City Council - Regular Meeting

Light me up, let me see your fire.

Good morning, Birmingham. Today is Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026. The time is now 9.37 a.m. I call to order the regular meeting of the Birmingham City Council. Today's invocation will be led by Pastor D.J. Manuel of Lilly Baptist Church in Tarrant, Alabama, and the Pledge of Allegiance will be led by Councilor Daryl O'Quinn. If you're willing and able, please stand and join us. Thank you. We have our stand in. Thank you, sir.

Good morning, City Council. We bow our heads and humble hearts, precious and eternal Father. Lord, we thank you today. We give you praise and glory and honor. For this is the day that the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Lord, today we ask that you would invoke your presence in this place. And Lord, now you would set your divine order. And God, now that you would smile upon our mayor. and our city council on today as they make decisions for this city. God now smile on them, give them peace of mind and solace in their heart as they make decisions decisions for the citizens of Birmingham. And God, now we recognize your presence. We give over to your counsel. And God, now we ask that you be the head of this meeting. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Thank God and amen.

Amen.

Salute the flag.

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. Thank you so much, Chief of Staff for District 9 and Pastor Stanley. We appreciate you. And thank you, Dr. O'Queen, for leading us in the pledge. Good morning, Mr. Clerk.

Good morning, Madam President.

If you'll call the roll, please.

Yes, ma'am. Council Member Gunn. Good morning. Good morning, sir. Council Member O'Quinn. Good morning. Good morning. Council Member Smith. Council Member Smith. Good morning. Good morning. Council Member Vassa.

Good morning.

Good morning. Council Member Williams. Council Member Woods. Good morning. Good morning. President Pro Tem Tate. Good morning. Good morning. Council President Alexander.

Good morning. Thank you very much. Councilors, the minutes are not ready from the meetings of March 3rd, 2026 through May 26th, 2026. At this time, we have communications from the mayor. Good morning, Mayor Woodson.

Morning, Madam President. Good to see you this morning. Good morning to all the councilors. Good to see everyone, as well as those in the chamber this morning. Good morning. Good morning. and those watching online. Madam President and Council, as temperatures rise across our city, so does the need to protect our most vulnerable residents from the dangers of extreme heat. This summer, the city of Birmingham is calling on our residents, businesses, faith organizations, and community groups to come together for a simple act that can make a life-saving difference. From June 1, which was yesterday, through tomorrow, June 3, the city is hosting a community water drive to help stock local homeless shelters and cooling stations with essential hydration supplies. Donations will be accepted from 7.30 a.m. to 4 p.m. over these three days at the Bowdoin Auditorium, and that address is 1930 Reverend Abraham Woods Jr. Boulevard. Donations of bottled water, Gatorade, and Powerade will help ensure that Individuals experiencing homelessness and others seeking relief from the summer heat have access to resources they need to stay safe. Every case donating represents more than a beverage. It represents dignity, compassion, as well as a commitment to caring for our neighbors. So for more information for anyone who would like to give and or donate, you can call 205-254-2888. Again, that phone number is 205-254-2888. Or go to BirminghamAL.gov slash homelessness on how you can get involved and assist. On another note, Madam President and Council, we continue to promote the Birmingham Municipal Court Amnesty Month, which kicked off yesterday, June 1. This program, this amnesty is for the entire month of June, June 1 through June 30. For many residents, unresolved court matters we know can become barriers to not only employment, but also the housing, financial stability, and just a simple peace of mind. And so for the remaining of this entire month, Eligible individuals with an opportunity can take step four, resolving outstanding court obligations without fear of arrest. Those eligible individuals may visit Birmingham Municipal Court Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to take steps to resolve their cases or outstanding obligations. Participants must present a valid I.D., This amnesty program applies to individuals with outstanding failure-to-appear warrants related to the following. Court on original traffic citation or misdemeanor charge. Court order programs or probation. Compliance with the payment plan or sentencing order. Outstanding unpaid fines, court costs, restitution. Eligible participants may have their failure-to-appear warrants recalled. And by being recalled, they will be allowed to pay the original fines and or court costs in full, establish or reinstate a payment plan, reestablish compliance with the court order program or probation requirements. In addition to this, outstanding parking tickets can be resolved online at BirminghamAL.gov slash ParkSmart. Again, that's BirminghamAL.gov slash ParkSmart. Parking fees may also be paid at the court. A last note on this is that individuals charged with or convicted of crimes of violence, which include domestic violence, as well as driving under the influence or zoning violations, this amnesty program does not apply to those cases. But we imagine some may have questions or have concerns, so they can call Birmingham Municipal Court. At 205-254-2161. Again, that's 205-254-2161. And at this time, I would like to ask your colleague, Representative District 9 and Pro-10 with the Council, Latonya Tate, to come to the podium. And as she comes, I would like to ask all the guests here in their orange and those not in their orange that are part of the National Gun Violence Awareness Day, please come forward. Yeah, that's all of y'all.

Madam.

Madam President and Council, as your colleague continues to gather, this flock and sea of amazing people and organizations you see behind me. And what I love about this group of people is that they have a very clear mission. And that is to eradicate gun violence in our communities in the city of Birmingham. While we applaud the decrease in gun violence in our city, just of note, June 2nd of 2026, 17 homicides compared to 33 at the same time last year, compared to 60 at this time two years ago, noting that that is a 72% decrease in homicides through our city. We acknowledge that one homicide, one victim of gun violence that has survived is still too many. Every day in America, more than 120 people lose their lives to gun violence, and more than 200 others are wounded. Behind every number is a family forever changed. That's my family, that's many of the individuals you see here and their families, including mothers who are still grieving their sons. June is National Gun Violence Awareness Month. And this month, we take the time to honor the lives lost, recognize the potential that was taken from us too soon, but additionally reaffirm our collective commitment to creating safer neighborhoods and eradicating gun violence. Because of the people you see standing here and the organizations they represent, Birmingham has demonstrated that progress, progress is possible. through focused investments in violence reduction strategies, including Restore, hospital-linked violence intervention programs, and partnerships with credible messengers and community organizations. The city achieved a nearly 44% reduction in homicides last year and continues to see declines, as I just described earlier, compared to two years ago, well north of 70%. These results show what can happen when residents, community members, Leaders, law enforcement, local organizations all work in the trenches with a common goal. And so today we pause to honor the work of those who helped reduce gun violence with the special proclamation that I'll read in part and then I'll pass it to your colleague who is not only passionate and committed to this work, but is on the ground herself, who I would like to personally thank for her hard work. In the states where as Americans are 25 more times likely to be murdered with guns than people in other developed countries. And whereas gun violence impacts people of all ages, it increases the probability of death from incidents of domestic violence. Raises the likelihood of fatality by those who intend to injure others and among those who attempt suicide. It places children and young people at risk and disproportionately affects communities of color. And whereas today and from this council, before the city of Birmingham, the amazing people and organizations you see flanking me, we renew our commitment to reduce gun violence and pledge to do all we can to keep firearms out of the wrong hands. and encourage responsible gun ownership to help keep our residents safe. Now, therefore, our Randall L. Woodfin, mayor of the city of Birmingham, along with the Birmingham City Council, and especially along with your colleague, pro tem of the council and councillor for District 9, Councilor Latonya Tate. That's a lot of councillors. We do hereby proclaim June 2, 2026 as National Gun Violence Awareness Day in the city of Birmingham, and what we truly look to do in this short moment we have with you is to encourage all of our residents to support their local communities, help prevent the tragic effects of gun violence, as well as to honor and value human lives. Thank you for your time to this matter, and I present to you your colleague. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor Whiffen. Thank you to my colleagues, the city council. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge Council Crystal Smithman and Clinton Woods, who started this journey prior to me, joining the council and you all for entrusting my leadership. So thank you all for believing in this work. Madam Pro Tem for believing in it as well. All of you all for doing the great work. But I would be remiss if I did not lift up Uche Bean, who is the director of the mayor's community safety portfolio, who has done an extravagant job to walk this down, to position, you know, those that are, as the mayor said, flank beside me, the Offended Alumni Association, Urban League, Restore, One Hood, all of these men and women. What about us, Cherie, who is a mother of a son that she lost to gun violence, those that that are in this fight 24-7 on the ground doing this work day in and day at night. I salute you all, Judge Hunt-Hillier, for standing up the Restore program in Family Court. This work cannot be done without these brave men and women sacrificing their time, their families, to position other people to win in this city. So I'm going to step back and allow Judge, I hear Dr. Hicks and Deborah Danes to speak briefly and also acknowledge some survivors that are here.

Thank you, Councillor Tate. Thank you, Mayor Woodfin. Thank you to the council in general. I just want to stand up today to say I appreciate the support that you all have given to the Restore program and to us at Jefferson County Family Court. As we continue our fight against gun violence, we do everything we can, but the support that you all offer is invaluable. So as we celebrate this week, I just want to give our gratitude and say thank you once again for your support.

Good morning, council.

Let me say this. The people that are behind you represent community. I remember Mayor Woodfin when he first came in the office, he talked about we can't police ourselves out of this issue. And I've heard many of you say the very same things. Today is very somber for me because you see some slight smiles, but there's a lot of pain behind those smiles. And I hope that you all understand that in the city of Birmingham, this work helps us to move forward and claim our rightful place as being a great city on the hill. We can't have and claim economic empowerment without making sure that we are reducing gun violence. Our babies are dying. They've been dying in the streets. And I can't be more thankful for you all for making this investment. Your colleague has been a drum major for this work. And I appreciate you all for supporting each and every one of these organizations. It's extremely important. And I want to just take 30 seconds to just tell you what this work really is. Many of the people behind you are working 11 o'clock in the morning or 1 o'clock, 1 a.m. We are out in the streets. There's a piece of this component that talks about intervening in gun violence. It's prevention. It says that before police officers call, there are people that are integrating into the spaces, and I mean they are going everywhere where the spaces of violence is happening and attempting to interrupt that violence. When you look at this space across the city, excuse me, across the nation, you've had people that stand behind me that do this work that have actually been shot trying to do this work. I want you to understand the severity of the seriousness and the compassion and dedication of the men and women that are behind this. And so thank you so much for the work, Mayor Woodfin. I can't thank you enough for this. We are actually, whether you know it or not, the city of Birmingham is getting national attention on this work. We're literally going to be presenting this program at Essence Festival on the backdrop on July the 2nd, and your colleague will be speaking in New Orleans. So thank you again. Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Good morning, City Council, President Alexander, and fellow councilors. On behalf of the Jefferson County Board of Health, I serve as Jefferson County Health Officer, and I want to acknowledge you all on the sustained investment you've made in the city. As you all know, there's been significant decreases in gun violence, not only in the city of Birmingham, but also in Jefferson County, and that's in large part to the efforts that you all have done. We have a special relationship with the city council and the mayor's office. And the Board of Health stands firm with you all. And it's not just in words only. And hopefully soon you will be seeing an agreement for some additional funding coming from the Jefferson County Board of Health to the city to maintain the work and momentum. Oftentimes when you see significant decreases in gun violence in the community, sometimes the resources dry up because you think that you've arrived. And the issue is this is not the time to let off on the investments. We have to double down those efforts so we can have continued progress. So thank you all. And I really appreciate it.

Good morning. Again, Mayor Woodfin, thank you. Council President Alexander, thank you. And of course, our champion, Pro Tem Tate, for this opportunity. OAA is deeply honored to stand here, not for what we have accomplished alone, but for what we have achieved together through partnership, innovation, and a shared belief that every life has value. and every survivor deserves an opportunity to heal. The Hospital Violence Prevention Initiative has entered its fourth year of operation, serving over 285 survivors of gun violence, stabilized 755 families, provided 5,880 services, But most importantly, we have documented zero retaliations, demonstrating that intervention, support, and hope can interrupt cycles of violence. This recognition belongs to the survivors who have chose healing over retaliation, and some who are with us here today and will be coming to the podium. And several now serve as full-time violence intervention professionals with OAA. Their lived experience helped build trust, where trust is often absent, creating meaningful connection with victims' families doing some of the most challenging moments of their lives. Together, we are proving that through unity, We can reduce violence, improve outcomes, create pathways to opportunities. Mayor Whiffen and Dr. Hicks, thank you for your leadership that has created a model that is saving lives. So I'm going to invite one of our violence intervention professionals, along with some of our survivors, to the podium.

Good morning. Y'all come on up. How y'all doing? Now, I don't know how to do all that pro tem and all that, but I really appreciate everybody. First of all, my name is Timothy Lanier. Now, first I want to thank y'all for giving me a chance to professionalize what I did automatically. And it gave every person like me a chance to move their life in a different direction. So you're not just helping the community. You're helping those that's coming back into the community. They have a chance to be a professional in something they do anyway. We are in the Hospital Violence Intervention Program. We take our clients from the bedside to a year after. And we work with them that whole time. I want you to meet a couple of them. These are the young ones. This is Jeremy. He's 16. He came to us. When I met Jeremy, him and his folks were going through some things. And it was back and forth. And to sit down with them and say, hey, let's just stop y'all not listening to each other. And they started listening to each other. Now Jeremy has graduated at 16. He has a job. And eventually, what he decided to do as he go on to college, I'm going to try to talk him into coming back and teaching and helping with the kids that's his age. So we're building programs as we build this new community. All right, thank you, Jim. You want to say something?

Sure, I just thank God. Okay.

All right. Come on. He's kind of shy, but let me tell you, that's Jeremy's nephew, okay? So when Jeremy started, guess what? He said, hey, man, I'm really going down the same road you're going down. Can I get in? Because of our family engagement part of our program, we're able to help the family that... They are affected by gun violence just like the actual person that's been shot. Now this guy right here, me and him, we... It was rough. Sometimes it's hard to talk to the older guys because they have a set frame of mind. We had to build a relationship, and as our relationship built, he realized I was the big brother. So this is Jonathan Parker.

The comeback is greater than the setback, y'all. And the OAA, man, they've been here to help me the whole time. I can't lie. It's been like... Even when I was in my downest part of my life, I mean, it was the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with. You know, I've never had to deal with anything like that before. And when you're my age, 44 years old, man, it's real hard to just lose everything and, you know, get set back several months and then try to figure out how you're going to catch everything back up. Well, these folks right here behind me, man, they did a hell of a job, excuse my language, but, you know, they've looked out for me and got me back where I need to be, and I really appreciate it.

This is just a little bit of what we do. This is a small portion, but this is an everyday job. We talk to them almost every day. Sometimes I don't want to hear from them, but it's a relationship that we build from. From this point on, I believe we're going to be lifelong friends, if nothing else. I want to bring all of them back to help move this program along. Thank you.

Good morning. Good morning. Um, so I'm, my name is Devin Tanks Lane. I served with VJ being in the office of community safety initiatives and I'm sure she was here. She would definitely want to say thank you to the mayor. Thank you to all of you and thank you to counselor Tate as well as all of the wonderful people that are behind us because we know that without them, without their long hours, long days and just all of their experience, this work would not be able to just be executed the way that it is. We all know that the service doesn't stop because there are continuing situations that we just need to keep working down in order to make Birmingham safe for all the people that work, live, play, and worship in such an amazing city. So once again, I just want to say thank you all. The work never stops. The service never stops. And let's continue to make Birmingham safe for everyone.

All right, don't move.

Thank y'all. Thank you, Councilor Smith.

