Council - Regular Meeting

We will stand for our invocation. Invocation will be led by Pastor Vicky Kirkman, followed by the pledge of allegiance. If you'll come to the podium, please. Let us pray. Oh, gracious and eternal master, we come this evening just giving you thanks and praises to your name. God, we thank you for who you are in our lives. God, we thank you for this opportunity together to take uh business of this city. We pray now, God, and for uh these that are gathered here this evening. We pray that you would guide us through this meeting. We ask that you would bless our officials, God, our mayor, uh each council person that is present here this evening. Bless the citizens of this great land. God, we ask that you bless each one of us that are here tonight, even those that are viewing on the uh live stream. God, we ask that you would continue to open our hearts and our minds to be receptive, God, of that which is pleasing in your sight. Lead us and guide us in the way that you would have us to go. We will be mindful to always give you praise, honor, and glory. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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. [cough] Mr. delight if you'll call the role. Be happy to. Council member Hendris here. Council member Dixon here. Council member Bowling here.

Council member Spence here. Council member King here. Council President Simmons here. Madame President, all six council members are in attendance and therefore a quorum is present. Thank you very much. At this time, do we have any items from the consent of the regular agenda that needs to be um removed or carried over? If not, can I get a motion to approve the agenda as presented? So moved. Second. Motion by Mr. uh Spence, second by Miss King. All in favor of the motion? 6. Motion carries. Okay.

At this time, we will have a message from Mayor Tyler. Thank you, Miss Simmons and council. I appreciate everybody being here. Thank you for coming out. I want us to start out talking about uh the winter weather event that's that's coming up this weekend. Everyone needs to be aware of this. Obviously, it's a moving target. We don't know. Uh I think it's important for people to understand that EMA is closely monitoring what's going on. We'll be posting information later this week about some of the warming centers that'll be set up over the weekend. Our utility departments are well aware of of the potential for uh a winter storm coming in this weekend and they're making advanced uh plans in preparation for that. Our street department, our police department, our fire departments are all well aware and they're going ahead and anticipating these events and preparing for them. We do have an actual snow and ice plan for our street department that they're following to help get the the main thoroughfairs opened up. We want to get those in as good as condition as possible. But we know that with icing and freezing rain, it's particularly problematic, not only for transportation, but obviously for our power lines and our electricity. And if we run into several days of power outages, which is just difficult to get to, we want everyone in the community to begin making preparations now. And that would be uh going ahead and getting medications that somebody may need for several days, getting the food and water on hand in the event that icing does occur and there's power outages and it's difficult to uh uh to drive on some of our roadways. Um, we're making plans as a city to be as prepared as possible so we can continue to provide the level of service and get power and everything

back up, get the roads open. But it is important that families begin making their own plans, make make plans for your for yourselves, for your pets, and for your neighbors. Uh, because it is uh at least early on, we're starting to see some of those warning signs that we all need to be taking very seriously. There are some other topics that it is appropriate for me to talk about. I don't know if we have a whole lot of time to that today. One of the things that I I want to to bring up and I'll do it at at another time where we have uh less on the agenda to talk about, but it is time for us to discuss what the future of our permanent solution for paving in the city of Florence looks like. We do think that we have uh an option. It probably won't happen in this budget year as we passed the budget, but we think we're going to change up some things and maybe have a uh a a more permanent solution moving forward that could absolutely change what our paving program looks like. Uh there are some economic development recruitment updates that are forthcoming and some some good conversations that are happening. Um and hopefully we get some uh some public notifications on those here in the in the in the coming months short term, maybe the first quarter of this year. But good things are happen happening. This group at some point is also going to have to talk about this is not a popular subject at all, but the city hall moving forward. I have a uh have an email from our building department and I want to just uh mention this very very briefly about some of the concerns that are happening right now in this building. The primary chiller that serves the first, second, and third floors on Short Court Street um is is essentially out of service. And this is the air conditioning unit, which this is a great time of year to have the chiller out on the first three floors of this

building, but it was uh last replaced in 1982. And they don't think uh that they're going to be able to to come up with parts, so we'll be scrambling to get that chiller repaired. The boiler, the second floor, is out of heat right now. The boiler was last replaced in 1983. Uh both of those systems uh are are just beyond well beyond their expected service life and and needs uh going to need some some repairs sooner rather than later, which means we need to get this conversation going. The roof, although it's had repairs, continues to leak. The windows continue to leak. The moisture issues that are here, and by the way, the roof was last replaced in 1995. The roof on this this building as it leaks is allowing moisture to come in. So, we have fire rated doors that are warping and are no longer functioning. It's a life safety issue. There are pages and and stickers and they're I guess they're decals that some of the departments may use to put on on things and they they would put them on papers that that they send out. But there's there's paperwork and envelopes. The moisture is is so bad in this building that the the papers are curling up and the envelopes are already sealing up just from the level of moisture just because we're having some leaking issues here. The the elevator is currently out. Uh it is unknown if we'll be able to get parts to fix it. We hope so. Um and as it stands now, uh we are not ADA compliant with the the basement area that gets access to 911 and EMA. I could go on and on and talk about the electrical system, the issues in the basement, the issues on the fourth floor, um particular issues on each floor, all to say this, u it is going to be time very quickly for us to move that next city hall conversation forward. if

