City Council - Regular Meeting

Let me see.

Good morning, Birmingham. Today is Tuesday, August 11th, 2026. The time is now 936 AM. I call to order the meeting of the Birmingham City Council. This morning's invocation will be led by Reverend Robert C. Bearden III, pastor of the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Zion City in Birmingham. Our pledge of allegiance will be led by Councilor Crystal Smitherman. If you're willing and able, please stand and join us.

Let's pray. God, our Father, we thank you for this day. God, we pray for the leadership of this city. We pray for every district. Our prayer this morning, God, is that we not become weary in well-doing. For in due season, we shall reap if we faint not. My prayer is for this whole city and leadership that we trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding all thy ways. Acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path. Hear our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.

Thank you, Reverend Bilden, for that very thoughtful prayer. At this time, good morning, Mr. Clerk.

Good morning.

You'll call the roll, please.

Council Member Gunn. Good morning. Good morning, sir. Council Member O'Quinn. Good morning. Good morning. Council Member Smith. Good morning. Good morning. Council Member Smitherman. Good morning. Council Member Vassa. Good morning. Good morning. Council Member Williams. Good morning. Good morning. Council Member Woods. Good morning. Council President Pro Tem Tate. Good morning. Council President Alexander.

Good morning, President. Counselors, the minutes are not ready from the meetings of June 2nd, 2026 through August 4th, 2026. At this time, we'll entertain communications from the mayor. Good morning, Mayor Whiffen.

Good morning, Madam President. Good morning to the entire council. It's good to see everyone this morning. Good morning to the public as well as those who are here in the chamber and viewing the council meeting online. Madam President and Council, just two notes. One is in regard to ACE. As you know, ACE has existed for well over five years now. Many of the city councils have spoken to our ACE attendees who are Birmingham residents across our city, various demographics, races, all 99 neighborhoods, et cetera. We want to continue to not only refine ACE, but make sure the opportunity is given to more residents throughout the city of Birmingham. We are now offering a public safety ACE, which is a special edition of the Academy of Civic Engagement. It is designed to give residents a direct line to the public safety professionals they rely on in moments of not only concern, but also in emergency and conflict. Since 2019, ACE has connected more than 1,400 residents to city government and equipped them to become not only stronger neighbors, but also stronger neighborhood leaders and advocates for the city of Birmingham. This public safety ACE will provide a four-week inside look at Birmingham Police, Fire and Rescue, EMS 911, Emergency Communications, the Community Violence Intervention Team, and Municipal Court. Sessions will begin next month, September 3rd, and continue each Thursday in September from 5.30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Birmingham Public Library's Central Branch. Registration is free, but space is limited, and we encourage those who may have interest in this, or our online police detectives. Y'all missed that. Josh got it, maybe. To register at birminghamal.gov slash ace, A-C-E. And the last note, Madam President and Council, is in regards to the Birmingham Next Poet Laureate. The city is preparing to name its 2027-2028 Poet Laureate. And we want to invite, spark civic dialogue and connect residents through the literary arts. The initiative administered by Create Birmingham in partnership with the city builds on the impact of the inaugural poet laureate, Salaam Green, and the program's work in schools, neighborhoods, as well as public spaces. Applications open August 17th and are due September 30th. The selected poet will receive a $5,000 honorarium and serve as an ambassador for Birmingham literary and cultural identity through public events, workshops, original commissioned works, and community programming. Eligible applicants must be at least 18 years of age, live in the city of Birmingham, and demonstrate a history of publishing and publicly presenting original poetry. Applications and eligibility information are available at Birmingham. Again, that's birminghampoetlaureate.org. Madam President, Council, that concludes the Mayor's report.

Thank you, Mayor Woodfin. We appreciate the communication.

At this time, Councilors, if I could have unanimous consent, I will change the agenda to allow for the following presentations.

We have two presentations this morning, and the first is by Councilor Josh Vassa, District 3, and he would like to present to us Essence Young-Woods, Director of the Glen Iris Dance Team.

Good morning. Good morning, everyone. It is my honor today to recognize a program that is making an incredible impact on the lives of young people in District 3 and across Birmingham. Today I'm proud to introduce Principal Southall Mason of Glen Iris Elementary and Mrs. Essence Young-Woods, who is the founder and director of Carrar Performing Arts and the Glen Dance Gators of Glen Iris Elementary School. For more than a decade, It's a long time. Mrs. Young Woods has used the art of dance to do so much more than teach choreography. She has helped build confidence, instill discipline, develop leadership, and inspire excellence in hundreds of students throughout Birmingham City Schools. Her dancers have represented our city on national stages, including championship competitions, performances at Walt Disney World, and this year's Macy's Day Parade. District 3 had the pleasure of seeing the Glen Dance Gators perform during our inaugural D3 Summerfest at George Ward Park. And folks, I can say they were the highlights of the day. Their energy, their talent, and professionalism as young people captivated everyone in attendance and reminded us what is possible when our young people are given opportunities to shine. Mrs. Young Woods, Thank you for investing in Birmingham's youth, for representing our city with excellence, and for showing these students that hard work and dedication can take them anywhere. Please join me today in welcoming Mrs. Essence Young-Woods and Principal of Glen Iris, Mrs. Southall Mason. Mrs. Mason.

Good morning. Thank you to each and every one of you. We appreciate your help and support as we get our scholars prepared to participate in the 100th year celebration of Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade. Thank you.

And I'm just jumping. Thank you guys so much for inviting us. This means a lot. Your words almost make me cry. I'm sorry. But thank you guys so much. Anything would help from the council. These guys, these children and students have been working so very hard each and every year and to get this far at the age they are to go all the way to the Macy's Day Parade speaks volumes to their talent and persistence. So thank you guys so much for considering this. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Thank you, Council LaVassa. And we thank you for making this presentation to us. What an exciting opportunity for students and those dancers. And so we wish them the best. And we're looking for everyone to help to support. Thank you.

Madam President, just one comment. I just want to thank you guys for the work you're doing with the girls. I know you guys participate and you speak. And they did an amazing job. I don't think people realize how much discipline and focus to really learn the dances and to make sure everybody's doing one cohesive group, especially at five, six, seven years old. So I remember you guys telling me about the trip earlier this year. So congratulations and thank you for what you do for our youth.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Our next presentation will be made by Councilor Darrell O'Quinn of District 5, and he would like to bring forward a presentation regarding the Cahaba River Coalition. Councilor O'Quinn.

Thank you, Madam President. This morning we have Abby Schumat here with us. Okay. All right. Thank you.

Can I connect? Possibly?

They got it loaded. The presentation is loaded, so you can tell them to advance it when you're ready.

