseph E. Walden as city judge and set his pay.

“We did reappoint our City Judge Walden and reset his pay structure to be more competitive—to be (in line) with surrounding areas,” Zahariadis said.

The Council approved a lighting agreement with Alabama Power to convert 24 streetlights to LED.

“This is part of an ongoing project,” Zahariadis said. “We’ve been trying to upgrade throughout the city for years now and we’re kind of getting to the tail end—finally getting these LED’s installed everywhere that people seem to enjoy and they (say) are brightening up the city in certain areas.”

The Alabaster City Council approved a 12-month agreement with Shelby County for inmate housing services in the amount of $49.78 per inmate per day. The previous rate was $30.63 per day per inmate. This marks the first rate increase for inmate housing services in 20 years.

“We also signed contract with Shelby County for inmate housing services,” Zahariadis said. “We went ahead and signed a contract with Shelby County to adjust those means as well to kind of provide them a little more of a service.”

The next work session for the Alabaster City Council is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 5 and the next regularly scheduled City Council meeting will be held on Monday, Oct. 9.