Hello, all. Now that the Fourth is over, most of us are looking ahead to the beginning of the school year and the fall season.
Again this August, we had the honor of hosting the Teacher Institute for the Baldwin County Schools at the Foley Event Center. Up to 4,000 teachers, administrators and staff from across the county met to kick off the school year. We are fortunate to have a facility large enough to host the entire group.
A delegation of Foley students and teacher chaperones has just returned from a visit to Foley’s sister city of Hennef, Germany. The students described the opportunity to visit Germany and build relationships there as life-changing. Students from Germany will be visiting our city in October.
When school starts on Aug. 9, school buses will again be out on the roads. Please be patient and watch for students, especially the youngest ones.
The Foley Lions football season tickets are on sale. Let’s get behind our mighty Lions again this year.
A number of city projects are underway. I’m pleased to share the following updates on our progress.
The East Verbena Street improvements near Portabella’s are almost complete. The paving of East Jessamine connecting North Chicago and North Cypress should be completed soon. This connector will be pedestrian friendly, providing a safe, walkable passage to the library and city hall from Heritage Park, and to our city schools via the pedestrian bridge.
City workers are finishing many sidewalk projects, including those near the Florence B Mathis School that will help students get safely to school. Thank you to the council for funding an ambitious sidewalk program. Adding sidewalk connectors across the city will help us become a more walkable city.
Two large projects that are moving along smartly are the new Public Works Campus on North Poplar Street, and the new restrooms in Heritage Park.
Two more significant projects will begin soon. One is the new library that will be located just east of the Foley Dog Park. We are excited that this will be one of the new generation of libraries that serves the community in a variety of ways. We can’t wait to share the details when the time comes.
The second project is a Safe Room Building that will house front-line city employees during extreme weather. This sturdy structure will be wired for communications and will allow critical employees to begin operations in a central location as quickly as possible. During other times of the year, it will serve as training and meeting space.
Park upgrades that include new restrooms are underway in Beulah Heights and Aaronville. The creation of a new park in the Mills community is also in progress.
The long-awaited safety and repaving improvements are beginning on the Foley Beach Express. The ATRIP Grant upgrade for the County Road 12/Highway 59 intersection will be bid in September.
Foley Main Street is responsible for the new pedestrian way-finding signs that will soon be installed. These signs will help visitors locate restaurants, businesses and points of interest across our historic downtown area.
I hope that you enjoy the rest of your summer!