Okay, great. Good morning. Thank you all so much for having me. Thank you, Councillor Quinn. And then I got to speak with Councillor Smitherman yesterday, and I'm so grateful to be here. My name is Paige Goldschmidt. I'm the senior development manager at Cahaba River Coalition. You may have heard of Cahaba River Society or Cahaba River Keeper. We're now one organization. It's very exciting. I did want to talk about, if we could... Our mission is to preserve and protect the Cahaba River. As you may have heard, Alabama is the most biodiverse state in the United States. Cahaba River is one of the most biodiverse rivers in the country. We have it in our backyard and we love it. Additionally, the primary drinking water for Jefferson County comes off the Cahaba River. So every single person in this room is drinking Cahaba water every single day. We work to make sure that water is clean and safe to drink. We work with municipalities, corporations, and individuals to make sure that we are protecting. Our leading programs is our CLEAN program. It's our youth education. It is a program where we take kids out on the river to get to experience what's in our river. They do this really fun program where they get to shuffle in the water and catch the fish in the net and they'll pull them out and discuss which fish is where or which bug and what that represents for the river's health. We serve quite a few Birmingham City Schools in the last five years. We're hoping to increase that service to different Birmingham City Schools. We do provide different things like bus stipends and free programming if that's necessary. We always are happy to work that out. We also partner with Alabama Water Watch. We are giving students the opportunity to collect and submit data, advance their career into the environmental world, maybe not know about a career that is possible. We also partner with lots of different nonprofits in the area to give these students a variety of chances, like Jones that's that work with us. We're also expanding to do Math Talk, which is a program out of Chicago, but we're so happy to bring it here. It's going to be the first environmental math-based programming that they do, so we'll have multiple Math Talk stations throughout the city. There's going to be one at McWane Science Center and then one out in Hoover. There's about six of them. We also host our environmental leadership program, which is our high schooler program, where we take 14 to 16 high school kids around the state for the summer and show them different environmental fields that they can go into, not just with nonprofits, but also with corporate partners. We've toured Vulcan, we've toured Carmuse, we've toured Cool Green Trees, we've toured all sorts of different organizations to show them the breadth of work that you can do to protect the environment. I'm just going to skip that slide. We also have swim guide, which you may have seen. Everyone likes to go swimming in the summer. Alabama's hot. We're kind of famous for it. We make sure that you know it's safe to swim. We provide data to the general public. You can find it on our social media or on our website. just to make sure that all these local swimming holes, you know where it's safe and where it is not safe. And then finally we have our community engagement. We partner with multiple cities, Mountain Brook, Hoover, Irondale, Homewood, and multiple corporate partners. We would love to include Birmingham City on that list of partners and sponsors and people who support us because this river does matter and we want to provide the best that we can. The way that I'm asking for that support is through our annual event. It's called the Cahaba River Fry Down. It is a big 3,000 person catfish fry competition. It's at Cahaba Brewing this year on October 18th. We will have multiple teams participating. Additionally, we have an education room, which is what I'm asking for support on. We invite local nonprofits and other education partners to be in this area. It's about 30 partners. So people can walk around and learn more about what's in our environment and in our world. So that is how I'm asking for your help. Thank you.

Thank you so much. And I just wanted to thank you guys for the work that you do. You know, Jefferson Cahaba Rivers, you know, I would say the primary river in Jefferson County and Jefferson County being the most populous populated county in the state of Alabama. There's lots of development that potentially, you know, threatens the river and, you know, especially in some of our surrounding municipalities. So it's good to know that there are the Cahawba River and other river keeper organizations around the state that not only take on the responsibility of monitoring what happens to those rivers, but even go out and do cleanups and you know, get the numerous plastic bottles and all the other debris that ends up in our rivers, get that out so that people can, you know, go out and enjoy and, you know, see the sticklebacks and the hog suckers, you know, and not necessarily all the trash that collects in the river. So thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you all.

Thank you. Thank you so much. We're excited about the programs that you're offering. I know I think whenever you put the name of schools up on the slide, all of us are looking to see if we have some schools up there.

That was not all the schools. It was just some of them.

Well, it's just a great variety. So thank you. I do have one question.

Yes, ma'am.

Are the students referred by their schools or can parents contact you all? They'd like their children to participate in some of these programs.

Our clean education program is typically run through the schools. It is a field trip. However, we do offer homeschool field trips as well. So that is something that if a parent was homeschooling their child, we do put together homeschool groups. Our ELP group or environmental leadership program, that's for rising juniors and seniors in high school. That is an application process for high school students. And so they can apply for the summer next year.

Wonderful. Thank you so much. Absolutely. Thank you, Dr. O'Quinn, for bringing this group to our attention. Thank you.

Thank you.

Right. Counselors, at this time, we'll revert back to our agenda. And at this time, we will look at the items that are being considered for consent. Let me start first by reading our statement of conduct of business regarding the consent agenda. All items designated as consent are routine and noncontroversial and will be approved by one motion. All items on the consent agenda will be announced by reading the item numbers only. No separate discussion of these items will be permitted unless a council member or the mayor requests the item to be removed from the consent agenda. Additionally, a citizen interested in addressing the council with respect to an item on the consent agenda, which is designated for public hearing, may request the item be removed from the consent agenda. to hold the hearing on the item. Any items removed from the consent agenda will revert to its normal place on the agenda order of business. For remaining matters, all matters of permanent operation, those start with a capital P, will be read, and all public hearings with a small ph will be announced. This time, Mr. Clerk, could you read to us the items that are being considered for consent?

Yes, ma'am. The Senate agenda starts on page two with items one, two, three, and four. Page 3, items 5, 6, and 7. Page 4, items 8, 9, 10, and 11. Page 5, items 12, 13, 14, and 15. Page 6, items 16, 17, and 18. Page 7, items 19, 20, 21, and 22. Page 8, items 23, 24, 25, and 26. Page 9, item numbers 27 and 29. Page 10, items 30, 31, 32, and 33. You have several corrections here, 33 auditions. The total amount should be not to exceed $15,250. It is a resolution pursuant to Section 11-40-1. and 11-47-19, Code of Alabama 1975, authorizing the mayor to spend funds and execute an agreement in the amount not to receive $15,250 for the Sidewalk Film Festival Center and Cinema Incorporated. And District 1, the change will be $2,500. District 2, there will be $1,000 allocated. District 4, $5,000 allocated. District 5, $5,000 allocated. And District 6, $750. And District 7, $1,000. Again, that total is $15,250. And we pick back up with the consent agenda with items 34 and 36. Please note that item 35 is to be withdrawn from the agenda. 36 is recommended by Community Development. Page 12, we have items 37, 38, and 39 on consent. Page 13, we have items 40, 41, and 42 on consent. Page 14, we have items 43, 44, and 45 on consent. Page 15, items 46, 47, and 48 are on consent. Page 16, items 49, 50, and 51 are on consent. Page 17, items 52, 53, 54, 55, and 56 are on consent. And page 18, we have items 57 and 59 on consent. And we have one additional item.

Thank you. Counselors, are there any items you'd like to have added or removed from consent? Counselor Bosa.

Thank you, Madam President. I'd like to request item 33 be removed from consent as well as item 36 be removed.

Okay, that's item 33 on page 10 and item 36 on page 11. Any other items, councillors? Councillor Quinn?

Item 34 on page 11, please.

Okay, item 34 on page 11. Any other items? All right, thank you. At this time, we'll entertain a second, a motion and a second for approval of the consent agenda.

So moved. Second.

All right. Voting should start about now.

And I'm a yes.

Okay. Okay, thanks, sir. That vote should be up, Madam President.

All right, thank you. All the items that were considered for consent have been approved, minus those items that have been removed from the consent agenda. They are now referred to their normal place on the agenda. And so at this time, we will continue with the other items that are up for review.

Item 28, an ordinance to amend Section 3A-4-18 of the General Code of the City of Birmingham, Alabama. to eliminate discount allowed for the time of minutes of consumer use tax. This is an item of permanent operation need. You see for passage today.

Motion for you see.

Council member gun. Council member Quinn. Council member Smith. Council member Smith. Council member Vassa. Council member Williams. Council member Woods. President Pro Tem Tate. Council President Alexander. Motion on the item, please.

All right, thank you. Counselors, this is an ordinance to amend our general code to eliminate the discount allowed for the timely remittance of consumer's use tax. And we did have this item presented to us in Budget and Finance, but we'd like to be sure that all the counsel have an opportunity to have an understanding of this item, please.