it's looking at at uh alternative locations, if it's scaling back plans for a new city hall, one way or the other, um I'll I'll have something for you in the coming weeks. We hope to have the bond attorney maybe where we can get to come and talk to the to address the council about these are the restrictions and limitations on this money. I I know we borrow, you've heard this before, we borrowed that money at 2.37%. It was a 25-year note, if I can just use my vernacular, and we've already paid about five years, maybe six years after this budget, of of paying our mortgage down. So, we we will owe 19 or 20 years um on this and we've already paid that amount. We're we're making the debt service payment, but it's uh we've not taken any action. And it's going to be something that we're really going to have to move forward with very soon just because this particular building needs a lot of money and attention and care and it's do we want to pull money back into this while we have something else pending or we need to to consider out what our plan is. So lots of uh things that we need to begin working towards and talking about. Um and that's all I had to say for that. Uh, regarding the uh the item on the regular agenda, the uh the marker, my position remains unchanged. Evidently, uh you can read the emails online if you have uh questions about what my uh my position is. This is the only context that I'm going to say. When you begin trying to context was a bad word because I'm going to use it here. When you begin trying to add modern-day context to any historical event, very broad, you you you enter this, you begin sliding down this boundless slippery slope in which any event, any historical event requires could require context and counter context. And then you have this uh inexhaustible list of trying to provide context today for historical

events and it's just one side what does the other side want you it and it's just this uh you get into this whirlwind that never stops. Where does it begin? Where does it stop? Where do you limit it? How do you stop it? So the alternative in my mind is obviously education. We need to keep the dialogue going. Our policies need to to promote the pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all people. I think that's a uh an alternate. But regardless of the outcome, as it was so plainly stated by Reverend Young yesterday, for heaven's sake, even if we disagree, please never allow disagreement to give way to hatred. Uh if that's the case, then we all lose. So, let's be sure we try and keep the conversation and the dialogue um going would be my thoughts. Thank you, Miss Simmons. That's all I have.

Thank you, Mayor Tyler. At this time, do we have any reports for any department heads? Reports for any standing committees? That's you.

That is me. Okay. I have um I serve as the committee chair of the parks and recreation committee and we had a lovely meeting um last week lasted two hours long. So um if you're interested in what went on in our two-hour meeting, you are welcome to go watch our two-hour meeting. I also have five pages of notes here that I promised um President Simmons that I would not spend the time to read, but I do want to give you an overview. Let me tell you, we met on uh July July January 8th, 2026 at 1:00. In attendance was Mayor Tyler, Council Member Dixon, chair, Council Member Spence, Council Member King, Bill Jordan, William Null, Amy Edwards, Mark Brewer, Lee Pedon, David Dolan, Eric Murphy, Holden Newton, and Katon Hedrickk. And um basically to give you an overview of that meeting, we we had a a [clears throat] overview of what all parks and recreation covers is um this was new to us, our first our first committee meeting since since becoming elected. So he gave us an overview and then he also talked mainly about fee changes that will be coming to the city. And just to let you know, we did vote at that time to bring those fee changes to um today to vote on, but after uh further looking into some of that, and we decide, everybody decided, Mayor Tyler, uh um Bill Jordan, myself, and the rest of the committee decided we wanted a little more time before we brought those to you. Um, Bill Jordan did ask that we please um move quickly on the tennis and and pickle ball fees as there's nothing put in place for those. So, we will need to do do those quickly. Uh, he also brought us up to speed on where things are with the McFarland Park [clears throat] uh improvements and the um um boat ramps

and the things going on there. He also talked about some things that are needing to be done. So, we need to be putting these in our mind. The playground at River Heritage Park is needing to be done. It is it's been long over. It's it's gotten to its use. It's it's been well used and and uh we are grateful that we have it for our kids to play on. Um and they've used it well. So, it's that's needing some attention. Also, u the boardwalk and whatnot at Dybert Park is needing some great attention. and I went out there and and checked out on both of those things. So, those are the things uh just the overview of what we went over. Again, if you want to see the minutes, uh we can arrange that. There's a process in getting those and you can go watch the two-hour meeting. That's all I have.

Thank you, Miss Dixon. Anyone else with standing committees?

