City Council - workshop

Okay, sorry guys, we're a little bit late, but we will go ahead and get started with our meeting. Ned, if you want to please call the roll.

Mr. Creasy?

Here.

Mr. Lucas? Here. Mrs. Henry? Here. Mrs. Golden? Here. Mr. Seibert?

Here.

All five present.

Our invocation will be led by Councilman Lucas and the pledge by Mayor Marks.

Heavenly Father, we come at this time to give you thanks for this day, Father. We pray that you would bless us. Father, we thank you for allowing us to gather here tonight to hold this council meeting. We pray that you would guide our minds and our hearts to do business that is pleasing in your sight for this city of Athens, Alabama, and the constituents of this city. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Please join me with the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

OK. Thank you, Mr. Lucas. Mayor Morse? Could I get a motion to approve our minutes from the last council meeting and work session?

So moved.

Second by Councilman Lucas. Can we get a roll call on that, please, Annette?

Mrs. Golden? Yes. Mr. Lucas? Yes. Mr. Creasy?

Yes.

Mrs. Henry? Yes. Mr. Seibert?

Yes.

Bob Yays, zero nays.

We don't have any special city council minutes, standing committees, special committees, so we'll go to our report of officers. Mayor Marks?

Yeah, just real briefly, catch you up on a couple of things. I think Mr. Lucas was there. As you know, we've had some pretty good downpours of rain in several places. I've felt the brunt of it with some drainage issues. Mr. Lucas, I think, went out yesterday. I went out this afternoon about 3 o'clock on the west side of Strain Road. Ditches and things are moving like they should. There's no flooding issues out there today. It doesn't mean that any work has stopped. We've acquired the property, as you know, from the Bridgeforth family, and we're getting ready to start moving that. We have done internally through our public works department some work on the east side of String Road, that first little ditch where you go in off of Lindsey Lane. We've replaced that culvert, trying to get it settled before we paved there. So there is some. I know it seems slow, but this has been working for a long time. But right now... I didn't see any major drainage issues on any place there. So I know the downpours is creating problems in a lot of places. I know, Dana, you and I over on Barber Street and some of those others in that area. uh so that's an update just a little bit on strain road you may have seen equipment from uh tree cutting service to dirt movers that's on brawley boulevard starting our brawley our strain that whole project with Hobby Lobby Academy and everything. They're moving forward. The project has started and we still have some work with the Department of Transportation regarding the interstate, but they are underway and we'll continue to work on that project and give you updates. I think Bert will catch us up probably on August the 10th, I think, and we got a lot of great news with a bunch of kids playing ball and We had the 8U baseball team that won the state. Then they went to the World Series down in Baton Rouge and won three games and wound up losing two tough games. And those kids plan to be here, I think, at the August 10th meeting, and we'll celebrate with them. This weekend, I hope some of you had an opportunity to go out. Our sportsplex was absolutely packed, couldn't find a parking place. And that's great things, and I understand our 6U girls won the gold division, I believe, in their tournament, and the 8U girls won the silver division. lot of good things going on and hey before we turn around point august the 5th school starts so uh bless the teachers keep bringing your prayers and your kids and i think that's all i have at this time seemed like i forgot something holly anything that i missed that you know of okay thanks that's it for this time mr service thank you okay mr lucas uh just a couple of things uh

At the other meeting, I was asking about the grass on 72.

Did you turn off the creek side, apartment side in there?

And people I talked to, they told me to make sure I thank city for getting that grass cut and say it made a world of difference. And with all this rain, might be back again asking, but it's very dangerous that with those hills there and when the grass come up, You can't see those cars coming until you turn off in there. So that's just like the thing for getting the grass cut there. So take care of that safety hazard. That's all.

Mr. Creasy? Not at this time.

Ms. Henry?

Nothing for me. Thank you.

Our city attorney's not back. So I don't have anything either. So we will keep moving. We don't have any public hearings. We have a section now for public remarks regarding anything on the agenda. If anybody would like to address the council about anything that's on the agenda. Okay. So we will move along to the consent calendar. Councilwoman Golden.

I make a motion we approve the consent calendar as presented during the work session, including items A through G.

