A rezoning request for residential mobile homes on Mitchell Road that came into question following a previous meeting of Columbiana City Council was finally approved at the council&8217;s Dec. 20 meeting.

The council voted three to two on Dec. 6 to rezone certain properties on Mitchell Road from R-1 Single Residential to Residential Mobile Home. Councilmember Danny Kelley was absent.

However, after the vote, city attorney Conrad Fowler said according to the Code of Alabama, because of the permanent operation of the ordinance, a vote of four councilmembers in favor was required.

Mayor Allan Lowe said the matter could be brought up again, however, by one of the councilmembers who voted in the affirmative at the Dec. 6 meeting.

Councilmember Tim Billingsley, who voted along with Lowe and Councilmember Frieda Abrams in favor of the action the first time, brought the matter up again at the Dec. 20 meeting.

This time, with all members present, the rezoning passed four to two.

Councilmembers Tom Seale and Ouida Mayfield opposed. They also voted against the matter the first time.

Seale said he opposed the action because he felt the council would be setting a precedent that would make it

tough to turn down similar requests in the future.

Mayfield said at the time she felt the same as Seale, but in addition, she said, a number of people had asked her to oppose the measure.

Lowe said following the first vote that he favored the mobile home rezoning only because he had committed his support to Sue Wells, who had requested the change.

In another matter, the council approved an increase in pay for Police Chief Johnny Brown from Pay Grade XIV, Step 3 to Pay Grade XIV, step 6, upon his graduation from the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va. The increase became effective, Dec. 24.

Under the consent agenda, which was approved without a vote, the council also approved a one-time pay increase of $100 to all bi-weekly city employees, totaling about $5,000 for 50 employees.

And the council voted to award Homeland Security bids for equipment for the Columbiana Fire Department.

Hose adaptors and clamps were awarded to Mitchell Fire at $2,470; turnout gear was awarded to NAFCO at $19,925.46; Sunbelt Fire received the bid at $84,366.91 for self-contained breathing apparatus and at $7,673.44 for 1,600 feet of five-inch hose.

Fire Chief Johnny Howard was authorized to re-bid remaining items.

Also approved without a vote under the consent agenda were: minutes of the Dec. 6 meeting; payment of accounts as of a Dec. 16 printout; consolidation of the Gas Operation and Maintenance checking account and Gas Money Market account into the General Fund; an invoice to Pierce Technical Services for $417.75 for a repeater service call; the appointment of Jane Bailey as acting library director; and the appointment of Marty Bailey to the Planning and Zoning Board to replace Bill Justice