Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

LANETT —In its first meeting of the new year, the Lanett City Council on Monday approved resolutions to purchase a new ambulance for Lanett Fire & EMS, to upgrade the traffic signal at the junction of Highway 29 and First Street and to remove the one at Highway 29 and South 10th Street, to participate in the February 21-23 Severe Weather Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday and announced a proclamation in support of January being Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Month.

The new ambulance will be purchased from Southern Emergency Consultants of Roanoke, Ala. for $254,000. It will replace a 2017 model that has close to 250,000 miles on it. The box where the ambulance crew works will be taken off and mounted on a new Ford F-450. The present ambulance would need at least $15,000 in engine repair to remain in full-time service. It can be reconditioned and used as a part-time city vehicle.

The city will be working with the Alabama Department of Transportion (ALDOT) in putting up new traffic signals at Highway 29 and First Street. The new signals will be a significant upgrade over what’s there now. It should take about two weeks to get it done. Portable message boards will be placed in both directions one week before the work begins to let motorists know what will be taking place. Some new steel poles will be going up along with the three-color signals, signal cabinet, pedestrian signals, pushbutton pole and detector cameras. The city’s portion of the total cost will come to $58,300.

ALDOT will not fund its portion to put up new traffic signals at the intersection of Highway 29 and South 10th Street. Traffic studies have shown that there’s just not enough traffic entering 29 from South 10th to justify new traffic signals. New signals could be going up there if the city would pay the entire cost which is estimated at $250,000.

It’s likely new signals will be going back up on South 10th and South 4th if commercial development comes to the mill site.

Council Member Tony Malone said he had a problem with the traffic signal coming down on South 10th. “There’s new business coming to the area,” he said. “A barbecue place will be coming there.”

Alabama has had a Severe Weather Preparedness Holiday since 2012. State sales taxes are suspended for one weekend on the purchases of storm-related items. Cities and counties have the option of suspending their sales taxes that weekend as well.

The holiday will start at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, February 21st and end at 12 midnight on Sunday, February 23rd.

Adrian Carpenter of the Chambers County Circle of Care Center for Families was present to receive a copy of the mayor’s proclamation on human trafficking awareness and prevention.

The proclamation notes that human trafficking harms the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities across generations. It’s estimated that 27.6 million people worldwide are subjected to this. Cases have been reported in every U.S. state and territory.

“Human trafficking can happen to anyone,” the proclamation reads, “but certain populations are at greater risk including people affected by abuse, violence, poverty, unstable living situations or social disconnect. (It) is connected to many other forms of violence and exploitation and often shares common risk and protective factors such as lack of resources and unsafe environments.”

The proclamation goes on to state that strengthening communities requires collective action to reduce the conditions that contribute to the exploitation and the environments where people are protected from human trafficking and other forms of violence.

“A successful response to human trafficking requires a coordinated, community-wide response that includes collaboration across sectors and with those who have experienced human trafficking firsthand to ensure that services and programs are effective and meets the needs of all survivors,” the proclamation continues. “Every individual, family, community and organization can help raise awareness, prevent trafficking firsthand and support survivors by learning how to take action. The City of Lanett supports partnerships to comprehensively address the issues of human trafficking and to create Trafficking Free Zones.

“Therefore, I, Jamie Heard, Mayor of the City of Lanett, do hereby proclaim January 2025 as Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Month, reaffirming our commitment to strengthening communities, preventing trafficking by increasing awareness, improving education on human trafficking, making resources available for individuals and communities impacted by human trafficking, and as a Trafficking Free Zone, building diverse, public-private partnerships to support a more coordinated, comprehensive response to combat and prevent human trafficking.”