Exchange Enrichment Program announced at LaFayette Council meeting

BY JOHN BRICE

THE LAFAYETTE SUN

LAFAYETTE — Kelsey Barnes and Adrian Holloway shared details of their new joint youth outreach effort known as the Exchange Enrichment Program. Barnes and Holloway said they are seeking to utilize city facilities for youth after-school activities. Holloway said she hopes the community will support their efforts.

“We wanted to give you a brief overview of the original program you may or not have heard about, the new initiative that we have launched, which is a collaborative initiative between #limitless, which is a 501c3 that Pastor Kelsey Barnes has, and P.H.Y.R.E., People Helping Youth Reach Excellence, which is a 501c3 that I am founder and executive director of,” Holloway said. “We want to give you just a little bit of an overview of what we are currently doing, and then we have got a way for you guys to invest in our youth and support us in our efforts.”

Barnes said he believes there should be more activities for local youth to get involved in, and he is looking to respond to this need.

“We saw this great need and over the course of these past five years, we have been meeting some needs, but not all needs,” he said. “Our youth, they are very important to us, and we try as we may to meet those needs for those children. Whether it is feeding football teams every Monday throughout football season, feeding the band, the cheerleaders, the special needs students over at LaFayette High School, the back-to-school bash. Wherever we can meet a need. After much prayer and consideration, it burned in my heart and my wife’s, Ms. Adrian, basically the entire church, that our young people have nothing or very little to do. I think that it is a travesty that we complain that kids don’t want to do anything when we don’t give them anything to do. We threw caution to the wind after over sixty months of talking about having something for these kids to do after school hours.”

Chambers County Development Authority Project Manager Andie Chambley discussed a social media service where she proposed that she could post information online on behalf of the city via official pages.

“A few months back, Mayor Vines and Louis [Davidson] reached out to us about social media services for the city of LaFayette,” she said. “The city of LaFayette does not have a social media presence right now at all, really, everything is coming from the police department. While that might not sound like such a big deal, things like public meetings, safety advisories and media advisories need to be shared with the community outside of the paper because a lot of the community does not read print media anymore. The reason they reached out to us is because I do run the Development Authority’s page, Leadership Chambers County’s page and the County Commission and Highway Department’s page. So I am very well-versed in government social media presence.”

In Other Business

• The council approved the Public Power Week proclamation for Oct. 5-11.

• The council voted to approve the East Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission’s Senior grant program for fiscal year 2026.

• The council approved the replacement of Harold McGill on the Planning Commission Board.

• The council voted to approve the Auburn Housing Board Appointment reappointment.

• The council voted to renew the contract for business license services through a third party.

• The council voted to accept surplus exercise equipment from the City of Valley.

• Water Distribution and Wastewater Collection Superintendent David Alan Garrett proposed the purchased of surplus vehicles from a vendor in Montgomery to address the need of vehicles in his department that need to be replaced.

• Concerns over potential safety issues with the homecoming alumni bonfire taking place on city property for the first time this year were raised by Councilman Terry Mangram. LaFayette Fire Chief Jim Doody clarified potential conflicts with the Alabama fire code under this new arrangement. The council voted to approve the motion allowing the new bonfire location despite Mangram voting against it.

• The first reading of Ordinance No. 489 - 2026 Severe Weather Preparedness was approved with a roll call vote.

• The council voted to approve Resolution No. 2025-09-24-01 — chemical bids for 2025-2026.

• The council voted to approve Resolution No. 2025-09-24-02 — continuing budget resolution 2025-2026.

• The council voted to approve and convey replacement Cemetery Deeds No. 1817, No. 1818 and No. 1819 at Handy Cemetery to Ruby Carr, Onell Brewer and Louraine Howard, respectively.