Yes, ma'am, Madam President. Looking for one of our members of the legal department, but she's not out here. Chaz Mitchell will present.

Chief Mitchell.

Hopefully I won't butcher it. But the longest, Madam President. Yes. So what's before the council is just to align our tax code with the state to remove a discount on filing of a certain tax, consumer tax, for a discount rate for them to file early. So we're just aligning our tax code with the state that removed that out of their code. So that's all what's before the council.

Thank you. Any questions, councillors? Councilor Williams.

What's the actual tax? It's a consumer tax. It's like a use tax.

So... Oh, come on.

I told you.

Actually, we have two team members up, one from finance and one from legal. They both can explain.

Good morning. Yolanda Lawson, Office of the City Attorney. So what is this ordinance would be to remove a discount for timely filing on consumer use tax, which would mirror the state of Alabama, who removed this discount years ago. So in consistent form, that's the long and the short of it. And right now, we have a maximum discount of $400. So this will remove the discount period.

So can you give me an example of a consumer tax?

So a consumer use tax is a sales tax that a consumer pays on an item that they may purchase. So if you go into Publix, Walmart, or whatever, so you pay sales tax. If Walmart were to ship you an item and they fail to charge you tax, there's an expectation that you as the consumer would remit those same taxes that should have been collected by Walmart.

So I think of this more of probably from small businesses that are keeping up with their taxes manually and remitting them to the city of Birmingham.

Correct.

Correct. Not Walmart. So what kind of revenue are we giving up by the $400?

Well, it would vary because you have 25,000 taxpayers in the city of Birmingham, but not all taxpayers are subject to consumer use taxes or would remit consumer use taxes. So that's a very difficult question to answer. Now, we can give you numbers on the amount that we collect in consumer use taxes. But that does not necessarily mean that everybody utilized or was subject to receive the discount, if I'm understanding your question.

Yeah, so I guess my question is more of what is the actual amount of discount that we remitted this past year in total?

I'm not sure. Oh, we can find out that information.

Yeah, so what was the total amount of discount that we remitted this past year?

So that's something that we would have to go and run a report on, but we can give that to the council. Yeah. I don't think it's that substantial.

It's what she was saying.

I mean, y'all can vote on it. I can't vote on something that I don't understand how we're affecting these businesses. I don't understand how it could affect businesses. You know, there's a lot of mom-and-pop businesses, like a decorator, for example, that sells people, or someone that does, like... like yard sales, that they manually remit these taxes. And if this is going to have a big impact on their business, is that another use case?

Madam President, so I think twofold. The city of Birmingham needs to mirror the state. I think that's what's before you. I think, too, if you will allow just to indulge, you've heard a perspective from actually the law. But if you allow the finance department to give some context to this conversation, too, I think it may be beneficial as well.

Good morning. I'm Andrea Ishaku, and I serve as chief administrative analyst. The consumer's use tax is a tax that a business owner actually delays. So when they buy products, let's say they buy bulk products, they are allowed to buy these products sometimes without paying the sales tax. The sales tax is then delayed until they use it. That's why it says consumer use as they use it. The taxes then do, but they're not do a discount for buying an item. Our discount actually goes to retailers as an incentive for them. What it was used for was for them to pay on time. So we allow a discount for them to keep part of the city's money because sales tax is actually the cities. It's not theirs, but in order for them to file on time, Years ago, it was decided if we give a discount, no different than 210, net 30. If you pay us within 10 days, we give you a discount. 30 days, you pay the regular price. No difference. So our discount is just that. to the retailer who is remitting the tax, who is the person that is entrusted to actually collect the tax from the consumer. So it is our money that we are allowing them to keep. But as a consumer, you do not get this discount.

Sure, yeah. That makes perfect sense, and that clarifies everything that I was wondering. Thank you.

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

Yeah, so... Looking at this a little differently, Alabama is not a home rule state. Dillon's rule says that unless the state explicitly gives counties and municipalities authority to do something, they don't have the authority to do it. So I infer from that that because the state removed the discount from state law, we are not allowed to give a discount anymore. Is that an accurate interpretation?

So the effort of the city of Birmingham should always be to be in alignment with the state of Alabama. So because of the taxation structure, while the state of Alabama may allow some leeway, as you stated, some leeway in some areas, the reasoning behind the state of Alabama removing that discount is one to effectuate the removal of incentive that was not productive or beneficial to utilizing taxpayer dollars, as Mr. Shaku shared, because these are actually sales taxes, and we don't have the authority to expend other people's money to that extent. So we want to make sure that we stay in alignment with taxation under those premises.

Thank you.

Hold on. Let me get to Councilor Gunn, and then I'll come back. Councilor Gunn.

Thank you, Madam President. My question is centered around the consumers. Have the consumers been notified of this pending change?

So this would be the notification. So when we pass an ordinance, then we do so under the direction and we have rules and regulations as well that the state of Alabama has given us. So we have to operate under those rules and regulations. And to be fair to the taxpayer, that's why we have that. if you sunset date, if you will, of September. So most of our consumers that remit consumer use taxes are remitting them on a quarterly basis. So that would allow them the opportunity to finish out this quarter and then come October 1, if you will, then they will be subject to the no discount.

So I just want to make sure that there was a previous ordinance that we had that kind of we passed and individuals that were impacted weren't notified by the change and it kind of created like a roar. So I just want to make sure that we're doing our part, due diligence on our side to make sure that those that are impacted by this change are kind of aware and so it doesn't come back to bite us.

Yes, sir. We make every effort to make sure that information is put out accordingly through our tax and license division, our finance division, and OPI will assist us in a lot of ways to make sure that the consumers are aware.

Thank you. Counselor Williams, did you have a follow-up question?

I know I asked for the exact amount, but do you all have a rough amount, like is it $500,000 or is it $30 million that was collected by the discount that was remitted in total?

I would not want to give you a number, because I cannot back it up. We would literally have to run a report to find out.

OK. I don't feel comfortable voting on something if we don't know the actual impact to all the businesses that are within the city.

Counselors, is that a motion, or are you asking for a delay in how long? Motion.

Oh, I apologize.

I think legal want to add some more context before you vote.

OK, I just want to make the council aware and remind you that it does max out at $400, regardless of the amount. And so I think that if we look in full perspective with what Mr. Shaku shared, these are sales taxes that the consumers are paying. So we want to make sure that we look at it in the full perspective of that, in that the max is $400, regardless. So you may have a company that's making $1 million or needs to remit taxes on $1 million, but the most they're going to be able to discount is $400.

The motion hasn't been made yet, but are there any other questions, and do you want to go ahead with the motion for delay, or is there any more discussion on the information that's been shared?

I mean, if you all want to pass it today, I can vote no, or we can delay it. It's whatever the collective wants. Okay, motion to delay for one week.

Is there a second? Are we going to do the vote on the screen for the motion? Thank you.

So are we ready to vote?

Yes, sir. Thank you.

Council Member Vos. This was one week, right?

Oh, I thank you. This is now we voted for a one week delay on item 28. Thank you very much. Next item.

I am 33. I am 33. A resolution pursuant to section 11-40-1 and 11-47-19 Code of Alabama 1975 authorizing the mayor to suspend funds and execute an agreement in the amount not to receive $15,250. That's the amendment with Sidewalk Film Center and Cinema Incorporated to allow Sidewalk Film Center and Cinema Incorporated to provide professional development film industry and access to diverse voices and creative storytelling for residents of the city of Birmingham says funds to come from the following sources. Mentioned earlier, District 1, $2,500. District 2, $1,000. District 4, $5,000. District 5, $5,000. District 6, $750. District 7, $1,000. Motion, please.

