Sheffield: The Problems

The City of Sheffield seems to be on all the media sites.   Either the news channels, newspaper or social media, Sheffield is there and usually it is not good.  Why all of this negative input on Sheffield? Well let’s take a look at it.

At the end of last year, I posted that I was going to tell you the reader the problems with Sheffield and how to fix them.  After thinking over this article over the holidays, I have decided to do it right, it has to be two separate articles.  So with this article today, we are going to talk about the problems.

The Problems:

Inspiration Landing. By reading the Times Daily, it appears to me that the City of Sheffield is putting all of its eggs in the Inspiration Landing basket. The City is singing the praises the Landing will do and all the business as well as jobs that the venue will bring.  Well, there have been three different breaking ground dates and still nothing yet.  I do understand that there were several permits that had to be obtained before the ground breaking. Looking on Facebook, people are getting tired of hearing about the Landing groundbreaking and then nothing. Furthermore, there has been talk that the developer, John Ellington has not invested his money into the project, but the City of Sheffield has.

The Police Chief Situation.  Again, we look back at the Times Daily about the Police Chief. The City Council made Captain Ricky Terry the Interim Police Chief.  Then months later, the same council had a vote to make Captain Terry the permanent Police Chief.  Well, then this Council voted 4-2 to not make Terry Chief. Now wait a minute.  “You” vote the man to do a vote.  He was your pick.  Then you don’t confirm “your” pick.   That doesn’t make any sense.  Then flash forward a few months and the Civil Service Board makes the nomination.  Which of course, makes “You” mad.   So now the process of selecting the candidates is called in question.  Just a thought, but shouldn’t you have thought about that before hand?  I do not know Captain Terry but the way he is being treated as back and forth Chief, I wouldn’t blame him if he said “here, take your Chief’s badge and…!”

The Police Department.  This has become a revolving door.  People are hired as Police Officers.  They get the training and then leave.  There are usually a few reasons why this happens.  Leadership, Working Conditions, or Pay.  We talked about the Leadership above. The Officers don’t know who the Police Chief is that day.  That is not fair to them just like it isn’t fair to Captain Terry. Furthermore the pay seems to be another problem.  Maybe we should look at the pay of other City employees and see what that is.  Maybe look at the Department Heads pay.  That might shed some light.

The Fire Department.  The Fire Department is constantly loosing people.  I hear it is the working conditions as well as pay.

The Smoking Ban.  This really irks me.  Since when does the City have the right to tell a private business what can go on inside their business?  Now let me say this. I don’t smoke.  Don’t care for it.  However, if I was a business owner in Sheffield and owned a business such as a restaurant and the Ban was forced down my throat, I would take my monthly bills to the Council meeting so the Council can pay them since they want to be in my business so much.  The Council should have let the citizens vote on this, not just make a decision themselves.  According to an article in the Times Daily today, business owners attended a Council meeting last night and expressed their displeasure this ban has placed on the loss of their business revenue.

The City Council.   The Smoking Ban is the first item up for discussion.  That was not well thought out. The Police Chief situation.  No one can make their mind up. It just never seems to end.  You are supposed to represent the citizens of the City of Sheffield, but I and the rest of the people don’t see this.  It is in black and white in the Times Daily.  Mayor Sanford has called a meeting of the business owners to discuss the smoking ban.  Isn’t that closing the barn door after the horse has left?  Sad, very sad.

Businesses leaving.  Outback states they are leaving in the Times Daily.  They have even made contact with the City of Florence. Then the Times Daily reports that Mayor Sanford is surprised about the news.  He wasn’t aware of it.  While I was on my way to the doctor’s office in Sheffield the other day, I looked around at businesses that have closed or left the City of Sheffield.

Reduced Tax Income for the City.  With the closing or moving of businesses, that means that the tax income to the City of Sheffield is reduced.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.  How much money leaving the City will it take for the City to realize this?

Useless spending of money.  Did the citizens of Sheffield really need miles of bicycle striping on the streets?  Has anyone ever seen someone riding a bicycle on them?  We have already talked about Inspiration Landing.  Maybe some Department Heads are being paid more than they should.  I would like to see the pay structure of say the Library workers and Department Head vs the Fire or Police Department.

Trains.  …And finally the subject we have all been waiting for…Trains.  As everyone who reads the newspaper or is on Facebook knows there is a growing problem with the trains. This seems to be escalating and getting out of hand.  Colbert County Commissioner Tommy Barnes seems to have made it a personal mission to solve this problem or find a solution. I commend him for this.  People are not going to come to Sheffield if the trains keep blocking the tracks, not allowing them to get places.  I don’t come to Sheffield any more except for Doctor visits because of it.  It is easier for me to turn left out of my driveway and drive to Town Creek.

The next article will report ideas on how to fix these problems and Sheffield as a whole.


That’s it for now.  But remember that the Midnight Rider will always be around to voice his/her/their(?) opinion.

I am and always will be...

The Midnight Rider