Mayor Wiginton addresses TRA quarterly meeting

Walking trails along the river, new hotels, new businesses and more are part of what new Tallassee Mayor Joey Wiginton is hoping for in the future of Tallassee.



The new mayor sees a hotel on the west banks of the Tallapoosa River in the west mill site using the old rock structure as its exterior.

“To me, that would be a beautiful sign for a hotel,” Wiginton said. “Drury does a hotel inside an old building in New Orleans. People like to stay in historic structures. There are builders who like to build inside of them. I don’t want to demolish the west side mill.”

Wiginton himself is a partner in the reopening of the Mt. Vernon Performing Arts Center. He is also involved in bringing The Guest House back to life in Tallassee.

“We are working on a bread and breakfast there,” Wiginton said.

But to bring in outside investors for the larger projects, Wiginton understands they have to recruit small businesses to create an environment to give travelers a reason to stop by.

“We already have access to three lakes,” Wiginton said. “Especially with Lake Martin we have people traveling through here. We just need a way to stop them before they get there.”

Wiginton wants to rename Lake Thurlow to Lake Tallassee since a significant portion of it is in the City of Tallassee.

“With the three lakes, Martin, Middle Pond and Thurlow, we can create a fishing tournament like no other,” Wiginton said. “We can have the first round on Martin and have the semifinalist advance to Middle Pond and the Top 10 to Thurlow. No where else has this kind of opportunity.”

The trails along the river create an opportunity for scenic vistas. Wiginton wants to see a lighted walkway between the two boat ramps below the Fitzpatrick Bridge.

“I want benches for people to sit and watch the water flow by,” Wiginton said. “Can you imagine what it would look like with the moon we had the other night. I can see a wedding on the old railroad bridge.”

Wiginton wants to work with Alabama Power to lower the lake level of Lake Thurlow.

“It would allow us to add sand near the boat ramp and create a swimming area,” Wiginton said. “It would give the public a place to go on the lake and swim similar to Wind Creek State Park. It would also give us a chance to clean out some of the silt back in the slough at the Clairewood subdivision.”

The new mayor is also looking at existing assets in and around Tallassee. Another idea in the works would put a larger police presence on the campus of Community Hospital.

“We are looking at extra space they have there and moving the police department,” Wiginton said. “They have a building with two floors where the bottom floor is pretty much empty. They have some things stored there. With its offices, I think it is an ideal space and would get the police department out of a bad building.”

Wiginton said the city needs to do a better job of working with Monster Mountain. He said this past weekend more than 3,000 people from across the Southeast were there for competition.

“They have people who basically live in RVs there,” Wiginton said. “They homeschool and then the children train on the track. We should be better connected and inform our businesses about what is going on there. Walmart sure notices when it's a big weekend at Monster Mountain.”

Wiginton said he is an idea person. He likes to think of things that might work and share them to see what everyone can do or make it better.

“We're going to start making some stuff happen,” Wiginton said. “I'm excited about it. I know some of it's little mini stuff, but some of us can add to it. I may not have the answer for everything but I’m not afraid to ask until I find it.”

• Cliff Williams, TALLASSEE TRIBUNE