By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Atmore City Council members swept through a light agenda during their Monday, April 14, meeting, approving the use of city parks for two upcoming events and issuing two proclamations.
Four council members (District 5’s Chris Harrison was unable to attend) approved the use of Heritage Park and the area around Atmore Splash Pad by Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce for the Chamber’s Bunny Hop Color Run, part of Easter in the Park. The event is set for Saturday, April 19, from 9 to 11 a.m.
The council also gave a unanimous green light to use Heritage Park for this year’s Mental Health Awareness Walk and Resource Fair. The walk is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. at Boxcar Willie Park and end at Heritage Park, where numerous organizations and individuals associated with various areas of mental health will have information booths.
Mental Health Consultant and Certified Mental Health Coach Marlo Young, the event’s organizer, told the council that 1 out of every 5 adults in the U.S. lives with or experiences some form of mental illness, yet only 65 percent have received care for their condition. This year’s event will mark the fifth walk and second resources fair.
Mayor Jim Staff presented Young with a copy of a proclamation designating April as Mental Health Awareness Month in the city.
Also, although the person making the request was not in attendance, the council also approved a proclamation designating Thursday, May 1, as National Day of Prayer in Atmore. This year’s series of prayers will take place at Cornell Torrence Gymnasium on the Escambia County High School campus.
Fire-damaged houses
At the end of the meeting, Alfred Johnson asked what could be done to eliminate houses that are destroyed by fire or have otherwise become dilapidated, saying the dwelling shells “make the town look bad.”
Codes Enforcement Officer Greg Vaughn replied, explaining that the cost of tearing down the 100 or so burnt houses and removing the debris is too costly a project, for property owners or the city.
“You can’t just burn down an old house anymore, like you used to could,” Vaughn said. “You have to go through a process, including a title search, before we can intervene on somebody’s property. Then there’s asbestos testing and removal. The total cost is usually around $10,000.
“Most of these properties are worth only about $3,000 and they would have a $10,000 lien against them. That’s the issue in a nutshell.”