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July 20, 2017 Vol. 125, No. 143 www.alexcityoutlook.com 75¢
SPORTS, PAGE 10 Glow-in-the-dark golf draws huge crowd
City council to hold budget work session By MITCH SNEED Editor
With just less than three months left in the current fiscal year, the Alexander City City Council will hold a work session today to discuss the 2016-17 budget. Last October, the previous council passed a budget extension, allowing the city to operate under the previous year’s
budget. At the time, they said they felt it was unfair to saddle the incoming council and mayor with a budget they had no say in. But no one seemed to fully understand how far behind the financial records were behind. Since Mayor Jim Nabors took office, he said the work has been non-stop, but they still have a ways to go. Department heads have submitted requests and projections and Nabors
and Finance Director Sandy Stanbrough have been working on a framework. “Ideally you would like to have the audits to work from, but we don’t have that luxury,” Nabors. “We also don’t have the Auburn Study on salaries, which is something else we had hoped to have as well. “But we need to do this. Then we need to come right back in behind it, using the 2016-17 as a guide, and move
right into the 2017-18 budget. If we can do that I think we will be much better for it.” One thing that this budget will likely include is moving some money from reserves to balance the budget. Last year’s budget was also balanced using $2.5 million from reserves. Nabors said that for years the city had been relying on accountants to handle See COUNCIL • Page 3
Old fashioned fun coming to Dadeville
Alexander City Board of Education approves bids, policy change
By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer
For those parents looking to do something with their children, Dadeville resident Marrell Ward has a solution – build a soap box derby car and race it. Ward brought the idea from a place in is past. “Years ago we had the soapbox derby races in Ocala, Florida,” Ward said. “I got to looking around and there was really nothing outside of football or baseball for children to do.” Ward wants to see the building and the racing of the cars bring families and friends together. “We have so many cellphones and computers taking away from family time,” Ward said. “It is a good family oriented activity to do. Parents can spend time with their children doing it.” Time with children is the big thing Ward wants people to get out of the derby, so much so that he named See DERBY • Page 3
File / The Outlook
Marrell Ward is preparing for an event in memory of his son, The Ducky Ward Derby Race and Festival to be held on Aug. 19.
By DONALD CAMPBELL Staff Writer
Two child nutrition program bids were received and presented to the Alexander City Board of Education during its regular meeting Tuesday evening. Bid requests had been sent out for ice cream, bread and dairy products, with only Flowers Bakery responding with a bread bid and Borden Dairy submitting a bid for dairy See BOARD • Page 3
Stay cool in the summer heat Cliff Williams / The Outlook
SUN FESTIVAL WEDNESDAY SCHEDULE
• 6 a.m. Pie in the Sky Treasure Hunt • 9 a.m. - noon Fun in the Sun Airport Pavilion • 10:30 p.m. – 1 p.m. Celebrate America’s Heroes Bill Nichols Veterans Home • 1 – 3 p.m. KidsFest Luck of the Draw on Broad Street • 2:30 – 4 p.m. KidsFest Build Your Own Sundae Carlisle’s Drugs • 7 – 9 p.m. Trivia Night Kowaliga Restaurant • 7 p.m. Our Town The Arbor
Faithful of all sorts turnout for Sun Festival Top: Mackenzie Gulledge, 3, of Alexander City in the arms of aunt Amanda Green is unsure of Aubie at the Show Me Your Colors event. Middle: Jack Stearns of Trinity Methodist Church performs for the crowd on the stage at the Benjamin Russell High School auditorium for the Sun Festival Faith Night.
By DONALD CAMPBELL Staff Writer
Summers in Alabama are often among the most oppressive anywhere in the country. With the temperature combining with the Southern humidity to ramp up the heat intensity, finding ways to beat the heat is perhaps the most common thought on everyone’s mind throughout the state. While some Alabamians would say today is “gonna be hotter than a two-dollar pistol,” dealing with the summer heat is no laughing matter. See HEAT • Page 5
Horseshoe Bend FCCLA receives high honors at national conference By DONALD CAMPBELL Staff Writer
Six members of the Horseshoe Bend FCCLA traveled to Nashville for the annual FCCLA National Leadership Conference from July 2-6. While at the conference, these students competed in several Students Taking Action with Recognition, or STAR, events. After the final judging was completed, all six were awarded either a silver or gold medal for their achievements. “There were between 7,000 and 8,000 students at the national conference,” Horseshoe Bend FCCLA
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Adviser Felicia Williams. “It’s a big deal to go and represent Alabama on the national stage.” In order to get to the national conference, the students devised and carried out a service project, either individually or in a team of two. “It can be just about any kind of service project. It all depends on what the students chooses to do, but it still has to meet a specific set of guidelines,” Williams said. Once they had done this, they took and presented their project at the state leadership conference in March. “Eighteen of our students went to the state
competition,” Williams said. “They had to place either first or second at state in order to be able to compete at nationals.” At the national level, the projects are judged and graded. According to Williams, those receiving a grade between 70 and 89.99 are awarded a silver medal, while grades between 90 and 100 receive a gold medal. In the category of National Programs in Action, Erica Bryan and Brianna Lovelady’s project of collecting canned food items for the Tallapoosa Christian Submitted / The Outlook Crisis Center received a These Horseshoe Bend School students were awarded medals at the FCCLA National silver medal, while Skuylir Convention: Brianna Lovelady, Sydney Kelly, Erica Bryan, Nathan Wilson, Emma See FCCLA • Page 3 Walker and Skuylir Lopez.
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