All right, thank you. Counselors, this item provides some funding for the Sidewalk Film Center and Cinema. It was pulled from consent, and I believe it's to allow for an extension. Are there any questions about this item? We're ready for the vote.

Voting should be open.

All right, thank you. Item 33 passes. Next item.

So we're going to 34. Item 34, a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a professional services agreement with the city of Birmingham and Small Magic, under which Small Magic will implement and create a learning ecosystem. The learning ecosystem will provide enrichment opportunities for children from birth through age five and support capacity building and quality enhancement efforts for child care and learning.

centers the city will pay small magic for a term of one year and amount not to see three million five hundred thousand dollars all right thank you counselors this item was moved from consent by dr. Quinn dr. Quinn yes ma'am we I just wanted to give an opportunity for people to understand the full scope of this project so Mr. Mayor, if we could have somebody present on what the scope of work is.

Yes, sir. As Ruth Ann Moss comes to the mic to give more detail of this funding, please recall March 31st, the council from surplus funds voted in support of $3.5 million for small management. Just a backdrop before she goes. As you know, the city of Birmingham began funding and support wood communities, Birmingham Talks in 2019. It has since changed its name to Small Magic, but its mission and its impact has not changed. Providence Talks from the city of Providence had an organization similar. And the whole conversation for this organization is centered around what do we do for early childhood learning. As you know, all early childhood learning cannot necessarily be place-based. And so this is to accelerate and provide impact for more families and more children within our city limits to make sure when they enter kindergarten that they're actually kindergarten ready. The best way to do that is by making sure we have the necessary resources. in partnership with the private sector to support families who have children between the ages of birth to five. She can go into more detail about how this money accelerates those opportunities.

Thank you, Council. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yes, I'd love to share more about this. Everything that we do at Small Magic, it's based on a deep belief that kids deserve the very best from the very beginning of their lives. Over the last eight years, we've grown the Birmingham Talks program from serving 90 children a year in 2019 to roughly 1,500 children a year this past year. This partnership with the city expands beyond one program to several other offerings for parents and child care centers that serve children under five. So the Birmingham Talks program is focused on increasing the amount of interactive talk back and forth between children and the adults in their life. We use this little tech device that when you turn it on, it counts how many words kids hear and how many times they go back and forth with adults in conversations. That's the program that we've been building and scaling over the last seven years. One thing that's become clear as we look to leading cities around the country is that no city that's investing in early childhood and that's really known nationally as being an incredible place to raise a child is depending on one program. They have a network or ecosystem of supports that wrap around both child care centers and parents, the two biggest adult forces in the lives of kids under five. So this partnership with the city builds on that successful Birmingham Talks program in both the family environment and the child care center environment. In the family environment, it adds three different programs on either side of Birmingham Talks for a total of four offerings for families. These offerings are for any family in Birmingham across all nine council districts, regardless of neighborhood. In addition to the Birmingham Talks program, there's a new program in partnership with UAB called Expect More that's focused on providing positive parenting education to folks while they're pregnant. We know that a lot of times the best time to learn about being a parent is before you have a baby that's keeping you up all night. UAB does about 4,000 deliveries a year and will be directly referring people into the Expect More program while they're pregnant. After that, when somebody's baby's born, they'll get contact that says, hey, your baby's four months old. We see that they're probably babbling. They're ready for this next step. And then move into the Birmingham Talks program. After that, there's an available program called Birmingham Reads that's focused on providing tech-enabled support to parents to teach their three- and four-year-olds how to read. I've been beta testing it with my own child over the last year and we're 68 15-minute lessons in and she's reading on a mid-kindergarten level. So it's a really incredible program. that's being used by families and school districts all across the country, and it will be provided free of charge to Birmingham residents with three and four year olds. There's another offering on the family side called Ready Saturdays that will be in partnership with Birmingham Public Library, starting at Central, because that's here in the middle, easiest for all families to get to, and then hopefully expanding to other locations across the city. That's a Saturday morning program where families can drop in with their kids and do activities that are based on pre-K readiness standards. So the kid thinks that they're having fun playing with blocks, but they're actually learning early math skills about how to build patterns and things like that. We'll also have resources like lactation support and pediatric OT to help with some of those developmental concerns that are becoming an increasingly big thing for families. All of that is on the family side. On the childcare side, we're heavily focused on increasing the quality of childcare that's available to families here in Birmingham. The state of Alabama uses the one to five star scale to rate childcare centers. So five stars is the highest quality that you can get. In Birmingham, 87% of our childcare centers have one or fewer quality stars. So we have a low number of high-quality rated centers, a high number of lower-quality rated centers. We know that a lot of times this isn't because child care center directors and teachers aren't trying the best that they can. A lot of times they just don't have the resources and capacity that they need to increase quality. So a portion of this funding will go both directly to those child care centers to help them increase quality, things like improving playground equipment, bringing in age-appropriate books and toys. And then also provide technical assistance and coaching to help them navigate. I don't know about y'all, but I think we've all been there when you pull up a government forum and you think, I have no idea how to fill this out. So we'll provide technical assistance to those childcare centers to help them go through the certification process and get those quality stars. One of the things that gets me the most excited about that is that in Montgomery, the state of Alabama, Hayes Child Care Centers for Quality. So if you have one quality star, you get $9,000 a year from the state. If you have five quality stars, you get $90,000 a year from the state. So if we here in Birmingham can focus on supporting the folks that take care of our youngest children to increase the quality that they provide, we're gonna get money from Montgomery sent up here to help our kids and our families. On the child care center side, we'll also continue to expand the Birmingham Talks program in child care centers. And then we're doing a pilot of that Birmingham Reads program in Birmingham City Schools pre-K classrooms this fall to test with Dr. Sullivan the possibility of expanding it to more classrooms, which would then provide for our kids to start kindergarten already ready to read. So that's a little bit about the scope. Happy to answer any more questions that folks have.

Just to add, Madam President and Council. Yes, Mayor. Many of you all, like us on the administration side, did our greetings and wishing our children a good year for their first day of school yesterday. At some point, all those kindergartners we met yesterday will get to the third grade, and they'll have to take that standardized literacy test for all third graders throughout the state of Alabama. And they'll pass it or fail it, and we know the consequences of failing. And as an administration, as a council, we've committed and invested so much in education. Just reminding us that education does not start in kindergarten. And in order to not only get the results we need in third grade literacy tests, not only the best way to have our children kindergarten ready is to go upstream to make sure they can enter ready. down payment investment before you today is not an isolation it's more of this down payment is to accelerate more opportunity to partner with the private sector to level up more additional funding as well and what the city of Birmingham is doing which I hope she can share a little bit is beyond what any other city is doing in the state of Alabama this is part of the job so is there anything else you want to add

The only other thing I'll just say as a former Birmingham City Schools teacher and a mom is that there's something that doesn't make a lot of sense about the federal and state government deciding that five years old is when we should start investing public money in children. Children are well-formed people. Before then, 90% of brain development happens before kids turn five. And so the fact that we're here in a city that's taking seriously the municipal government plugging that gap and investing in children for the first five years of their life is truly something special.

Thank you. Councillor Gunn, did you have something to say, to follow up?

