DAPHNE, Alabama — 1. Daphne Mayor Fred Small resigned in October, three years into his second term as leader of Baldwin County’s largest municipality. Small cited personal reasons for the resignation, which led to the nomination of 11-year City Councilman Bailey Yelding Jr. to fulfill the term. Small, who earned a second term only after a close runoff election with former mayor Harry Brown, had hinted about the pressures of devoting more time to endeavors at home than being mayor could allow. Although he faced some criticism during his tenure for questionable handling of human resource issues or struggling to increase tax revenues, he was generally credited for keeping the budget balanced and employment steady in a down economy. Yelding does not intend to seek reelection in 2012. 

2. The Daphne City Council failed to reach a consensus on a planned $1.9 million tax incentive for a developer to build an Academy Sports on U.S. Highway 90 near the northern entrance to Lake Forest. Across Interstate 10, the Cooperative Improvement District governing the Spanish Fort Town Center struggled to pay the interest on $80 million in bond debts, while while a lawsuit alleging corruption and shoddy groundwork during initial site work at the center was settled through a mediator in a Texas court.

3. It was the realization of a 21-year dream as officials broke ground on the Alabama State Memorial Veterans Cemetery at Spanish Fort on State Highway 225. After nearly a decade of delays, it was eventually made possible by a $7 million federal grant received over the summer. When it’s completed in 2012, it will be the first state-administered veterans’ cemetery in Alabama and will join 82 others currently in service nationwide.