Rental Fees Increase in Rainsville

Rental Fees Increase in Rainsville

By Marla Jones

Managing Editor

marla@southerntorch.com

RAINSVILLE, Ala.-- (Full video on Southern Torch Facebook) The Rainsville City Council held their regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, August 16.

Mayor Rodger Lingerfelt requested a vote by the Council on whether to abolish Ordinance 8-5-2019 (Section 22).  The ordinance was passed in 2019 and was to be reviewed in two years. The ordinance lowered the license price per rental unit from $50 to $25.

Ordinance 8-5-2019 (Section 22)  was first introduced by former Councilmember Marshall Stiefel. The ordinance would give citizens who own several rental properties such as trailer parks, apartments complexes, or rental homes a break on license fees from $50 per unit to $25. 

When the Ordinance 8-5-2019 (Section 22)  was passed, Stiefel made the following quote,   “ I am glad the Council approved the ordinance.  It helps keep more money in the pockets of Rainsville citizens.  Hopefully, in the next administration, we can eliminate this ordinance completely.”

In Monday's meeting, the present Council voted unanimously to abolish Ordinance 8-5-2019 (Section 22), raising the license price per rental unit to $50.

Councilmember Arlan Blevins addressed the Council regarding the August 6 murder in Rainsville.  Blevins stated that following the investigation, a few items had come to light that needed to be addressed.  

Phone records were not able to be obtained due to access being limited to Mayor Lingerfelt and City Clerk Kelly Frazier. 

“I think for the sake of safety, the police chief would need access to those records in case you guys are not there” stated Blevins.

“We should have access to every bit of that,” stated Rainsville Police Chief Michael Edmondson. 

Lingerfelt clarified that the only access he had was on the billing side and that the new phone system had not been completely set up by Farmers Telephone Cooperative. 

“A lot of this was a misunderstanding of who had control,” said Lingerfelt in a statement to Southern Torch.  “All of this is straightened out and we are all good. The old phone system had issues and if the new phone system had not recently been installed we wouldn't have had the recording at all.”

The Council also approved:

• Moving the September 6 council meeting to Tuesday, September 7 due to the Labor Day holiday.

• The hire of Brandon Dupree as a part-time floater for the Rainsville Public Works Department

• The hire of Blake Farmer as a mechanic for the Rainsville Public Works Department

• Accepted the Rainsville Fire Department grant of $26,000 with the city matching 10% for the purchase of two Thermal Imaging Cameras. 

• Increased the Northeast Alabama AgriBusiness Centerline of credit at First Southern State Bank from $15,000 to $50,000.  This increase will enable the center to add 75 more campsites to the facility. 

• Approved the emergency repair of the pump station located on Chambers Avenue by Living Water Utilities,  at a cost of $29,890.

The next meeting of the Rainsville City Council will be held on September 7, with a workshop beginning at 4 pm and the regular session at 4:30 pm.

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