Public safety, please. Um the public safety meeting met on January 9th, 2026 at and called to order at 12:26. Mayor Tyler, Billy Musgrove, Chief Anderson, Shayla Bosch, um Sydney Alexander, Jackie Hendricks, and Alisa Dixon were present. The primary discussion focused on the approved purchase of property on Florence Boulevard boulevard for the figure future fire station 2 at a cost of $650,000 which has been budgeted in the special pro um projects budget budget along with funds of 325,000 to the traffic light at Mary Lee Drive. The city is waiting final communication from Faith Church regarding a necessary necessary land swap for access via private road which will be upgraded to a public street. This access is critical for the fire station and the closing deadline is February 13th. The traffic light approved by ALDOT and engineering will improve public safety and emermergency response. Multiple agencies are working together to offset the traffic light cost and the a center board has expressed interest in purchasing the old fire station. A motion was approved to move this to um item to full council which uh we're still working on that. So the second major topic was the need for expanded classroom space at the Florence Fire um area. What's it called? train

training center which um serves as a as a satellite campus for the Alabama Fire College. Due to increasing demand for training and certificate courses, the current classroom um um capacity is insufficient, forcing the department to rent off space um off-site spaces. Chief Anderson proposed constructing a new freestanding classroom building with two classrooms capable of holding four to 50 students. Funded by previously approved budget out budget budgeted allocations. The project will allow the department to host more classes, increase training opportunities, and generate additional revenue through tuition sharing with the fire college. the committee agreed to proceed by setting up a pre-bid meeting and um sending the projects out for bid. So, um Chief Anderson is um looking at those bids on that. And I will tell you, we service a lot of states as far as Alaska from um this fire college and it could bring so much more, you know, to our city and things that happen here even um generating revenue and you know, throughout our city. the the meeting ended at 1:30 p.m.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Spence. Anyone else?

Yes. Um, as the chair of the utilities committee, we had a meeting on January the 7th at 400 pm. In attendance was Mayor Tyler, Tad Cole, Will Haddock, Council Member Simmons, Council Member Bowling, and myself. The um compliance specialist position was one of the topics. Plant supervisors spend most of their time meeting regulatory compliance, which is not what they should be focused on. Budgeted position, originally approved for 77477 a year. Posted in August for the first time, only had three applicants and none were qualified. It was posted at 62,000 according to grading from HR. Tad would like to post the job at 77477 for the third posting. This position requires three certifications. Nobody internal is interested in the position with the original pay. Compliance must deal with regulations, ADM, EPA, etc. Tad says he wouldn't take the position for that pay a year because it is a very difficult job and it deals with supervis not only supervisors but with the EPA and ADM. Tad is not sure um if the position is posted at the 77477 that there will be any more applicants because it is lower compared to um similar positions locally. Will Haddock adds that multiple employees have moved to uh to work in muscle shows water and wastewater because of the pay scale. Mayor Tyler asked for some time to work with Melinda on grading the jobs. This will only fix the problem for the specific job posting and no other job postings in the future that water and wastewater may have. This would be a temporary fix for the grading scale issue used citywide. The mayor adds that this grading scale needs to be adjusted

and is an ongoing process. The mayor has asked to table this until he can meet with Melinda and Tad individually to address the grading issue. Another thing we discussed was county road 103 project. um the opportunity to sell East Lauderdale Authority water. This current contract ends in 2027 and they uh may want to purchase water from us. Tad feels that giving this chance to optimize the production. This is the road beside Parks Mortise across from Brooks High School. It will be around 1.9 million to add a new line. East Lauderdale is going to spend over that to update the system. East Lauderdale is wanting to do anou to purchase water. The problem with this project is the current city ordinance states that the person or persons applying must pay upfront. TAD is wanting to change the ordinance for the ability to evaluate the applications on a case-byase basis. It will take approximately eight years to fully recoup the $1.9 million. The only way that this works is with long-term contracts. We don't have the exact numbers of expected revenue but estimate four to5 dollars per thousand gallons. Mark love Joey would be best to answer these questions on the accounting side. Pete Foss will also change the revenue. We are currently selling water to water authority for about $2 per thousand gallons and it is expected to go up. We cannot go any further until the ordinance is changed. TAD is asking for the ordinance to be changed to address the neighboring water authorities on a case-byase basis. East Lauderdale is currently using privately owned wells and ultimately TAD would like for this verbiage in the ordinance to be changed. The mayor suggested they will work on the verbiage first draft and run the

