City Council - Regular Meeting

This meeting of the Andalusia City Council to order. If you will stand and join Councilman Basel, he leads us in the prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Let us pray. Our Father, we pray that the decisions we make here tonight will be decisions that will benefit our people of Andalusia for the future. We ask you to forgive us of our sins and our shortcomings. and lead us into the future. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.

I'd like to welcome everyone for being here tonight. Remind everyone that we meet on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. The workshop's starting upstairs in the workshop area at 5.30. And the official meeting starting as close to 6 as we can get it. Sometimes it runs a little long, like tonight. Sometimes we get started a little bit earlier, so. Between 5, 30, and 6 would be a good time to be here. Okay. I'm going to introduce two gentlemen here tonight who have just been sworn in as the two newest officers to the Andalusia Police Department. Gerald Frosley. Gerald, would you stand? Officer Frosley. And Robert Adair. Robert, we want you all to know that we... Appreciate the commitment that you've made to our city and to the community and the citizens here. I want you to know how much we stand behind you and we think of you and pray for your safety every day and every night. So again, thank you for being here. Thank you for joining our team. We look forward to working with you.

Thank you.

Okay, our first item of business is to consider the minutes of our meeting. on May the 5th.

Mr. Mayor, I move for approval of the minutes from the council meeting of May 5th, 2026 as presented.

All right, we have a motion to approve the minutes as presented. Do we have a second? I second the motion, Mayor. All right, a motion and a second to approve the minutes. All in favor, is there any further discussion, questions, or comments concerning the minutes? Hearing none, all in favor, please raise your right hand and say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say no. And the minutes are approved. No unfinished business. Under new business, the 43rd Annual Gun and Knife Show is scheduled for Andalusia. I think it's sponsored by the South Alabama Gun Club, and it is scheduled to be out at the Qantas Center on Saturday, August the 15th, and Sunday, August the 16th. There will be probably 75 or more tables set up in there with folks in there sharing their knives and guns and also selling those, some of those, as people go in and make a deal for any of it. And we have, in the years past, waived the business license for those folks because it'd be a real administrative nightmare to try to get all those licenses worked out and approved for them coming in from out of town and setting up so quickly. So they have asked that we again waive that requirement. So we'll need a motion and a second to do that, and we'll have to vote on it from the council. So do we have a motion?

Mayor, I'll make a motion that we approve or waive the permit for the participants in the gun and knife show to be held in August.

All right, we have a motion by Mr. Mount. Do we have a second? Mayor, I second that motion. All right. Any further discussion, questions, or comments? All in favor, please raise your right hand and say aye. Aye. Any opposed, no?

No.

One no, the ayes have it. Okay, next item is resolution number 26-11 is to approve, is a resolution approving a Chick-fil-A development agreement. I'm sure most everybody has heard about Chick-fil-A coming to our community and I'm going to ask our information director, Ms. Michelle Gerlach, she has some words to say and some folks to introduce.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Every year it is our great honor to host Covington County's youth leadership program directed by Ms. Terry Dunn for a program on local government. And as is our custom, when we met with the 2022-23 leadership group, part of our program addressed economic development. And every year, we are interested to hear what those young people want us to chase and get for our community. And as was very common, that group of teenagers said, can we get a Chick-fil-A? And our economic development team and retail recruitment team had spoken with Chick-fil-A site selectors a number of times and had been consistently told that we didn't have the traffic numbers that they wanted. But the teenagers in that group set out to help with that equation and they put together a campaign for their project and collected more than 2,100 letters encouraging the company to locate a store here. And suddenly our folks had something to talk to Chick-fil-A executives about besides traffic numbers. The letters ranged from young elementary students who wanted access to peach milkshakes, to middle school students who advised Chick-fil-A, y'all would be millionaires if you put a store here, to older students who wrote about job opportunities and date nights. We don't know for sure if those letters helped tip the scales for Chick-fil-A to finally put a store in Andalusia, but we know it didn't hurt. We have about 10 of those 2022-23 leadership students here today, and they have just informed me, believe it or not, they've just finished up their sophomore years of college. They have elected as their spokesperson this evening, Briley Douglas, who's going to come forward and has a few words to say.

Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us here today. CCYL is an important part of developing the future generations of Andalusia's leaders. Looking back on all of our accomplishments over the past couple of years has truly shown how impactful CCYL really is. We are honored to have so many former CCYL members here with us today to support the proposal before you. Thank you so much for the opportunity you are giving Andalusia and its future generations and leaders. Thank you.