I was just going to offer a comment. So, I appreciate the scope of work that's included in the agreement. You know, just to sum things up, I think this one sentence in the scope of work is, you know, kind of sums things up and perhaps helps people understand the broader objective. And it says, at Small Magic, we're working to ensure that Birmingham can become the best place in America to raise a child under five.

That's...

impactful you know and you can imagine that if we can achieve that objective you know how impactful that's going to be not only for the children and their families but for the growth of the city so Really appreciate that and also just wanna say as a former scientist, I appreciate the fact that you gave citations in your work and referencing research papers, so thank you.

We have more if you have the desire. And the other thing that I just would be remiss not to say while we have all of you here is that we are always actively looking for partnerships with families and childcare centers. So someone on my team is going to be reaching out to folks from your team. If you have someone on your team that manages community engagement for your district, we want to talk about how we can be at your trunk or tree, at your community breakfast, any opportunity to connect with parents of kids under five. If you're a parent of a kid under five and you're streaming this on Facebook right now, we are actively enrolling families in our fall cohort. So again, this is for All nine districts, all 99 neighborhoods, we are eager for any opportunity to partner.

Thank you. Counselor Cohen.

Thank you, Madam President. You answered one of my questions, and that question was centered around how can we as counselors spread the word about the small magic programming. So I am very excited to lean in and support any way that I can. My second question was centered around how can families, if they are interested in participating in any of the programming, how can they learn more? How can they sign up to learn more about the program of Small Magic?

Yep. If you go to smallmagic.org slash families, all of the information is there. You can fill out a form and a real live person from our team will call you or text you and get you enrolled.

Okay. Thank you. And I'll Last thing, this is going to completely change the trajectory of children that grow up in Birmingham. And so I am adamant about that. I know the mayor is focused on cradle to career, and this is where we start at with the children. So thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, thank you. Were you referring to the pre-K classrooms? Would that be for all the schools that have their pre-K classrooms?

So we're going to start with a pilot with a smaller number of classrooms to get the kinks worked out. And the goal is that if that pilot is successful, we'll continue to expand to more classrooms and more classrooms.

So which classrooms are you going to?

We are currently working with Birmingham city schools. We have several different potential schools identified and ultimately we'll be looking to Dr. Sullivan and his team to make that final decision.

Okay. Um, plug him, peel our Washington K through eight. Um, but no, seriously. Uh, so do you have somebody on site? Because I know a lot of our schools are very diverse. Um, somebody who's bilingual, for example, to help with families who may not speak English as well.

Yeah, we've actually been talking about that on our team. We have somebody that we partner with when bilingual families reach out. Our website is available in Spanish and English, so if there are Spanish-speaking families that want to enroll, they can toggle that on the website and make that form accessible for them as well.

Okay. Perfect. Um, what about kids with disabilities? Do you have somebody on site? Like if they're like dyslexic, how do you guys work with kids?

Yeah, that's a great question. Oh, some families come to us because they're, they say, I heard about this opportunity. This seems like a good thing to get my kid involved with other families come to us worried because they say my child's three and they haven't said anything yet. Or my child has an autism diagnosis. The great thing about the Birmingham Talks program is that regardless of your kid's ability or diagnosis, talking with your child and engaging with them is one of the best things for their brain. And so we work with families whose children have a variety of different disabilities. We take them through our programs, and then we also refer out to early intervention. So another plug for folks in your districts. the state pays for early intervention for people who have children from zero to three with developmental disabilities, they will evaluate for free and they will provide services for free. So we do a lot of getting families connected with that state resource.

Okay. That's, that's really a game changer because that affects a lot of students who may not know they have disabilities. Cause sometimes I think families just kind of write off as, Oh, they're just mute or, um, you know, or they deal with it in other ways. But also, like Council Gumbel was saying, in the future, like if you're able to identify the disability at three years old, by the time it's time for you to take the test in the third grade, you can take testing accommodations, find strategies. And it really helps, honestly, in deals with crime, man, pro tem, because a lot of people, they get discouraged in school, they drop out, they may commit a crime, or they may not go into the workforce. So I love it. I don't have kids, but I have an aunt, so. I know how important it is to start kids early and just give them that confidence early on so they can be successful later in life. So thank you so much.

Thank you very much. Counselors, I do also want to direct your attention. One of the handouts in the packet was the incentive, the reach, and the annual cost that goes along with the program. So it gives some more detail about the number of students and families that are hoping to be impacted. And I think that's very useful information as well. Any other questions? Yes, Counselor Woods.

I have one question. It's about the... The way that we determine and make sure that the families are residents of the city of Birmingham, especially when it's something, like you said, 4,000 children are born at UAB at whatever given time. How do we identify them as residents of the city of Birmingham, and how does that work?

Yeah, so whenever we do an intake form for families, they list their address, and so we can verify residency that way. We also receive funding from other sources, like the state of Alabama that supports folks in other parts of Jefferson County accessing the program, but all funds from the city of Birmingham are for Birmingham residents and services here in Birmingham.

Thank you.

Yes, Councilor Vassa.

Thank you, President Alexander. Hello, Ms. Moss. It's exciting to hear about this program and the consideration for investment from the city in early childhood ed. I know that several of us have been involved in different organizations and have seen best practices in terms of investment in early childhood ed, and the reality is that if the investment isn't there, we're not going to see the outcomes. And so to speak to outcomes, a simple question, and that is, can you tell us what success looks like for the fulfillment of this one-year contract?

Yeah. So we measure success in three different ways. We measure it in reach. How many people did we provide services to? We measure it in impact. To what extent were those people actually positively impacted by the program? And then the last thing that we measure is experience. Did the people who participated in these programs actually have a good experience? And I think that looking at those three things together in a braided way is what helps you really holistically evaluate a program. And so for this year, we estimate that our reach will be between 3,500 and 4,000 children. For impact, Each one of those programs has a different impact metric. So, for example, for Birmingham Reads, we're looking for children to be reading on a mid-kindergarten level by the end of the program. For the Child Care Center Quality Accelerator, we're looking for a center to move their quality rating up by one to three stars. For the Birmingham Talks program, we're looking for a child to increase their exposure to interactive talk by at least 60%. So each one of these programs has a specific impact metric that we're tracking. And then in terms of experience, we use something called Net Promoter Score. If you've ever rented a car, they call you and they say, on a scale of one to 10, how likely are you to recommend Enterprise to a friend or family member? We ask that same question to everyone who goes through our programs. The scale for net promoter score runs from a negative 100 to 100. The average education organization has a 48. The goals for our program are between 80 and 100, and every single year we've landed in the low 90s. So what that tells us is that folks in the community, residents, constituents, are having an overwhelmingly positive experience in the program, and we expect that to continue.

Can you can you share how many Cities did the talks program seven eight years ago, and how many exist today?

Yes, so when we first launched the talks program in 2019 five cities from across the country were chosen by Bloomberg Philanthropies Birmingham Louisville Hartford, Connecticut Detroit and Virginia Beach seven years later Birmingham is one of the only two cities that are still doing this work. And we have served thousands more children than the other city that's still operating. And I think that's due to a lot of things. I think one of them is because we've seen that families and teachers in our community are hungry for an avenue to invest in kids. It is them first and foremost that are the reason that this has been successful. I think also the city's foresight to help this outside the city has helped it to continue to grow. In most other cities, they made this a city project or a city department, and then when the Bloomberg funding ran out, the work was not able to continue. We've been able to blend not only that public support, but with also private support, individual support, and support from the state to allow the program to keep growing.

Thank you. Any other comments, questions? Council Vassa.

Thank you, President. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Are we ready for the vote? All right, we're ready. And I'm an aye.

