LET's GET IT ON!
Quote:
he debate has been brewing but now it may have escalated to an all-out war between Montgomery and Pike Road.
The two cities have gone round and round over where to draw the line and which neighborhoods belong to which city. Now, Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright wants to end it all. He's calling a special election to annex all of Pike Road.
It came like a lightning bolt after all other city business was done.
Council Member Glen Pruitt introduced the resolution to the council.
"What we're doing is asking for a special election to make that happen so the citizens out there have a right to say yes or no if they want to come into the city of Montgomery," he said.
After a nearly unanimous vote, the politicking was on.
Mayor Bobby Bright says he's heard from lots of people in Pike Road.
"What they wanna do, based on what we hear, is they want to be part of the city of Montgomery," he said.
It should be a contentious fight. People in Pike Road started working towards a local government when the state legislature passed the first annexing bill. From there, attorneys on both sides filed lawsuits. At stake: some of the highest value property in Montgomery County.
"They're in our growth corridor, our most valuable growth corridor for the City of Montgomery," Bright said.
He admits the city wants that property for its tax value, but he also contends its about government efficiency.
"Birmingham is landlocked by 27 or 28 different municipal jurisdictions. I don't want Montgomery to be like that in 10 or 15 years. We need to have one administrative jurisdiction to handle all those city services," Bright said.
The city now has ten days to ask Probate Judge Reese McKinney to arrange for the election. Mayor Bright says city lawyers will start work on that process tomorrow morning.
State law says the vote should happen within three to six weeks.
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Yikes.
For those outta the loop (which would probably be [total forum population] - 3), the 'city' of Pike Road is basically a T-junction and a post office. They incorporated a few years ago, basically just to stay out of Montgomery. But they don't offer services or a school system, and the residents number less than 1000 (I think).
This should be interesting
