Bay Minette will soon make history as the first cellulosic diesel plant in the world begins operations in the city.

"The secretary of state has been here from Washington, D.C., to view the plant and dignitaries from other states have been here to see it," District 2 Councilman Mike Phillips said during the City Council meeting Monday night.

Cello Energy will take waste such as paper, plastic, yard refuse and old tires and turn it into diesel fuel. This will reduce city landfill consumption and give the city a break on the price of purchasing diesel fuel.

Phillips referred to the plant as he introduced a resolution that would allow the city to enter a $15,000 contract with David Gamble, a consultant who will conduct a study on how to separate the garbage and get it to the plant.

"The city, along with Auburn University and Cello Energy has been approved for a grant for $125,000," Phillips said. He said the city will get about $65,000 to $75,000 of that, some of which will go to pay Gamble.

The objectives of the grant,as stated in the grant summary, are to:

• Identify and evaluate the best procedure for collecting and separating municipal solid  waste and yard waste for processing into diesel
• Conduct a technical and economic  comparison of  Cello-D and petroleum diesel in municipal vehicles and equipment
• Evaluate  economic benefits from the Cello Energy plant at Bay Minette to the Bay Minette municipality, Baldwin county and neighboring counties, including new jobs, markets for raw materials from  local farmers and forest landowners, and tax revenue;
• Identify other sites in Alabama where this project could be replicated .

Essentially the city of Bay Minette will be a test subject for the new form of energy.

Phillips said the new plant would bring "economic and financial benefits to the city," by way of jobs, reduced waste in the landfill and revenues from the plant.

The council unanimously approved the contract with Gamble, which is the first step in the process.

"He will study ways to separate our garbage and get the garbage to the Cello plant," Phillips said. "They will not take glass or metal."

Phillips said he was not sure if the garbage would be separated in homes before being picked up, or at the landfill, or at the plant.

"That's what Gamble will determine," he said.

Though not as ground breaking as the new plant, Tillery presented another new item she feels will improve relations between residents and the city and the way complaints are handled.

"We now have a new Citizen Work Request form," Tillery told those gathered. Stepping down from her seat at the council platform, Tillery brought the request form to the floor so those in attendance could better see what she was talking about.

"This has been resolved from several pages and took five weeks of work," she said of the form which is available at City Hall and online.

"The citizen will use this to request whatever he deems necessary," she said, noting that it could be anything from ditches that need cleaning to drainage problems.

"We will help the citizen fill the form out, but we want to get it in writing because the requests we receive are not always clear," she said.

She said when the form is submitted, the resident will receive a tracking number at the bottom of the form and a phone number to call for updates.

"Then, the clerk will give the form to me, and I will forward it to the appropriate department head," Tillery said. "That way the citizen does not have to make the decision of where to send it, so it doesn't go to public works when it should go to building and grounds.

"This is an excellent way to convey what the citizen wants the city to do."

She said after receiving the form, the department head will evaluate the situation and complete the form by stating how the problem will be fixed and an approximate completion date.

"This will let the citizen know that someone has heard (their concern) and action is being taken," Tillery said. She said the form would be taken even if the problem is not the city's responsibility.

"Then we can contact that citizen and let them know where they need to go to get help for that problem," she said.

"This will also allow the city to see where repeated problems or complaints are coming from."

City Clerk Rita Findley said the form will help her and the other clerks as well.

"This will help us at City Hall, we can tell them we have this citizen (request) form, if you will fill it out it will help us get it done,” Finley said. “It will help us track the problems and help us handle it rather than trying to handle it over the phone."

Phillips said he would be willing to take forms to those who are shut in and don't have access to the Internet.

The forms are available online at cityofbayminette.org.

No residents complained during the final hour of the meeting, as the council hosted three separate public hearings to discuss the rezoning of recently annexed properties.

Before the hearings, Tillery had Building and Grounds director Oscar Waters discuss the various types of rezoning so that residents would understand what was being done with the annexed properties.

He explained that R-1 is a low density or a homesite that is on a 100-feet lot or 15,000 total square feet, R-2 is medium density and R-3 is single or multi-family structures, to include no more than two family, or duplexes. The entire lot is 10,000 square feet and the homes are 2,000 square feet or less.

"R-3 is not necessarily high density, though," Waters explained, noting duplexes can have plenty of space between them and the next dwelling.

He said R-4 includes high density such as apartment complexes and mobile home parks.

Waters then explained the commercial zoning ordinances, discussing the difference between manufacturing and business.

"M-1 is light manufacturing, that's going to be your optical places, dentists, light paper products, things like that," he said. He said those businesses produce low noise levels, low traffic and little, if any, pollution.

Waters said M-2 is the general manufacturing and typically is indicated by high traffic with many large trucks, a lot of noise and some dust and odors.

"Then  you have B-1, which is your professional offices like doctors, lawyers and accountants," he said. "These places usually have pretty low traffic."

He said B-2 covered a much "broader scale," and included everything from car lots to fast food restaurants and Wal-Mart.

"These are  your high traffic areas," he said.

"The downtown historic district has its own set of rules," Waters said, explaining that anything built or renovated there has to follow standards of its neighbor rather than today's federal and state guidelines.

"They have to go by what's existing there now," he said.

After Water's presentation, the council unanimously approved the rezoning of all three properties. The Longleaf Land Company property, consisting of 40 acres, was rezoned from R-1 to R-A, which is rural agricultural and will allow the land to continue being used for timber, crops, hunting and whatever it is used for now. The exception is a part of that parcel known as the Scott Paper Company Parcel, which was zoned as M-1.

The Bay Minette Land Company property, which consists of 40 acres, was rezoned from R-1 to M-1, and the largest tract, the 1,944.88-acre Copper Station I-65 tract, was rezoned from R-1 to M-1.