SCHOOL BOARD: A CHANCE TO INVEST IN FUTURE, OPINION PAGE 4
TUESDAY
THE FOR SUBSCRIBERS April issue of Lake Martin Living Magazine, inside!
POSTSEASON PUSH Wildcats sweep Rams. Sports, page 12.
Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892 April 12, 2016
Vol. 124, No. 73
www.alexcityoutlook.com
Details on college merger will have to wait until May By DAVID GRANGER Staff Writer
It appears little else will be known about the merger of Central Alabama Community College, Chattahoochee Valley Community College, and Southern Union State Community College until the Alabama Community College System’s Board of Trustees meeting in May, except that each of the affected campuses will maintain a degree of local identity. That, in a nutshell, is the news con-
tained in a release issued Sunday night from the office of Susan Burrow, president of the new regional community college. “It is clear that we will preserve our local campus identities with our recommendations including: Alexander City, Childersburg, Chattahoochee Valley, Southern Union-Opelika, and Southern Union Wadley,” said Burrow. “Our focus groups revealed strong community support and passion for our colleges and we want to preserve this as part of our heritage and tradition going forward.”
Brett Pritchard, CACC’s coordinator of public and high school relations, said the campuses would be known individually by their location, as in the Alexander City campus of (merged colleges’ new name) Community College. Each of the five locations of the existing schools – Alexander City, Childersburg, Chattahoochee Valley, Opelika and Wadley – would be referred to similarly. According to the release, a review committee compromised of 15-member transition team that included an administrator, faculty member, staff member,
Councill discussion dominates board meet
student, and community member from each of the three colleges reviewed and consulted with Stamats, a higher education marketing firm out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to assist in the new regional college’s naming and branding process. Stamats continues to analyze the results of that work and, when it is complete, the results of the committee’s work, market analysis and naming recommendations will be submitted to Burrow and Mark Heinrich, chancellor for the Alabama Community College System, for their See COLLEGE • Page 3
Commissioners updated on new site for DHR building
By DAVID GRANGER Staff Writer
By MITCH SNEED Editor
An exchange with Tallapoosa County Commissioner T.C. Coley about issues relating to the possible closing of Councill Middle School in Dadeville dominated Monday night’s meeting of the Tallapoosa County Board of Education. After the board had disposed with the business on its agenda, which did not include any item related to Councill, Coley was recognized by Tallapoosa County Schools Superintendent Joe Windle and invited to ask the board any questions he might have or make comments. “Obviously most of the concern that we’ve heard as commissioners recently has been about the situation at Councill,” Coley said. “I had some questions myself and I’ve had a chance to talk with Dr. Windle and he has addressed most of those concerns. “A lot of the individuals who spoke at the meeting
A potential new site for a new home to Tallapoosa County’s Department of Human Resources building has been located and commissioners gave the thumbs up for taking the next step in the process. Tallapoosa County Administrator Blake Beck updated the commissioners on the progress at Monday’s meeting. “We have identified a piece of property and have had discussions with the owner,” Beck said. “We feel pretty good about it, but I need the approval of commissioners to get it surveyed and appraised. We will also ask the DHR folks to come down with engineers to make sure that it is suitable for them to build on.” The commissioners voted to allow the process to move forward. The Alabama Department of Human Resources asked the commissioners to help identify a site for a new building and secure the property last July. The city of Dadeville has also been active in the search. The city had suggested property it owns near Highway 280 behind the Subway across from Highway 49, but it was found to be unsuitable. So the search was resumed and Beck said the parcel being considered is in keeping with what DHR had asked for.
See EDUCATION Page 3
Today’s
Weather
71 53 High
Cliff Williams / The Outlook
Alexander City’s own Russell Medical Center was recently recognized with an Outstanding Patient Experience Award. It was just one of five Alabamam hospitals to be honored.
WINNING MEDICINE
Russell Medical Center receives national accolades STAFF REPORT TPI Staff
Russell Medical Center has gained national recognition for exceptional delivery of quality-driven, patient-centered care. Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals announced the recipients of the 2016 Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award. Russell Medical Center was among only five Alabama hospitals to receive this prestigious recognition. Outstanding Patient Experience Award recipients were identified through an evaluation of 10 patient experience measures,
By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer
Lake Martin
Lake Levels
490.03 Reported on 4/11/16 @ 4 p.m.
6
54708 90050 USPS Permit # 013-080
8
See COMMISSION • Page 3
Russell Lands kicks off county-wide cleanup
Low
Linda Shaffer, REALTOR® C: 256.794.4641 • W: 256.329.5253 shaffer@lakemartin.net 5295 Highway 280, Alexander City, AL
using data collected from a 32-question HCAHPS survey of the hospital’s own patients. HCAHPS is an acronym for Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems. HCAHPS is a national, standardized, publicly reported survey of patients’ perspectives of hospital care during their inpatient stay. Nationally, 448 recipients achieved the 2016 Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award™, representing the top 15 percent of hospitals in the nation for patient experience. Healthgrades evaluated 3,858 hospitals that submitted patient surveys to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services See RUSSELL • Page 3
Mitch Sneed / The Outlook
Officials hope that the placement of dumpsters in multiple locations throughout the county will help curtail illegal dump sites like this one found in March in Alexander City.
Russell Lands kicked off the County Wide cleanup Friday. “That was the kickoff,” Lake Martin Resource Association’s John Thompson said. “They could not do it the weekend of the 23rd and wanted to do it early.” Employees from Russell Lands could be found along the roadways Friday. “We picked up Highway 63 and several other corridors to the lake,” Thompson said. “It was a big success.” “We have two corporate cleanups a year,” Russell Lands’ Robert Gunn said. “We work closely with John Thompson and LMRA. We are proud for this cleanup to help kickoff the countywide event.” Gunn said they worked on some of the main corridors into lake properties along Highway 63. “We had over 20 employees picking up trash from Ourtown to Kowaliga Bridge,”
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Gunn said. “We also had employees on Willow Point Road, Willow Point Cutoff and Windermere Road. We picked up over 100 garbage bags.” Thompson and Middle Tallapoosa Clean Water Partnership’s Sabrina Wood are organizing the countywide effort for April 23. Thompson hopes the countywide event will be a success. Thompson has made visits to several city councils in the area seeking support. “I just want to invite you to get the word out about the cleanup,” Thompson told the Camp Hill Town Council at a recent meeting. “This really is a grassroots effort. Just get your neighbors together and start picking up.” Tallapoosa County Commissioners are providing dumpsters at the following locations throughout the county. • District 1: Downtown Alexander City, next to fire department • District 2: Double Bridge area on See CLEANUP • Page 3
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