Second. Seconded by Councilman Creasy. Are there any questions on any of those items? Anybody?

None.

Okay. Can we get a roll call, please, Annette?

Mrs. Golden? Yes. Mr. Creasy? Yes. Mr. Lucas? Yes. Mrs. Henry? Yes. Mr. Seiber? Yes. Five yays, zero nays.

Item H, Councilman Creasy. Go ahead, Annette. It's way in there, isn't it? Yeah.

It resolved by the City Council of the City of Athens, Alabama that the Mayor's Office is authorized to apply for $200,000 through the 2026 Homeland Security Grant Program to help fund the emergency operations and coordination items including generator with switch, For City Hall traffic barriers and light towers, the generator can allow City Hall to better operate during emergency disasters and the barriers and towers can be utilized by the various departments during emergencies and disaster, emergency slash disaster. Primary Athens leads fire, Athens Fire and Athens Public Works. The project is estimated to cost about $225,000, and if awarded, the grant would cover up to $200,000. The remainder would be funded by the city capital project.

All right. Can I get a second on that? Second by Councilwoman Henry. Any questions on that? Okay. Can we get a vote on that, please, Annette?

Mr. Creasy?

Yes.

Mrs. Henry? Yes. Mr. Lucas? Yes. Mrs. Golden? Yes. Mr. Seiber? Yes. Bob Yates?

Item I, Councilman Lucas.

Item I is a bid resolved by the City Council of the City of Athens, Alabama at its meeting on July 13, 2026. The Electric Service Director is authorized to accept the low bid of $48,000 $411 from Woodson Tree LLC for Limestone Creek exit circuit clearing for the electric department. Cost expense related to this resolution shall be paid from the following fund of the City of Athens 2022 warrant funds.

Second.

We got a second from Councilwoman Golden on the rules. Can we get a roll call on the rules, please?

Mrs. Henry? Yes. Mrs. Golden? Yes. Mr. Creasy?

Yes.

Mr. Lucas? Yes. Mr. Seibert?

Yes.

Five yays, zero nays.

Can we get a second on the resolution?

Second.

Second by Councilman Creasy. Are there any questions on this one from anybody? Okay. Can we get a roll call on that, please, Annette?

Mr. Lucas. Yes. Mr. Creasy. Yes. Mrs. Henry. Yes. Mrs. Golden. Yes. Mr. Seibert.

Yes.

Javier Zerones.

And then finally, item J, Councilwoman Golden.

Therefore, be it resolved by the city council of the city of Athens, Alabama, that the mayor or city clerk is hereby authorized to execute a one-time appropriation of up to $6,000 to the Houston Memorial Library for roof maintenance and repairs. Said appropriation shall be used to address roof leaks at the library and shall be funded by the general fund budget amendment to line item 100.525.90101, Houston Library Maintenance.

Move to suspend the rules. Second.

Seconded by Councilwoman Henry. Can we get a roll call on the rules, please?

Mr. Creasy?

Yes.

Mrs. Henry? Yes. Mr. Lucas? Yes. Mrs. Golden? Yes. Mr. Seibert? Yes. Five yays, zero nays.

And can we get a second on the resolution? Second by Councilman Lucas. Any questions on this one?

None.

Okay. We get a roll call on this, please, Annette.

Mrs. Golden? Yes. Mr. Lucas? Yes. Mr. Creasy? Yes. Mrs. Henry? Yes. And Mr. Seibert? Yes. Five yays, zero nays.

Do we have anything else? Mayor, Annette, Holland?

No, it's just one thing I didn't mention is the movie Houdini is wrapping up today in the city of Athens. They've been here about two weeks. They love our town, and people have been really good. Hopefully it will make it, and it's been a lot of fun. They filmed in a lot of rain. Yeah, they've got the magic store set up downtown. It's not permanent. It is for the movie. So we've had several phone calls saying, oh, gosh, we're getting a magic store. No, it's for the movie. But it's been fun.

Back-to-school sales tax holiday is this weekend, too.

Yeah, thanks for that reminder. If you've got a big-ticket item, for sure, it's the time to buy it. Okay, well if we don't have anything else, now's an opportunity for the general public to comment on anything that's pertinent to our city business. Anybody has anything?