numbers and then we'll bring them to the full council. TAD only gets estimates because we do not have the results from the pilot studies yet, but we should in the next three to four weeks. This would be about a six-month project for us and would be around a two-year project for East Lauderdale. Josh asked about Rogersville. They currently have their own um wells. The state is wanting them to build their own plant, but we are waiting for them to make that decision. The project would be large enough to supply East Lauderdale and Rogersville. Um we don't know exactly um if we are going to sell could be a long-term contract. We would have to have the structure contract based on what we sell to them in a certain time when the rate is changed. POS is an issue on rate changes right now and discussion will be soon. POS is also known as the forever chemical. Pilot studies are done by outside companies essential to scale down version of what we will do in the future. ADM and EPA require pilot studies to have a plant. We have a grant from ADM for $400,000 for the study. The goal is to take POS water and release the POS free that we are currently at 93% but we want to be at 100. We are currently meeting that threshold. The more we we remove the more it cost. Um Tad wants us to be in better shape going back to the river to prepare for future regulations. There are two methods RORO and GA. RO is reverse osmosis, the better of the two. It removes everything. Gak Gak only gets POS in certain strains. Gak is the cheaper upfront but the more cost in the long run. RORO more money upfront but less cost in the long run but it removes everything. RORO is 135 million. Gak is 85 million

but costs more in maintenance. RO filters have to be replaced periodically but have a 20 to 30 year lifespan with the right upkeep. Muscle Shaws is already in the process of an RO plant. West Morgan and East Lauderdale already have RO plants. The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m. Thank you, Miss King. Are there any more reports of standing committees? Can I make a correction to the fire station 2 from the public safety meeting that will need to go to finance committee as well?

Thank you very much. the correction. Okay. Next is public hearings. We do not have any. And at this time now, we will have business from the floor pertaining to any items on the consent and the regular agenda only. Um you'll have a 5m minute time limit. Please come to the podium. State your name and your address. And we will start to my left. To my left. Nobody to my left. in the middle.

Thank you. By Ray Simpson, 755 West Alabama Street to the council and mayor. You didn't want to move the statue. Okay. Regular agenda authorized the placement of historical marker in front of the LA County Courthouse. didn't want to move the racist statue to the graveyard. Now, some of y'all don't want to put a plaque there. Picture this. After Hitler and the German army was defeated, Picture this. After they had murdered millions of Jews, incarcerated Jews, that the Germans wanted to erect a monument to honor the soldiers that had murdered them. That's what you doing. They murdered us. They raped us. They incarcerated us. They made slaves of us. And nothing was done. Now, we have forgiven y'all, but you haven't repented because you still got that racist statue in front of the courthouse. Think about it. We going to get to heaven, y'all. I don't know about some of y'all cuz you still hateful.

You're still unrepentant and you going to hell. Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, "Depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no meat. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you took me not in. Naked and ye clothed me not. Sick and in prison and ye visit me not." Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when are we thee are hungered and thirsted, a stranger, naked, sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily, I say unto you, in as much as he did it not to one of the least of thee, he did it not unto me. And these shall go away in everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. You're going to hell if you don't change. Anyone else in the middle?

Okay. Okay. So slow y'all. Many of y'all know me in this room. Born and raised in Florence. Only reason I ever left because I became a juvenile probation officer and I had to go work in another county. I was born and raised on Plum Street which borders sir. You need to pick your name and your address.

Yes. Dan Smittle Coffer or Danny Smittle Coffer as many of you know me. 414 uh Somerfield Place, Florence, Alabama. Okay. Uh I'm here on this cold night and it's killing every bone I got in my body. But I have a perspective, but I think it needs to be understood concerning that statue out there and perhaps any marker that goes with it. Folks, I over the years I've listened to this from all different counties all over the south, but thing that is lost, that marker, that statue was not put up to stick your finger in somebody's eye. It's a tombstone. It's a senotap for the boys that never came home. And the reason I know this so well, my four times great grandmother lost a son at Gettysburg and he didn't own own a single slave. Matter of fact, 85 to 90% of those boys that fought didn't own slaves. And if it was over slavery, tell me why the five slave states that stayed in the Union, why didn't they give up their slaves? If that's what the war was about, it was about a whole lot of other things. But let's talk about that for a second. If you're going to put a a marker having right kind of context in it, but don't have it as as something that you're going to go to hell if you're going to disagree with it. No. But you said while ago, Mr. Tyler, history is what matters. But the right history, balanced history, warts and all. And if it's bad on one side and it's bad on the other side, tough. You know, would we want to come in here and make a uh put a marker up for Nate Turner who led a slave uprising up in Virginia and killed killed about a hundred white folks actually forgot one

child a child in a home and went back and jerked it out of the crib and smashed his heads up against the fireplace because it was white. No, we don't need that in Florence, Alabama. We need to tell the truth. We need to be balanced about it. And that's why we need to do it. Now, I found my ancestor by the grace of God. It was unknown to us all the way until I found him in 2012. Put a marker on his grave in Hollywood Cemetery. And I thank God I was able to do it. So, that don't apply to my family anymore, but it does to a thousand others. That is not something for for white privilege or white supremacy or anything like it. It's a tombstone period. And they and our forefathers elected to put it there and it needs to stay there. Now, frankly, I have an idea where it should go, but they wanted it there. And the place I wanted to go and I argued strongly with our former mayor Andy because it would been destroyed in the cemetery. If you ever been out there, there's no security. It' been destroyed and all those Confederate stones down there have been kicked over, too. That's fact. That's the way it is with everybody gets their feelings hurt. We can't have that again. And I'm sorry I'm getting a little little fast on myself. I talk fast when I'm hurting and I'm hurting. But, uh, that's I wanted to speak for that. We don't need a a If you want to put a a statue up there or a marker, put it up there naming the boys that were killed from Lauderdale County or on the other side away from it, put a listing of how far Florence and Lauderdale County has come in race relations in our modern times and where we are now. So, it's a hell of a lot better than it used to be. Oh, come on. Give me a break. I I'm older. I'm 73 years old. I know how how it used to be. I know.

