CITY HALL —Praise and thanks were expressed by the whole of Council for Berea City employees who held the infrastructure together during and after Winter Storm Fern barreled through the region, covering the city in a sheet of ice and snow in late January.

At this month's first regularly scheduled Council meeting, Councilmember Steve Caudill said City workers did an "exceptional job" of keeping streets clear and the utilities largely uninterrupted. Mayor Bruce Fraley also commented that after traveling to other municipalities hit by the bad winter weather, he saw just how high the level of services are here in Berea.

Councilmember Teresa Scenters thanked the department heads for their "vision" that allowed them to plan ahead and create budgets that put public safety first. She compared it to Nashville, Tenn., which suffered massive power outages during Storm Fern, after that city's tree trimming budget was axed. Councilmember Katie Startzman also noted that when our streets are clear, there is less economic disruption, as local businesses are able to remain open, without the worry that employees might encounter dangerous roads on their way in.

Proclamation

Fraley made a proclamation that next week (Feb 9-13) is Family Resource and Youth Service Coordinators Week in Berea. Caudill, who comes from a line of public school educators, praised the group for their work clothing and feeding school kids in need. "You can't learn if you're cold and hungry," Caudill said, referring to the coordinators during the Council Comments section, and thanking them for the work they do to remove all non-cognitive barriers to learning throughout the Madison County School District.

Several members of the group, including the District's contact for all the school coordinators, Amy Carmichael, spoke to Council, thanking them and the citizens of Berea for all the support given to their cause. Natasha Johnson, who is the coordinator at Community School, and Sean Quinlan from Madison southern High School also spoke. Quinlan said that by supporting the nonprofits in the region that the coordinators draw upon for students, the Council can help keep students strong.

Executive orders

Council unanimously approved by a respective voice vote the reappointment to the Planning Commission of Martin Richards and Stephanie Hembree, and the appointment of Andrew Gardner, each for four year terms.

Council also approved unanimously by respective voice votes, the reappointment of Katherine Berry and Joshua Bills to the Zoning Board of Adjustments for three-year terms.

Ordinances

Council approved Ordinance 2026-01, to rezone about 18 acres of farmland in an industrial/highway exit zone to B4 general commercial use, in order to accommodate a developer who told Council last month that he plans to build a luxury RV park on the plot.

Council also heard the first reading of Ordinance 2026-02, which is intended to empower the Berea Police Department to remove abandoned, inoperable vehicles left on City streets, after notification has been served to the vehicles owner. The language used in the Ordinance was confusing, as pointed out initially during public comment by Berea resident Randy Dickson, and ultimately by every Councilmember except the newest, Barry Poynter.

The Ordinance will be re-worked in order to clarify that vehicles on the street, not visible from the street, will be codified. Much discussion around whether this included RVs or other vehicles meant for occasional recreation, and City Administrator Shawn Sandlin confirmed with The Edge after the meeting that it does not. The Ordinance is aimed only at eyesores that are inoperable.

Department head report

Charlie Russell, Fire Chief

It's been a busy year for the fire department, Charlie Russell, Berea's fire chief, told Council. The Department hired three new fire fighters who all completed 13 weeks of fire training academy, plus a four-week advanced emergency medical training, and so now have all the requisite certifications. A fourth fire fighter was hired in November and will also complete the training.

Promotions: Stacy Quinlan to assistant chief; Will Rogers and Jared Grigsby to battalion chiefs; Brian Hargus and Robbie Johnson to captains; Waylon Clemons and Gavin Shanks to lieutenants.

Paid staff received 7,326 hours of training hours, including rope rescue technique, while volunteers completed 2,674 hours of training. Fire fighters also completed a series of international fire and rescue accreditation courses. The Department also tested all pumps last year.

Because the Department seeks to attract local talent, it now has a fire fighter training program at Ignite Academy South, and is into the second year of its academy at Berea Community School. Twelve students from ignite, 10 from Madison Southern, and two from Madison Central are all now certified career ready by the state.

There are nine more from these schools who will be career ready by the end of this semester. At Berea Community, four are career ready, and the remaining six will be at the end of this semester. All students in the program complete 100 hours of training, including CPR, national incident management classes, and "Stop the Bleed" courses.

Community involvement by the Department included 60 events that reached 3,000 people. There were also 15 fire station tours, five career days, 25 special events, six fire truck Fridays, five parades, and seven fire extinguisher classes.

There was also the opening of the "Baby Box" at Fire Station 2, where women who give birth to an unwanted child can deposit the child. Opening the door to the box alerts the fire department staff that there is an infant in the box so they can attend to it. To date, there has been no use of the Baby Box, Russell said.

Runs were up by over 200 from 2024 to 2025, according to Russell: from 899 in 2024 to 1,121 runs in 2025. These included 77 fire calls with 28 structure fires, 12 car fires, 17 brush fires, and seven overpressure explosions. There were 326 calls for emergency medical attention, 64 for hazardous conditions, 130 for service, 188 good intent calls, 244 false alarms, 31 severe weather, and 55 special incidents.

Russell told The Edge after the meeting that Berea FD has been offering mutual aid EMS fire response to other emergency departments in the county, which are also seeing an increase in calls, in part because of a higher number of "slip and falls" this month. He told Startzman during the meeting that he sees the trend in many calls is upward. There have been 90 calls to the Berea FD this year already, partly due to the weather. Russell also said that the Department will be running the brush truck with an EMT on it for EMS calls to save on the costs of running the bigger trucks to EMS calls.

City administrator report

Shawn Sandlin, city administrator, praised the outgoing Councilmember Cora Jane Wilson for her years of dedicated service on Council, as well as her mentorship and friendship. He also said to be patient with the trash hauler, Waste Connections, as they catch up on missed runs due to the storm. And, as did the rest, he thanked public works and city utilities for their hard work during the storm. He also gave a nod to the Berea Police and Fire departments for transporting essential workers such as nurses and other medical personnel to their jobs. He also welcomed Poynter to Council and offered to help him in any way he might need.

Council and Mayor's comments

The mayor and all Councilmembers welcomed Poynter and praised city workers.

If you'd like to review the meeting, here is the video. City Council meets on the first and third Tuesday evening each month. The meeting begins at 6:30 and is held in the City Annex Building at 304 Chestnut Street.