My vote should be up.

All right. Thank you, counselors. Item 34 passes. And we're looking for great success with this program. Thank you very much.

Next item. Item 35 is withdrawn. Next should be 36. Item 36, a resolution proving and authorizing the mayor to execute an amendment to the Home Investment Partnership Program. Development agreement between the city of Birmingham Woodlawn Foundation Incorporated under which Woodlawn Foundation Incorporated is awarded funds under the CDBG home and the American Rescue Plan Act for the purpose of one constructing up to eight affordable new construction rental units located in South Woodlawn or 2.8 acres currently owned by Woodlawn United to on-site infrastructure improvements in three, and provide housing for HABD residents at or below 30% AMI to 80% area median income to extend the term to a term ending December 31, 2027, and add additional funding in the amount of $170,500 for a total amount not to exceed $1,812,303. Motion, please. Motion on the item. Second.

Second? I'm sorry. All right, thank you. Council, item 36 was on consent. It was a resolution approving and authorizing the mayor to execute an amendment to the Home Investment Partnership Program and Development Agreement between the City of Birmingham and Woodlawn. And this is amends some funds that were awarded under CDBG and ARPA. This item was pulled to allow for consent. Are there any other questions? I mean, to allow for an abstention. Are there any questions about this item? Anyone need more information? All right, thank you. We're ready for the vote.

Thank you. Item number 36 passes. Next item.

It should be item 58. A resolution setting a public hearing September the 22nd, 2026 to consider the adoption of an ordinance to change in zone district boundaries for all properties in the Pratt-Ensley Framework Plan area, including the Pratt community and Ensley community pursuant to the Pratt-Ensley Framework Plan. Motion, please.

Move the item. Second.

All right, thank you, counselors. This is a resolution to set a public hearing for September 22nd to adopt an ordinance for a change in zone district boundaries for all properties in the Pratt-Ensley Framework Plan. Any questions about setting this date? And our vote today is to set the date of the public hearing for September 22nd. Any questions? We're ready for the vote.

All right, voting should be open. Council Member Smith. Thank you. That vote should be up.

Thank you. Item 58 passes. We've set that public hearing for September 22nd, 2026. Next item.

Item 60, a resolution confirming the appointment of two members to the Birmingham Airport Authority as appointed by the mayor. Said term expiring July 29th, 2032.

Do we have a motion to second that? Item 60. There's a motion. Is there a second? Move the item.

Second. Second.

Okay. Thank you. Item number 60 is a resolution, counselors. This announcement was made a week or two ago, but now we are confirming the appointment of two members to the Birmingham Airport Authority, and these appointments are being made by the mayor. Chief, would you all want to read these? I can read that for him.

Yes, ma'am, Madam President. Ms. Tracy Bennett, Senior Administrator from the Office of Public Affairs, will present the candidates.

Thank you. Good morning. Good morning, Madam President. Counsel, the two members up for appointment to the Birmingham Airport Authority are Jennifer Reed Eggby and R. Ashby Pate. They are for two six-year terms ending July 29, 2032.

All right. Thank you.

These are two reappointments that have been read. Any questions regarding these reappointments? Okay, we're ready for the vote.

All right, voting should be open. That vote should be up, Madam President.

All right, thank you. Item 60 passes. We thank you, Mayor Whitman, for offering these citizens for reappointment to this board, and that is Jennifer Eggby and R. Ashby Pate. And we wish them well on this continued representation on the Airport Authority Board.

Madam President, can we please reconsider item 28 as the mayor has pulled the funding amount?

All right, there is a motion and a second to reconsider item 28. And that's on page 9.

Okay. All right, since this is an item of permanent operation, we'll do the UC again. Motion for UC. Okay. So moved. Second. Council Member Gunn. Aye. Council Member McQueen.

Aye.

Council Member Smith.

Aye.

Council Member Smith.

Aye.

Council Member Vassa.

Aye.

Council Member Williams. Aye. Council Member Woods. Aye. Council President Pro Tem Tate.

Aye.

Council President Alexander.

Aye.

All right, now motion on the item. So moved.

Second.

All right, it's back before you.

All right, Council, this item is back before us. We had considered a one-week delay, but we received the information that was corrected. requested. Any questions about the item?

I believe that the amount, Madam President, what was it, $70,000? What was the total?

Total. Not just the discount, the total.

Yeah, the total. Correct. Yeah, the total was $70,000. Yes. So... Yeah, but, you know, I know we're laughing about taking $70,000 from small businesses. I'm not going to support it, but I do think that we need to pass it today.

And the laugh was not about taking money. Any other comments or questions? We're ready for the vote.

All right. Voting should be over. All right.

Thank you very much. Item 28 passes. Thank you all, and thank you, our administration, for providing that information for us very timely so we can allow the process and notification to begin for these consumers and business owners. Thank you. Any other items on the agenda?

No, ma'am.

All right. Thank you very much. Counselors, at this time, now we're ready to entertain updates from your various districts. And who'd like to go first? Counselor Smith.

Thank you. All right, so first I want to say congratulations to District 5 on your health fair this past Saturday. Very well attended, lots of people, so great job. Kudos to you guys. Yes, it was really nice. District 8 is hosting a joint town hall in partnership with House District 55 on August 18th. That's next Tuesday at Sardis Missionary Baptist Church at 6 p.m. We have the, also want to mention that the Fairview Park has a new commemorative plaque for Mr. Cornwallis Hudson, who is 99 years old. This was in partnership with Parks and Recreation and led by Fairview President Dwight Hampton. So Mr. Hudson is a celebrated leader in the Five Points West community, and we just really wanted to honor him. So congratulations to him and his family and to Mr. Hampton on seeing that through, that project to happen. Birmingham Public Library is meeting this afternoon at 4.30 at the Central Branch. Tomorrow is a special called Parks and Recreation Board meeting at 2 p.m. at Legion Field. Also, we're still conducting the park survey, so go to bhmparks2035.com to complete that survey. And the next Arts and Parks Committee meeting is next Monday, August 17th. Submit your agenda items to d8help at birminghamal.gov by Wednesday at 5 p.m. And lastly, the Bellevue Heights Neighborhood Association meeting was scheduled for today. That has been canceled, and so check with our office. You can call our office to see the rescheduled date and time. Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilor Gunn?

Thank you, Madam President. These are my announcements for today. The UAB Live Health Smart mobile market will be in the Woodlawn community at the Willowwood Recreation Center this Thursday from 9 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. So please, if you're in the Woodlawn community or surrounding neighborhoods, go out and check it out. They have some great food options at little to no cost to residents. Upcoming Neighborhood Association meetings. Kelo Springs is tonight at 6 p.m. at Smith Middle School, and then Penfield Park is council for tonight at the Brownsville Heights Recreation Center. Also, if you hadn't had a chance to vote today, please go out and vote. That concludes my announcements.

Thank you. Councilor Woods?

Thank you, Madam President. Quickly, just to reiterate, the Kelo Springs Neighborhood Association does meet tonight at 6 p.m. at Smith Middle School. Also, our next Be Letter Free cleanup, when we invite everybody out, will be held on Friday, August 14th at 10 a.m. at Grayson Park. As always, invite residents out to Lindahan and keep District 1 beautiful.

Thank you. And Councilor Woods, I do want to congratulate you. I know a lot of this effort was part of your UNAM, do I pronounce it correct? Have you finished your project? Is this a sustainability piece?

Yes, I am an alumni now. But yeah, we're trying to keep it going and continue really implementing what we were able to learn. So one piece of litter at a time.

