ELBERTA — A billboard celebrating Elberta teenager Shelby Brown will go up this week, as “The Voice” contestant continues to wow the judges and keeps advancing in the singing competition.

During an Elberta Town Council work session two weeks ago, Mayor Pro Tem Jim Hamby brought up the idea of using some of the town’s dedicated billboard space to honor Brown.

Hamby said he and other council members thought it would be a good idea for the town to do something to recognize Brown’s achievements and highlight the fact that she is from Elberta.

“We should, as a town, maybe do something to try to support Shelby since she is from Elberta and said it on national TV,” Hamby said, citing Brown’s exchange with country singer Blake Shelton, who thought she had meant Alberta, Canada. “She made a big deal about Elberta, and they actually came here and took pictures of the water tower and the ‘Welcome to Elberta’ signs and showed it on the program.”

Hamby said Brown has done a lot to promote the town of Elberta, and he thought it would be appropriate for the town to do something for Brown – to wish her luck and let her know the town was supporting her.

Brown came down and posed for photos with people with the Elberta Police Department’s Hummer at The National Shrimp Festival in Gulf Shores – and council members said she was a big hit and helped bring in more people who then asked about the town.

Councilman John Conti said the billboards could be procured at a minimal cost to the town, at the same rate they already paid to advertise events like the German Sausage Festival.

Mayor Marvin Williams appeared to be taken aback by the proposal and questioned why he wasn’t consulted when Hamby and others were making these plans to present at the council meeting.

“When y’all were doing all this ‘we, we, we, we’, how come the mayor didn’t get a phone call?” Williams questioned. “I never got a phone call. You (spoken to Hamby) never called me. Mr. Conti never called me. I never heard it from anybody. First time I’ve heard about this is when I walk into the council meeting.”

Hamby said he called it in to have it put on the agenda that week for the mayor and council to discuss, and that no actions would be taken on doing it until the council talked about and voted on whether or not to do it.

“That’s what a workshop is for – to discuss this thing,” Hamby said. “We didn’t make a decision. That’s what I’m asking you and the others about now. If you guys have other ideas that you want to do, let’s talk about them.”

Williams said he still would like the courtesy of being called on matters like this.

“Usually, I’m all for ideas like this but I still expect somebody to pick up the phone and give me a call,” Williams said.

The council eventually voted 4-2 to approve the billboard, with Williams and Councilwoman Alma Doege voting against the proposal.