But uh that's the crap right there. They hate you. No, they might hate me, but I tell the truth. Oral. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else in the middle?

Good evening. I'm Tony Laam. Uh Florence, Alabama. Um, let's say 340 West Lakeside. That sounds good today. Um, just a little reading. Um, overall, I don't think there's anything wrong with an additional plaque. I'll just say that thing first. Um, I like cemeteries. I've been pastoring different churches for years. I love history. And when I travel through cemeteries at a new church in which I get to pastor, I read the names, the date of birth, the date of death, and there's little captions people always put on there. I have never ever known the person most who's in the grave who've been buried there 20 30 years 100 years before but what's left on that plaque what's left on their headstone tells their life story sometime it's just a date of birth sometime it's just a date of death but things happen in that person's life that were never told so there's nothing wrong with continually telling the story that when someone else may walk by and see they can yet remember that we went through this and it's our history and we're moving on past it. There is nothing wrong with publishing information. There's nothing wrong with publishing history. I'm going to read this little thing quickly. It says monuments are statues and statues or places built to honor significant people, events, ideas serving as tangible reminders of history, culture, and shared values while also providing platforms for education, reflection, remembrance, and cultural preservation. They connect the past to us present today. The monuments tell a story, inspiring a pride,

offering comfort, and marking important natural historic sites. So, there's nothing wrong with telling a story. There's nothing wrong with reading a plaque. We have the historical markers all throughout the city, and I love them. I love reading them cuz it tells the story. There's nothing wrong with continually telling the story by adding an additional plaque. If it has to be 10 plaques throughout the city of Florence, that'll be great. Let's tell the story cuz my voice would not always be here to tell it. So, let it be in writing. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Anyone else in the middle? My name is Kristen Shores and I live at 85 South Newcastle Drive in Florence in the Underwood Petersville community. Um, I'm a local musician and songwriter and I also own a small sematics practice. So, I work with women in the area to help their nervous systems learn how to process trauma, trauma that is both acute and short-term. Um, some of the things that I've learned um, as a practitioner is that trauma is less about an event that occurred and more about what is left in the body as a result of that event. Things that the nervous system was not able to fully process, whether that was sending the body into a fight orflight state or a freeze state. And science shows us that these uncomplete responses get trapped in the body in the fashcia and the tissue. And part of healing is not only learning how to regulate heartbeat, how to feel through things that are difficult, but part of the healing is learn to sit, learning to sit with the discomfort that comes up as the body begins to tell its story, whatever that may be. And as a community member in Florence, I didn't grow up here, but I've been here for about 16 years. I've grown to love this city, all the parts of it, the history, the music history, everything that's in this town. I I'm in love with it. And what I have noticed over the years is that we're really, really, really good at celebrating musicians and different people that have come out of our city. And rightfully so. WC Handy obviously is the first one that comes to most people's minds and that matters and

I'm so glad that we're good at that, that we have a festival every year that celebrates that. My concern here though is that we're not telling the full story. We're not telling the story that WC Hendy's parents and grandparents were enslaved here. I'm sure it's there at the tours and at the house and everything, but it's one of those things that we've got monuments to great black musicians all over the city and festivals to commemorate, and I'm so thankful. But part of that is telling the uncomfortable parts of that story. A lot of the music that has come out of our area was informed by music that began on plantations music. I mean, when you think about jazz music and soul and blues music that came from the music that rose up on the plantations and it's messy and it's uncomfortable and I can guarantee you that every person in this room right now feels very uncomfortable cuz I've been watching I've been watching flushes in faces. I've been watching brows start to furrow. I've been watching people move their bodies. These are the stories that our bodies are holding. Can we get curious as to why this feels so uncomfortable? How many of you have like an elevated heart rate right now? Mine shot up as soon as this subject came up. It's wildly uncomfortable. Some of us may be feeling resistance in our bodies right now. But the only way forward as a community is to bring us together. And that doesn't mean we have to agree on everything. But it does mean that we have to reckon with the past that we may not have been directly involved with. Just like any trauma within our family systems on the whole, we're not responsible for what our our parents or caregivers may have done to us that was harmful. But we are responsible and how

we enact that out onto the rest of our family members. And I view Florence as a community like that. We have a lot of unagnowledged things and and I get it. It's real uncomfortable to get down in there. But until we do that, it's going to be really hard for our community to come together across these lines where there's such division and be able to work together to build like the city and the community and the connection that our city deserves so deeply, that our kids deserve coming up here. And I am in support of the marker because of that. And because it's it brings in that yeah there's a lot of celebration here all around the area but we also we've got to get comfortable with the discomfort of acknowledging what has happened in this city and how can we move forward and it's not going to be you know this side is feeling this way and it has to be this way and this side has said no it has to be this way where can we come to agreement on and I think everybody in this room wants the same thing and that's for Florence to succeed.

