Village Living Volume 7 | Issue 12 | March 2017
Turning the Page
neighborly news & entertainment for Mountain Brook
CONTINUING THE Mullins reflects on 1st year in role as MBFD’s chief
Mountain Brook author Stephen Russell is publishing his third book, “Control Group,” in March, 13 years after writing the first draft.
See page A17
Bidding Farewell
Sue DeBrecht is retiring after 25 years as Emmet O’Neal Library director and looking forward to a “great kind of busy” schedule.
See page B1
INSIDE Sponsors ......... A4 City ................... A6 Business ..........A8 Chamber ........A10 Events .............. A11 Community .....A13
Medical Guide...A18 Faith ................A29 Sports ............... B4 School House .. B7 Camp Guide ..... B11 Calendar ..........B18
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MISSION
By ERICA TECHO
T
he last year has been full of changes for the Mountain Brook Fire Department and Fire Chief Chris Mullins. But the changes have been small, Mullins said, and it took reflecting in his annual report to see how much has been accomplished. “We’ve got so much going on that some days it’s almost like we’re sitting, spinning our wheels, but as I look back and see the things that we’ve done, we’ve really gotten a lot accomplished,” said Mullins, who took over as fire chief in March 2016. When Mullins moved up from deputy chief to fire chief, he was leading a department already in good shape, he said, thanks to the foundation laid by former Fire Chief Robert “Zeke” Ezekiel. In the last year, Mullins has aimed to continue work started by Ezekiel, while putting his own spin on things. “He’s continuously stayed with our mission. He has supported the mission [Ezekiel laid out] since the day he’s
See MULLINS | page A30 Mountain Brook Fire Chief Chris Mullins poses near the fire department’s newest addition to its fleet. Mullins, who replaced Robert “Zeke” Ezekiel in 2016, will mark his one-year anniversary in March. Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
To engage its residents, city gets social By LEXI COON
In starting with more community outreach, Mayor Stewart Welch has created a mayor’s Facebook page to share events, happenings and updates with the community. Photo illustration by Lexi Coon.
When Stewart Welch was first entering office as the mayor of Mountain Brook, one of his big ideas was to reach the younger generations of Mountain Brook — in addition to all other residents — and get them involved in their community. And after a few months in office, his ideas have only grown.
“It’s the first thing I thought I could do,” Welch said of his idea to create a mayor’s Facebook account. After seeing the success that friend and Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson had through his account,
he thought that would be a good place to start. “I said, ‘OK, no need to reinvent the wheel. I’ll start with his idea,” Welch said. With the help of local business
Uptick Marketing, Welch created his first Facebook profile, Stewart Welch III, to share his mayoral happenings with the community. So far, his profile includes upcoming community events,
links to helpful websites, a selfie with the Leadership Mountain Brook group, and photos of himself and Chief of Police Ted Cook with Alabama head football coach Nick Saban. But he still has plans for the page. Eventually, Welch said, he wants to use his profile to make residents aware of what is happening in their community, be it events or local sales, and have the city’s website do the same. “The first thing is to get the Facebook page up and running,” he said. “And then I said I want some help just looking at the city website.”
See SOCIAL | page A31