All five members of the Limestone County Commission convened Tuesday, Jan. 21, for their regularly scheduled meeting in which they unanimously agreed on a lease agreement with the city of Athens for the construction of a community storm shelter.

The agreement facilitates the lease of property located at 322 Ninth Avenue, Athens — the site of the old L&S Shopping Center.

“Getting this done is really vital for the community in North Athens,” Limestone County Commission Chairman Collin Daly told The News Courier after the meeting at the Clinton Street Courthouse Annex concluded. “There are a lot of smaller, older homes in that area. A good, safe storm shelter would be really good for that community to have in those dangerous situations like the one we experienced on Dec. 28.”

Daly mentioning of that winter storm event led to his comments that they have been working on this project with the city of Athens for several years now, noting that they have an ongoing working relationship with the city and Limestone County Emergency Management Agency to enable the construction of the 17th storm shelter in the county.

“People will say the city and county don’t work well together, but that couldn’t be further from the truth,” Daly said. “Doing a job like this is a joint effort. When it gets down to it, we all have to work together because we are all in this together.”

Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks echoed those sentiments, telling the News Courier how ecstatic he is to finally be bringing this valuable resource to North Athens.

“We have been hoping and praying to get this done for a while now,” Marks said. “We’ve looked at different properties in the past, and we feel like this is a pretty populated area that’s in need of a storm shelter. We still have a few more challenges ahead of us, but hopefully we can finally get this done.”

In other business the commission:

— Approved a service agreement between the Mental Health Center of North Central Alabama for Athens Limestone Counseling Center to continue to provide a juvenile court liaison until Sept. 30.

— Approved an agreement with Athens Limestone Emergency Medical Services (EMS) for ambulance services for inmates at the Limestone County Jail.

— Approved a license agreement with North Central Alabama Substance Abuse Council for rental space at Community Corrections until Sept. 30.

—  Approved an amendment to the Memorandum of Understanding  with Heritage Health Solutions to terminate any future processing fees for any inmate medical denial claim.

— Approved several preliminary and final subdivision lots in District 1,2,3 and 4. Including an Abbey Brook Phase 4 major subdivision development on the west side of Meadows Road for 56 lots in District 2.

— Approved the EMA to purchase certain uniforms that are necessary for their employees to perform their duties safely.

— Approved the filing of a junk and debris lawsuit for the locations of 9833 and 9804 Poplar Point.