Thank you, Madam President. Before, oh, y'all aren't leaving, okay. Before y'all leave, I just, hold on, before y'all leave, because I want y'all to hear this from me as well, I want to say thank you. You know, Madam President and I were talking, and she was saying that you all didn't feel appreciated, right, because due to the decrease in homicides, et cetera. And I'm not anti police, but the police were getting a lot of credit and people weren't acknowledging that the work was much more than the police, um, getting increased in incentives, you know, improvement efforts. It was the people behind the scenes. I think someone said, Mr. Barnes, whether they're working at 11 AM or 1 AM, you guys are doing the hard work because that takes a lot of hard work to really sacrifice your life for the greater good of the community. You know, I was just looking at you all taking the picture. I was like, this is Birmingham. This is what Birmingham is about. It's about community. You know, we put this charge a couple years ago that it had to take community. to really set Birmingham free because no one is gonna save us. I said that a few years ago, no one but us is gonna save us. So I wanna say thank you. Also, thank you to Brandon Johnson. I don't know where he is, but Brandon Johnson is another person. He and Utrecht really, really did research for years, y'all, before this was established. They were told no a lot of times, but they kept going. I really like what someone said, every life has value. I think a lot of people in my other life, I'm an attorney, I do a little criminal law as well. A lot of people feel like their life doesn't have value when they go to jail or they get in trouble. And so they think I don't have a, you know, I lose you because you lose your identity in jail. Everybody knows that you become a number. And when you come out into society, you still remain a number, even though you don't have your prison number. Right. But people like you, I remember, I forgot your name. I'm sorry. You were like, they really walked me through. They gave me a chance to see that my life can be meaningful outside of maybe my past. And so I really thank you because I think every person, the only difference between us in this room and other people is someone really invested in us, right? Whether it was our parents, a coach, somebody invested in us and put us on the right path. And I'm really happy to see all this work because the cycle has to end, right? Birmingham has a history of violence. My mom reminded me of that. When we started in the very beginning, Birmingham had that history. I think she told me about, like, the mine workers that used to fight. Like, so we're naturally fighting against the natural grain of the city. But I am just, I think, Madam Pro Tem, Madam President, I think this will be the 10th of August. This will be our legacy. This will be y'all's legacy. We will be the council and the mayor that invest it. in our community with gun violence, instead of just throwing money at resources, throwing money at the police. We are, you know, the 10 of us are going out there, Councilwoman Tate, walking the streets, going there. You don't see a lot of politicians doing that. You see a lot of politicians, they'll take a picture and then they'll leave. But I really appreciate that. And Mayor Woodfin, in January 2019, because I remember standing there, it was a long speech, You declared this a public health crisis because it needed to be treated as such. And I think that is the catalyst that started all of this. I remember Madam Pro Tem and others were telling us, it's going to take us time, two years before you see the effects. We started this in 2021, it's 2026 and we're finally seeing this. And so I just want to remind the public, change takes time. It really takes time. So I just want to thank you guys so much. I'm going to give a shout out to Man Pro Tem's event. Heal the Block is August 1st. You will see all these people there celebrating the community, giving them those resources as well. And then lastly, even though the White House has eliminated the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, that doesn't mean that this work doesn't stop. That just means we have to be more creative. And thank you once again to Mayor Woodfin for increasing the funding in this year's proposed budget for this type of work. It's much needed, but we still have more funding that we need to expand hobbies. So thank you guys so much. And I'm finally done. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilor Woods.

One more. Thank you, Madam President. One, I wanted to show appreciation to my colleague, President Pro Tem Tate, for I think really being the engine of pushing this, Mayor Woodfin, I think we had a lot of conversations years ago around what we needed to have. We needed this element in Birmingham, and we had to figure out how to execute on it. And so had the opportunity to go to other cities and see what they were doing and see what we didn't have here. And so to see so many people here, to see the work that is happening here in Birmingham, you just have to kind of step back and take it in. It's something that was created, something that we needed, something that they went and found the right people to execute it. And so when we look at the progress that we've made, and even as we envision where we're going and continuing to improve, you just have to have the appreciation for the work that's being done. Because listen to the stories. There's certain things that can only be solved through relationship. And so having people on the ground, building those relationships and creating that change. So I just want to commend everybody. And as we take a moment to really just appreciate how far we've come, but gird ourselves for the journey ahead. So thank you.

Thank you so much. Thank you again, Mayor Woodfin and Councilor Pro Tem for bringing this group to us today and having this opportunity to celebrate success. So thank you so much. Counselors, if you will, allow unanimous consent, and we can move from our agenda and allow the following presentation. Counselor Sonia Smith has a presentation this morning. We'll give her our attention. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Council Smith. All right. Well, good morning, everyone. I have Donald Smith here with me, not related from the James Lewis Tennis Center at the Inslee Recreation Center. Donald gives tirelessly of his time and effort, talents and heart to the James Lewis Tennis Center. And so he's here today to share some of the activities and accomplishments of the past year. what's happening this summer. And it looks like you've got one of our junior tennis players with us also. So I will pass it over to you, Donald. Good morning.

Good morning. Sonya, thank you for giving me the opportunity to come here and speak to the city council. I want to introduce myself. I'm Donald Smith. By day, I serve as a principal engineering inspector for the city of Birmingham. And this is my 37th year. By night, I serve as a tennis instructor for the James Lewis Tennis Center in Ensley Park. It's in District 8 and in District 9. And Sonia is an integral part of our tennis facility. I just want to give you all an update of some of the things that we do at the James Lewis Tennis Center. And as you all know, tennis is a sport that adds longevity to life. And it is a sport that you can continue for a lifetime. So right now I want to give you some of the things that we're doing at the James Lewis Tennis Center. As of today, we have a 3.5 ladies team that's going to the state championship in Auburn, Alabama. We have a 4.0 doubles team that's going to the state championship in Dothan. We also have a junior team now that's playing junior USTA league tennis here in the city of Birmingham. And Dayton AG is one of the students in our junior tennis program. Also, we will have a Magic City Tennis Tournament in September where we have athletes from all over the country coming to play in our tennis tournament. Some of the awards that we have received at the James Lewis Tennis Center are as follows. We have received the award for the best tournament of the year, the year 2025, by the USTA Southern. I, Donald Smith, received the Huber Kessler Inspiration Cup Award for Outstanding Volunteer for the James Lewis Tennis Center by tirelessly giving up my time for the past 20 years of teaching tennis at the James Lewis Tennis Center for free. The next thing is Dayton AG. Will you please stand up, Dayton? Dayton is the winner of the Arthur Ashe essay, where she wrote an essay, and she won a free trip to Atlanta to see some of the top tennis players. Also, she is participating in the NJTL, National Junior Tennis and Learning, which James Lewis is a member of. And each year, the seven states get together to send athletes to the conference which will be held in Memphis, Tennessee. Also, Dayton is a varsity tennis player at Homewood High School. She has a GPA of 3.7. She played an integral part for the Homewood High School to qualify for the state championship. in Mobile. Also, Dayton is a certified tennis instructor at the James Lewis Tennis Center. So we are really happy to have Dayton to be a part of our tennis team and our tennis family. So some of the things that I want to talk to you about are the things that we do at the James Lewis Tennis Center. We offer free tennis lessons every Monday through Wednesday from 5.30 to 8 o'clock. They're free to adults and juniors starting at the age of 12. James Lewis Tennis Center has also networked with Mary Mullins. Mary, would you please stand? Mary is the director of the Inslee Rec Center, and we work tirelessly with Mary Mullins to provide free tennis activities to the Junior Summer Program. And these kids range from age 6 to 12, so we provide tennis lessons for them. We provide rackets, and we do all these activities inside the gym when it's time. when it's too hot to go outside. Also, with Mary Mullins at the Rec Center, the James Lewis Tennis Center, we sponsor six kids every year. If the parents can't afford the summer program, we step in and provide funds to support those kids who need to go to that summer program. Also, the James Lewis Tennis Center, we work along with Mary Mullins with Mary Mullins for the at-risk program that Mrs. Tate and a lot of the members responsible at the James Lewis Tennis Center. And I think one of the things that we want to provide for them through tennis and at this at-risk program is to provide a safe haven for all kids because all kids should have the opportunity to learn in a free environment where there's no hostility and provide a safe haven for all those who want to come to this program. Also, the other thing that we do with Mary Mullins at the Ainsley Rec Center is that for the kids who don't have anything for Christmas, we network with her so we can sponsor gift cards or gift certificates for those kids who parents can't afford to provide gifts or things for them for school. We also provide service to the Rec Center if they need basketballs, any kind of equipment for the office, we provide those things too for the James Lewis Tennis Center. Also, what we do at the James Lewis Tennis Center is that We network with Mack Alpine and we network with the Alphonse Fraternity. We help provide them with the turkey giveaway and the sweet potato and collard green giveaway every year. We provide to help them with that. Also, the James Lewis Tennis Center, we work with athletes from the following schools to provide free tennis lessons to give them opportunities to grow their game. We work with kids from the Homewood School System, Ramsey High School, Gardendale High School, Cornerstone, McAdory High School, Jackson Olin, and also Holy Family High School. They come to our facility and we provide them with free tennis lessons and instructions to help them be competitive and learn this sport that will give them an opportunity to develop good life skills. So Sonya, at this time, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to come here to let the city council know what we're doing to make a difference in our community. And I thank you for giving me the opportunity to come and talk. And you also being an avid tennis player and part of our tennis team as we, you know, change lives through tennis. So Sonya, thank you very much.

All right. Thank you.

Thank you so much. We appreciate you, Councilor Smith, for making this recognition. Thank you, Mr. Smith, for your service to the city and, more importantly, to the service to the community. We know how valuable tennis as a sport can be, as well as a great form of exercise, and so I consider it a community health initiative. So thank you very much. Thank you again. At this time, councilors, we return back to our agenda. Mr. Clerk, do we have announcements of boards and agency explorations for July?

Yes, ma'am. Start with the Birmingham Land Bank. We got Bradley P. Green. Term expires July 15, 2026. It's a four-year term. That's under the Community Development Committee. Then we have the Design Review Committee. We have Ivan Holloway. Term expires 7-30-2026. It's a three-year term, and that is a resident at large position. We've got Brian Wolfe, and that's a building trade practitioner. Term expires 7-30-2026. That is a three-year term. We've got Abel Barnes. That is a resident at large position. Term expires 7-30-2026, and it's a three-year term. And then we have Scott Barnett, and that is a registered practitioner. Architect position and it's 7 30 26 is expiration date. There's also a three-year term and that is on the planning and zoning committee and Finally, we have public park and recreation board which have runny rice a term aspires 7 16 2026 and it is a six-year term under the Arts and Parks Committee

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Counselors, we note those announcements of boards and agency explorations. And we'll get those to the appropriate committee chair. Thank you very much. At this time, before we have the consideration of the items that are before us today for consent, I'd like to read this statement. All items designated as consent are considered to be routine and non-controversial and will be approved by one motion. No separate discussion of these items will be permitted unless a council member, the mayor, or resident Interested in a public hearing, so request. If so, such items will revert to its normal place on the agenda order of business. All matters of permanent operation, and they're indicated with a capital P, will be read. All other matters will be announced by reading the item number only. All public hearings will be announced. Mr. Clerk, if you could give us the items being considered for consent.

Okay, consent agenda starts on page two with items two, three, and four. Page 3, items 5, 6, and 7. Page 4, items 8 and 9. Page 5, items 13 and 14. Please note that item 13 was recommended by public safety. Page 6, items 15, 16, and 17. All those items were recommended by public safety as well. Page 7. I have items 18, 19, 21, and 22. On item 19, looking through the paperwork, it seems that address is 704 and not 701. I think it's 704 Pratt Highway. Page 8, we have items 23, 24, 25, 26, and 27 on consent. Page 9, we have items 28, 29, 30, 31, and 32 on consent. Page 10... items 33, 34, 35, 36, and 37. Page 11, items 38, 39, 40, 41, and 42. Page 12, items 43, 44, 45, 46, and 47. Page 13, items 48, 49, 50, 51, and 52. Page 14, items 53, 54, 55, 56, 57. Page 15, items 58, 59, 60, and 61. Page 16, items 62, 63, and 64. Page 17, items 65, 66, and 67. Page 18, items 68, 69, 70, and 71. However, on item 71... We're going to go, one, two, three, fourth line up from the bottom, and we're going to start the strike as authorized by Section 31-9-10, Code of Alabama, and Section 8 of Act 1969-916, consistent with the agreement entered into on April the 4th, and we'll stop there. 1995, yeah. So we'll end the strike there, and it should end with agency, the synopsis. Then on page 19, we pick back up the consent agenda with items 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, and 77. And we conclude with item number 78 on page 20.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. At this time, Councilors, are there any items you'd like to have added or removed from consent?

Councilor Smitherman? Yes. Thank you, Madam President. We don't have to take item 14 off, but what is the amendment?

Madam President, to Councilor Smith and his question, Councilor, we're changing the date. That's it.

Okay, I thought so. And then can we take off item 60 on page 15?

The request is to move item 60 on page 16 from consent. Mary Whiffen, I also had a question about item number 14 and related to the Tool Bank USA. Thanks for the clarification on the amount. My question is, have any changes occurred with how our residents are able to utilize this? I'm sorry. I did have a question. I didn't necessarily want to take it off consent, but item number 14 with Tool Bank USA, I'm having some questions from residents, neighborhood associations, of how they're able to secure these tools, and has any of that changed, or if we need to take that off consent and get someone from the administration just to help us. Just want to ensure that nothing has changed with what our original agreement was.

We can just take it.

All right. I'll keep this item on consent, but I do want to come back later and just ask about the agreement, and I'll ask who this item refers to, because it's not necessarily thought that it is one counselor's item. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you. We can keep it on consent with the agreement.

Second.

All righty.

All right, voting should be open. Okay, thank you. Council Member Vassa.

Aye.

Council Member Wood. Aye.

I'm also an aye.

All right, that should be up.

All right, thank you. The consent agenda passes. If you were here for any items that were listed for consent, they have been approved and will continue with the rest of the agenda.

All right, item one. In order to amend the zoning district map of the city of Birmingham, case number ZAC, 2026-3, the chain zone district boundaries from R6 multiple dwelling district to QMUL, qualified mixed-use low district, in order to allow a boutique antique store filed by Jeff and Amy Smith, the property owner and applicant for property generally located at 3849 Claremont Avenue, Birmingham, and situated in Section 32, Quarter Section 2, Township 17, Rancho West,

3 5 2 2 2 and hearing of our supporters motion please second all right counselors this is an ordinance to amend the zoning district map of the city of Birmingham to change certain zone district boundaries and so I'll turn this public hearing over to counselor Josh thank you madam president do we have staff on hand to report on this item

Good morning. My name is Kim Spurl. I serve as the zoning administrator in the Department of Planning, Engineering, and Permits. The case before you this morning is ZAC 2026-3. This is an application to change the zoning from R6, Multiple Dwelling District, to QMUL, which would be qualified mixed-use low. The property is located at 3849 Claremont Avenue in the Forest Park, South Avondale neighborhood. The applicant is proposing to utilize the existing single-family home and convert it into a boutique antique store. The property is approximately 1,300 square feet, and it is one-story. The business is proposed to operate Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the majority of all activities will occur during those business hours. However, she will have occasional nighttime trunk shows as part of the operations. The subject property is .13 acres that is currently zoned R6, Properties to the north, east, and west are also zoned R6, and property to the south is zoned R3, which is our single-family district. The city's adopted long-range land use plan does identify this parcel as mixed-use low. The proposed use would be considered a retail operation, and it is allowed in the mixed use load district, limited to 1,500 square feet, so the applicant would meet that condition. There were no comments from the landscaping division, from stormwater, or from the Department of Transportation. I would note this property is located in the southern framework plan area. Their rezoning has not gone through yet. It still has to go to the planning and zoning committee and to the council. But the current proposed rezoning map does identify this property as D5, which is multiple dwelling district. The applicant met with the Forest Park South Avondale Neighborhood Association on March 3rd of this year. and they voted to support their request. It was 14 votes to support and 12 votes to not support. At its regularly scheduled meeting on March 17th, the Zoning Advisory Committee had a split vote, so they did not recommend that this property be rezoned. On April 14th, the Planning and Zoning Committee reviewed this application and voted three to zero to recommend the request subject to two Q conditions. And those Q conditions are number one, the property could only be used as retail or single family residential. And with the retail, operating hours would be restricted between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. with an occasional special event related to the retail activity. And then the second Q condition is that any existing or future structures on the property shall not exceed 35 feet in height. and that is because the properties are adjacent to other residential properties, and mixed-use low would allow you to go to 45, so the 35 feet requirement would keep it with what is adjacent to this site. That concludes the staff report. I'm happy to answer any questions that you guys might have.

