By Michael Butler

Tallassee mayor Joey Wiginton was in the nation’s capital last week for a National League of Cities’ Conference. The delegation included 225 mayors and city council members from Alabama.

Wiginton spent a good bit of time with Congressman Gary Palmer.

“I showed him pictures of the wooden bridge,” Wiginton said. “He was giving me some thoughts about what we need to do and how to get some money.”

Palmer took Wiginton and his wife Nancy on a tour of the Capitol.

“It was awesome. He took us in the chamber where the house meets.”

Wiginton attended a breakfast panel that President Donald Trump addressed. In addition, Wiginton visited with Senator Tommy Tuberville.

“A lot of those people, especially Tuberville, can help us tremendously. I sat right beside him. Smaller towns get to share their voice. That’s how you get the grants.”

Wiginton recently had a visit from Kenneth Boswell from ADECA to look at the possibility of restoring the former train trestle as a pedestrian bridge over the Tallapoosa River. An avenue for grant assistance is possible.

“A half million dollars could go towards the bridge,” Wiginton added. “We’ve got to get an engineer to check it off. It’s been closed 50 years. It’d be great to fix at all at one time, but if we can’t do that let’s at least get started. I just hate to continue putting it off.”