Council - Regular Meeting

But the carpet and chairs have good. Yeah, I know. This feels really close though. Like I feel like we probably should have

probably should take out these front these front four. I really Good morning. 9:30.

All right. All right, everybody. We're going to get started.

It is 9:30. We will run through our agenda for today's 10:00 meeting. Um we will start with a recognition of one of our police officers um in the police department. Uh then we'll have the approval of monthly bills. Approve March 2026 bills. Assume no changes or anything on it. Um approval of minutes March 30th, 2026, 5:00 p.m. Council work session. April 6, 2026, 5:30 p.m. Council work session. and April 6, 2026, 6 p.m. council meeting. No changes. Anybody got anything? Uh, public hearings resolution number 26083. Approve request for a special event retail liquor license by Wit LLC. Doing business as JW Steakhouse for Decar Morgan Hospital Foundation Dragon Boat Race on May 9th, 2026 at 2901D Point Mer Circle Southeast Alabama 35601.

No changes. No changes. Uh resolution number 26084 approve request for a special event retail liquor license by Wit LLC. Doing business as JW Steakhouse for the Alabama Center for the Arts Foundation on April 23rd, 2026 for strolling at ACA located at 133nd Avenue Northeast K Alabama 35601. No changes. No changes. Resolutions. Resolution number 26085 declare surplus and approved donation of a 2008 Chevy Impala to Bridge Life, Inc. No changes.

No changes. Resolution number 26086 declare surplus and approved donation of a 2006 Chevy Silverado to Tennessee Valley Outreach. No changes. No changes. Uh resolution number 26087 declares surplus vehicles no longer needed by street and environmental department. No changes. No changes. Resolution number 26088 approved Deerfoot estates drainage design project increase by Three Notch Group. No changes. No changes. Resolution number 26089 approved Pewight Mini proposal for Money Lane improvement CNI.

No changes. No changes. Resolution number 26090 approve new job classification of marketing specialist for the parks and recreation department. No changes. No changes. Uh resolution number 26091 approved Decater Parks and Recreation Rec Center change order number nine. No changes. All right. No changes. Resolution number 26092 approveou at Decator City Schools for Dys activities use of school facilities. No changes heard. No changes. Okay. Resolution number 26093 approve SPLI project agreement updated with new exhibit C1 and exhibit C2.

No changes. No changes. Ordinance says first reading ordinance number 2646. Approve annual ad valorum tax levy for FY2027. No new taxes. No new taxes. We we say that multiple times until this one's approved. Uh ordinances. Ordinance number 264642 approve franchise for 3M forced main pipe to discharge pre-treated waste waters. Yeah, that's been discussed several times. Okay. No changes. Um anybody from any other departments got anything? Council got any questions for me? Good. All right. Our meeting will begin at 10 o'clock. Thank you.

All right, it is 10 o'clock. We'll call the meeting to order. Uh Dane Shaw will lead us in our invocation and pledge. Let's pray. Father, we are thankful for another day just to be alive and to be able to serve you. We ask for your grace and your your wisdom as we make decisions for the city. And we thank you for this time together. We give you all the glory and praise in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. 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. All right, roll call.

Here

all right, to start the meeting, we have got a recognition of officer Juan Penwell for the Tasro school safety specialist. So, at this time, Officer Zeke Eubanks from Hartsville Police Department, if you'd like to come forward. So, hello. I'm I'm Zicky Banks. I'm a member of the Hartsville Police Department. I currently serve as an SRO. With me today is Seth Sullivan, Coleman PD, and Mike Coward who's currently with the Morton County Sheriff's Office, but is one of the retired Decator Police Department. So, the three of us are here and you wonder why would they be at Decator City Council meeting? And the reason is is this is so we serve on a board known as Pasro, which is the Alabama Association of School Resource Officers. So across the state, thousands of educators, law enforcement professionals, mental health professionals, school safety advocates, uh we come together each year uh at our annual conference to train and and get better to make our school safer and do do for our kids, right? Uh with that being said, uh we established a training curriculum for our officers across the state to better themselves to help serve their communities and their students even more. uh the APOS commission which is the Alabama uh commission on standards and trainings for law enforcement sets a minimum right and and they have a standard that you have to meet each year for post postcurriculum training and we at Tazra believe that we can do more than the minimum right if you're doing the minimum you're often falling behind in law enforcement right and so officer with us today we're here to recognize him uh he has been awarded a certificate as a school safety specialist he has met all the training curriculum that we have required of him and today we want come and recognize him for what he does for Decator City and for their schools.

