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By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

The speed limit on a portion of County Road 44 will be changing to 35 mph following a vote by the Jemison City Council on Sept. 17.

Council members unanimously approved changing the speed limit on the portion of County Road 44 from U.S. Highway 31 to County Road 32 East to 35 mph.

“With the schools being over there and the traffic, I think the speed limit needs to be dropped,” Councilman George Brasher said.

Jemison Police Chief Shane Fulmer said he would get with the road superintendent about updating the signs.

The City Council approved suspending the rules in order to vote on the change immediately, rather than having to wait to vote on it until after a second reading at a future meeting.

Also during the meeting, truck routes were established for the city, requiring tractor trailers, semi-tractor trailers, tractors and trucks with “tandem axles, tri-axles or a larger axle configuration” or weighs 10,001 pounds or more delivering to or driving through the city to follow the designated truck routes.

The routes were designated as U.S. Highway 31, Alabama Highway 191 and County Road 42 East.

Exemption was granted for trucks making local deliveries to businesses not located on the truck route, provided the driver had a log book that could prove where they were making the delivery to.

The ordinance states that when making such delivers the shortest route from the truck route and back must be used unless it would be unsafe to do so.

Penalty for violating the ordinance was listed as up to a $500 fine, six months in jail or both.

The City Council also heard a report form Chilton-Clanton Public Library director Savannah Kitchens on the Jemison Library for the past year. She highlighted that the number of books checked out at the Jemison Library increased by 27 percent in the last year.

“That was the first increase in five years,” Kitchens said. “What this means is more people are using the Jemison Library than ever before.”

Councilman Rex Bittle thanks Kitchens for all her work to support the Jemison Library and really make them a part of the library system.

Mayor Pro Tem Samuel Reed said it was good to see where the library was compared to past years.