CENTRE — The head of the Alabama Department of Public Health last week assured The Post that his office has no intention of losing focus on a long-awaited achievement he personally expressed support for at a public meeting here earlier this year.

“We have had conferences with leadership at Alabama Power and we're setting up meetings with the county commissioners,” Dr. Donald Williamson said via telephone from his office in Montgomery Thursday morning. “And I'll be going back up there. I admit there hasn't been as much movement on this as I would like.”

Long before tornado season swept into Alabama with deadly force, Williamson had told an informal meeting of the Cherokee County Commission and local residents that he intended to “plant a flag” in Cherokee County as a show of his department's commitment to end decades of sewage dumping in Weiss Lake.

“We are looking for the opportunity to begin this process in order to demonstrate that we are serious about this,” Williamson said in January.

Last week, Williamson said the next move in the process must come from leaders at the local level.

“The County Commission has to create the structure, through the ordinance they are working on, to establish a procedure for issuing fines and enforcing the law,” Williamson said. “Our lawyers have already been talking with their lawyers and we have more meetings scheduled.”

Williamson said he still has hopes of officially beginning the formal process of cleaning up Weiss Lake sometime this summer. However, he admitted that the aftermath of last month's storms have taken up most of his department's time since April 27.

“I've been to so many places that received damage, but for every one I've been to there are two more than I have yet to see,” he said. “Have you seen Pratt City, near Birmingham? It's worse than Tuscaloosa.”

During Williamson's first visit to Centre, in January, he urged the County Commission to use its local governance powers to create an ordinance that would declare illegal sewage dumping a public nuisance.

“This is ultimately a local issue,” Williamson said last week. “But we will provide a statewide variance to help them enforce their ordinance. Our commitment is still there.”

Probate Judge Melvyn Salter, who also chairs the County Commission, last week told The Post the county attorney continues to work with lawyers from the Health Department and Alabama Power to create a comprehensive sewage enforcement policy.

"We realize the Health Department has been very busy, and we know they are not avoiding us," Salter said. "On June 3, lawyers from the other parties and ours will meet individually with all four county commissioners to go over the details of the ordinance they have been working on."