And so there with his certification from the board for the rest of the Thank you all for having me. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations, Juan. Juan, thank you, man. You make us proud.

Certainly appreciate the work that Juan does. Um, all of our SRO's and officers for the service they provide. Uh, we will now move into agenda related public comment. Um, we have one signed in to speak. Um, but before we begin, just want to give a quick outline as to how the public uh comment process works. Anyone wishing to speak should have signed in with their name and address. Comments on agenda items will be heard before the first agenda item. General comments at the end of the meeting. Each speaker will have up to three minutes. All remarks should be directed to the council in a respectful and constructive manner. By signing in, you're acknowledging and agreeing to follow the rules on the sign-in sheet. Please note that comments may or may not be addressed after your time ends. Public comment is an opportunity to share ideas, input, and engage with the council in a positive and productive way. Um, so Miss Donna Underwood, if you want to speak,

thank you, council. Thank you.

My name is Donna Underwood. I live at 1210 Terode Avenue Southwest Decar, and I'm in District 1. Um, I'm here to speak about the ordinance uh that will allow uh 3M to construct a force man to allow pre-treated waste water to be put into a force man which will then go into our sewer system. Um, first of all, let me say that I know the ordinance is a technicality and I'm not here to discuss the technical merits of the ordinance. I'm here to discuss as a community how we want to be aware of what's going on in our community. Okay. Um, I'm in favor of remediation. I'm in favor of cleanup. However, as a cis as a citizen citizen, excuse me, of this community, I have a lot of questions about what's going into our sewer system. Okay. First of all, where is the transparency from our city leaders? Prior city leaders and the current council. Um, if you look at the uh original permit that was granted, it was granted in 2024. Okay. Why as citizens did we not know about this? Okay, we're not technical people, but we should know what what's going on in our community. The second thing is that um the original permit from 2024 allowed for uh discharge activities to go into at least three to four Decar utility manholes that was trucked to these manholes and dumped into our sewer system. Why weren't we aware of this? Okay. Um the

other thing is what is the pre-treatment method before discharge? Okay, what are they using? How are they pre-treating? How are they remediating? If you look at, and excuse me while I kind of If you look at pages in the permit, pages one through through four, go through what they're supposed to be looking at and what they're supposed to be monitoring. Well, on page two, it is listed forever chemicals. So, how is that being treated? There's specific ways to remediate forever chemicals. Okay, so that's a question I have. The other question is where is the sampling and monitoring being done? On page five of the original permit, it lists the manhole covers where it is currently being dumped. Okay. What kind of monitoring is being done? The other big thing that I have is who is doing this monitoring? Is

that my time? Yeah, if you could just wrap up. Okay. Who is monitoring? Okay. According to the permit, it's 3M. Well, I'm sorry. That's like the fox guarding the hen house. Okay. Um, the last thing I'll say is poisoning the well. There was a book signing in February. Okay. All right. Miss, I didn't see anybody from the city at that book signing. All right. Thank you for your time today. Um, we will move into the approval of monthly bills approved March 2026 bills. So move for a motion by Mr. McMasters. Second. Second by Mr. Atkins. Any discussion? Roll call.

I I All right. The approval of the monthly bills are approve of the vote of 5 to zero. Approval of minutes. We will take these as one if that is okay. Approve March 30th, 2026, 5:00 p.m. council work session. Approve April 6th, 2026, 5:30 p.m. council work session. Approve April 6th, 2026, 6 p.m. council meeting. So move a motion by Mr. McMasters. Second. Second by Miss Worler. Any discussion? Roll call.