You have one minute remaining. Thank you. And that's for Florence to succeed. And probably most people in here want to see us to work together. And just looking at the ways that um I've learned about people coming home and in connection with their bodies, this is something Florence needs. And yeah, it's uncomfortable, but I'm asking you today to rethink the way that you had originally viewed this. Is there a way that we can come together and to do something that feels supportive and healing for the members in our community who have not been acknowledged um for the pain that our ancestors put them through? Thank you. [applause]

Thank you. Anyone else in the middle? Good evening. My name is Ricky Cole. I live at 1212 Lynn Avenue, Florence. I'm the pastor of St. John Primitive Baptist Church in Florence on Waterl Road. I I didn't come to say anything. I just came to support the cause. But I will say this, I'm in agreement with pretty much everything I've heard thus far from the speakers that have gotten up here, except for you all know where you're going. U and eventually at some point, maybe this evening, you all will come together and put your minds and hearts together to make a vote on this proposed plaque or this proposed plaque that's going to go out there, this marker. What I want to ask or what I want to say to each of you is if you have not read the language from the original speech when that monument was placed there, if you haven't already read it, the way you vote tonight is going to be what we look at you as your heart is saying. And if you agree with that language, then we'll know what your vote is going to be. But if you disagree with that language, we know that a marker will be placed somewhere downtown Florence. And as fact, as far as the language that's on the proposed marker to go up from the historical society, I would be a lot harsher with my language, but it's very soft. Uh very soft, but yet and still, it's a marker to counter what that speech uh represented when they placed that marker, whether it's for those that didn't come back or whatever the language is not what the city of Florence represents. And my prayer is that each of you have already

read the full statement when that statue was placed there. And if you agree with it, then all we can do is just pray for you. And we hope your hearts are in the right place when you go to vote. I just want to say thank you. Thank you. [applause] Anyone else in the middle?

Name is Brandon Evans. I live at 112 Crossland Lane in Florence. I want to speak on the marker that, you know, I've I've read the words that's going to be on the marker and it doesn't offend me at all. In fact, I think it's important to remember our history, you know, the good and the bad. And and I do think, sorry, I'm not good at speaking. Just give me a minute. [clears throat] And you know I I think it is important to remember what happened. You know the past is not always is not always pleasant. I do have a quote here from philosopher George Santiana that I want to end with is those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. And I think that on this monument that personally I don't even think we should have monuments against people who fought against our country in the first place. But I think that [applause] it is important to remember our history. It's important to remember where we came from, where we've been, where we are right now. And I do think that we have made improvements from the time that the monument was built. We still have a lot of work to go. Thank you.

Thank you. [applause] Anyone else in the middle? Okay. You've already had your

U to my right. I I just got a request from one of the council members that if you would hold your applause so they can be able to hear what is being said so they can make an informed uh vote at that time. You would say that when I get up here, wouldn't you? [laughter] Has nothing to do with you, Mr. White? It just came to me. That's okay. I've been I've been booed down before. Well, I didn't boo you.

Uh, Michael White, 135 Irvy Drive, Florence, Alabama. Um, you're going to hell. Uh, no two ways about it. U, you better go. You better succumb to bullying and intimidation because that's what you you're getting tonight. Um, that's what's been going on. Um, that statue is a work of art. Uh, it's it was uh done in the turn of the century. Uh, personally, I think it's a lot better work of art than the 10-man monstrosity down there when you uh pull into the city. But, um, that's just personal taste. Um what's being proposed and being bullied and being intimidated is a marker on a little strip of land that the city has a right away to at the county courthouse. Uh that statue is on Lauderdale County property. Uh it's been there since 1965. Uh before that it was at the Lardell County Courthouse uh where the first federal building is now where Mayor Tyler's office and everything else is uh before it was torn down. Uh the statue has a history. Uh the where they dug up that speech that was made to dedicate it. That's a terrible speech and it's got some very terrible language in it. Uh and it was a bad speech. But there's been a lot of bad speeches in the history of the country um by both races. Have you ever read any of Malcolm X's speeches? Uh they were pretty rough. Uh they he didn't make any in Florence, but I'm sure he could have