Thank you, Kim. Any questions from counsel?

Councilman Williams. Thank you. Is the property to the left a residence?

Yes, sir. That is one of the recommended queue conditions. It would be retail or residential only. No other uses.

That's not my question. Is the property to the left a residential property currently?

Oh, it is residential now. Yes, sir.

And then the property to the right is also residential? Yes, that's correct. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman. Any other questions from Council? All right. Well, thank you, Kim.

Um, I'm sorry. Um, Vasta, I do have a question. Maybe it's for you and counselor or Quinn or somebody can ask, why did ZAC not recommend this item?

So the zoning advisory committee, we had four members present and they were split two to two. Two members felt like the rezoning would be intruding into the single family residential that's existing in the neighborhood. And then the other two members felt like because there are similar uses a few houses down, that it would not be obtrusive into the neighborhood. So it was a split vote.

Okay. Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

And then my question is for either one of you. What happened at PNZ as far as, I know you guys approved it, but you also set limits with approval. How did you get to that point of setting limits with approval?

Counselor Smithman, so in our packet, the The applicant has provided a letter that really goes into detail sort of some of the background and the plans for the property. So, you know, one of the factors that the committee considered is that the property owner here also owns Similar property just you know a few parcels down the street that Is retail it's currently operating as a retail operation and The you know just some other I guess minor details You know we felt like or at least for speaking for myself you know I felt like this could work but acknowledging that you know we wouldn't want this type of property to just be unrestricted mixed-use low and And actually, the application was for rezoning to commercial, I believe. And so the committee advised that rather than going to commercial, we, you know, if we're going to do this mixed use low, our qualified mixed use low would be more appropriate because it would allow for the retail activities, but it would also preserve the use as a residence. And then the qualifications being, you know, that it could only be used for retail with restricted hours and then the height restrictions.

Okay. I agree. Because the neighborhood should stay a neighborhood. And so my question, I guess in general, is this not consider spot zoning there?

It's, in my opinion, it's a unusual rezoning request.

Because I just actually, I feel like I heard Councilor Abbott in my head because I remember she was so against spot zoning for situations like this. So, thank you.

And just as I'm reviewing this, recognizing that the neighborhood did vote in support of this rezoning. And so that was part of the decision towards that.

Well, I did have a question about it. I see that the neighborhood had voted 14, 4, and 12 against. So I did have a question about it, and I did also read the applicant's letter with the vision and the goals for the use of the property. I just wanted to ask staff more about parking and the access within the neighborhood. I know the ellipses of the hours, they would close at 5, but I just didn't know daytime. How does that affect that neighborhood?

Yes, ma'am. So there is available on-street parking down closer to the small commercial district, and the applicant could speak more to their parking plan. I know that they do have access for some parking off the alley in the rear of the property, but they intended to utilize on-street parking and then some of the available parking lots in the area.

Okay, thank you. Mr. Foster, if we could hear from the applicant, I'd just like to hear a little bit of the vision.

Sure. Who's the applicant present today? All right. Thank you. Please state your name and tell us a little bit about your business. Thank you.

Sure. My name's Amy Smith, and thank you so much for letting me speak today. My icebreaker is that during this process I wish I had hired a professional and right now is the maximum wish I'd hired a professional but I'm going to get through this and I do appreciate you letting me speak because this is very near and dear to me and it's very personal so I'm going to read from my paper first and then ad-lib some things so as I said good morning thank you very much for the opportunity to speak today My name is Amy Smith, and I'm here to share my vision for the property I own at 3849 Claremont Avenue. This property houses a one-story, 1,300-square-foot Craftsman Bungalow and is located at the end of the Forest Park Commercial Corridor. There's no new construction proposed, and there will be no changes to the building's footprint, height, or exterior character. Basically, the only improvements will be landscaping to close in the property. And I would like to take this moment. There was a dumpster at the end of my driveway at this property, and it is now enclosed with a cement block wall. So if anyone in this room had anything to do with that, thank you. It happened overnight, so I'm very appreciative. So the proposed use of this property is an antique store. When I say it will be modest in scale, I am not kidding. Opening day I will be the one and only employee, but hopefully within due time we'll probably have three to four, but there will be never more than one employee at a time. As we said, the hours will be Tuesday through Saturday, 10 to 5. I also would like to stress that I have two daughters that play travel sports. So if there's a Saturday that comes up where I need to be in North Carolina for a soccer game, there's a good chance that my store is going to be closed. So when I say modest, I truly mean modest. Parking, as we just talked about, will follow the established pattern along Claremont Avenue. And so this will be a combination of street spaces. And then also with red or white, which is across the street, there are 45 spots in that parking lot. And it is free to anyone until after 4 p.m. So basically, anyone that comes through my store can park in this parking lot free until 4 o'clock, and then I close at 5. So really, there's no issue. And furthermore, to my neighbors, it actually is going to free up more parking for them because right now, I currently have residents, and they have three cars. So that's going to free up more spaces right in front of the house. And then also, I know that some people had concerns about deliveries and being blocked in the alley. Again, this is so modest in scale. The initial delivery will be coming directly from my parents' house where all of my antiques are stored. And then from that initial delivery on, it will literally be personal vehicles. So nothing will be blocked. We won't be in anyone's way. Sorry, I'm getting very nervous. But I would like to say I appreciate Councilman O'Quinn bringing up the fact that I do own another property. Five doors down, I bought 3831 Claremont Avenue, and I purchased it in 2019. Some of you might remember it as the Naked Art Gallery. And while this was a beloved institution of Forest Park, the property definitely needed some love. And so I have done that and managing this building has given me a deep appreciation for what it means to be a responsible historic homeowner. And I do firmly believe that this is the best way to preserve this home. And in closing, I would just like to say, um, there is such a need for this in our little forest park village and like The neighborhood depends on us, the merchants. The merchants depend on the neighbors. And when I tell you that my current tenant, Net Birmingham, she runs out of inventory, as does shop next door in general. They run out of things to sell. So I would love to be a part of this. And at this time, I would love to answer any of your questions.

Open it up to council for questions.

Oh, wait. I do have a question. You stated that there are street spaces. How many are there?

I used to know the exact number. Right there from 3831 Claremont, which is right there at General, all the way down to 3849, I believe there's 30 street parking spaces. And I am So I do all of my own yard work at 3831 and 3849. So I am at both places all day, every day. And I will say there is a morning rush for coffee and breakfast in general. And so usually between 730 and 830, there might be people popping in and parking on the street for about 20 minutes. And then there's no one. The parking lot at Red or White is empty. Plenty of street parking. This is when everyone's at work. There's another lunch rush that comes in from about 11.30 to 1 o'clock. And then after that, from 1 to 4, two weeks ago, I took three days and I counted, and between 10 and 12, and then 1 and 4 o'clock, at any given time, there was at least 15 spaces open on the street.

Okay. Thank you.

All right. Any other questions from Council? Council Gunn.

Thank you, Council Vasa. I just wanted to get clarification, and this may be a question for staff. The future land use would accommodate, I just want to make sure I understood correctly, the future land use plan would accommodate this type of development or business?

Yes, sir. That's correct. The future land use plan identified this property as mixed use low. Okay. And that is the requested rezoning.

Okay, and so when would that land use be adopted?

So the land use plan has been adopted. It's the subsequent rezoning that has not been adopted yet.

Okay.

But the rezoning was recommended for D5, not mixed use low. The mixed use low is still the recommended future land use category should the existing commercial extend further into the neighborhood. Okay, thank you.

Council Williams.

And then I have one more question for you. Um, is, was that, is the house, has that house been condemned?

Not to my knowledge. No, sir.

Okay.

Thank you. All right. Uh, thank you. Uh, I think we want to open this up for any comments from the public. Is there anyone here who would like to speak? Yes. Please come up to the podium. You'll have three minutes to speak. Just state your name and your address, please. Thank you.

Thank you. My name is Melody Lake. I live at 3845 Claremont Avenue. This is directly next door to the property in question, and I measured that we are 12 feet apart. I wanted to begin by saying that this is not at all against Jeff and Amy. They've been wonderful owners. They've done a great job of renovating the properties that they have. And really, this is not against necessarily an antique store. But I think that our primary opposition is that approving this request would set a precedent that gradually erodes the residential character of our neighborhood. This request, like I said, is not limited to one antique store. Potentially, if this property is rezoned to commercial, it opens the door to future commercial uses that would be far more disruptive. I can say that our home is not only our home, but it's our greatest asset as well. We don't want to live next to a bar or a convenience store or a smoke shop with an increased risk of fire or other damage or hours that extend into the night. And opening this up at this level, at this commercial use, could eventually cause that to be an easier thing to happen. About parking shortages, yes, there are parking shortages. You all have heard about that from several people. There's steady traffic. I'm a massage therapist and so my hours vary. I come home sometimes during the middle of the day and then I go back out. So parking is really important for me. The alley space for parking we use quite frequently because of a lack of parking on the street. And I'm afraid that deliveries and pickups in that alley would create a real risk of being blocked from entering or leaving property when I need to do that. I think that's all I wanted to say. Do you have any questions for me?

Miss Lake, thank you for your comments. Any counselors have any questions for applicants?

Excuse me now for applicant for the speaker Miss Lake my understanding from numerous emails and now my phone is blowing up that the surrounding neighbors share your sentiment, and it's not necessarily anything personal. It's more so they live on a residential property and do not want a commercial use, as you said, 12 feet away from their residence. Is that your understanding of the sentiment?

That is my understanding of the sentiment, yes.

And then I also was told... that they were not aware that the neighborhood, during the neighborhood, that the neighborhood meeting was voting on this issue. And so they said, shame on me for not attending. However, my opposition is still what it is.

Right. Yes, there are some who did not know about the meeting and some who just couldn't attend. I couldn't attend the meeting. So... I do believe that the vote was so split at that meeting, being 14 in favor and 12 against, that had the neighbors that you're talking about been able to attend, that that would have been a very different situation. Oh, yes, ma'am.

Just based on my emails, I know that vote would not have passed. Yes. Okay. Thank you.

Yes. Thank you. Anything else?

Thank you, Counselor. Any other questions? All right, seeing none, thank you. Madam President, I hand it over to you for a vote.

Thank you, Counselors. At this time, if there are any other questions, we are ready for the vote. Yes, Councilor Williams.

You know, when it comes to things like this, I hope that we can respect those homeowners that have invested in their homes. I know we talked about that there is retail, you know, down the road, and there is. But, you know, we have a situation where we have homeowners that said that they don't want to live next to a commercial use facility. And I think that that's a very fair expectation. I know that I don't want my next-door neighbor to open up a shop, even if it is modest use like an antique shop. I still don't want a commercial business next to my residence, which is why I live in a residential neighborhood. If I wanted that, if that did not bother me, I would live in a mixed-use somewhere downtown where that was commonplace. But these folks have bought houses with the expectation that their neighbors will be residents and not visitors. And then the idea that they will rarely host events at night even is more concerning because what does that mean? So anyway.

Thank you. Councilor McLean?

Yes, Ms. Sperl. The city has, in the relative recent past, created a new zoning designation called Urban Neighborhood that allows some small businesses to operate within residences. Taking this situation, could you compare and contrast for me just quickly how urban neighborhood, that designation would differ from what we're trying or what's been proposed here?

So the urban neighborhood district is kind of trying to address our missing middle. housing that we have in some of our neighborhoods, and it's to serve almost as a buffer between our higher density residential districts and our single family residential districts. An urban neighborhood does allow a small urban grocery store and a small restaurant or bakery cafe with a special exception by the Zoning Board of Adjustment. So the uses are somewhat similar in the mixed use low, but urban neighborhood would be seen more as that transition zone between a multifamily dwelling district like this and a mixed use district. It would kind of serve as a buffer, if that makes sense.

Okay.

Thank you. Any other questions?

Madam President, thank you. I just simply wanted to say, Ms. Lake, I appreciate you coming and speaking in person. I can certainly understand your perspective as living sort of right next to the property at hand. I DO WANT TO SAY THAT MY COLLEAGUES MAY KNOW THAT MY FOCUS IN THE LAST SIX MONTHS AS A COUNSELOR HAS BEEN TO REPRESENT THE VOICES AND BEING AN ADVOCATE FOR THE RESIDENTS IN THE DISTRICT THAT I SERVE. AS CASE IN POINT, I KNOW THAT THIS MIGHT BE AN UNPOPULAR OPINION, BUT AS WE TALK ABOUT SHORT-TERM RENTALS IN THE COMING WEEKS AND MONTHS, THAT MY POSITION IS HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY the residents and what they've spoken to me personally. In this case, I know that Ms. Lake, outside of your email and presentation today and one other conversation in all the neighborhood association visits that I've made this year at Forest Park South Avondale, it has been more in favor and support for this business than against. And that does heavily sway my opinion on the matter, but just wanted to say for the record that depending on how this vote goes, that of course feedback is always welcome as we move forward. So thank you.

Thank you, Council Vassa. No other comments? We're ready for the vote.

Council Member Smith. Okay. Vassa. Aye. I'm sorry. Council Member Woodson.

Aye.

Council President.

No.

Chair. All right.

Thank you. That item does not pass. Next item.

Should be item number 10. I'm sorry. Yes. Item 10.

Yes. And can we bring up items 10 and 11 together? Okay.

Thank you. Item 10 in ordinance to amend title. 8, Municipal Court Chapter 3, fines and costs. Section 8, administrative adjudication of certain minor offenses in lieu of trial of the General Code of the City of Birmingham to remove certain additional penalties for parking violations and an administrative fee for tickets more than 30 days overdue subject to collections. Item 11, an ordinance to amend Title 8, Chapter 3, Section 10, summary disposition of minor traffic and other minor offenses. A fine is scheduled to revise the fines for the summary disposition of municipal parking offenses to add certain offenses previously omitted from the summary disposition schedule to provide for administrative fee to cover certain expenses for tickets referred to collection. Motion.

Second. Thank you. Counselors, these two items have been called together. These items did not receive unanimous consent and were held over from 5-26 to today. If we could just allow for administration to give us just an overview of these particular proposals.

Yes, ma'am, Madam President. James Fowler, along with the Department of Transportation team, is entering the chamber now. Director Fowler will give an overview. Chief Fowler will give an overview. And then we'll pass it to the Department of Transportation. But please recall this has been a multi-year conversation. And this is another part of this overall implementation we're doing to have a better and more efficient parking system within the city limits of Birmingham.

