MADISON, Ala. (WAFF) – Madison’s new mayor took office 100 days ago and hit the ground running.
Ranae Bartlett was a corporate attorney for Walmart in a past life and, most recently, served on the city’s board of education and city council.
She also started Madison’s Chess League, so she’s a strategic thinker.
Judging by the moves she’s making, she’s applying the Queen’s gambit.
Bartlett played her first gambit on Costco. She gave up a little in the beginning to get a big payout in the end, when it was annexed this week into Madison.
The city was already providing emergency services.
“But we were receiving zero tax dollars, and so what we were able to get after it came in was gas tax, liquor tax, and sales tax,” Bartlett said.
Costco customers will no longer pay a developer fee on their final Costco purchase, but the developer will still receive a portion of the sales tax from the store for 40 years.
Shopping at Costco or anywhere else in Madison can be a nightmare for drivers, but Bartlett and the nearly brand-new city council are making inroads with traffic and trains to keep everything moving!
“We’re widening roads, and Slaughter Rd is at the top of our list,” Bartlett said. “Hughes Road and Old Madison Pike. It’s misaligned, and we’re going to realign it. We’re also adding a roundabout at Balch and Gooch.”
Bartlett’s team also took Madison Fire and Rescue’s live camera feed of the downtown RR tracks, beefed it up, and turned it into a pilot program that notifies any driver of trains that block roads along their route. It’s a program the feds are even taking note of.
Bartlett also approved new schedules for those firefighters, working 48 hours on and 96 off for a better work-life balance. She prides herself on team building… trying to meet employees’ needs.
“So far, we’ve had good reviews,” Bartlett said.
She hopes to get even better reviews next week when she announces big events for Toyota Field.
“So we’re hoping to incentivize the owners of the Trash Pandas and the developers out there to have more events at Toyota Field. And we’re hoping to have a new lease agreement in place that will be presented to the council,” Bartlett said.
Checkmate on her first 100 days, but hundreds more to go.
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