I All right. The minutes are approved with a vote of five to zero. We have two public hearings. Uh up first is resolution number 26083. Approve request for a special event retail liquor license by Wit LLC doing business as JW Steakhouse for Decatur Morgan Foundation Dragon Boat Race on May 9th, 2026 located at 2901D Point Miller Circle Southeast Decator, Alabama 35601. They've met all requirements and we recommend approval. All right. This is a public hearing. So if there's anybody from the public that would like to speak, you may speak now. Seeing there's nobody from the public, we'll consider the public hearing closed.

So move for a motion by Mr. McMasters. Second by Miss Worsler. Any discussion? Roll call. I resolution number 26083 is approved with a vote of 5 to 0. Resolution number 26084 approve request for a special event retail liquor license by WIT LLC doing business as JW Steakhouse for the Alabama Center for the Arts Foundation on April 23rd, 2026 for strolling at ACA located at 133 2nd Avenue Northeast Decar, Alabama 35601. They've met all requirements and we recommend approval.

All right, this is a public hearing. If there's anybody from the public to speak on this matter, you may speak now. Seeing there's nobody from the public, we will consider the public hearing closed. We have a motion by Mr. Atkins. Second. Second by Mr. McMasters. Any discussion? Roll call. I

All right. Resolution number 26084. It's approved with a vote of 5 to 0. Moving into resolutions. Resolution number 26085 declare surplus and approved donation of a 2008 Chevy Impala to Bridgeelife Inc. Morning council. Kyle de Mester finance. Uh this resolution came about through our process of implementing um the enterprise vehicles. Mayor had tasked us to look at some vehicles that potentially would be surplused to see if there's any viability for them to be able to support some of these nonprofits. We were able to do so and this first resolution is to uh surplus and donate a 2008 Chevy Impala to Bridge Inc. Have

a motion by Mr. McMasters. Second by Mr. Atkins. Any discussion? Roll call. I All right. Resolution number 26085 is approved with a vote of 5 to 0. Resolution number 26086 declares surplus and approved donation of a 2006 Chevy Silverado to Tennessee Valley Outreach. Similar as the last, uh, this is a 2006 Chevy Silverado going to Tennessee Valley Outreach. Have a motion by Miss Worler. Second. Second by Mr. McMasters. Any discussion? Roll call. I I forward

I resolution number 26086 is approved with a vote of five to zero. Resolution number 26087 declare surplus vehicles no longer needed by street environmental department standard surplus. Uh Jeremy will be able to uh sell these on likely gov deals or another um website they've been using for larger equipment as these are I think four or five international trucks on this list. Move a motion by Mr. Atkins. Second. Second by Mr. McMasters. Any discussion? Roll call. I. McMasters. I Atkins,

I resolution number 26087 is approved of the vote of 5 to zero. Resolution number 26088 approved deer footstage drainage design project increase by Three Notch Group. Yeah, this project was funded by previous resolutions. some of the move and he's moved out and this is just reallocating some of those fundings to pay three notch. Okay. So moved. We have a motion by Mr. McMasters. Second. Second by Mr. Bullard. Any discussion? Roll call. I I

resolution number 26088 is approve of the vote of 5 to zero. Resolution number 26089 approved Pight Mini proposal for Bunny Lane Road improvement C and II. Yeah, we all have a Bunny Lane improvement project coming up and this would to would to hire Pight Menali for inspections on that project. So move a motion by Mr. McMasters. Second by Mr. Bullard. Any discussion? Roll call. Hi. I

All right. Resolution number 26088 is approved with the or excuse me, 2689 is approved with a vote of 5 to zero. Uh resolution number 26090 approved new job classification of marketing specialist for the parks and recreation department. This is just a change uh from one position to another from the community service supervisor to the marketing specialist. There's no change in grade or okay steps. We have a motion by Miss Worler. Second. Second by Mr. McMasters. Any discussion? This is not an increasing headcount. Correct. Right. No increase. And this will be posted

correct post effect. I mean probably effectively have to improve. It's not moving one individual into a different position. It's opening a position within the department. Uh we had a position we had someone vacated a position that we felt like we have an abundance of in that similar positions. So we this role in the specialist. All right. Any other discussion? Roll call. Hi. I masters. I I All right. Resolution number 26090 is approved with a vote of 5 to zero. Resolution number 26091 approved Decater Parks and Recreation Rec Center change order number nine.