That's exactly right. Good morning. Again, my name is James Fowler. I serve as the chief of public infrastructure for the city of Birmingham. As the mayor mentioned, this is a multi-year reform effort, particularly focused on our on-street parking system, though it does relate to some degree private lots and then also our off-street system, which is managed by the parking authority. But this effort is very much focused on our on-street system, which I think has a legacy of being perceived as not functioning the way that we want it to. So in some minds, essentially kind of a broken system. What we want to do is create a system that is reliable and predictable, feels fair, feels like there's accountability because a system like that promotes quality of life, it protects safety and economic vitality. One thing that we are not trying to do with this, but I think people's minds naturally jump to it, is we're not trying to increase revenue with this system. That is a side effect of a well-functioning system. The reason cities manage on-street parking is because it actually promotes access and convenience, quality of life and safety. One of the ways that we incentivize that and incentivize turnover is through price. So a well-functioning system in cities that have effective on-street parking systems, it does generate revenue, but that's not the goal of what we're trying to do. And I'll even jump ahead and say that in cities where they have effective systems and it does generate revenue, ideally we actually reinvest some portion of that revenue back into the zones where it's generated. So things like sidewalk improvements and landscaping and potentially security cameras or even live officers SO HELPING TO BENEFIT THOSE DISTRICTS. SO WHAT YOU HAVE IN FRONT OF YOU IS JUST ANOTHER COPY OF WHAT WE'VE CONSIDERED OUR 12 STEP REFORM EFFORT. WHAT WE'RE DOING HERE TODAY IS FOCUSED ON SORT OF THE MIDDLE SECTION OF THAT. SO ESSENTIALLY ITEMS THREE THROUGH NINE TO SOME DEGREE. ABOUT A YEAR AGO WE PASSED A REFORM THAT ALLOWS FOR AN ACCOUNTABILITY ORDINANCE FOR UNPAID METER VIOLATIONS AND JUST UNPAID VIOLATIONS IN GENERAL. Over the last year, we've been working through standing up the systems that are complex and interdepartmental that allow us to actually implement that system. We're very close to the finish line on that. Paige Ishmael is going to talk through what these items are today and kind of what's next and how we're communicating that. But that's where this fits into the overall big picture of parking reform and what we're trying to do as, again, a multi-year effort. So with that, I think Paige is going to come up and talk about the two items today.

Slightly shorter.

Good morning, Council. We have a presentation to bring up.

That was so fast.

All right, I'm Paige Ishmael. I'm a project manager with the Department of Transportation. As Chief Fowler mentioned, we have been working on this parking reform initiative for about two years now, and it has been a citywide multi-department initiative. We have been meeting weekly with OCA, Municipal Court, IMS, BPD, and Finance, just to let you all know how closely we are working with EVERY PIECE OF PARKING, WELL, PARKING TOUCHES EVERY PIECE OF THE CITY, REALLY. SO WE HAVE BROUGHT EVERYBODY TO THE TABLE TO MAKE SURE WE'RE DOING THIS THE RIGHT WAY. Going off of what Chief Fowler said, what are the things we need to solve with our parking program? We know we have a culture of non-compliancy. We know we have public safety concerns, and we have economic development opportunities that we are missing. So because people are not following our parking regulations, they are causing these public safety issues. They're parking in crosswalks. They're blocking emergency entrances and exits, they're blocking fire hydrants, they're parking on sidewalks, they're hurting our city infrastructure, just to name a few of the common things that we see. So it's about paying for your parking space, but it's also about these public safety issues we need to address. And the two items on the agenda today are just small components of the overall system, but they're necessary to really get us to that finish line. The third thing here is increasing enforcement. We know we need more parking enforcement, but enforcement can also take the shape of educating the public, letting people know what they can do, what they cannot do, and following up. Right now, the city does not have a mechanism to touch base with people that have parking ticket violations. We don't have that DMV information, so we don't have a way to mail a letter or make a phone call and remind people that they have these tickets. So right now, the system is you get a ticket and we hope you pay for it. So next slide, please. Chief Fowler gave this overview, but where we are now is we've procured the software that lays on top of our parking enforcement system, and it is about to go live. And once that system goes live, you're going to see an uptick in parking enforcement measures, which is why we're here today to discuss items 10 and 11. If you could go to the next slide. So our next steps are public education. We have a large public awareness campaign we've been working closely with OPI on, and we're going to get to that in a little bit more detailed. Once the software goes live, we're going to be able to offer improved customer service. So people that are getting these parking violations, it will be easier for them to pay. They'll have an online system. You can do everything in one spot. You can even protest a ticket online, which you're not able to do right now, so we're hoping that'll take some lift. off of municipal court staff as well. This software is going to allow us to have these notification letters, and we will also have the process of sending violators that have overdue tickets to collections, which is not something we can do right now. So we're hoping that altogether, this is gonna help increase this culture of compliance that we're up against. So on the next slide. Now you'll see item 10 that we're proposing today is an administrative fee. This fee is $3. It is a one time fee. It only applies to tickets that are past the 30 day So what that covers is $1.50 to pull the data from the DMV to get the mailing address to be able to send a letter to tell someone they have an overdue parking ticket. And then the other $1.50 covers the cost to actually print and mail the letter. So the $3 is what gets us to be able to reach back out to the violator and let them know that they have a past due ticket. Then item 11 is a fine increase. So this applies to parking violation fees. Our fines have not been revisited since 2008. And if you look across the United States and in the southeast, We are lower on our fines than most other municipalities around us. So we feel that it's time to look at those while we are redeveloping this overall system. And we propose increasing those by $10. So right now, just to give you a reference, our expired meter fee is $15. That would go up to $25. And, um, really the point of this is that costs shape how people behave. So we are hoping to get people on the front end of their behavior and let them, um, really know that we mean business and to do the right thing at the start so that this takes off more pressure from enforcement at the end page.

You know, my, I apologize to interrupt Madam president. I heard some of the response. in the chamber as well as on the day as to that. What we want to remind people is that that's not a cost to you if you actually comply with the law. You have a chance to pay your meter costs as well as renew your meter by phone. If you fail to actually comply with that, then that's the actual result of you not paying for your meter, which is an actual reasonable price. So the cost of the meter is not going up. If you don't comply with the law, that cost is going up, which has not risen since 2008. When you include inflation as well as other cities that have 200,000 residents our size and or smaller cities, that cost for failing to comply with the law is actually very reasonable because there are a lot of other cities that are well above $25. for a fine, actually. We're reminding people that's for a fine, not for the actual use of the meter.

And this will only apply to tickets moving forward once the new system is live. And just to give you an example of how that plays out, we had a meeting yesterday with UAB's director of transportation and we mentioned these items to them and they really applauded the efforts and they said, we know that our students take the price of the citations and figure out if they're going to park on the street and risk the fine or park in the deck that is provided to them with the monthly fee. And they've figured out they can risk up to four or five citations the street rather than park in a deck where they should and UAB is one of our top hot spots for parking violations there are students in almost every crosswalk they park in parking lanes so just imagine how many parking spaces you could have available if all the students of UAB actually utilize the decks because the pricing drove that behavior in the proper way Um, so, uh, the next slide is just going over our outreach plan. Um, so we've been working very closely with OPI. We have a new brand identity, so we've been calling this parking reform, but, um, the new, the new logo is park smart Birmingham, because it's really about education. We just want people. to park the right way. We have a new website. It is parksmartbhm.com and everything is consolidated to one site now. So you can go here and find where to park, how to pay, information about tickets, frequently asked questions on the new policies. You can pay your ticket. You can protest your ticket. You can do everything at this website. Next you'll see the communication rollout information. So we are very focused on digital and print. There's gonna be social media outreach, e-newsletter, printed assets, paid media, and all of that is kind of starting to go out this week. So the social media campaign is phase one. On the next slide you can see some of the graphics that have started to go out. showing that Park Smart branding. So that's Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Nextdoor, E's, new letters everywhere that you can see an ad. And on the next slide, you'll see the timeline of outreach. So we don't want anything to be a surprise to the public. We think that our software will be launching later this summer to early fall. And we're working closely with OPI, obviously, to get all these things out. And violators will be notified with a letter as soon as this launches. Anyone that has an overdue ticket since the passing of our towing ordinance will get a letter that says they have an overdue ticket in the mail before enforcement starts. So people should be very well informed about this initiative. So that's the overall plan, but today we're just focusing on those two adjustments that will help us move forward with the whole overall process.

Madam President and Council, just a couple other notes. One being that related to our parking meters in our Central Business District downtown and south side, it's not the same as it was five, use of it is not the same as it was five, 10, or 15 years ago. I think just on a personal note, what I used to see, I think at 5 p.m., Central Business District became a ghost town. No one was using it. That our parking on street parking that is and I think over the years 5 10 15 Definitely over the last 20 it has significant change where not just during the day, but after 5 and on weekends There's heavy use of our on street parking and our central business district at all times and so there needs to be a fair process of attached with compliance, but the compliance piece has this, we need the software to be able to do enforcement. I know for this council, enforcement is a big deal. The software gets us to the point where we can do the enforcement. I think the other thing, there was genuine concern about is this anti-business or does this hurt business? Based on all the research professional staff has done, We do not believe that. Again, we're not changing the actual fee for parking as it relates to on-street parking on the meter. We're changing how we engage if you fail to comply. voluntarily comply, which you have easy access to by computer or use of a cell phone, where it's not like it was 20 years ago or even 10 years ago where you had to walk out of whatever building you were in or meeting you were in to go feed the meter. So there's ample opportunity to be in compliance with this. It wasn't mentioned a lot, but this is moving forward, so three unpaid parking tickets. If you have a fourth unpaid parking ticket, then that escalates up to including towing. We think that's needed. Again, if people just do what they need to do on the front end, this gets us to a point where everybody's just complying with the actual law, and it makes it easy.

Thank you.

Oh, one last note. She mentioned UAB, but we know for most of our employers, and talking with Andre over at BPA, most employees who work for their employers, actually the combination of private decks, public decks, and private parking lots They use those. And so it's not targeting employers at all because their employees, majority of employees, don't have to use on-street parking throughout our city and over the south side.

Thank you. Thank you so much for bringing this information. I want to tell you what really... I want to focus on and I wanted to be sure and you have sort of addressed that in the communication plan. I don't want any resident to be blindsided by that this is coming or has a fear that this will really affect their ability to come in and out of downtown in order to get do business. Of course, we're talking about if you don't pay the parking fine. So for the large majority of us who do pay our parking fines or feed the meter as we need, again, we just want to keep in mind this is if you are violating one of the laws in the processes that we're putting in place today. So with the social media campaign and the awareness, you do have set timelines here or a time plan of how you will communicate this. Just tell me a little bit more about some of that strategy, because it's important to me, again, that the public has an awareness. And I also would like to go back and ask, will or will this not be retroactive? This starts from the moment that we start this, correct?

So this is not retroactive. It is moving forward. Pages will go deeper on the comms plan, but social media is just one aspect. There are other forms of public communication channels, radio. We'll engage every platform that exists to get this information out, and it won't be one time. We'll continue to communicate this in all of our channels, our city's website. I think at one of our recent retreats we showed you kind of some of the number of people on certain channels. So I believe the weekly we have of emails is well over, I know it's a minimum of 70,000 people. So we'll be able to touch everyone, including those who are not on social media, to communicate with them. This is the new way moving forward related to our parking system, on-street parking, as well as fees and up to towing if you don't do your part. Did I miss anything?

I don't think so. Talking with OPI yesterday, they are going to be making a flyer to go to all the CRRs so you can have it at your neighborhood meetings for handout. I know that they're going to add it to the mayor's mailer as well that goes out to all the residents. They have paid media in print as well. We have a a Birmingham Now article out right now, and there's an ad running in the Birmingham Times currently. And also, Brett Journey and his team are working really closely with the software team, so we don't have any hard dates, because it just depends on how all the engineering goes, but no one will be blindsided, because they will know week by week exactly when everything is going to go live. they're communicating really well internally, and they're really well prepared to put everything out in a timely manner.

Thank you. And I had one other question related to the administrative fee. But thank you. I think you broke it down. The $3, can you just go over that again for us?

Yes, yes. So it's $1.50 to... cover the actual print in the mail, so the piece of paper, the ink, and the stamp. And then the other $1.50 covers the fee to pull the mailing information from the DMV.

Thank you, because I just wanted to be sure again that we're clear on the use of these fees. I know we have certain surcharges and taxes that we put on people when they come and they rent a hotel room in the city. So I just wanted to see how that relationship to revenue generation actually looks like this is all administrative. And the last thing, and this is for Chief, and maybe anyone else who's worked with us before, I believe two years ago, we did make some changes to parking. Well, you had a three and out. You had three outstanding parking violations. And on the fourth one, you would be towed. And I just wanted to know, how does that relate to this particular item? And what has happened since we made those changes? I believe that was in 24 or 25.

Yes, ma'am. So just to clarify, so it was actually almost one year ago today. So that was July 26 of 2025. That's right.

That was my birthday.

And just to clarify that ordinance one more time so that folks understand. So if people have three unpaid violations on their fourth violation, not just after they have three, but on their fourth violation, they're eligible to be towed. So we won't be driving around actively looking for people that have three unpaid tickets or We'll be out looking for violators. And so if we pull up and see that somebody has improperly parked and they have three prior unpaid, then they can potentially be towed. So that should go into effect. While technically we could enforce it today, we're standing up the systems right now that allow us to do that. So towards the end of this summer is when we'll actually have the software in place and the enforcement and the training and the tools to actually implement that.

Thank you. Any other questions?

Yes, Madam President. Thank you, Madam President. Just quickly, I know Paige mentioned this too, just please make sure that we get the information on one sheet. You can send it over, I guess, to all of us so we can distribute it throughout to our neighborhoods and, you know, I think a lot of us put stuff in libraries and places as well. One key thing that you all said that was very key, it is a lot of sidewalk improvement going on throughout the district, and I think we hit on this yesterday when we had a conversation. We'd love to see signage go into these neighborhoods where people are parking cars, obstructing the sidewalks, and forcing people to walk into the roadway to potentially be hit by an oncoming vehicle that may be traveling at a high rate of speed, which I've seen a lot myself. So, you know, you're making these improvements, but people are still, you know, thinking the sidewalk is your driveway or whatever. And so I would love to see, you know, signage go up in these neighborhoods telling people, hey, you cannot park on the sidewalk. Thank you. Thank you.

Councilor Quinn, and then I'll come back to you.

Yes, thank you, Madam President. Madam Proton's point, I believe that's one of the citations that's being adjusted in this fee schedule. Another one that's a common complaint for residential areas is parking of commercial vehicles in residential areas. That's, you know, something that the Transportation Committee actually made some recommendations on. I think, you know, and even then, it's pretty modest. I think the citation is $60, which, you know, if you're operating a business, that's, you know, you're going to pay more for printing paper than for the citation. So anyway, question to... MAYOR'S TEAM IN GENERAL, BUT IT'S MY UNDERSTANDING THAT UP TO THIS POINT AND MAYBE EVEN AFTER THIS POINT, THAT OPERATIONS OF ON STREET PARKING AND PARKING ENFORCEMENT AND EVERYTHING RELATED TO you know, the parking that the city maintains and operates, you know, signage, contracts with vendors, so on and so forth, that the current status is that we operate all of that at a significant loss to the city. Otherwise, all of that does not pay for itself. Is that correct?

