Metro Roundup: Chelsea to study forming school system

The Chelsea City Council chambers were at full capacity Tuesday night with the crowd overflowing into the lobby.

The majority of the 1.5-hour meeting was spent hearing public comment from Highland Lakes residents who were upset about a potential annexation due to the potential for a new school system for the five Chelsea schools. 

Four members of the Chelsea council approved the resolution for Criterion K-12 Consulting to conduct a feasibility study about starting a city school system.

The fifth member, Councilman Cody Sumners, read a prepared statement for his response on why he voted against the study. He said Chelsea is still a very young city and still has a long way to go in providing more city services to its residents. 

“As a city, we need to be looking at ways to securely fund public safety and provide basic city services into the future, not forming a city school system,” Sumners said. “We are currently a part of one of the most desirable school systems in the state. The only complaint that anyone has about our current schools is that they are overcrowded and not as pretty as new schools. We can address these issues for additions or sports facilities by working together with the Shelby County Board of Education to address these shortcomings without taking on the exorbitant costs of a city school system.”

He stated that, when looking at the current school situation, Chelsea schools were not part of an underperforming school system and property values are not being negatively affected by being a part of the Shelby County Board of Education.

He stated there are two other cities in the county that have formed their own school system. Pelham’s city budget is $42 million, and its school system budget is $43 million. Alabaster’s city budget is $65.7 million, and its school system has a budget of $49.5 million. The City of Chelsea has a budget of $11.5 million. 

“I believe beginning to have these discussions and the possibility of creating a school system is short sighted and will result in rushing to make a permanent decision to a temporary inconvenience,” he said. “A decision that will burden our taxpayers for years to come. Those discussions could be had in 10 to 15 years from now when the city is in a much more favorable financial position.”

Phil Hammonds, who represents the Criterion Group, addressed the crowd, stating that the responsibility for him and his team is to provide accurate and needed data that will enable the city leaders to make an informed and sound decision regarding the future of a possible new school system. 

“Our work is not to have us recommending that you do or do not decide to move forward, but to equip you with data and information you need to make such a critical and important decision,” he said. 

Hammonds said the study is to be completed in 90 to 120 days, which would be Oct. 15 at the latest.

“This is not a process that should be rushed through, but one for us to be deliberate and diligent in collecting and analyzing data that will make up the feasibility study,” Hammonds said.

Their scope of work will include, among other steps, identifying revenue and expenses, calculating student enrollment projections over the next five years, conducting a bus route analysis, forecasting transportation costs, determining startup cost and development of a first-year operations budget.

In accomplishing all those tasks, he said they will collect and utilize databases maintained by the Alabama Department of Education and also work with the Shelby County Board of Education to gather pertinent and needed financial data.

“I have had a very positive meeting with Superintendent Lewis Brooks and assured him we will work in a respectful manner to go through his office to request any data we might need to do the feasibility study,” he said.

Their team will collect and analyze information from Shelby County officials, including the property tax commissioner, work with a demographer and conduct interviews with city officials and staff as needed to gather city-related data.

“Our charge is to provide the council and mayor with all the necessary and accurate data needed for them to make an informed and sound decision as to how to move forward,” Hammonds said. “Please trust the process, and our team’s commitment to everyone is to be impartial, diligent and data-driven in compiling and presenting the results of the study.”

A resolution was approved in a 4-1 vote for Goodwin, Mills & Caywood to perform an assessment of Chelsea High School's facilities and potential capital improvements. Williams, a Chelsea resident, said the K-12 education market is a big part of what they do as part of their business and they were involved with the Pelham evaluation and design with the Alabaster schools.

“The scope of our services is to evaluate the existing high school and work with Criterion to establish a scope that needs to be performed on the existing school and the potential of a new school to meet the needs of the students,” Williams said. 

Many Highland Lakes residents addressed the mayor and council during the public comment portion of the meeting. Most were upset that they didn't have much notice about the annexation possibility for their neighborhood and said why they were against it. 