One piece of litter at a time. Thank you. But congratulations to you for being selected to that cohort. And we see the result and the fruit of that labor with this project. So thank you. Councilor Quinn.

Thank you, Madam President. I want to start by thanking all of the vendors and attendees who made the fourth annual District 5 Health Fair a success this past weekend. Special thanks to... to the Omega Psi Phi, Alpha Phi chapter, Parker High School, and Principal Hudson and his entire team over there. And thanks to Pro Tem Tate and Counselor Smith for taking time out of an otherwise busy day. I know you guys had other events going on on Saturday, so appreciate you guys stepping by. you know, we'll, we'll look forward and we've already started talking about, uh, next year. And so, um, we'll keep it going. Um, the, One thing that I do want to announce is our next event. We have a gun safety event in September. On Sunday, September 13th, we will have a free event at Batwell Auditorium that is focused on educating folks who own firearms about how to... especially store those firearms safely. It's been my experience and a typical experience of firearms educators that people are quick to go out and buy a firearm, but they don't necessarily invest in everything that surrounds being a responsible gun owner. So this is one of our, one of the District 5 ARPA projects and Again, that will happen Sunday, September 13th at Batwell Auditorium, and you'll be hearing more information about that. East Avondale has a meeting tonight at 6 p.m. via conference call. Smithfield Neighborhood Association meeting is canceled for August and will resume in September. The Planning and Zoning Committee meeting is canceled for today, and the next Transportation Infrastructure Committee meeting is on August 24th. Finally, please go out and take advantage of the two great farmers markets in District 5 at Eastlake, UNC, and Pepper Place on Saturdays. Thank you.

Thank you. And again, reiterating, it seems like I had a great crowd. I saw all the social media interest in the event. And I want to take this opportunity to thank each of you. I think everyone has done a phenomenal job in supporting families and a lot of innovation. I mean, splash pads and all of these type things. So I just want to say thank you to each of you for the way you dedicate yourselves and have tried to make everybody ready day one yesterday. So thank you all. Council Vassa.

Thank you, Madam President. First of all, I just want to say congratulations to the Epic, Avondale, and Glen Iris Elementary School Scholars for a great start to the school year. We wish them luck in the coming months. Tonight, we have Highland Park Neighborhood Association meeting at 6 p.m. at the Rojo Side Room. That's it. Those are my announcements. Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Council Vassa. Councilor Smitherman?

Thank you, Madam President. Thank you to everyone who came out to Our final farmer's market this past Saturday, we had great turnout. Free flowers, free pears, ice cream, matcha, produce. We had a really good lemonade stand I enjoyed. And the best part was getting cabbage for $2 from the mobile market. So it was a lot of great things, juices. We had a cooking demonstration with tomato, basil, pasta salad. It was amazing. So thank you to everyone who participated and came out. South Titusville will meet today at 5.30 at Crystal Ray Birmingham High School, located at 1832 Centerway South. Arlington West Dam will meet today at 6 p.m. at the West Dam Library. Also, we are continuing our Get Fit While You Sit classes every Monday at 9.30 a.m. at Crystal Ray Birmingham, formerly known as Holy Family. This will go on until the last Monday in September, and it's free. Congratulations to the District 6 intern, Mariah Anderson, as she prepares to begin her college journey. She moves into AUM, Auburn Montgomery, this weekend. I also want to continue to wish our Birmingham City Schools students a wonderful first week of school. I'm praying for you guys to have a very successful year. And as mentioned before, don't forget to get out and vote. Thank you.

Thank you, thank you very much. And belated happy birthday.

Thank you.

Councilor Williams?

Yeah, definitely belated happy birthday. Robot Springs neighborhood meeting this Thursday, August the 13th at seven o'clock at New Beginnings Church and the next scheduled Economic Development Tourism Committee meeting will be the 18th and if you have any submissions, If you could get them to india.bailey at birminghamal.gov by the 14th, which is Friday. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Williams. Madam Pro Tem. Thank you, Madam President. Norfolk meeting is canceled for tonight. Sandusky neighborhood meeting will be Wednesday, August 12th. They meet on conference call. You can dial in at 319-527-9642. There's no passcode. Oak Ridge neighborhood meeting will be Thursday, August 13th. They meet at 4 p.m. Conference call as well. You can dial in at 952-206-4918. Passcode is 223418. Hooper City Neighborhood Meeting will be Thursday, August 13th at 6 p.m. at the Hooper City Ritz. Next public safety meeting will be today, in this chamber today. Congratulations, as Councilor Smith has already said. Welcome the kids back. We had an opportunity to go out to Carver, Wilkerson, and Tugger yesterday and take 50 book bags, drop them off at the school and welcome the kids back to school. This Thursday, we're going to kick off the D9 Thrive initiative. That is the beautification initiative with our great partners, House Proud, Miss Lisa Flowers. Jones continues to do a great job. in Birmingham, so the block celebration will be this Thursday. It starts at 8.30. The meetup location is 2717 20th Avenue North. We're going to be doing facade, landscaping. We're going to beautify the block, and it's going to be amazing. So I'm inviting all of you out to come. Let's see what that is all about. We're going to do a wraparound. So we're going to be going in alleys, you know, cleaning up some alleys as well. But I do want to highlight something that I think people should really take advantage of is that the Salvation Army and their Education and Workforce Development Center You can call that number 205-328-2420 and talk to Ms. Jahan Quinn. It's located at 2015 26th Avenue North. People really need to take advantage of these free workforce, F-R-E-E, free workforce development classes. Stair processing technician has already started, but I would recommend people If you're interested in learning about surgical instruments, this is a great career. Get a certification. They're getting ready to start their interest forms on CDL. Class A training. Also, lobotomy tech, EKG tech. Certified billing coding specialist. And medical... What is this, medical assistant and patient care technician? All of this stuff is free. Then I want to give it up for our very own Tish Fletcher, who runs the North Birmingham Community Service Hub. It's on Mondays and Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Salvation Army is located at 2015-26 Avenue North. No appointment or paperwork needed to start. Just come in, and they meet. where they meet the services, they meet with the navigators to help you with utility assistance, weatherization, housing support and stability resources, food assistance, health service referrals, and connecting you to free and reduced service available in your area. So please connect and take advantage of these programs that's being offered throughout the city. Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Madam Pro Tem, and thank you for making us aware of all of these items. Not only what you have going on in your district, but other opportunities residents across the city. So thank you so much. These are announcements for District 7. Today the East Brownsville neighborhood will meet at 5 p.m. via conference call. You can dial in at 1-605-313-4198 and the code is 461297. If you need a refresh of that information, please call the D7 office at 205-254-2498. Thursday, the meetings for the West Brownsville Neighborhood Association and the Roosevelt City Neighborhoods have been canceled, so they are not meeting this month. On Friday, we'll have continuation of Lemonade with the Land Bank. And this is where the Birmingham Land Bank Authority is going out and they're getting out to the public to give you more information. On Friday, there was one that was held at the Powderly Library in D7. They are making this across the city. So here are the next dates. This is very important information. I receive, and I don't know if you all receive questions sometimes during our neighborhood meetings, have a lot of residents that are interested in this land bank, how the process works, how they acquire property. So the next three series, there'll be one on August 14th at the Smithfield Library. That'll be from 2 to 3 p.m. Then there'll be another one at the Five Points West Library on August 21st from 10 a.m. to 11, and then the Avondale Library August 28th. So I'll announce these each week, but the next one up is at the Smithville Library August 14th from 2 to 3 p.m. Please take advantage of that information. I think a lot of opportunities can be there with land bank authority. At this time, Councilors, we'll revert our attention to our speaker's list. Mr. Clerk, if you'll call the name. And as he prepares to call the names, when he calls your name, if you'll come up to the podium, you'll have three minutes. We do have these visual boards to my left and right. Your time will be showing you how much time you have left. When it turns to red, you have about 30 seconds. So we could go ahead and entertain the speaker's list.