That is correct.

Do you have any estimate of what the difference between what it costs us to perform all of that versus what we take in to compensate for that activity?

I have an idea. It's just an estimate. It's not a significant deficit, but what we really want to do here is at least break even. We've had studies done in the past that show that if we were fully functioning successfully, that we could be profiting by $6 to $8 million. So that's what we're leaving on the table as a city that could go back into our infrastructure and help improve these things. Um, so I think that's, that's really the important thing to focus on is this loss opportunity.

Yeah. So, and as to kind of build on that idea, one of the things that's been discussed is potentially creating parking benefit districts where, you know, park side, uh, district, um, on street parking, uh, collections would go back into supporting the infrastructure in that district. That would be an example, right?

Yes, absolutely, yes. That's really the next step, and we're hoping once we get a good idea of how this software works and if we really love it, we can expand its use to help us with those parking benefit districts.

Okay, thank you. Thank you, Councilor Smith.

Thank you, Madam President. When will this go into effect if this is passed today?

So we hope, like I said, we don't have a hard deadline because we're really doing a lot of engineering on the back end and programming all this historic data to bring it over to the new system. But we hope it'll be late summer to early fall.

OK, so we have time.

Probably minimum. At the minimum, 60 days, just to get everything.

And the two items today would go into effect?

The two items would go into effect today, but to actually make sure everything's aligned, where we actually start being in a position to, if a person gets through TIG, it's the actual implementation of the software that can take up to 60 days. So I think there may have been a question of, well, could you give a, If you don't go into it, could we delay it going into effect? If we delay it going into effect, it delays more when you can actually use the actual system.

So when I met with BDOT yesterday, that was my question, was to change the effective date because we're in the middle of Amnesty Month. So I didn't think it was a good priority to increase fines and we're having people lines down the street trying to get parking fines either waived or resolved?

So a couple of things to that. And Paige is going to correct me if I'm wrong. Part of that was alignment. So if you have outstanding things to communicate, now getting those in order. So this is always about alignment before something new goes into effect. And all those things go into effect Paige correct me if I'm wrong, still today allows you to actually go deeper into integrating this into our system so we can get to the point if somebody is past three violations, the system allows us to escalate our behavior towards them.

Yes, that is correct. So we wouldn't, the two things that are on the table today, we couldn't actually enforce them until the software goes live.

And the software can't go live until you approve it.

Okay. I know you have a question, but what was I going to say? I'm trying to frame, trying to put this in alignment, my thoughts, because my thought is, okay, I look in the budget every year, and I could plainly tell we do not generate a lot of revenue from collection of fees. Okay. my issue has been as a counselor and it may seem negative, but I've also heard this from residents in general. We pass these ordinances, which is our job, but there's a lack of enforcement. And I'm telling you as a lack of enforcement, because I was in a meeting would be that, and I was looking at cars that were violating, um, the parking ordinances. And, you know, I work downtown, so I see this every day. Like there isn't any enforcement. Like, we'll go through waves, honestly, where I'll see parking tickets on people's cars, but there isn't any enforcement. And so I guess my issue is, should we focus on enforcement and collecting the revenue before we start another ordinance? And also, the economy is horrible right now. What does that look like, increasing the fines right now without also making sure people understand their payment systems, et cetera? I feel like we just need to focus on enforcement first before we increase these fines. I feel like if we can show that we can increase the revenue for one year, then we can increase the fines. Because if we don't enforce this ordinance, it doesn't matter. We can increase these fines $30. But if we're not collecting the maximum amount of revenue we can from these tickets, it doesn't matter. So my question, based off of my statement saying economy is bad, Will the low-income waiver still apply, and was there a requirement to qualify?

I'm going to speak to the first part of your question, which is the need for enforcement. So one of the reasons why we're restructuring the system and going through all these steps is because the enforcement that we have been doing has not actually been working. So there's a reputation in the city that if you receive a ticket, then you actually don't have to pay it. So we have over 700,000 unpaid tickets in the backlog. So we've been writing those tickets over the last 10 years and even recently, but people just don't take them seriously. So until we have a structure of accountability in place, then the enforcement almost is ineffective. So right now people are choosing just not to pay in the first place, and then when they do get a ticket, they choose not to pay their ticket. So we're starting on the structure that makes the ticket matter in a sense. And again, the two items today that go into effect, it's only if you violate from today going forward will they impact you. So none of this is retroactive. So ideally, if somebody shows up and they park, they do the right thing, then this won't affect them at all.

So if it goes into effect today and we haven't notified the public, that's not fair. It's not because if they don't watch the news and they don't watch the council meetings, they won't know, but it sounds like, I don't understand why we can't use the system for enforcement, get that in place first without increasing the fines.

Can you, can you explain, um, can you explain what is this, what it's taken to build the system and just walk you and pages, walk through what it's taken post and passing this new ordinance, like what's been happening to get to the point where the system can be in place.

I think I'll speak to that globally. One of the reasons why we have a dysfunctional system today is because of how complex and interdepartmental this system is. So it touches more departments than most initiatives that I've dealt with since I've been at the city. It's like nine different departments that it touches. And so these 12 steps that we've outlined, and they may not be worded perfectly, but they're essentially kind of a snapshot of these different touch points that we're having to work through and each one has layers of complexity behind it. And so I guess to the mayor's question of what we've been working through over the last couple of years really is working with our partners in the police department on enforcement, working with our partners in the municipal court to make sure that their systems and their processes and policies and their staffing is accurate and in place and ready to be stood up, working with OCA to make sure that what we're doing is legal and appropriate, and working with Office of Public Information to make sure that we are providing notification. And I feel like in general, globally, we've done a pretty good job of that. So since we started last year with passing this ordinance, we've been notifying people that our policies are changing and that there is this system of accountability that we're trying to stand up. So the reason it hasn't been fixed until now is just because of all of that complexity. And that's what we're working through and ironing out right now. And this step today gets us a lot closer to being able to having that effective system.

Okay. I just want to make myself clear. I'm not against the system. I think getting a new system is good, but unless I'm just not reading right, I just don't see where it says we have to pass this in order to have the system. Like there's so many issues. I brought this up to be that, for example, I'm not going to tell which restaurant it is, but there is like valet parking where they literally have put cones down and it doesn't allow Residents to be able to park or I see them, you know reverse Reverse driving back down the street to go into the parking day. I'm just saying like I don't understand I do understand but Why can we just focus on enforcement getting the system in place without increasing the fines?

That's all I'm asking Right now just right now so this has never been just right now it's been over a series of time and where we're trying to do these 12 things like what's before you today is part of a series of reform conversations we've been having with you for over a year.

No, I'm not saying I'm not aware. I'm for this, Mr. Mayor. I think this is a great plan because I would have said something by now. I'm just saying because we're still working on enforcement that I haven't seen with my own eyes is still needing work. I'm just saying, when I say right now, I meant, okay, we probably do need to increase our funds. I'm not saying I'm against that without notifications to residents. I'm saying, why can't we have the system first and then look down the line after we do some enforcement and get the revenue and informing people before we increase the funds?

I can speak to that. So the two items today, the reason that they're specifically important steps in this process. So the first one, the administrative fee, that allows us to notify people with a mailer that they have an outstanding violation that's over 30 days old. So without the fee, we can't pull the address and we can't send out the mailer. So it allows us to pull their address and then send out the mailer. So that first fee is important for implementing and giving notification. The second one, the $10 increase, it may not seem like it's important to the system, but the reason that it's important is because, as Paige mentioned with the UAB example, but there's other examples as well, our fines are so low that people are actually choosing to just opt out of the system entirely because the price incentive just doesn't make sense for them to comply. And so we actually have to have relevant pricing that makes it work.

I think they're opting out because it's not enforced. Like if I'm getting tickets and nobody's enforcing them, it doesn't matter if you make them $50. If I know I'm not going to be required to pay them, I'm not going to do it. But that's, that's my thing. It's, it goes back around to enforcement. Like my issues, but I know other colleagues have questions.

I just have an issue with, can we enforce this without the software?

Why is the software attached to this ordinance? Because it's not in the ordinance. If we're just going by paper, it's not in the ordinance that we, like it's not in here.

But like I said, I'll drop it for now. Madam President.

Yes, Mayor.

Can he be allowed to answer that question, why the software is linked to this and enforcement? Yes, please go ahead.

SO AFTER WE PASSED THE ORDINANCE, WE WENT THROUGH A PROCUREMENT PROCESS TO PROCURE SOFTWARE THAT WILL ALLOW US TO IMPLEMENT THE SYSTEM. WHAT THE SOFTWARE DOES IS IT ALLOWS US TO STITCH TOGETHER THE VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS AND INFORMATION THAT ALLOW IT TO BE EFFECTIVE. For example, if you can imagine a parking enforcement officer being out on the street and they see that somebody has an infraction, they need a way to know from a live database that that person has three unpaid tickets. So today we don't have a system that allows the parking enforcement officer to know that there's three unpaid tickets, so they have no way to actually enforce the ordinance and tow the vehicle. So the software allows them to do that, but it also is tied into our police department and municipal court that allows the users to go in and pay those fees. And it also allows the notice to be generated when somebody accumulates three or more tickets that mailer goes out and notifies them that they're at risk of being towed. So it stitches together a really large database of information and technology and allows it to be utilized. So we do have to have a software tool that puts real-time information out into the street, into the hands of the folks that are making those decisions.

short version, Madam President, Councilor Smith will hear every concern you have, but we get to enforcement with the use of the software.

So it's in the agreement that in order to use this software, this has to be passed? I don't believe so. I don't think it's okay. It's okay for right now. Madam President, I'm just I'm going to ask my other question later.

Do you not want to answer?

No, because I still don't think it's fair to have an effective date if it's passed today without telling the public that's not fair. It's really not. I mean, I just know if I get a parking ticket today and the fines have increased and I'm just not getting notice of it, I don't think it's fair to the general public. So I just still request for a later effective date. But that's all. Thank you.

So let's go back. Be sure I have clarity. If this item passes, the fines go into effect today.

Let me check with our city attorney. So, um, Ms. Bernard.

Good morning. I'm Julie Bernard. I'm a service assistant city attorney in the office of city attorney. Um, by state law, when an ordinance is passed and it is signed by the mayor or not signed by the mayor and becomes law without his signature, it becomes effective when it is published and that's published in a newspaper general circulation. The city's general practice is to publish it. It gives the mayor his full, to give the mayor his full 10 days to consider the ordinance. The clerk's office usually automatically sets it to publish Ten days after it's passed which will be a week from this Saturday Unless somebody asked for it to be expedited so that is technically when it legally becomes effective the council does have the ability to put an Effective date into the ordinance if you see at the end of the ordinance There's a you want to call one of our boilerplate sections that says this ordinance will become effective when published as required by state law we have done other things where we've put a you know, a later date because of implementation. I mean, in my opinion, you can have the ordinance published and be effective. That means that BDOT can move forward with the communications that they have to have with the software vendor and get things in place. And then you could have a date that the increased fines would become effective, you know, more in line with when the plans are to have the implementation ready to completely roll out. That gives some of the time for the education, public education piece to go forward.

Thank you. I think we have other questions.

Yeah, quick question. How people, because I hear what Councilor Smitherman was saying, how is people notified? Just say hypothetically, if I got an unpaid parking ticket, which I don't, I'm just using this as a scenario. When people get these tickets, is there anything indicating when you need to pay this parking fine? Another thing was on the ticket.

Let me get clarification on what's written on the exact ticket.

Because it's the parking enforcement. People, just say for instance, like I've used, went to the bank and I've got out of my car and I've used the park mobile, you know, to set my time and pay for me to run into the bank. Like if people, like how would the old parking tickets assist? Like how were people getting old parking tickets? Where was the parking enforcement people doing that? And they print this little thing. This ticket is on your car. So the citation should have a date, the date you got the ticket. And when you have, when are you supposed to pay this, this, this ticket at which people are choosing not to do that.

Right, right. So today there's a court date that's auto applied. It's about 30 days out from the violation date. And that ticket is put on the windshield.

So next question. Everybody that has a ticket can mosey over to Amnesty and go through that process since that is available to them, correct?

Right. So, yeah, it's just a good time while you're paying for anything else you might be in violation of. It's a great time to take care of any parking tickets that are outstanding. And if you go to that parksmartbhm.com website, you can also look up your information and see if you have any outstanding tickets.

Because what I'm understanding, it seems like you've got all these systems that we're not intersecting and working collectively together. So what you're proposing today is something to bring everything online and on course. Is that correct? Yes. No, that's not what I said. I said... If they're saying...

But that's not what we're voting on.

We're voting on increasing fines, not collecting... Yeah, I understand that, but I'm asking some questions that Councilor Smithman raised, like people don't... You know, you got people that are getting tickets that are ignoring paying tickets, and I think her question was... how are people being notified? Is it fair to say that?

Yes, but also my...

This is what I'm saying, how are they being notified? Like if I get a ticket today, how am I being notified? I mean, do I know that I need to pay this ticket? I know I got it, but what tells me or tell me where I need to go, when do I need to pay it, how long do I have to pay it?

So right now, the only thing that tells you that is the physical ticket itself that's on your windshield. So if you lose that ticket, you don't read it.

So you know, the person that gets the ticket, they know what they need to be doing.

Yes, yes. And moving forward, it'll be the same system, but then they'll receive an additional letter.

Thank you. Counselor Williamson, we'll go to Counselor Fossum.

Okay, thank you. What?

I apologize, sir. Please forgive me. Well, then you can stay up there because then I'll... This is very quick. Go ahead, Mayor. But I want to make a note as this conversation continues, Madam President, to my colleagues. I've spoken with Legal and BDOT as well as the Chief of Public Infrastructure. That's a valid note, Councilor Smith. I think the administration is more than willing, and legal has confirmed this, attached to amnesty and communicating for people to rectify their past issues so we can make the effective date July 1.

Thank you. All right.

I'm not reclaiming my time. I want to, Mr. Mayor, You mentioned that the biggest changes that you've seen are over nights and weekends. Are you going to change enforcement time to include nights and weekends, or is this still during business hours?

Paige, if you can come up here and verify what I'm about to say. But the system is the system, meaning for those after five, if they don't pay their parking tickets... Now, what we do have to do before that is the personnel piece. There's still a personnel piece we've got to solve for. Part of enforcement is attached to personnel, and we know that one of the things we did from an enforcement standpoint is change that group of employees from the finance department to the police department. How many years ago did we do that? Five, maybe? seven years ago that gave them some enforcement teeth. But we also probably actually have to hire more people for after five to actually do that. That's the honest answer.

So let me get just a straight answer from you. So are we going to have nights and weekends enforcement or not?

And legal just confirmed we'll have to amend our ordinance to do nights and weekends.

Okay, so that's not on the table. We're talking about, as it sits today, business time enforcement.

Correct.

Other than if you're parked in front of a fire hydrant. sidewalk or safety. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so that's helpful. Okay, so my question is, this has been stated a few times, why can the software not go into place without us raising fines? Because the ordinance item 11, as I read it, is to raise fines drastically by $10 for an infraction. So why can there not be software in place without raising fines?