if he came here. Um this is just tearing things apart. It was something that was I mean it got started in 2020 and I agreed 100%. Uh, black lives do matter. Uh, white lives matter. All lives matter. Uh, and and you know, uh, police brutality is real, too. Uh, that's what I thought it got started, you know, and then all of a sudden it got an offshoot into tearing down statues and um, tearing up uh, cities and tearing up everything else and going to be a race war. And I don't know how it all got out of hand. And then we um got a little group of people that wanted to make a name for themselves and contacted uh Tokyo TV and had them over here filming uh city council meetings. Um, you know, it's just uh it's it's all out of hand and it's all out of whack and it needs to stop because uh it's not doing anything but putting the city against the county and putting whites against blacks and tearing up things that don't need to be tore up for a small small group of people in this town. The majority of people in this town have no no problem with the statue being there. If they do um that it's been there more more longer than most people have lived, you know, that are alive right now. Uh especially at the first courthouse. So, uh, you've got a little a little, uh, group of, uh, new waiverss and new and, you know, new age and and, you know, and it's just ridiculous. Um, leave things alone. Vote this out and just let's be done with it. We've got other more

important things to handle in the city of Florence than a silly marker at the county courthouse. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else to my right?

Hello, my name is David Carson. Uh, I live in Florence. I just gave my ID for my address because I have family members I want to protect from online psychos that I deal with on a regular basis. So, yeah, I'm going to start my five minutes now. Of course, I'm talking about regular agenda item A, the marker. I spoke at the work session, but then we'll speak about it again. Here we go again. New council, new council simo drama. This city is once again voting on a marker to be placed on the to the Confederate monument. The past council already voted down the last attempt at a marker. Does voting something down even mean anything if an issue can be brought back again and again and again until it's passed? I remember sitting through the historical preservation committee meeting where it it was voted to send this to the council and to vote. After reading what they wanted on the marker, I asked if any of them care to define white quote unquote white supremacy. The room fell silent. Says a lot when a board approves a marker that contains words there are unwilling to clearly define. Today during the work session, I went into some of the more detailed issues me and many others have with this marker idea. I will now get into some of the cultural and political chaos that will likely occur if this short-sighted foolishness passes. This will immediately ratchet up already strained racial tensions in this area. This particular usage of a historical marker, as far as I know, has not been used in this particular way in this state. This will create a precedence that Project Say Something will no doubt spread to nationwide news organizations. By the way, this is the main reason Project Say Something is doing this. This is a lastditch effort for them to stay relevant local and nationwide. This BLM stuff sure didn't age well, did it? This marker will breathe new life into a culture war on all sides here. If this

council passes this nonsense, good luck trying to focus on other city issues for a while because this issue will be sucking all the oxygen out of the room. I know I will not be sitting by idly while this abomination of a marker is undermining the sacrifices my ancestors made defending this land from an invading army. Project say something will squeeze every ounce of publicity from this to resurrect their dying movement here. Considering the reactivation of these elements in play, this can only lead to chaos. This can all easily be avoided if this council shuts down this circus right here, right now. If further context is all the justification one needs to make counter signaling markers targeted at public monuments and other installations, I can most certainly have a field day with that. Maybe we need a marker next to the WC Handy statue informing that he moved out of this area as soon as he could and he felt so at home here he decided to be buried in New York. I can think of I can think of plenty of further context that could be given to the at the Indian Mound Museum that still follows the silly noble savage myth. Let's erect a marker stating how the natives were waring and slaughtering each other long before the white man got here. All this tip for Ted, I try to elevate myself above. But if this passes and this is the game y'all want to play, then so be it. Sure, Project Say Something will no doubt call you racist if you do not do what Project Say something wants. Just know you will not die when they label you that. That word has been so overused, it has lost its power. Trust me, white people who don't hate themselves are beyond tired of being thrown under the bus by leaders for fake social credit. This is a new generation. The tactics that were used to manipulate the older generations into selling out our nation and our heritage

do not work on us. This is Florence, Alabama, not Minneapolis, Minnesota. Read the environment and take the correct action. That's all I have for now.

Thank you. Anyone else to my right? Okay. If no one else at this Okay. Hello. Uh Reetta Pool, 1718 Maple Avenue, Florence, Alabama. Um I just want to say, um he just said there's a cultural war uh with this. It is. Think about what's going on in this country right now. We're being stripped of our rights. Uh the women has been stripped of their choices that men have no right to make. And um everything when it comes to history with the the black monuments are being depleted. They're trying to wipe out history concerning black people. And the other thing here is um I received a an email uh from a email that I had sent and the monument is called the eternal ver vigil yet it perpetuates a painful history. I am a baby boomer. I'm probably older than every one of you up here. I'm a baby boomer. I've experienced it. I've experienced the hatred. I can remember going in the 5 10 and 15 cent store and could not buy a sandwich and sit at the caner. I remember going into Tro Bridges which is right there on Court Street and had to buy my ice cream and go out. I remember having books taped up that we got handy down handme-down books. So, it's always been a cultural war and we've been knocked down, put down and it is it is not about project say something. It's about what is going on right now in