Bessie Troop. Bessie Troup.

Hey, Miss Troup. Good morning. Good morning. Come on. We'll let you hear it from the mic. Thank you, ma'am.

Give us your name and address. Yes, ma'am.

Good morning.

My name is Bessie Troup. I live at 313 Division Avenue South. That's 35205 zip code area. I was here this morning to represent my area. And I'm asking about the overgrown weeds in the area. I live at 313 Division Avenue South, as I said before. I live in an area that's been abandoned. I live right by the railroad tracks. My house is the only house that sits down there. On the right side of my house, I'm overgrown with weeds of property. On the left side of my house, the same issue. the front and back. My house is the only house that sits back there, so I have no neighbors on either side. The railroad tracks is right in front of my house. On the right side of my house, which is my kitchen area, there's an overgrown area that's like a forest area. We have vagrants and what have you coming down through there. It's not well-lit or anything like that. On the other side, opposite, there's a forest area with trees and overgrown bushes and what have you. So we got the vagrants that's coming off of their tracks down through the area. At night, it's not well-lit, so I don't know what's coming down through the area. In the daytime, my grandkids like to get outside and play. They can't because of the overgrownness of the areas and the protection of them and what might be in the areas. So that was my speak this morning to come down and see how can I get somebody to come out and evaluate my area to see about us having it cleaned off in that area, or either to put something down to kill the weeds. So that way we'll be able to see in that area of what's coming off of the track, off of the street round in our neighborhoods. So that's what I was here too. And then I also wanted to ask about some property things too, but that's my main concern.

Thank you so much for bringing this item to our attention. I know a lot of us deal with this in our various districts. I do know that administration, I believe they've talked with you or they've offered some assistance with anything that we can do on her behalf to get her to the right areas, Chief.

Yes, Madam President. Thank you, Ms. Troop. Ms. Flora Johnson from our Community Development Department is working with Ms. Troop, so we'll be doing some follow-up to make sure you get those matters attended to, ma'am. Okay.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you all.

Ricky Green. Ricky Green. Patrick Wells. Patrick Wells. Terry Michael.

Good morning, Ms. Michael.

Good morning. Thank you for allowing me to speak today. I just got three items real quick. Number one, I appreciate the cleaning up of the language on the consent agenda and the citizens' right to pull an item for public hearing, although we still don't understand what that process would be. So if there could be some clarity on how the community would pull an item, do you understand what I'm, like, Would we stand up at the beginning of a meeting and say, can I have such and such agenda item pulled for a public hearing? So we don't need to decide that now. I just wanted to point that out. I think people are going to be hesitant to interrupt the meeting to have an item pulled. So do we write the clerk? Do we tell the nice person at the desk when we sign up to speak? At what point do we do that? The second thing that I wanted to mention was the Pratt-Ensley framework plan. I know that there was a lot of discussion before NEBIUS about how y'all didn't vote on it. You didn't know that NEBIUS was coming and things like that. Well, I just want to tell you that if the framework plan goes through, the way it is, the Pratt Inslee, basically you're changing the M2s to I2s, which means now data centers will be able to come in there. And so, you know, you do have a role in taking these votes and making these things known because we have what 600 acres and some of it, you know, it will be getting rezoned. We have it running into unincorporated areas. So what's going to happen is the community, since you took away public hearings, then the community basically, once you pass that framework plan and allow that rezoning, then there's basically nothing that can be done. And that can be a massive data center there. And it is not right for the community to have no input on something. It's not just a neighborhood grocery store. We're talking about things that have impacts, far-reaching impacts, that aren't even fully understood yet when you get on that size of a scale, and the community will have no input. So please think about that before you vote to have that Pratt-Ensley passed, the framework passed. Finally, I want to say real quickly, if I can please, On March 24th, the Planning and Zoning Committee approved the data center ordinance to go forward to the full committee. And the recommendations that were made by the Planning and Zoning Committee on March 24th weren't what was in the ordinance that was given to the public somewhere Well, I think it was around May 12th when it was put on the calendar.

Time is up. Can you just?

Yes, yes. Well, a few seconds were used earlier to discuss the other things. So if you can give me a few more, I'd appreciate it.

So what I'm wondering. Excuse me. We'd have to ask if anyone would like to vote to extend the time. Is there a motion and a second to extend the time?

I move to extend the time.

For how much?

Two minutes.

I don't even need that much. Is there a second? One minute. Yeah.

All in favor, let it be normal. Say aye. Aye. All opposed, say nay.

All right.

Now, we'll restart the clock. Two minutes. Thank you. Okay. I don't even need that much. That's fine. The point I'm trying to make is on March 24th, planning and zoning met, and the ordinance that they suggested come to the full council was not the ordinance that was released to the public before the public hearing. And so I'm simply, honestly standing here wanting to understand the process. I think it's very important for the community to know how these things work. So I'm not saying anything nefarious was done. I truly want to understand that how what was suggested to come before the whole council was not what was voted on. And so how does that happen? Is that a conversation that should be in public someplace that we should have seen and can follow along? When were those changes made and by whom were those changes made by? That's just the point I kind of want to make because truly, I think that the public would trust more and have fewer questions if we understood how this process goes.

Thank you. Okay. Thank you. All right. Any other speakers? All right. This time we'll entertain a motion for adjournment. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Thank you. Meeting adjourned. Thank you all.

Want to give a special shout out to the faculty and staff of Parker High School. We certainly could not do this without the cooperation of Principal Hudson and his team. And also want to give a huge shout out to Omega Psi Phi fraternity for helping us take it up a few notches this year. So, hey, I'm Darrell O'Quinn. I'm city councilor for District 5 here in the city of Birmingham. Today, we're at the District 5 health fair, the annual health fair that we put on at Parker High School. And this is really about bringing together All of the partner organizations that provide services to the community, a one-stop shop place for people to come in and be able to engage with all of these organizations. Most of them offer free services or at reduced cost. And these are things that, you know, everything from just basic health screenings to dental care to, you know, exercise classes, fitness classes, safety of all sorts, and just, again, a one-stop shop for people to be able to learn about all of these things. And it may not be things that they can take advantage of themselves or necessarily need, but somebody in their family or somebody in their community may be able to take advantage of those services. There's the community food bank, Jones Valley Teaching Farm, you know, just a plethora of different options here for people to learn about. And we're incredibly thankful for Omega Psi Phi fraternity to partner with us. They've really helped us amplify this event this year. So it's a great partnership.

Thank you.

Hey everyone, it's Crystal Smitherman, Birmingham City Councilor for District 6. We're out here at the last District 6 Farmer's Market. We're out here at the Grove. It's been amazing. It's rained just a little bit just to cool us off, but we have free matchas, free flowers, a free cooking demonstration by Chef Amanda. It was an amazing tomato basil pasta salad. So good. Breeders' bouquet provided the free flowers. Jones Valley gave out free peaches and flowers. It's been an amazing time. We have the mobile market, different vendors, farmers. It's been amazing. I really appreciate everybody who has participated and helped to plan this summer for our farmer's market. And I look forward to the next one.