Mayor Tony Picklesimer made it clear that the vote tonight was just for the feasibility study and potential forming of a new school system, and that it was the first step in a long process. 

“Tonight is about building a new high school that we so desperately need, about renovations to Chelsea Middle School and making improvements to other facilities,” Picklesimer said. “A lot of misinformation has been posted on social media, and I want to address these issues in hopes of answering many questions.”

He said there were two separate scenarios. One would include students that currently reside in the Chelsea city limits, and the other would include students that attend the Chelsea schools who do not reside in the city limits.

The first option would not require any additional communities to be annexed into Chelsea, and the second option would allow for the offering of annexation to some communities both north and west.

“This will be an invitation to join our city and become a part of our new school system,” Picklesimer said. 

The mayor also spent time explaining how annexation could be done. A property owner could petition the council, or a probate judge could approve a petition calling for an election in a community to let residents vote about annexation.

“No municipality has the right or means to annex a community without the consent of its residents,” Picklesimer said. “The city of Chelsea does not have the desire or power to annex any property without a vote of residents. If this feasibility study comes back favorable for the city of Chelsea, we will offer an invitation to communities contiguous with us to join our city by election or by petition and be a part of our school system should it be formed.”

The mayor also said the city cannot make private roads public or take down gates to communities or take over their streets. Also, the council cannot vote to pass a property tax without a vote of residents.

Information on the feasibility study, along with annexation information will be provided on the city’s website here. 

Another question was about fire services. Mayor Picklesimer said he has had multiple meetings with the Cahaba Valley Fire and Rescue Department regarding the possibility, but that would be way down the road. 

During public comments, 11 residents of Highland Lakes spoke,  and all spoke against the possibility of annexation into Chelsea. One stated the root of the issue was lack of information, while another said he wanted to request help from Shelby County to improve the schools and fix the problems instead of creating a new school system. 

Councilwoman Tiffany Bittner said Brooks has said the Shelby County Board of Education does not have the funds to build a new school for Chelsea or fund any extracurricular facilities. 

“I've got four kids in Chelsea schools, and if you compare them to other schools we have to compete against, it’s actually embarrassing," Bittner said. "We feel like it's time for us to look better for our community. The kids deserve better facilities, and it’s time for us to make bull by the horns.”

Brandon Walker, a Highland Lakes resident, said people in Highland Lakes they didn’t seek to live in Chelsea, but unincorporated Shelby County, and he voluntarily pays for his children to go to private school. 

Joan Chandler, another Highland Lakes resident, said she worked in Oak Mountain schools and parents paid for things needed there. 

Jay Hairston, a Chelsea resident and a father of four children in Chelsea schools, said that he is passionate about the overall community and that Chelsea is a city not defined exclusively by borders.

“You should be thrilled to be part of Chelsea and thrilled at this opportunity to keep these kids together forming lifelong bonds,” he said. “This community is really about providing the best opportunity for these children. The kids identify together by their friends, teammates and classmates ,not by the neighborhoods.”

Darren Weaver of Highland Lakes said he went to Pelham and said it was a dump at the time and he had classes in trailers. and it doesn’t take a pretty school to get done what needs to be done. 

Scott Griffin of Highland Lakes had the one positive comment from any of the Highland Lakes residents, stating that if the people of Highland Lakes don’t want the annexation to happen, it won’t happen. 

“All I ask is that if you want to give your opinion, make sure it's accurate. Simply let the process work and state what you know to be true,” he said. 

Mayor Picklesimer ended with a statement that he will be retiring at the end of his term in October 2025. 

“I have got four and a half years left to serve,” he said. “It would have been a whole lot easier for me to sit in my office and ride this thing out. I’m never going to apologize for wanting the best for my children. Tonight was our starting point. We had the option to allow the Criterion Group to work for our city attorney and kept the feasibility study a private document, but that ain't the way we roll. We are doing it as a public document. As soon as it's available to us, it will be available to you. We are on step one, and this is a marathon, not a sprint.”

The next council meeting will be at 6 p.m. on July 6 at Chelsea City Hall.