Mayor Tim Wilson will retain his seat while two of the three council seats will feature new faces in unofficial results posted following Tuesday’s municipal elections in Silverhill.
Incumbent Mayor Timothy Wilson, who was appointed from the council to fill the mayoral seat, won easily with 60 percent of the vote over challenger Alan R. Norden. Wilson received 162 votes to Norden’s 110.
It wasn’t so easy for incumbent Stephen Brooks, running against Tonie Norden. The incumbent in Place 2 won by just seven votes in preliminary results, garnering 139 votes to Tonie Norden’s 132 – 51 to 49 percent. Two other races in Silverhill saw incumbents fail to retain their seats as incumbent appointee Michael Allegri fell to challenger Bert Jones who received 156 votes (57 percent) to Allegri’s 117 (43 percent).
The Silverhill Town Council was split Monday on a pair of measures to purchase advertising space.
Both Mayor Tim Wilson and Council member Shirley Stephens voted against a measure to purchase an annual “Back to School” advertisement from WHEP. The ad, which cost $96 and will run for two weeks on the Foley-based AM radio station, encouraged residents to watch out for school children and to obey laws governing school buses and other traffic issues.
Stephens then spoke out against a measure to purchase a $400 full-page color ad in the Robertsdale High School year book. “This is something that our constituents have told us point blank they don’t want,” she said. “We are purchasing advertising in this book that will only be looked at once or twice by the average person, then discarded. Surely there are better ways for us to spend money.”
The Silverhill Town Council conducted routine business Monday night during meeting that was anything but routine for Council members, who fielded questions and sometimes criticism from residents. Several residents came before the council on Monday night with questions ranging from budgetary concerns to right of way permits.
Much of the discussion stemmed around a request by resident Jim Langley, asking how much the council spent on donations per year.
Mayor Tim Wilson responded that the council set aside $3,000 for donations for the 2007-2008 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. So far, the council has given $2,970. Silverhill gave a little over $3,000 in the last fiscal year.
Concern was expressed over the pay of Silverhill reserve police officer Stephen “Buck” Rogers.“I just don’t understand how we can afford to give away money, but we can’t afford to give benefits to this man who puts his life on the line for this town,” Langley said.
Why is the city giving taxpayers’ money to the schools instead of meeting residents’ needs first? The schools are already funded by our taxes. Why doesn’t the town ask the school board for money to pay the officer?
Mobile police identified a suspect in a stolen-car chase and manhunt that lasted about five hours Tuesday in Baldwin County.
Police spokeswoman Nancy Johnson said investigators are looking for 32-year-old Keith “Fool” Kiel of Mobile as a suspect in the theft Tuesday of a silver 2000 Chevrolet Impala from a used car lot in Mobile. A computer navigation system in the car sent out a signal allowing police to locate the car in Fairhope.
Police said Kiel is about 5 feet, 5 inches tall, weighs approximately 165 pounds and should be considered armed and dangerous.
Police say this is the man who stole a car from Mobile, lead Fairhope police on a chase and then ditched the car, sparking a 6 hour manhunt.
Keith Kiel, also known as “Fool,” is still on the run. Police say he stole a silver, Impala from a used car lot in Mobile. A GPS system picked it up in Fairhope Tuesday morning. That’s where the chase started. It ended between Silverhill and Robertsdale on Highway 104 near the Coca Cola distribution plant.
A Baldwin county manhunt has been going on all day causing Central Christian School to go into lockdown. Deputies have now identified the suspect as 33-year-old, Kieth Anthony Kiel. Deputies say the suspect contacted someone in Mobile and they now believe he’s in the woods.
The suspect is believed to be armed and dangerous. Deputies say several cars were stolen last night from Mobile. They spotted one of those cars in Fairhope.
The suspect led several agencies on a high speed chase here on highway 104, hitting speeds of more than 100 mph. It ended right off Hwy. 104 in Silverhill in a woman’s front yard, where deputies say the suspect parked and ran into the woods. They’ve been searching a five square mile radius.
Silverhill natural gas customers will be paying a new supplier, but should be writing checks for smaller amounts following the sale of the town distribution system to Riviera Utilities.
The Silverhill Town Council voted to sell the municipal natural gas distribution system to the utilities system, which is owned by the city of Foley. The system serves about 130 homes in the area, according to town officials.
Silverhill Council members Jared N. Lyles and Shirley Stephens will serve another four years on the Silverhill Town Council.
The Silverhill Town Council voted at its regular meeting Monday night to certify the election of Place 3, which is held by Lyles, and Place 5, held by Stephens, after the two incumbents qualified unopposed for their respective races.
Elections in Robertsdale and Loxley are over before the campaign season even started. In both communities, the incumbent does not have opposition, or a newcomer qualified for the election and does not have an opponent.
The community of Silverhill, however, is another matter. People looking for small-town election fireworks, if the signs appearing along Highway 59 is any indication, should look there.
Silverhill’s police chief says somebody is making a game out of breaking into parked cars and stealing property inside the vehicles. Chief Kim Wasdin says on Tuesday night, 18 cars in the Silverhill area were hit.
“The suspect or suspects stole anything they could get their hands on,” says Wasdin. “They didn’t break into the cars, they were all parked and unlocked. But it’s still a crime to do that.”
Officials in Silverhill hope that a project begun in October of 2005 can now be officially put to rest after approving payment for the replacement of the town’s well at the Silverhill Ball Park.
The item topped the agenda at a marathon session for the meeting which took nearly two hours and featured a packed house Monday night at Silverhill Town Hall.
The council agreed to grant final payment for Layne Central for the project, minus $6,000 or about 30 days in liquidated damages.
A person was struck by a vehicle around 4:30pm Wednesday afternoon in Silverhill. The accident occurred on County Road 55 just north of County Road 48. The injured person was transported by helicopter to a local hospital. No word on the person’s identity or their condition.
Delta Elementary is one of five Baldwin County schools slated to add a pre-kindergarten class when school resumes Aug. 11.
Adding pre-kindergarten at five schools — Delta, Magnolia, Robertsdale, Elberta and Silverhill elementary — will increase Baldwin County’s total to 16 pre-K classes on 15 campuses, said Baldwin Schools’ Federal Programs Director Cindy Chandler. Foley Elementary has two pre-K classes.
Many low-income parents want their children to attend day care or preschool, Chandler said, but that’s often impossible when the average cost of day care is $460 per month.