Let me answer that plainly as I can by saying it could go into effect. I just want to present to you, each of you, there's no motivation to pay the fine because it's so low. It's not at a level that makes people want to comply on the front end or on the back end for that record. We do believe that, and they've done the research. I don't want to take away from professional staff the work they put in, the research they put in about what the fine is when you don't voluntarily comply. I don't want us to miss that, like, repeating this. This is not a money grab. This is not to be overly penal. It is actually an alliance with what you desire with enforcement. But a part of enforcement before enforcement is voluntary compliance. And what we believe is $15 doesn't motivate people to comply on the front end. Or when they get a ticket, it's just like $15 I'm not going to pay. But we do believe that people knew that the ticket was, if you did not voluntarily comply on the front end, and that you had a $25 ticket on the back end, it would incentivize people to do their necessary part on the front end, which includes up to renewing their actual payment of the on-street parking when the meter is about to run out or actually runs out.

Okay. Um, here are some, some aggregate thoughts that I have on, and this is not directed at you anymore, but you stole my time. So you ended up up there, but here's some aggregate thoughts I have on this. Since this meter enforcement moved into the police department, there has been less enforcement than there ever has. Here's the data. In 2019, approximately 107,000 citations were written. That number decreased year over year to 2025, last year, when we only had 37,000 citations issued. So let me repeat that. Every year for the past seven years, citations has drastically fallen. for parking violations. The amount of people that have paid the tickets is actually somewhat steady in the 20 to 30 percent range every year. We went from 2019 to having 107,000 citations written with approximately a $2 million balance owed if those citations were actually paid. And we collected $1.4 million of that. In 2025, we only had an opportunity to collect $900,000 because enforcement was almost nonexistent, but we still collected $718,000 or excuse me, $218,000 from that. So in 2025, this council collectively, because we're a collective body, passed changes that BDOT wanted so that they could enforce parking. The main thing, and I was actually hesitant of this, but I voted for it, was that after three times of an unpaid ticket, that BPD or the city could tow the vehicle for over three unpaid parking violations if you are then parked illegally as well. We've towed zero cars. So my thing is that why would the council be asked to increase fines and fees if there is no enforcement there I don't think that that's fair to the council I don't think that that's right to the public either because I know that park mobile can be challenging to use I think you should have to learn to use it if you're gonna park in the city but we also don't have a cohesive parking structure in the city we have metered parking spaces that have a little business size sticker on two-thirds of them some of them have been scratched off some of them are still there we have some areas that just have park mobile signage like a street sign where you put in the number and you pay But when you do pay, you pay a convenience fee and a transaction fee on top of what the city parking is. And the city parking, I think, is reasonable. I think that it's important to keep cars moving in and out so that someone's not just staying in that spot so that retail and our businesses has an opportunity to keep customers and visitors to the city consistently being able to move in and out. But it gets to a point where we're hosting an amnesty month for parking tickets, and yet we're being asked to increase the fine for the tickets. And it's sort of like, why don't we have enforcement and have people pay the actual fine? Why are we being asked to increase the fine percentage-wise a very significant amount When we could just go ahead and have the enforcement part.

How do you define enforcement? Can you? Curious for you both, define enforcement. We issue tickets, and then how do we enforce a person to pay a ticket?

Well, let me answer that. A year ago, you came to, collectively, not you, I'm not saying you, Mayor, but collectively, this administration came to us and said, in order for enforcement, we really need to be able to tow vehicles after the third citation, and they're still violating.

Correct.

How many have we towed?

None on purpose. None on purpose. Your point. We've talked about this, so let's talk about it publicly. There's a reason why we haven't told any cars yet. The professional staff literally just explained in detail to this council how it takes time to align all these inner departments to make sure everyone has the exact same information. Starting from the actual person who's a non-sworn officer who's employed with the Birmingham Police Department to know when they go to a vehicle how many actual unpaid parking tickets they have. If they don't have that information, you can't tow. The actual person car towed then has to go somewhere to be able to pay and somewhere in this case would be the municipal court. Municipal court has to have the same data information from the same system as the person from the police department which also includes the finance department having to have the same information. BDOT is literally just playing the team that makes all these things work. That's taking time. That's it. There's an intentional reason why we have not towed cars yet. It's because we have to have the purchase of the software that the software has to be implemented to our system and that within that system has to be implemented for several departments to be interfaced with the same information. And then we have to actually then be in a position to make sure that the green light works and that we have the accurate information, not to mention in the system, we have to have access to the DMV, which has a cost, which was also explained today.

Okay. So everything that you just said, I completely agree with, which is why I don't think that we should be passing an increase in fines today.

Can we separate these two things for a minute? We keep bringing these things together.

No, it's the item on the table. I mean, it's the one thing we've been asked to vote on is the increase. We haven't been asked to vote to acquire software. That's the administration's ability. Y'all could have done it 10 years ago, five years ago, one year ago. We're being asked today for one thing, and that is to have a drastic increase in fines.

You're defining drastic, a $10 increase? You're defining $10 as a drastic increase, and we're also sharing with you from all the research we've done that $10 is not drastic, and here's why. The $15 has shown that it's not only below smaller cities, it is below cities that are 200,000. This also shows that we haven't done anything related to that compliance piece. since 2008. Now, the number wasn't randomly picked, and a number could have been higher. But professional staff chose a recommendation of $25 because nobody believes on the front end that that's any form of incentive to make people voluntarily comply with feeding the meter. And they don't believe on the back end, even if I get a fine, $15 or nothing, I don't have to pay it. So we believe if you even keep it at $15, some of the behavior will be the same. But it probably actually goes to what you're saying, too, as far as the enforcement piece. Now, I do want to go back to several points you made earlier about over the years why things have decreased. I remember that team of employees who used to be based in Police Department. A significant amount of them actually retired. But a significant amount of sworn officers retired too. And so in this same window you are referring to where there's been a decrease of tickets, we also saw that the Police Department had lower staff numbers. We also saw in the same Police Department related to I'm missing my point. I'm trying to remember. A host of things change so not the police department but over here in the transportation department in that same window we change our meters in the ideal world you would expect tickets to go down when you have smart meters because less people should be getting tickets because as i stated earlier you don't have to necessarily run down out of your office or leave your meeting you can just renew your meter fee literally by your phone. So we would expect with having smarter meters that are more efficient that people would have less tickets at the exact same time. Now that may not be Tracking the actual decrease number for number but the combination of things as far as our police force sworn and non sworn being Shorter in the same time period you mentioned as well as on that same window having smart meters We would expect for there to be a decrease a decrease in actual people getting tickets not to mention one last thing in that same window even with a decrease in our police department There was, you can track at home, it's not just parking tickets that were less. There was also a moving violation that was less because the police department

shifted all of its attention in the window you were referring to violent crime i know i got i get to speeding emails so my point is this is that the ten dollars is significant and this is why it's significant because the plan is to send people to collections after their first unpaid ticket And I think that that is wrong. It's not my decision. It's actually not really this council's decision. That's an administrative function of this city, and it's not our decision to make. But to send somebody to collections after their first... We have to correct that.

We're not sending them. He just clarified your point, I think. Please forgive me for interrupting, but we have to clarify on the record. It's going to collections or it's a notice? It goes to collections. Is it a notice or a collection?

It goes to collections at 70 days overdue. Exactly. And that is why I believe that a $10 increase is significant because it goes against someone's personal credit if they misplace or accidentally fail to do their ticket.

Not a parking violation, sir.

It's not true. It's just not true. Well, it goes to collections. It does not go towards their credit, sir. So collections is being done differently in the city of Birmingham than everywhere else?

At minimum, Madam President, we just want to state factual things on the record. So I'm not trying to debate you, but we want to make sure we get factual information out.

But you are, because you just said it doesn't go to collections, and it does go to collections.

It goes to collections. It does not affect credit. That's a federal law for parking tickets.

Okay, so these items, so one infraction, one time that you have a ticket and you forget to pay it, one time you go to a restaurant downtown and someone talks too much for five minutes too much. Well, based on these numbers, you wouldn't get a citation. But theoretically, then all of a sudden, you have something going to collections. And I think that that makes $10 significant if you fail to pay. And I do think that that makes $10 significant. And I, you know, but that's not the council's decision whether things go to collections. That's not a function of this council. But what is, is what's before us. And that is an ordinance to increase all of the citations in the city of Birmingham. And my overall thought is this, and this is not a question, y'all can keep rebutting me if you want, but all I said is I have some thoughts. So y'all can argue, but these are my just thoughts. Why don't we try some enforcement first? Why don't we try to see if we can mail a notice to people to pay the ticket and then see what's working and then come back to the council and say, this isn't working because the price of the citation doesn't fit. But there has been no effort to date to have people pay the citation, none. We don't even mail them a letter. So why would we increase fines without first trying to do that? And that is my thought. It's not a question. It's a thought. And so that's why I can't support it. Now, if y'all want to keep going back and forth, I'll keep going back and forth. But it's not a question.

Thank you. I think we do have another question from another counselor. Counselor Woods?

Been in line so long. I did have a question. So it's been a long time since I've gotten a parking ticket, probably like 10 years. But I remember at the time there was an escalator. So if you paid it by a certain, I don't know if it was two weeks or 30 days or whatever, but if you paid it, quickly it was cheaper and then it escalated after a certain point. Do we still do that presently?

No. OCA, you correct me if I'm incorrect, but no, we don't do that anymore. But that is one of the things we are amending as a part of this proposal for item 10. Right now our ordinance still states that there's a $10 fee and I think maybe even a Yeah, a doubling of it if you don't pay it on time. But state legislature, after that ordinance was passed, deemed that that was invalid. So we no longer apply that rule.

Yeah. I can correct it. If you look at the amendment to Section 838 that's before you, what's being struck is a doubling of the parking fine if it's not paid within a certain time and adding a late fee. There's an opinion of the Attorney General that was issued probably about 20 years ago that said that there are some fines that a late fee can be applied to, but the Attorney General has opined that a late fee can't apply to a parking ticket. So that is part of this correction, an amendment that is before you. We're striking that late fee, that automatic penalty, and only putting in the $3 fee that allows the city to collect a reimbursement for the cost that it takes us to do the administrative process of notifying that person that they've got a ticket. So that doesn't exist. That hasn't been enforced, to my knowledge, for a number of years.

Thank you. Any other questions? Yes, Councilor Watson.

Thank you, Madam President. My question is pivoting but still related to parking reform strategy. I see item 12 that involves expanding zones into residential areas bordering the commercial business district. Could you speak a little bit more about what that expanding zones look like? And this is through the lens of a few neighborhoods within the district that are adjacent to BIGGER INSTITUTIONS. WE'RE THINKING OF FORMERLY ST. VINCENT'S, UAB MEDICINE LOCATION, UAB AS A WHOLE APPROXIMATE TO FIVE POINTS SOUTH AND OTHER COMMERCIAL BUSINESS DISTRICTS AS WELL. IF YOU COULD WALK ME THROUGH WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE.

YES, SIR. SO ESSENTIALLY WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO IS FIX THE FOUNDATION OF OUR PARKING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM BECAUSE RIGHT NOW People, as mentioned earlier, opt out because they just don't take the enforcement or the follow-up seriously. So another important data point that we've heard is that only one in five tickets get paid currently. So one in five tickets get paid. So people don't take those tickets seriously. So if we're able to effectively implement sort of this foundational system, so starting with just during the weekday, normal system that everybody's used to, then that gives us the foundation to then consider creating zones around some of our biggest demand areas like UAB or St. Vincent's or the amphitheater. But it really doesn't make sense to create those controlled zones if we have such low compliance today. So what we're doing today creates the foundation to where we can consider doing that. It does not require us to do that. That's something that the council would vote on, and that's policies we would work through in the future. But this creates the foundation for us to consider that.

All right, thanks, James. So we're not voting on that directly today, but as part of the reform strategy, that is something that we would vote on later in terms of item 12, the expansion of zones into residential areas. That is correct. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other questions? Yes, Counselor Smitherman.

Well, okay. Well, can we revise the ordinance to include everything but the increase in fines and still have the system in place? especially since Attorney Bernard said we still have to revise it to take off the addition of the fines. Well, the fee, sorry.

So I think in listening to this conversation, Madam President, and to your colleagues, what the administration proposes, we would like to move forward number 10 today and delay number 11 today. 10 includes that back-end fee for the $3, but I think that's been explained. If there's no more questions to that, then we can move forward with 10. I think it's important that we have some more internal discussion around number 11, and if it pleases this council, we can delay that and then get it back before the council at a later date.

I'm good with that. Thank you, Mayor Whitman. We have one more question.

One more question, Mayor, so... This 10 would, and I think Councilor Williams, I think because I've heard it multiple times, when people, and I say that when people get tickets, they, it's printed out, they are aware. So this would give extra mechanism. If you get a ticket, then you're going to get this notice in the mail, correct? So you got this piece of paper, well, you got that parking ticket telling you, hey, you need to pay this ticket. You got a certain amount of time to pay it. So now this gives you a system where this violator who has gotten this ticket, not only have you gotten this sheet of paper that you know you got a ticket, now I'm about to send you a letter, right?

Yes.

Okay, thank you.

It does. Just a note, just for educational purposes, this will be a part of our communication. Non-moving violations are always attached to the owner of the vehicle. Moving violations are attached to the actual driver of the vehicle. So just a note.

All right. Thank you, Mayor Woodfin. Counselors, what we have before us, we did call both items up together. So any action we want to take, we need to make some changes in the way we're calling up the vote or what we're voting on at this time. Mr. Clerk, can you help us out here?

You can just vote on them separately. That's all. All right. The only thing I was asking a question about is somebody mentioned July 1st as effective dates. Do we do that as well? I'm sorry.

Are we still looking at it?

Was that a consideration we had?

But that was for the increase in the fines. Sorry, for item number 11, not item number 10.

Mm-hmm. Is that correct, Mayor? July 1st, effective date.

Still for both or just one? For item 11. So 10 is as is, sir. Thank you.

Okay. So that clarification, we're voting now on item number 10. It will stay as it is, and then a delay is being asked for item 11. So, Mr. Clerk, you want to call up the items first? Okay. Item 10. Yes, hold on one second.

I have to confer something to the State Department. One second.

All right.

Thank you.

I have the same.

All right, Madam President, please, please forgive me for the deliberation while in the middle of a meeting prior to a vote. I know we don't usually do that, but we needed to confer something with the legal department before you voted to make sure from an implementation and launching standpoint, we didn't set ourselves back. What staff and legal just conferred upon me as mayor that I shared with you, but I want to share on the public record because we want to be transparent. is that if we delay 11, it does set back what we're attempting to do. Since the actual fee is in the purview of council and the $25, the $10 additional is just a recommendation, you can set what you believe the fine should be. If you want it to remain at $15, then this body, your body, can recommend it remain or you can increase it by $5 on your 20-year option. In addition to that, that will go into a lot of what we suggested, which is a July 1 date for the notification. Or you don't need the July notification if you're not going to change the fine to keep that 15. But they are suggesting that the council does vote on number 11 today, including if you do not want to increase the fines to just put it on the record to amend that. So this can launch in a timely way and the conversation can move forward with an efficient process. program that gets this council what they want, bottom line, which is enforcement.

Councilors? Yes.

I'd like to see a red line of fines because the attachment we have has multiple different fines attached to it. And so I am unsure what I'm voting on because I don't have a red line copy of fines.

