ROBERTSDALE, Ala. – The Robertsdale City Council voted at its regular meeting Monday to approve a plan to make the e-911 addresses along Highway 59 more uniform.

David Kilcrease, the city’s public safety coordinator, came before the council in August asking the council to address the issue, saying because many different names are used along Highway 59, the addresses used by emergency responders have become confusing.

Kilcrease was asked to come back before the council with alternate proposals for the council’s approval. He presented three proposals to the council at Monday’s meeting.

The Council voted unanimously Monday with all members present to proceed with Option 1 presented by Kilcrease at Monday’s meeting. Under the proposed plan, e-911 addresses would be referred to as Highway 59 in areas north and south of where the highway splits into one-way sections.

Within the split, north-bound addresses will be designated as State Highway 59 North, while south-bound addresses will be designated as State Highway 59 South.

Council member Joe Kitchens, who owns a business along the newly designated Highway 59 South, located just south of where the highway splits, said he thinks the new designations might be confusing for those not familiar with the area.

“I understand why we are doing this and I support it, but I’m not changing by address to Highway 59 South,” he said. “If I do that, people looking for my business are going to come to the intersection at Highway 104 and turn south, or they are going to go right by my business, and be looking for me south of Highway 104.”

Kilcrease said the new address designations can be used for new businesses and did not have to affect existing businesses in Robertsdale.

While the approximate designations will be between Illinois Street and Hammond Street along Highway 59, Mayor Charles Murphy said it is important that the new designations go all the way to where the Highway splits and not necessarily between those two streets.

“We want to make sure we include everyone within the split,” he said. “Therefore it needs to be designated that way and not just say between Illinois and Hammond Street. That way, if there are areas between those streets and the split, they will be included in the new designation.”

By voting for Option 1, the council rejected two other options proposed by Kilcrease. Option 2 proposed to designate north-bound lanes of Highway 59 within the split as Chicago Street and south-bound lanes within the split as Milwaukee Street, which were the original street designations in the town before the two streets were split into Highway 59.

The third Option proposed to encompass all addresses along Highway 59 from County Road 54 to County Road 48. Those along with east side of the Highway, following northbound traffic, would have been designated as State Highway 59 North and those along the west side of the Highway, following southbound traffic, would have been designated as State Highway 59 South.

In other business Monday, the council:

• Approved three separate proposals from Robertsdale Rotary Club president Ruthie Campbell.

• First, the council approved the use of the digital sign located at Gordon Coley Park to promote the Rotary Club’s Haunted Forest which will be held Oct. 29 at the home of Keith and Margaret Cooper. Kitchens and Murphy abstained from voting on the matter.

• Second, the council approved the digital sign to promote the Rotary Club’s annual Christmas Parade which is slated to begin at 6 p.m. Dec. 3.

• Finally, the council approved the use of the Baldwin County Arena and Coliseum and approved the use of the digital sign to promote the Rotary Club’s Annual Rodeo March 9-10. Kitchens and Murphy abstained from voting on the matter.

• Voted to donate $1,000 to provide sponsorship for Robertsdale High School’s third annual Golden Bear Classic basketball tournament which will be held Dec. 15-17 at RHS.

• Approved a statement of consent from Alabama Power.

• Approved proposed changes to the city’s PZK Rental Contract.

• Approved a loan inquiry for the USDA.