City could get 2 electronic billboards
Published 12:00 am Thursday, August 20, 2015
Andalusia may soon have two electronic billboards, through a public-private partnership.
The city is proposing working with the Andalusia Chamber of Commerce and local businessmen Whitney Jones and Robert Bishop.
The plan would put electronic signs on city property on the Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway at Sixth Avenue, and on the west side of U.S. Hwy. 84, AL 55, on top of Deveraux Hill. There will be separate partnerships for the signs.
The city’s initial cost for the MLK Expressway sign will be $33,000; the initial cost for the Deveraux Hill sign will be $25,000, according to an outline provided to council members Tuesday.
The city will pay annual operating expenses of $6,600 for the signs; and each party will pay for space used for a particular party, estimated at $500 per month. Each sign can have as many as nine rotations or spaces, and those not used by the partners may be sold. Revenue will be divided among the owners.
The Chamber of Commerce has tentatively agreed to be the administrator and bookkeeper of the signs, Mayor Earl Johnson said.
Johnson said the city will use Amendment 725 to the Alabama Constitution, which allows the county’s municipalities and the county commission to participate in certain business activities.
The council voted to take the first step toward the partnership, which is to advertise its intent to participate in the project.
The Chamber of Commerce board is expected to discuss the deal in detail at its meeting next week.