Gulf Shores Fire Chief Mark Sealy and the fire department honored a veteran first responder as the Firefighter of the Quarter for the last three months of 2023.

Sealy made the presentation to Lt. Justin Parks at the Jan. 8 city council meeting and praised the move of Parks to a fire inspector working with Fire Marshal George Surrey.

“A couple of years ago we came up and asked for a new position as a fire inspector to work for George (Surrey),” Sealy said. “The reason for that was to try to be more proactive. One of the things an inspector does is go out and we try to be proactive in preventing fires, preventing injuries and those type of things as part of what he does. Lt. Parks applied for that position and guided and has done a magnificent job there.”

Parks, Sealy said, added a broader preventative approach to fires and injuries with outreach programs.

“That’s the next step for a great department in my opinion, is we’re really good at response but we want to try to be proactive and prevent things from happening,” Sealy said.

Part of that program includes kids’ menus at Gulf Coast restaurants with beach safety themes. The program is a few years old and in 2023 gave out 80,000.

“A year or two ago he came up with the idea with the kids’ menus, the mats, the coloring mats that go into the restaurants,” Sealy said. “This is designed around beach safety and we’ve put out I don’t know how many thousands of these into local restaurants. That’s a big deal for me trying to be proactive in preventing injuries and death on that beach.”

Sealy also cited Parks’ work in producing videos for the fire department as well as other departments in the city.

During the meeting, the council:

• Approved expense vouchers paid in December in the amount of more than $14 million including $2.9 million in capital projects, $6 million in the beach renourishment, $3.7 million in biannual debt service and $1.3 million in city operations. The majority of the beach renourishment cost will be reimbursed by FEMA and the state.
• Approved an assembly permit for the Shaka Beach Bash sand volleyball tournament at Gulf Place on March 22-24.
• Issued a conditional use permit for Waterway 101 located at 101 E. 22nd Avenue directly west of the State Route 59 bridge. Developers want to use the seven cottages on .37 acres for vacation rentals. To me compliant with the parking regulations by adding seven spaces on East Gulf Avenue.
• Authorized a conditional use permit for Langston Animal Hospital to build a new
• 12,000-square-foot veterinarian facility on the east side of State Route 59 and just south of Coastal Gateway Boulevard.
• Set a public hearing on Jan. 22 on the renewal of a conditional business license for Cohiba Dunes bar and cigar shop in the Pelican Place shopping center. See related story.
• OK’d a conditional business license for Mudbugs Pub for 2024. Changes in the new year will allow the bar to stay open until 2 a.m. after requiring Mudbugs to close at 1:30 a.m. in 2023.
• Reappointing John Tuberville and Grant Brown to the board of zoning adjustments and appeals for terms through Jan. 7, 2027.
• Authorizing a grant application to the Alabama Department of Transportation for $253, 562 to be used for resurfacing streets in 2024. The city will have to match it with $50,000 to be used for construction engineering and inspections for the project. 
• Purchasing wetland mitigation bank credits for $29,355 to fill in 1.03 acres at the site of the new fire training center to be located at the west end of W. 36th Avenue.