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The Lowndes County Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a community needs discussion July 26. The talk, held during the chamber’s regular meeting, was a chance for citizens to relay concerns to Senator Katie Britt’s field representative Susannah Cleveland.

The chamber’s interim executive director Ozelle Hubert said the discussion resulted from a request to meet with Britt and outline critical needs area residents face.

“I had requested to have a meeting with the senator to address economic and healthcare disparities in Lowndes County,” Hubert said. “And so, she took the opportunity to follow up with us.”

One item of concern during the meeting was fostering support of the continued operation of the chamber which, according to Hubert, receives no type of appropriations or subsidies from Lowndes County or any of its townships.’

“Our interest was [also] in financial support for the Jonathan M. Daniels Medical Complex project that we are proposing to be based in Hayneville,” Hubert said. “We’ve gotten the support of the Episcopal Church for this initiative. They were just elated that we were interested in naming the facility for him.

The project, once complete, will include an urgent-care facility with medical diagnostic and pharmacy services. It will also house a county ambulance service and emergency medical services.

“We want to have four ambulances, one in White Hall, one for Hayneville, one for Fort Deposit and another one to be on call,” Hubert said. “We also propose to host medical transport services and a renal dialysis center. The owner of Ball Healthcare has indicated that if we can make this happen, he will facilitate access to land across the street from the nursing home in Hayneville because it will complement the operation.”

Hubert said attendees talked with Cleveland about economic workforce development and affordable housing. Another issue of concern included questions about the status of conversion of U.S. Highway 80 to Interstate Highway 85, from Interstate Highway 65 in Montgomery to Meridian, Mississippi, connecting with Interstate Highway 59.

Guests also asked Cleveland to discover and report back on whether grant funding will be available to support local students selected to attend the Alabama High School of Health Sciences school under construction in Demopolis.

Hubert said the meeting was a fact-finding mission for Cleveland, who would take citizen concerns to Britt. He hopes the senator will send back word of what, if anything, her office can do towards solving critical issues for Lowndes County residents.

“She said their focus will be on programs, not necessarily structures,” Hubert said. “But [Cleveland] is very interested in the concerns we had and how they impact our county.”

The Lowndes County Area Chamber of Commerce meets monthly at Deep Woods Restaurant. Meetings are held beginning at 8 a.m. on the second Tuesday of each month.