Um good morning everybody. Morning. Uh this change order was um primarily uh for the uh AV design and the return on that. that I think this is a $25,000 credit overall on this change order. U there was also uh some slight modifications to the dumpster pad as well as uh reconnecting a gas line. Both of those carried um just add small additional cost but overall net 25,000 return in this change order. Um any questions? So move have a motion by Mr. McMasters. Second. Second by Mr. Atkins. Any discussion? Roll call. I I

All right. Resolution number 26091 is approved with a vote of 5 to zero. Resolution number 26092 approveou at Decatur City Schools for Dys activities use of school facilities. Good morning. This just for camp safe haven and basketball in the summertime. So second got a motion by Minister Atkins, a second by Mr. McMasters. Any discussion? Roll call. I

All right. Uh resolution 26092 is approve with a vote of 5 to zero. Resolution number 26093 approve SBLI project agreement update with new exhibit C1 and C2. Yes, Mr. Marks.

Just for reference purposes, this is the former Decator Country Club property which is being developed. Uh all they're asking the developer is to change some of the schedule of of some of the Decar utility projects and move some of the sewer or drainage into another location. It's no additional cost to the city. And that's what this does. It just swaps out what was cost exhibit C1 and exhibit C2 and replaces them with new ones, but does what I just what I just shared. Okay. So, we have a motion by Mr. McMasters. Second second by Miss Worler. Any discussion? Simple timeline change. All right. Roll call. I

I All right. Resolution number 2693 is approved with a vote of 5 to zero. Ordinance is first reading. Ordinance number 264643. Approve annual advorum tax levy for FY2027. Well, cler basically in May of each year, we're under the state statute relevant. Uh you can vote on it, but the key words are there's no additional tax. It's the same tax we've had for decades.

In case that was not picked up on the on the mic, we're required to approve this annually. That's okay. Annually in May, this is no tax increase. Um but this is the first reading. That will come back on a future agenda, but again, approved annually, no increase in taxes. All right, ordinances. Ordinance number 264642 approved franchise for for 3M forced main pipe to discharge pre-treated waste waters. Mr. Marks. Yeah, this is sorry for forgetting to that was just an introduction, so I didn't It's okay.

It's okay. We're here. Uh this is the same item we've talked about. This is continuing to remediate uh and 3M was made that commitment to the city to utilities and to ADM and this just continues that and it uh ADM will monitor it. 3M is responsible to show what's being uh placed in the force main and certainly Decada utilities will monitor because they're also responsible for what goes into their system. So that's what it does. It's it's just continuing what what was committed to several years back. Yep. As as part of the uh settlement,

which everybody said was a good settlement. Uh so moved. All right. We have a motion by Mr. McMasters. Second. Second by Mr. Bullard. Any discussion? So just with the quarterly and the semianual testing, I'm looking at page eight. The department is the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. So they will be overseeing yes all the testing the original strips and and they'll be well they'll they'll be held to ADM standards and the EPA standards even in the event of a change of the standards if the standard standards change then they have to meet whatever the standards are at that time and when they they change will they come back to council

or will they no so his question was well this question was if the standards I forgot wrong one mic um if the standards were to change would that come back to council? Um I do not believe so per this agreement but um ADM will be the responsible agency. Um the question was who is the responsible agency for the results and it will be ADM. EPA can set standards but ADM has to administer those. Correct. So yes, if it changes, they've got to meet the new standard and if there's some concern or something, they'll come back to the council. But otherwise, I I would not anticipate coming back to the city council. Okay. Any other discussion? Roll call.

I s. All right. Ordinance number 264642 is approved with a vote of 4 to zero with one abstension. Um we have nobody for public comment. Uh the next council work session will be held on April 27th, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. The next regular council meeting will be held on May 4th, 2026 at 6 p.m. Is there anything else from departments? Mayor, I don't have anything. Council, all right, we're adjourned. Thank you.