Councilor, we can get you that, but a red line copy was provided through the clerk's office. I did not look to see what was directly in, but there should be. Actually, the way that we're putting the table in now will have the city code section that's associated with the violation in the center, which you currently don't have. You just have a description. We have also broken out some of the violations specifically. I apologize. I picked up a folder this morning and it was the wrong one, so I don't have the draft in my hand. But, you know, but I can get it if you've got questions. But there was a strike version that was provided with the submission of to the council, and that should be before you. We are striking the table as to parking fines. There's still that whole section deals with a whole lot of other violations. We're not touching those. We're only touching the parking violations, which is the last part of the table. And we are kind of rearranging how that is done. In the table, the way it currently appears in the city code, there is a violation that says no parking any time. There is not really section of the city code that says no parking any time. That subsumes the state law violations, which by the way parking on the sidewalk is a state law violation. There's several things that are in state law where nobody's allowed to park at any time. There are some places that we post signs that nobody's allowed to park at any time. What we have done in that table is we have broken those out individually and So it is clear to the public. It is clear to the parking enforcement officer. All of that will be loaded into the G-Techno system, which they will use to drop down as they issue the parking tickets in the field. It will be clear to municipal court. It will be clear to everybody as to what fine is associated with what violation. I worked with Attorney Basquiat on it. We went down because there were some violations parking ordinances that the council had not associated a fine with in this table for you to be able to walk in and pay a parking violation. This council must state the fine that's to be paid. So we have added in some violations that aren't currently in that table. So there are some things that nothing's being increased because there wasn't a fine there before. So, you know, saying we're just going to go back or whatever, it's going to be unraveling something that's pretty complicated. It will be giving antiquated information to GTECNA. But as the mayor stated, what that fine should be is the legislative decision of this council. The $10 increase is a recommendation. The adding the other violations in is a recommendation. But ultimately, it's the decision of this council.

Thank you, Attorney Bernard. My question is, counselors, I'm going to ask what you'd like to do. I would like to see the red lines or to see the changes to have clarity on what has been presented to us to be considered. And so we can either table this until we get the red line or we can delay both items. Can we get the red lines in a certain amount of time?

Just to clarify, there's never an increase over $10 in these, I mean, it looks like there's like 50 changes in fees, but there's never, it looks like from what I have skimmed, that there's never over a $10 increase.

There should not be, except for where there was no fine existing at the time. In that case, we tried to, where we identified... a code section that was either not clear in the table previously or it was just not listed. I'm trying to think of one of them off the top of my head and I'm not.

So, for example, parked on the left-hand side of a one-way roadway, of a divided roadway, went from no fine to $50.00.

I think it may have been in there one way, but, uh, at one time, as I said, the old table of fines, it's hard to figure out what was associated with which, um, I say my first assignment in the door in December, 2002, was to go through the council had just amended the whole table of fines. And I was asked to sit down and associate a city code or a state code section with each one. It was not easy because they are not all written exactly the way the laws are written. So we had to figure it out. So that's one thing we did was we tried to improve the language, improve the descriptions so that it is more clear which code section is being discussed and actually went in and put the code sections that are associated with it there in the table of fines to make it more clear, but that's correct. There was one, there were, there were some violations on the existing table that relate to parking on a one way and that one's confusing. It is legal to park on the left hand side of a one way street unless it's parked as no parking. The one you mentioned, if you've got a divided roadway with a median, it's illegal to park on that left-hand side of that divided roadway unless it's posted that you can. So it's very confusing, so that's why we tried to break it out and associate it specifically with the ordinance, with the code sections.

Okay, thank you. It has been clarified, Councilors. We do receive those red lines. I think we're all looking at it now in an email in May. And it's also available online with the packet that we received, with the agenda packet, so we can have that review. So, Councilor Williams.

All right, I'd like to make a motion that we pass items 10 and 11 with the caveat changes to item 11 of zero increases in fines where there has been a $10 increase That is not withstanding new fines for clarifications in the code, meaning that if there was, for example, parking in an alley did not have a designated fine, this new section has a designated fine, which is appropriate because you have to have a fine with a citation. SO MY MOTION IS TO PASS IT, HOWEVER, CHANGE ALL OF THE $10 INCREASES IN THE VERSION THAT WE GOT BACK TO THEIR ORIGINAL AMOUNT, NOTWITHSTANDING WHERE THERE IS A FINE WHERE THERE HAS NOT BEEN ONE. ALONG WITH A. along with a July 1st effective date.

So let's do this. I would like to go ahead. Let's take them separate. We'll come back to that motion on the item 11 when it comes back to us. But I'd like for us to consider the item separately. All right. So do we need a motion and a second now to go back, or do you have to read them again?

We're on 10.

Okay, so we're on item number 10. So, counselors, we are now considering the ordinance to amend the municipal court fines and cost the administrative education of certain minor offenses in lieu of trial, and that's part of our general code. And now we're ready for the vote.

All right, this is for item number 10.

Item number 10.

Counselor Smith is out. Councilor Vassa? Aye. Councilor Williams?

Aye.

Councilor Pro Tem Tate? Aye. Councilor President Alexander?

Aye. All right. Item number 10 passes.

Okay.

Now we'll take up item 11. Just let me get a new motion. And we need a new motion and a second.

Second.

Thank you. All right. Any questions regarding this? Now you'll make your statement. Did you want to amend that? No.

My motion is to pass this with the two following changes, one of which is to not do a $10 increase in all of the areas where there was a $10 increase. That is notwithstanding where there is a new fine attached to a violation where there previously was not a fine, as well as an effective date of July 1st.

We need a seconder. Okay, so we're going to vote on those amendments.

All right, now, Council, if there are no questions, we can... You want to vote on the amendment?

Yes. Okay. The two amendments, I'm sorry. Councilor Gunn? Aye. Councilor O'Quinn?

No.

Councilor Smith? Aye. Councilor Smitherman? Aye. Councilor Vassal?

Aye.

Councilor Williams? Aye. Councilor Woods? Aye. Council President Pro Tem Tate.

Aye.

Council President Alexander.

Aye.

Okay, so now we'll vote on the whole item as amended with the changes.

All right. We're ready for the vote.

We're ready? Okay. This should be open. And Councilor Vassa. Aye. Item is adopted as amended.

All right, thank you. Item 11 passes with the amendments that were placed in motion before we took the vote. And yes, Mayor Whitman.

Very quickly, thank you. I know that was a very long discussion, probably needed discussion. We want to share two things with this council and the public in general. One is this deal will take, as Ms. Page has shared with you, now that you've passed this, it's still going to take us probably a minimum, but possibly more, to get everything aligned before we can actually... move this new system forward attached to enforcement, which brings us to my second point. With this vote today, which we're very grateful for, thank you. And I want to thank the staff for all the hard work they've been putting in the last two years to get to this point, too. I think you can yield the results this body desires, which is actual enforcement, because the system will no longer be broken. Everything will be aligned. And in talking with Deputy Chief of Patrol, along with the team members here, we feel that we can deliver and yield the results this body wants, which is enforcement.

Well, thank you, Mayor Whitman. I do want to thank you and the staff, BDOT, OCA, and for the discussion we've had today. I want to thank you, counselors. I know that there was a lot of passion and desire to want to be sure that what we're doing today not only made sense, but it reflected the needs and concerns of our residents. And I thank you all for also staff making those considerations. And we just want to be sure that people respect the city of Birmingham when they come to visit, when they park, but, again, that there's fairness to it. So thank you all so much. Appreciate you. Next item.

Okay. Item 60.

Did we do 12?

12. I'm sorry.

That's okay.

My bad. That's okay. All right. Item 12. An ordinance authorizing the mayor upon receipt of payment in the amount of $8,400.55 to execute a quick claim deed to LLC Willow Solutions LLC for the sale of property legally described as lot 3 and north half quarter of lot 4 and block 24 according to the GW Ware survey. As recorded in Map Book 3, page 79, the office of the judge appropriate Jefferson County, Alabama, partial ID 22026102210, city amount 2112, and located at 1526 17th Street North, Birmingham, Alabama, 35204, which is required by the city upon foreclosure of municipal improvement liens. And according to Section 3 of the City of Birmingham, this is an item of permanent operation that you see to pass it today.

So moved.

Council Member Gunn. Aye. Council Member O'Quinn. Aye. Council Member Smith is absent. Council Member Smitherman. Aye. Council Member Vassa.

Aye.

Council Member Williams.

Aye.

Council Member Woods.

Aye.

President Pro Tem Tate. Aye. Council President Alexander.

Aye.

Motion on the item, please.

All right, Councilors. This item is an ordinance. Arthur Ray is second.

OK. Got it.

OK. Now. This is an ordinance authorizing the mayor upon receipt of payment in the amount of $8,455 to execute a deed to L.C. Willow Solutions LLC for the sale of property. Any questions regarding this item? We're ready for the vote. All right.

Voting should be open. Council Member Vassa. Aye. President Alexander, that vote should be open. Aye.

All right, thank you. That item passes. Next item.

V60 now.

Now we're at 60.

Yes, ma'am. A resolution accepting the lump sum proposal of car development LLC 8351 Kermit Johnson Road. Pinson, Alabama, in the amount of $93,786 for 2025 citywide inlet top repairs project located in Birmingham, this being the lowest responsible and responsive proposal submitted and authorized in the Maryland Institute Contract for Car Development, LLC, and substantially the form contained within the proposal documents and the courts with said proposal, providing that the total compensation payable under the contract not exceed the appropriation. Motion. Item is before you.

All right. Counselor Smith, when you asked to decide to be removed from consent.

Thank you, madam president. Um, I just have like, I do have a few questions, but let me make the statement when I write on my staff and then they write out independently. And honestly, this is throughout the city, not just district six. I see inlet tops that are broken that need to be fixed. And I pulled this off because we probably have a better recollection of the inlet tops we saw in Tuscaloosa and DC. So it's going to be one of my questions, but why are we still using as a concrete inlet tops and why haven't we converted over to more efficient and effective inlet tops?

Yes, ma'am, Madam President, to Councilor Smitherman. Councilor Smitherman, your question was a great question. I want to make sure I read this right. Capital Projects has a current list of inland repairs that just based on how we built our city are literally built into the sidewalks that DPW cannot fix. So that's, I think, a major reason why this is before the council is because of that. This item will allow us to bundle those requests and other 311 cases going forward to repair.

And how many inlet tops will be repaired citywide?

If you will allow me, I know this is item 60, we'll provide a list to the council, but don't let me make up a number.

Okay.

I'll make sure you all get the list.

Okay. Can the public, is that something the public can know?

Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. I mean, it's.

Okay.

Public record, absolutely.

Do we still have the system? I feel like I've seen that where we, was it Katrina showed us that there is an inventory or some type of system that shows all the inlets in the city. Do we still have a citywide inventory and condition assessment of all of our inlets?

Yes. Yes, we do. And we'll make sure it relates to item 60. You all get the list. Less than 24 hours, ideally today.

Um, and I asked that because a lot of you say this and we say this because when the inlets aren't properly repaired and they're not cleaned out, it causes flooding. Um, and you know, I just see so many inlets that need to be repaired and have we done, I feel like we, sorry, let me do this better. We need like a stormwater plan and we've talked about this, but is there in place, have we, made any progress since the last time we talked about this? I think we may have been about well, like with the stormwater plan, how we are going to address it. Is there a better method for repairing the endless than us running around turning it in or constituents calling us to tell us it needs to be repaired?

Yeah, and you know, I don't think Mr. Yates is in the building, but I will tell you they've been very aggressive at Inland Repairs. I think you all took a significant step forward with our next steps and strategic planning to address these issues with the surplus funding that included a million dollars towards supporting the actual investable plan.

I know that's the Basin Study Plan. And I... I can send you a screenshot of this, but I just know there are other cities that have good methods around addressing it. So DC has a dedicated stormwater fees for a consistent funding stream. Uh, Atlanta has, um, conducts regular assessments of their stormwater assets. Charlotte has a comprehensive stormwater services program. Nashville, you know, they use predictive maintenance and long range planning. I just, I want to know, and this may not be answered today, but I just want to put in front of the mayor's office that we need a plan to really help out with this, especially since the rain has increased in the last five years.

Yes, ma'am. I will make sure through Chief Fowler that DPW provides in writing how we are attacking this in the planning to not only fix inlets, but all things related to our engagements around inlets in our city.

Thank you. I do appreciate you for bringing this item and asking those questions, Councilor Smithman. I don't know if this is just all across the city. I know we have problems. I think I get to say enough is that it's a citywide issue. And so, Mayor Whippen, I would like to see the list, just because we have certain ones that we're calling in all the time that people are driving over, the concrete ones, and just really damaging cars. that area is a nuisance. So just, I think the list would be helpful to us as well as helpful to the public.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you.

I'm sorry. One question. I don't think I asked it right. Why haven't we moved away from concrete?

It's a great question. I'll get you an answer. I literally don't want to make up an answer. I don't. It will be a part of the information we share.

Okay. I would like a cost analysis or I guess the pros and cons versus us keeping concrete inlets and then going to another inlet and how this can help the city.

Can you text me that or email that and make sure I get it? I'll text it to you. Can you repeat that? I'll just put it in my notes right now.

Let me finish. Let me remember what I just asked. A cost analysis of remaining with concrete inlets versus going to another type of inlet. top. Um, and if we moved away from concrete inlets, how would this save the city cost wise in the long run? And if we moved away from concrete inlets, what would be the cost? Basically trying to see if we can make it more effective, if that would help us out. Cause that, that pulls away staffing from having to do it. Um, drive down complaints, flooding, just try and see if there's a benefit to doing this.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you.

Thank you. No other questions? We're ready for the vote, Mr. Clerk.

All right. Thank you. Item number 60 passes. Any other items, Mr. Clerk? No, ma'am.

All right. Thank you. All right, at this time, Councilors, we're ready to entertain your updates from your various districts. Councilor Gunn, can you go first?

Absolutely, Madam President. Here are my announcements for today. I want to thank Black Warrior Riverkeeper and everyone who came out to our community cleanup in Ingle Nook this weekend. We had over 218 pounds of trash that was collected at that event. A special thank you to the Hudson K-8 school for having me as their eighth grade commencement program. It was a privilege to celebrate the achievements of these outstanding scholars at Birmingham City Schools and to witness the promise of our next generation. This Wednesday, Mercy Deliverance Ministries will be having a mobile market at Brownsville Heights Community Center from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. This Saturday, the Roebuck Roebuck Springs and Southeast Lake neighborhoods are having a community fun day at New Beginning Christian Ministry from 2 to 6 p.m. Here are my neighborhood association meetings that are taking place this week. June the 8th, Ingle Nook will take place at 5.30 p.m. at the Ingle Nook Neighborhood Recreation Center. Woodlawn will take place also on June the 8th at 6 p.m. at the Willowwood Recreation Center, Airport Highlands the same day. at 6 p.m. at Pleasant View Baptist Church, Roebuck the same day at 6.30 p.m. at the Birmingham Police East Precinct. Kelo Springs will take place on the 9th at 6 p.m. at Smith Middle School, and Penfield Park will take place at 6 p.m. at the Brownsville Heights Community Center. And that concludes my announcements. I do have announcements for Councilor Smith as well, Madam President. All right, thank you. Okay. Neighborhood meetings for District 8. Tuesday, June 2nd, we have the Thomas Neighborhood Association at 5.30 p.m. at the Greater St. Thomas Community Church. Fairview has been postponed until Tuesday, June 9th. Their neighborhood meeting will take place at 6.30 p.m. via conference call. Tuxedo is Monday, June 8th at 8 p.m. at the East Inslee Public Library. Inslee Highlands is Monday, June 8th at 6 p.m. at the Five Points West Branch Library. And then Rising West Princeton is Monday, June the 8th at 6 p.m. at the Rising West Princeton Corporation. A couple of announcements that she had for board meetings. Park and Rec board meeting will be June the 3rd, 9 a.m. at Legion Field. And then the Arts and Parks Committee meeting is Monday, June the 15th. Please submit any agenda items to d8help at birminghamal.gov by Wednesday, June 10th at 5 p.m. That concludes those announcements.