Thank you. I'd like to kind of second what Ms. Michelle had to say about this group. You never know when you do something like this what might come of it. And I can tell you that we've been chasing Chick-fil-A for 20 years, and I think y'all's 2,100 letters made a big difference. So thank you for getting involved and coming up with that idea of writing letters directly to Chick-fil-A. So, again, we're just thrilled to death to do that and that y'all did that. And I think it had a positive impact on Chick-fil-A's final decision to come to Andalusia. As part of making sure that happened, we have agreed in this agreement with Chick-fil-A to rebate 2% of the sales tax generated by them for five years. And that will give them a good start here in Andalusia. And we will continue to receive other sales tax from them to state and county in a penny and a half sales tax for the city for those five years. After that, the sales tax will go back to the same that everyone else collects in business here. So, members of the council, the resolution before you, it's Resolution 2026-11, which does what I just said, Under constitutional amendment number 725, which gives the city the right to rebate sales tax under certain conditions, I recommend that we adopt the resolution which will rebate 2% of the sales tax rate to Chick-fil-A for five years.

Mr. Mayor, I move for approval of adoption of resolution number 2026-11, authorizing a development agreement for Chick-fil-A.

All right. We have a motion by Mr. Boswell. Do we have a second? Nix. Excuse me, Mr. Nix. I'm sorry. Do we have a second?

I'll second that, Mayor. All right.

All right. Any further discussion, questions, or comments?

Let me say one thing, Mayor. It just shows you the power of the pen.

And I congratulate you people for creating such a groundswell. And I want to challenge you. Publix is interested. Write letters to Publix. We've got some pens and paper for you. All right, we have a motion and a second to approve this resolution. Any further discussion, questions, or comments concerning it? Hearing none, all in favor approve of the resolution, please indicate by raising your right hand and saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, no. Ayes have it, and it is approved, and thank you all so much. You all are welcome to stay here for the rest of this meeting, or you're free to go if you, whatever you wish. Thank you for coming so much. Thank you. Okay, the next item of business is LED lighting for the Kiwanis Sports Center fields. That doesn't mean like the center fields or the sport or the playground. It's Kiwanis Sports Center fall fields, may be the better way to say it. That lighting that is out there now is the lighting that we think was originally placed there over 25 years ago. and it's basically outdated and worn out and is not doing well at all. So the time has come to replace all that lighting, and we have worked with a lighting company. This resolution that you have there before you would approve purchasing this lighting for $573,433. I'm sorry. Where am I? I'm not looking at the right thing. Yeah, I looked at the wrong number. The amount is $510,300 approximately. This company that will do this work is on the state... Bid list, meaning we don't have to bid this out. It's on the bid list. We don't have to go through the bid process. We can award it to a company that's been approved by the state to do this work, type of work. We also have arranged for a loan from CCB Community Bank for that $510,300 interest rate fixed for five years. It can have an amortization of 5, 7, or 10 years at a fixed rate at 4.655% with an origination fee of $205. I recommend to you that we move forward to get this lighting because it'll take quite some time just to get the lighting in, and then it'll take a good long while to get it all properly installed. This type of lighting is the latest technical, has all the latest technical features, will be a huge improvement for the ball fields out at the center. So I recommend to you that we approve this, the purchase of the lighting and the loan arrangements with CCB.

Mr. Mayor, I make a motion to move forward with purchasing the LED lighting for the Kiwanis Sports Center fields.

All right. And the loan as well? And the loan as well. Okay. All right. Motion by Mr. Craig. Do we have a second? I second the motion. Second by Mr. Mount. Any further discussion, questions, or comments on this? Hearing none, all in favor of moving forward, is the motion indicated, please indicate by raising your right hand and saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, no. And the ayes have it, and we will get on top of that and try to get that moving as quickly as we can. The next item is a lease renewal with LBW Community College for the former Covenant Casket Factory office on North Cotton Street. LBW has had this thing for a couple of years and has really made a lot of progress with LBW. Different courses down there to give people improvements in their skills and in their education. And it's a central location in our city that a lot of people can walk to. They don't have to have transportation ready to get there in a lot of the areas of our town. But there will be some transportation available through the county, we think. The lease would be for three years, effective the first day of April 2026, which has already passed. and the rent would be $12,000 per year for the three years. So I would like someone to, if you agree to do this, to extend this lease for this amount for that period of time, to please make a motion.

Mr. Mayor, I move for approval of the lease renewal with LBW as you have described.

Okay, we have a motion by Mr. Nix. Do we have a second? Mr. Mayor, I will second that. Seconded by Mr. Basel. Any further discussion, questions, or comments concerning this lease renewal? Hearing none, all in favor, please indicate by raising your right hand and saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, no. And the ayes have it. Next item is resolution for number 2026-12, a proposal for surplus brick pavers for the Public Works Department. These brick pavers were purchased in the process of the Third Avenue improvement that's just been finished. And we need quite a number of these pavers to help us make improvements to all different parts of the city. I'm not going to go through them all individually, but they're all over the city where some of the brick pavers that have been in for years need to be replaced, and then there'll be other places where the brick pavers will be put in in connection with the construction of our new park that's under construction. The cost of those pavers would be $59,239.60. I recommend to you that we purchase those pavers from the owner right now who owns them. They're stored, by the way, over near the parking lot of the high school. That money would come from our capital account, and it would go to the Public Works Department to get those installed as need be.

