By Stephen Dawkins

The Jemison City Council on Monday was updated on a couple of road improvement projects.

Mayor Eddie Reed told the council that a project to pave roads in the Oak Grove community, which was annexed into the city last year, is nearing completion.

“I will say that it’s 99.9 percent completed,” Reed said.

Work remains on County Road 141. Reed said the road is rough but that Chilton County Engineer Tony Wearren has assured Reed that county workers aren’t through with the road.

Also, speed limit signs need to be posted. The council decided at an earlier meeting to make the limit 20 miles per hour. Any county road without a posted speed limit has a default limit of 40 miles per hour.

“That’s way too fast,” Jemison Police Chief Shane Fulmer said.

The council also discussed a project to improve Sycamore Street.

Councilman George Brasher said the road needs to be repaved because of instability created by a water line that was installed on top of a sewer line, but the work should wait on workers to connect residents on the street to the newer water line.

“That will save us a lot of money,” Brasher said, because if the road were paved before the work on the water line, the road would have to be paved again after the work was completed.

“Had we done it the way we decided to do before Councilman Brasher came up with this plan, we would have had a lot more complaints,” Reed said.

In other business, the council:

•Hired I.H. McNeill III, P.C., to serve as the city’s public accountant firm

•Discussed a report from Fire Chief John Dennis that included the number of calls the department made in the past month, among other information. The council unanimously praised the department’s work. “I’m just glad we’re moving forward,” Councilman Richard Morris said.