Thanks so much, Council Gunn. Councilor O'Quinn?

Thank you, Madam President. If you live in Birmingham, you live in a neighborhood, and that neighborhood has a neighborhood association that meets usually once a month. So if you're in Eastlake, Forest Park, South Avondale, Wahoma, Gate City, or Oak Ridge Park, you have a Neighborhood Association meeting this week. Call my office if you need the dates, times, and locations. The next Transportation Infrastructure Committee meeting will take place on Monday, June 8th at 2 p.m. here in the Council Chambers. Please submit agenda items to KimberlyPhillips at Kimberly.Phillips at BirminghamAL.gov. The annual District 5 Health Fair will take place on Saturday, August 8th, 2026 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Parker High School. We are very proud to... partner with Alpha Phi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated to make this event possible. The health fair will offer free health screenings, community resources, back-to-school supplies, and a blood drive. Please contact the District 5 office for additional details and opportunities to participate. And that concludes my announcements. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Councilor Vassa?

Thank you, Madam President. District 3 Summerfest is happening Saturday, June 20th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. We're very excited about this. It will be a day of music, food, family fun, and community celebration. It is a free public event. We'll have live performances from several artists, including DJ Sways, Canoe Babble, Gabriel Tajou, Shahid and DJ Supreme, and Aaron Mitchell. We will also have a KidZone event. And a reminder that this is a school supply drive to benefit our D3 elementary schools, Epic Elementary, Avondale Elementary, and Glen Iris. So we're excited about that event. Again, Saturday, January 20th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at George Ward Park. District 3 email address. We have an easier email address now. It's district3 at birminghamal.gov. District 3, that's the number 3 at birminghamal.gov. Tonight we have Forest Park South Avondale, 6.30 p.m. at Avondale Library. Planning and Zoning Committee meeting is Tuesday, June 9th at 3 p.m. in Council Chambers. And lastly, we are accepting applications for the ZBA Zoning Award Adjustment. Send resume to district3 at birminghamal.gov. Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you so much. Yes, thank you, Madam President. You know, I was thinking during Council O'Quinn's announcements, has there ever been a survey of the residents on why they don't attend neighborhood meetings. I, you know, and I'm just asking, cause I know sometimes it's usually the, it's not a not to the neighborhood association. I'm trying to help increase the attendance. I know I've heard like the time isn't good or I'm, I'm just wondering if there was ever a survey.

Do y'all know? I don't remember one. I don't know if you want to think Dr. Quinn's been with this.

Um, you know, um, I don't believe that there's been a survey of that type, at least not, you know, that I'm aware of. The neighborhood associations themselves set the time, location, date. But, you know, other than that, the simple answer to your question is I don't think so.

Okay. I just, maybe that's a good idea. We can talk with our people to see, because a lot of times they've all so many important issues like liquor licenses, et cetera. And it's just a few people that determine a lot for hundreds of people in one neighborhood. So maybe that's something we can talk about with helping them. I don't mind helping out my neighborhoods, but I think that's a good thing. And also maybe trying to see how would that help encouraging younger people to attend neighborhood associations as well.

Exactly. That's a good question.

But as far as my neighborhood meetings, Oakwood place is today at 4 PM at Harrison park recreation center. Mason city will meet today at 4 30 PM via teleconference. And then Westland manner is on this Monday, June 8th at 5 PM at new hope Baptist church. The Saturday, June 6th from nine to two, there will be a community initiative giveaway, which will be held at first Baptist church, Mason city, Located at 2020, 13 Place Southwest, Birmingham, Alabama, 35211. Free baby items, shoes, bed linens, food, and other essential resources will be available. For more information, and if you would like to volunteer, please contact Pastor Mann at 601-968-2583. And then on Saturday from 1 to 6 p.m. at River Park, there will be a free celebration to kick off this summer. And also a happy men's mental health month. I would like to say to all my men, and especially my black men, that you do matter, and your mental health matters, and you do not have to suffer in silence, and there are people for you. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Councilor Williams.

Thank you. This weekend is the annual fishing rodeo, and it will be from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. All you have to bring is a rod, reel, and bait. We're going to have DJ bouncy houses, all the kind of giveaways that we usually have. First come, first serve on shirts. So if you make it out there in the 7 o'clock hour, you will get one of these awesome sun screen fishing shirts. And so we're very excited about it. Economic development will be happening, well, was going to happen at 1130. It's going to happen directly after this in conference rooms, D&E. And also, great news, parking citations will be $10 cheaper as of today.

Thank you, Counselor.

Madam Pro Tem. Thank you, Madam President. Willam Neighborhood Association meeting is tonight at 6 p.m. at the Willam Library. Thomas Neighborhood Association. Association meeting has already been stated by Council of Gunn. It's tonight at 6.30 at the Greater St. Thomas Community Church. Ossipico-Finley Neighborhood Association meeting is Wednesday, June the 3rd, 5.30 at Ossipico Plant Community Room. North Birmingham Neighborhood Association meeting is Monday, June the 8th at 6 p.m. at the North Birmingham Library. Sherman Heights Neighborhood Association is also on Monday, June the 8th. At 6 p.m. at the Morning Star Christian Church, the next public safety meeting will be held on Tuesday, June the 9th at 1 p.m. in the Council Chamber. Please submit agenda items by email Wednesday, June the 3rd, no later than 12 noon to the following recipients. Gregory.Stanley at BirminghamAL.gov and Ashanta.Little at BirminghamAL.gov. If you have questions or concerns... feel free to call our office at 254-2302 or 254-2096. That concludes my announcement, Madam President.

Thank you so much. These are announcements for District 7. First, I'd like to thank Brenda Brown Bosom Buddies for holding their community wellness forum in District 7 last week. We're very excited to host that with them over at the Oxmoor Valley Rec Center. That program, Brenda Brown Bosom Gut Buddies, they do so much work in our community. And so we're very glad to support them at all times. And her community health forum is just another great way to pay attention to community health and wellness in our district. So we're very grateful to her. I think she has a sold out pink hat and tie luncheon coming up on Saturday. So it's sold out. So we thank everyone again. That's the way to support that particular organization. On Friday, June 5th, the Jones Valley Neighborhood Association will meet at 4 p.m. at the Poundley Library. That's at 3301 Jefferson Avenue Southwest. On Saturday, we're very excited. The Roosevelt City Pool will be opening along with the other pools that are opening in the city. They'll open on Saturday at 12 noon. The regular operating hours will be Tuesday through Saturday, 12 noon to 6 p.m. For more information, you can call Park and Rick at 205-3255. We also want to thank the UAB and Cooper Green Hospital for presenting their wellness event that was held at Roosevelt City Rec Center last week. And so a lot of great information. A lot of people had a chance to check up on their health, blood pressure screening and those type things. So we thank them for bringing that to Roosevelt City. On Monday, June 8th, the West Goldwire Neighborhood Association will meet at 5 p.m. via conference call. And on Saturday, and I believe you may have already announced this, Councilor Gunn, in Councilor Smith's announcements, but the Westside Community Wellness Expo will take place at 9 a.m. to 12 noon at the Pearl Center. This is, again, being held by... hosted by the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Omicron Omega Chapter, their Cultural and Educational Advancement Foundation, as well as the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, the Birmingham Alumni Chapter. So that's from 9 a.m. to Saturday, June 12th. That is in District 8, but we're very excited to bring that to the west side. And we're looking forward to Father's Day. A little bit early announcements, but The D7 Safe Summer Series will return to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. That'll be on Father's Day, and so that'll be at 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 21st. So you'll have more information about that, but we'll get those dads out there and have a lot of great fun, okay? And those are all our announcements for District 7. Thank you, counselors, for bringing us your announcements. This time, Mr. Clerk will entertain community voices in our speakers list.

Darian Malone. Mr. Malone? Joseph Holt?

Good morning, Mr. Holt. You have three minutes. Good morning.

Hey, Madam President and City Council. I'm just here to give you an update because some of the parents get on me because I don't see enough about the Holt Foundation. In 2025, we had like 15 kids that wanted to learn about trades and stuff like that, but now we're up to 50. And I'm doing all this out of pocket because of my passion, but God always provides for me to be able to take care of them. Because last year I spent like $10,000 on all the kids traveling and stuff like that and trades. But it's paying off because we got several kids internships at HVAC companies. To my surprise, a lot of them went toward barbering. because they wanted to cut hair. And so we have a film crew coming from California to actually now follow me to see the pros and cons of what it takes for foundations to do work in the community, how hard it is to raise money, and interview some of the kids about their struggles from when they get out of high school to find their career path, how they fall to the streets. And now they have trades and skills and they're learning. to work with their hands. So I just wanted to share that we're doing it in the community. We got 30 kids out of District 4. We got some kids coming from East Lake and District 2. And so whoever comes, we're accepting them. And so we're just having a great thing. And I just wanted to share about what we're doing in the Hope Foundation. Thank you for the time.

Thank you for that update. We're always excited for public-private partnerships and the way that we can work with our communities. So thank you for the work that you do. Appreciate that update. Next speaker.

Should be Mark Haynes.

Good morning, sir. You have three minutes. How are you?

Good morning, Madam President, Madam Pro Tem and honorable council members. I'm honored to stand before you this afternoon to express my sincere appreciation and commendation for your leadership and your service to each of you that each of you provide to the residents of Birmingham. Too often, the hard work of public servants go unnoticed. Today, I believe it's important to pause and recognize the meaningful progress that has been made in several areas that directly impact the quality of life for our citizens. First, I commend this council for the continual commitment to economic development. Through strategic investments, support for local businesses, neighborhood revitalization efforts, and initiatives designed to attract new opportunities, you have helped position Birmingham as a city of growth and innovation. These efforts create jobs, strengthen our tax base, and provide pathways for families to achieve economic stability and prosperity. Second, I want to acknowledge your dedication to public safety. Ensuring the safety and well-being of residents is one of the most important responsibilities of government. Your support for law enforcement, firefighters, emergency personnel and community-based safety initiatives demonstrates a commitment to creating neighborhoods where families can live, work and thrive with confidence and security. Third, I applaud your investment to education and youth development. Strong communities are built upon strong educational foundations. By supporting programs that enhance learning opportunities, workforce development, mentoring and youth engagement, you are helping prepare the next generation of Birmingham leaders. Your efforts today will produce benefits for decades to come. Finally, I want to commend council for recognizing the importance of addressing food insecurity and hunger within our city. The partnerships established with nonprofit organizations, faith, community schools, community stakeholders reflect Birmingham's spirit of compassion and service. Providing access to nutritious food for children, seniors, and families in need strengthens not only the individual's household, but the entire community. As the co-founder and executive vice president of the Mothers United Against Gun Violence I understand the importance of collaboration and addressing community challenges. Meaningful progress occurs when government, nonprofits, business, and residents work together toward a common purpose. I'm encouraged by the council's willingness to engage community partners in advancing solutions that improve the lives of Birmingham citizens. In closing, I extend my gratitude to each member of council for your service, your dedication, and your commitment to moving Birmingham forward. While challenges yet remain, your efforts demonstrate a vision for a safer, stronger, and more prosperous city for all. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your service to the people of Birmingham. May God continue to bless the city of Birmingham and all those who work diligently, who serves its residents. Thank you.

Thank you so much. That concludes our speaker's list. We want to thank our officers on duty, Officer Pinkert, Square, and Campbell, and our fire inspectors, Inspectors Shaw and Griggs. At this time, we'll entertain a motion for adjournment. So moved.

Second.

All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All right, we're adjourned. Thank you all.

Since my tenure, joining the City Council in 2021 and being the first Black female to chair public safety, the approach to work with the administration to reduce violence became a very important part of, you know, chairing public safety. It was a sense of urgency for me, you know, listening to communities, listening to you know, individuals who wanted to be involved. The hospital-based link program was already something that they had been deciding to work with the health department.

It's taken us a while to get to this point. It was back in 2018 that our health department decided to make it part of our strategic plan to address violence as a public health problem and try to come up with a strategy to address it.

And making sure that we got the white people doing, you know, the things that needed to happen. So that sparked a trip to New Jersey.

She joined me in the CBS 42 studios to talk about what the team she traveled with to New Jersey learned about an Office of Violence Prevention.

violence rate was up at an all-time high, and they reduced it like they have a model that everybody is following. You see, hey, what is Newark doing that Birmingham can do? What can we do to retrofit what you're doing to fit for Birmingham? And so what that looked like for me was learning the gun violence framework, and I was accepted into a six-month program through the University of Chicago Crime Lab. under the direction of Dr. Chico Tillman, the Community Violence Leadership Academy gave me the tools and the skillset that I needed to get a deeper understanding of how community violence intervention works, you know, into the community to reduce gun violence. And so hit the ground running, bringing back initiatives, getting with the mayor to change, you know, the culture and the mindset, like, hey, this is something we gotta do, it's working.

What are conversations you're having like with the people you know within the system, including police?

We have to reimagine what policing looks like in this time. You know, the Tyree Nichols murder was not a pursuit of public safety. So you're hearing that word public safety being tossed around. But are we really, you know, doing what public safety looks like? Any type of preventable measures drives public safety. So some of the partners that we encountered, you know, to come into these ecosystems and start doing this work was One Who Had Wins, which was a model that they used in New Jersey with former people that had been just as impacted. You have the Alumni Association, which is a part of the hospital-based violence intervention prevention program, which they staff violent interrupters inside of the emergency room and the trauma unit. We have the restore program that's a preventable, the juvenile program that's a preventable program that's doing the work. Then you have RSJA, Dr. Jamila T. Davis and her team, and Trajectory Change Solutions Urban League, who came in Norman Kerr came in and trained those individuals to become violent interrupters. So, CBI work is known, we call it CBI for short, but it's Community Violence Intervention work, is a complement, you know, to policing. So, this is what happens when you bring community together and the police continue to do their job, but we, the violence can begin to start being reduced in the community because you have those trusted, credible messengers that are working with those that are high risk. and vulnerable to gun violence. You build an ecosystem. So the ecosystem consists of partners to bring resources, whether it's education, workforce development, food insecurity, mental health support. So this is how you build out your ecosystem with universities, with colleges, and getting those that are vulnerable and marginalized in a community that may have less access to transit, you bring those communities and you build that ecosystem out. And that's just being creative and planning events and just adhering, you know, to what we seeing. So I think if we start you know spending time looking at things that this evidence base has proven letting young people leave let young people the voices of young people being heard being at the table being a voice at the table is super important to me so people can hear you know what the community is saying the community may not be there at large right there but at least they had a happy kid and a voice at the table, so that's super exciting for me. I'm excited about continuing the journey, continuing to advocate, continue to talk to the mayor, continue to talk to the state representatives, continue to talk to the federal reps, continue to story tell because I'm learning through this journey. CBI community violence intervention work is new for the city of Birmingham. We've been doing it all along. Nobody just knew what it was. But you have to have that buy-in. You've got to change minds because when we look at public safety, People always equate police officers as these supermans or superwomen who can solve all these issues, and clearly they cannot. So you need everybody to play their role. Investing in these organizations, giving them the tools, giving them the training, bringing the best national people to Birmingham, training people right here in Birmingham to do this work has gotten us to where we are today.