Mr. Mayor, I'll make that motion.

All right. We have a motion from Mr. Basel to approve the purchase of those. We'll come from our capital account. Do we have a second? I second the motion. Second by Mr. Mount. Any further discussion, questions, or comments? All in favor of purchasing the brick pavers at the stated amount, please indicate by raising your right hand saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, no. And that is approved. Thank you. Our next item is Resolution 2026-13, Appropriating Funds for a Pavilion at Heritage Park. When we started this project several years ago now, we took some money out on a bond issue, and that money is in place to pay for what I'm fixing to ask you to do. But we need a pavilion at our new park, a place where people can go to picnic and get in and out of the rain or get out of the sunlight or whatever the need be. Birthday parties. all different kind of activities that can take place there. It's similar to the park out at, it's a similar construction site that you've seen all around town that the city uses, so it'll look nice, and we expect it to cost in the neighborhood of $59,239.60, and that is, excuse me, that's the brick. I'm completely off. The park is $279,768.70. As I said, that money is already in place with our 2022 Series A bond issue. So it will be purchased from a manufacturer and erected by them. And these folks are also on the approved list by the state of Alabama, so we don't have to do a bid process on this. So I recommend to you that we authorize the purchase, not the purchase, but it really is because it is a kit, more or less. But I recommend that we move forward for the multi-tube ribbed roof recreation pavilion.

Mr. Mayor, I vote for approval of an adoption of resolution number 2026-13, appropriating funds for a pavilion at Heritage Park with the cost being covered by the 2022 Series A bond issue.

Okay. Thank you. We have a motion by Mr. Nix. Do we have a second? Mayor, I second that motion. Second by Mr. Craig. Any further discussion, questions, or comments concerning the pavilion? Hearing none, all in favor, please indicate by raising your right hand and saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? And that is approved. Last resolution is Resolution 2026-14, appropriating funds for restrooms at Heritage Park. Again, our public park that we are building off South Cotton Street, There is a large brick building that's located there that's been there probably for 80 years or so. It once was a building that was used to generate electricity. What we are planning to do is to maintain that old building for uses that we will determine later, but to build a series of indoor restrooms down the side of that building to match up as closely as we can with the brick on the old building and to make it It'll have, I think, eight restrooms inside that will be in and out of the rain and cold and heat in the summertime. There'll be family-type restrooms with the doors that lock behind whoever's in there and opens up when no one is in there. So the cost of that... Get back over here to it. I passed it. We... We think the cost of that will be in the area of $97,000. That money will also come from our 2022 Series A bond account. I recommend to you that we move forward to get that restroom construction underway so that when we are ready to open the park, we'll have nice restrooms for our folks to have available to them.

Mr. Mayor, I'll make that motion.

All right, we have a motion to adopt resolution number 2022-14, 2026-14. Do we have a second?

Second.

Second by Mr. Nix. Any further discussion, questions, or comments? All in favor of adopting the resolution, please indicate by raising your right hand and saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, no. And the ayes have it. Thank you for that. Finally, we have a couple of appointments to make to city organizations. One is to the Recreation Board. I want to nominate Mr. Steve Bozeman to fill that position that he is vacating his term. But I nominate that Steve be appointed to fill that position at this time. Are there any other nominations? Any other nominations? Hearing none, then, all in favor of Mr. Steve Bozeman to fill that position, please indicate by raising your right hand and saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, no. Ayes have it. And I will thank Steve. Steve has served for a number of terms on that and has done a great job through the years. I know he will continue that. Also, there's an appointment that's made by the mayor only under the statute. There's not a vote on it by the council. I wouldn't mind this going to a vote because I think he'd get a unanimous vote. well but the code says that the mayor is supposed to do appointment so I'm appointing Sammy Glover to to fill his vacating position on the Housing Authority or another term and I'm just putting that in the record so everybody know that mr. Sammy is going to take that position and he's done a good job on that as well for many years familiar with the organization and I think will be a real additional member of that board that has a lot to deal. I want to remind everyone of Memorial Day that's coming up Monday. It starts, it'll be here back here at the Veterans Memorial Park on the campus of City Hall at 10 o'clock. There is no parade associated with Memorial Day. Memorial Day is a day that we come and honor the men and women who have paid the big price, the final price of serving our nation and defending our nation. And we will have a speaker and we will have a few other things to do while we're there. But it will not be a long event. But it will be something that I think our citizens have supported this through the years. I think it's a great thing to do to show our support for our armed forces that we come out and spend 45 minutes one day a year to honor them in this fashion, the ones who have paid the ultimate price. All right. Is there anything else to come before the council, members of the council? All right. Hearing none, we will stand adjourned.