On Tuesday evening, a small crowd gathered in the City Council Chamber, located at 141 N. Ross St.
City Council meets the first and third Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m.
This week, Auburn City Council members approved the purchase of an Autel Dragonfish Drone to be used by the police department. The drone will cost $131,675. Council member Sonny Moreman, Ward 5, addressed possible concerns constituents may have about the use of the new drone.
“Our drones are only deployed in emergency situations, as it turns out," Moreman said. "I didn’t want any citizens to be concerned that they’re just up there all the time looking down on us.”
Megan Crouch, Auburn City Manager, said the police department will have control over what the drones do and do not survey. She suggested that the drones be used for game day traffic surveillance and, possibly investigative purposes.
“By and large, the deployment is routine matters, but there are also investigative matters in which they could be utilized – constitutionally of course,” Crouch said.
Tommy Dawson, Ward 8, was pleased with the purchase of the drone and believed that it was long overdue.
“We’re behind the ball getting this piece of equipment. We should’ve had this years ago. I’m very happy that we voted to buy this for the police department and I think it will go a long way in protecting our citizens,” Dawson said.
The motion was carried unanimously.
The council also debated the purchase of an Intermat IM Vertical Carousel System, a storage system for tires from Kardex Remstar. The system was purchased for $154,313.58.
“It provides a more safe environment when dealing with the way tires are loaded in [to the warehouse],” said Beth Witten, Ward 3.
One of the council members seemed to be a bit cautious about the purchase.
“I exercise a bit of skepticism on this item, which is essentially a storage and retrieval system for tires," Moreman said. "$154,000 is a lot of money. I gained a lot of insight from the city manager in the last few days on this and I understand better that the justification is more about square footage storage space in the warehouse, as well as labor saving and time saving."
Moreman agreed the system was necessary and the motion was carried unanimously.
The council also addressed the addition of a future roundabout at the intersection of Conservation Drive and Farmville Road. The roundabout was first proposed five years ago, according to Crouch.
“We’ve been working on the roundabout there since I was Development Services Executive Director in 2018. The city has refused to build the roundabout as warranted by a traffic study – we wanted a development group to do it and 68 Ventures has been willing to figure this out with us,” Crouch said. “The question is, why is it at Conservation [Drive] and not Redtail [Lane]?”
68 Ventures is a housing and community development company based in Daphne. The potential roundabout would cause the widening of Farmville Road and North Donahue Drive and the motion was carried unanimously.
Auburn City Council's next meeting will be on Oct. 17 at 6 p.m.
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Sam Vise, junior in journalism, is the community reporter for The Auburn Plainsman.
