By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – City of Alabaster employees will get a 50-percent discount when registering their children for the city’s Parks and Recreation sports leagues, after the City Council approved the matter during a Jan. 9 meeting.

Council members voted unanimously during the meeting to authorize the discount for all city employees after Parks and Recreation Director Tim Hamm recommended the change during a pre-meeting work session.

“We’ve talked about it for a few years. We are looking at ways to make it more attractive to be a city employee, and just to help our folks out,” Hamm told council members. “There would be a number of people it would affect, and I think it’s important that we do this for them.”

As a result of the resolution, anyone who draws a check from the city of Alabaster will be eligible for the discount, which applies to each city employees’ child who participates in a city sports league.

Individuals must be verified as a city employee before receiving the discount, and must be working as a city employee at the time they register their children for the city sports league, according to the resolution. Registration for city league baseball and softball teams is currently under way.

Elected or appointed officials are not included in the discount.

Alabaster Mayor Marty Handlon said city employees deserve the discount, because their efforts help to brand the city.

“The programs they are working on are the programs that identify us as a city,” Handlon said.