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Men work on a stormwater and median improvement project at the corner of Dolly Ridge Road and Pumphouse Road on Sept. 10.

Infrastructure may not be super sexy, but it’s crucial in operating governmental services, Vestavia Hills City Manager Jeff Downes said.

And that’s why the city’s record $73.2 million general fund budget for fiscal 2025, which was approved in September, includes significant funding and attention to the city’s stormwater drainage system, information technology, cybersecurity initiatives and roadway improvements, Downes said.

The 2025 budget earmarks just over $2 million for repaving up to 8 miles of roads in Vestavia Hills, a 9% increase over fiscal 2024. This does not include roadway improvements from other funding sources, such as a federally funded resurfacing project for Massey Road, and an improvement project at the intersection of Columbiana Road and U.S. 31, in collaboration with the Alabama Department of Transportation and Jefferson County.

“We’re going to see well over our targeted eight miles just by collaborating with others, so that’s important infrastructure-wise,” Downes said.

Regarding stormwater drainage, Downes said the city had a record number of right-of-way stormwater projects being managed in-house in last year’s budget, and the 2025 budget includes the same funding as 2024. Additionally, Vestavia Hills also will receive additional stormwater funding thanks to freshman U.S. Sen. Katie Britt.

“We have been blessed with Senator Katie Britt getting some Congressional-directed spending to facilitate a couple of more million dollars in stormwater improvements in areas off of Highway 31 and Shades Crest,” Downes said. “I can’t give a specific time frame for that project because we were awarded the monies and we’re in the early stages of collaborating with the federal government to execute on that.”

Information technology and cybersecurity are crucial areas of infrastructure improvement, Downes said. “If we don’t have a robust, resilient IT infrastructure that protects cybersecurity vulnerabilities, then we can’t deliver services in the most effective manner as things happen,” Downes said.

Among the enhancements planned are more than $1 million for a new generator system for the Vestavia Hills municipal complex (including City Hall, the Vestavia Hills Police Department and the city’s computer/data systems) and $246,153 for the Cybergard cybersecurity system.

Downes said that even though the city already has cybersecurity and generators in place, the council has prioritized an expenditure that makes the city’s systems more resilient. “We’re very proud of that inclusion in the budget so that we can provide uninterrupted services,” he said.

Workers from Central Alabama Asphalt mill asphalt off Lime Rock Road in Vestavia Hills in preparation for repaving on June 3. The city’s 2025 budget includes more than $2 million for road paving.

Employee training

Another area the City Council emphasized for fiscal 2025 is training for all city employees. Earlier in 2024, the city established its first human resources department with two full-time employees, and the 2025 budget allocates $30,000 to improve citywide human resource training for general topics. The human resources department will facilitate training aimed at improving customer service relations, risk management and general knowledge for city employees.

The Vestavia Hills Police Department will receive $60,000 for additional highly trained master patrol officers and funding to relocate the department’s firearms training facility to rural St. Clair County.

The Vestavia Hills Fire Department will receive the largest amount of funding for training. Downes said training has been a hallmark of Fire Chief Marvin Green but has been held back due to “facility limitation.” To address this problem, Downes said the cities of Vestavia Hills and Mountain Brook have agreed to share some training resources.

The 2025 budget includes just under $1 million to build a burn structure for training purposes at the Mountain Brook Fire Department’s training center.

“The ability to collaborate has been very well received by both Vestavia Hills and Mountain Brook,” Downes said. “This would not be possible without the collaboration with Mountain Brook. We all get better by working together, and it’s something that’s very positive from that standpoint.”

Quality of life

The third major category addressed in the 2025 budget is quality-of-life initiatives.

“The city of Vestavia Hills, over the last four years, has invested extraordinary monies into quality-of-life initiatives to include our Civic Center, our parks upgrades and the like,” Downes said. “However, while the participation at all of these venues has just skyrocketed and we’ve grown our staff to support those areas, there continues to be one-off projects that are getting the attention of our City Council.”

One of these priorities is Altadena Park, which is receiving funding for a new playground, exercise equipment and a sand volleyball court, for which a location is yet to be determined.

Additionally, the City Council is aggressively working to complete sidewalk projects throughout the city, including connecting Massey Road to U.S. 31 and the completion of sidewalk projects in Cahaba Heights and Rocky Ridge. Vestavia Hills Assistant City Manager Cinnamon McCulley said the sidewalk projects have been popular among the city’s small businesses.

“Everything I hear is positive. The changes we have made have been very well received because it’s helped a lot of our merchants to plan events to get foot traffic into their businesses,” McCulley said. “It’s great for our community. It’s great for our merchants. It’s a win-win for all of us.”

Learn more about the Vestavia Hills fiscal 2025 budget at vhal.org.

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City’s 2025 budget heavy on infrastructure, training, quality-of-life initiatives