The City of Andalusia invites local residents interested in providing input into the City’s plans for the current quadrennium to attend one of two town hall meetings set for Tuesday, March 31.
The meetings will be similar to those held in 2021 in which local residents provided input into updating the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Concordia, the architectural and community planning firm with which the City partnered to update that plan, will facilitate the Town Hall meetings.
The meetings are set for the Adult Activity Center, 401 Walker Avenue (behind the Church Street Cultural Arts Centre/Andalusia Ballet) at noon and 5:30 p.m.
For additional information about the meeting, contact Michele Gerlach at 334.428.1143.
Off the Trax will host the first series of the fourth annual Claim the Tail Crawfish Boil Competition on Saturday, March 28.
Off the Trax owner Seth Stewart said he was approached by organizers about being a host earlier this year. The 2026 series will continue at events in Baker and Crestview, he said.
Teams can register through March 23rd. There is a $200 entry fee, which gets a team four event wrist band, as well as crawfish, which is provided by Off the Trax.
“They can start cooking at 8,” Stewart said. “They have to turn in their crawfish to be judged at noon. Then, from noon until 4 p.m., the event will be open to the public as an all you can eat event with $25 admission wristbands.”
Admission is $10 for children.
While judges will just consider crawfish, the crawfish will be served to the public Low Country Boil style, with potatoes and corn, Stewart said. The public also will select the People’s Choice winner.
The event will be held in the parking lot adjacent to Off the Trax, which is located at 234 S. Cotton Street.
The Andalusia City Council this week approved a franchise agreement that will give local residents another option for telecommunications services in the future.
Jake Cowen, senior vice president of Telepak Networks, Inc., doing business as C-Spire, said his company received a federal grant to build a 677-mile, high-capacity fiber optic network, which will travel through 27 counties in Alabama, including Andalusia and Covington County. The local agreement gives C Spire a non-exclusive right to construct and operate a telecommunications system in the rights-of-way and a non-exclusive franchise to provide services to subscribers in the city.
In Andalusia, he said, the company will deploy a high-capacity cabinet of electronics which will enable them to serve fiber to residential areas.
“In Andalusia, we will have three routes out, so subscribers will benefit from multiple redundancies. In other words, you could have up to two fiber paths cut, and we could still maintain network service,” Cowen said.
Cowen said the federal grant requires the company to complete the fiber optic network by July of 2027, and the company will move into market expansion in Phase 2. However, businesses located where the company has run fiber on state rights-of-ways should have access to service by the end of 2026.
The grant also requires the company to allow competitors access to the network.
Mayor Pro-tem Terry Powell, who chaired Tuesday’s meeting, said, “The city is hoping by having an additional internet provider, it will make other providers make their service more dependable, which is a complaint we hear. This will make it even better for businesses and individuals, who will have more choices.”
“This is good news for Andalusia residents,” Mayor Earl Johnson said. “For a number of years, local residents have reached out to us expressing a desire for additional internet and cable options in our community. If the council approves this agreement, another option will soon exist.”
If approved, the agreement is good for 25 years, and requires C Spire to pay the City a franchise fee of 3 percent of the monthly service charge revenue from telecommunications services to subscribers in the city. If C Spire provides video services to subscribers in the city, the company also will be required to pay a percentage of gross sales to the city. The fees are due quarterly. The agreement also includes language that addresses fees for bundled services.
The Andalusia City Council recently recognized members of the Andalusia Youth Wrestling Club for their recent wins in state competition. Shown from left are Jayden Lockhart, who won the 8U – 98-pound Boys State Championship; Ronan Stacks, who won the 8U – 78-pound Boys State Championship; Ace George, who won the 6U – 56-pound Boys State Championship; and Raylan Stacks, who won the 12U – 64-pound Girls State Championship. Congratulations!
The City of Andalusia will be closed on Mon., Feb. 16, 2026, in observance of Presidents' Day.
Monday's garbage routes will be collected on Tuesday morning, along with Tuesday's routes.
Please have garbage at the curb early.