City votes for removal of dead, dying trees

At its meeting Monday, the city council voted to approve uprooting about a dozen trees across Russellville that are either dead, dying or leaning precariously in threat to life or property.

Councilman David Palmer said these are trees that the city has received calls and complaints about. As calls come in, the city keeps a running list of trees that need to be taken care and then contracts for the work to be done on several trees at once. Batching them together allows the city to get a better price, Palmer said – in this case, the work was approved not to exceed $6,500.

“They don’t have the means to do it at the street department,” Palmer said, and the trees are also not threatening utilities in such a way that the removal would fall under street department purview.

Palmer said the tree removal would likely begin Monday and take only a couple of days.

During a short meeting, the council also:

• Approved a resolution appointing poll workers.
• Approved a request from the Retirement Systems of Alabama to submit match payment for Nathaniel Herring.
• Declared vacancy for patrol officer in the Russellville Police Department and authorized advertisement to solicit job applications. 
• Voted to pave various streets.
• Heard from Kim Adams of STAR Group