2026. And I'm asking you all to consider this because if that is history, then add history to it to give people the opportunity to know more about why that's there. Um, I was asked um the question here. It says, "Imagine yourself." Uh, give me one second. Um, I've got to go back to my little notes here. Uh, please forgive me. It says, "Imagine uh, can you imagine being the only person?" Um, no. It told me to imagine myself as a stranger. What would I feel? How would I feel about this uh monument, about this statue? Well, can you imagine being the only person of color in a committee group? Last year, just last year, I was celebrating my fifth year class reunion and I was the only black individual on it, but yet we got emails with gorillas and monkeys in it. Can you imagine how that would make me as a baby boomer feel? It's hurtful. Yesterday, I saw several of you all out at the Unity breakfast, and if you can think and see what happened during those days, it hurt me so bad I almost cried sitting right there because maybe most of you all don't even know or can experience, but it is a painful thing to experience when you see black people being beat, being sprayed, little girls being killed in church. uh in churches and now we still have the hatred going on. I'm not a prejudice person, but there's a lot of prejudice right here in Florence, Alabama. I've been gone for a long time, but I'm back. And it's amazing to see how my

classmates that I would have never thought would have put something in a chat group like a gorilla and I share it with them. It's very offensive to me because most Caucasians that's racist. That's what they look at us as gorillas, monkeys. So imagine how would you feel if that was you in a group of being the only black individual and that comes up and it didn't turn out really nice. I shared with them it was offensive. They tried to knock me down saying, "Oh, get out of your feelings." Well, it's not about my feelings. is about reality. It's about how people think about black people. But if you go back in your history, your history, and dig all the way back there, you might find some of us in your history.

You have one minute remaining.

And so I just ask that for this uh marker, all it wants to do is clarify the statue. The statue can't be removed. Okay? Let history be known. Put on this marker. so that the people that do walk to the courthouse, they have an opportunity to read more about what this statue represents. It came a long time ago, but and it came way before the racism that you saw yesterday morning. How could you omit what's going on here? That mark is not going to hurt anybody. It's only going to give them information, factual information, historical information. And that's what we need. We need something to bring us together cuz right now everything is tearing us apart. Everything. And I'm asking you from the depths of my heart. Please consider this. It matters. It matters to us. your time

to have history known factual history that was not compromised or put together by project say something. Thank you so much. Thank you. [applause] Anyone else to my right? My name's Kathy Frederick. I'm a resident of Florence. I'm a native of Florence. I've lived in many other cities. Ma'am, you'll need to give your address to the clerk. You did. Okay. Sorry.

What? I'm sorry. Go ahead.

I've been I've I've been halfway around the world. I've served in the Pacific theater. I've served in the Atlantic Theater. I've had uzies up my nose. I'm a sailor and I've had uzies up my nose. I served with people that were red, yellow, black, white, brown, immigrants, and yes, noncitizens. Did you know that every one of these people were willing to die for our freedom and freedom in other countries? But when we were together, we we didn't see colors. We were just Americans. We were Americans and we depended on each other to survive. So, I'm hoping I agree with a lot of things that were said and I totally disagree with others because I grew up here by four and five years old over at Rogers Department Store. I had learned that there were things going on with the black folks that I wasn't learning in Sunday school. They weren't being treated right. They weren't being treated right. And they're still not treated right. It's not just here. It's everywhere. But this place is really ra racist. It's racist. If you stand up and and uh exercise your First Amendment's rights, you'll see it in the the traffic goes by. You get fingers, you get ugly words, get um a lot of things, but uh but you also get thumbs up, get beeps, get waves, you get cheers. You get people that actually come up to you and say they're glad that somebody's standing up for what's right.

And believe me, the ones that are beeping and cheering, they really outnumber the other ones. And it's just time. It's time that there was an equal say for the statue up here because it it is hurtful. I mean, even in the fourth grade, I was asking where's the statues for the emancipated slaves? I knew I knew what happened in the fourth grade. People now don't even know and I still feel there should be a statue for the emancipated slaves. The statue is protected. That's a given. It's going to stay. So, we need, you know, we need something something physical that people can touch and relate to to say this is another side of history. This is and and there's people like me that recognize that. There's other people that never will obviously. So please when you vote, please please consider just being Americans and doing what's best for everybody. Please. Thank you.

Thank you. And anyone else to my right? All right. Thank you. My name is Carrie Shapiro and I appreciate all of the work that you folks do. I'm not a public speaker so I'm going to make it very quick and uh and quote uh some very wise people uh John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Uh [laughter] those of you who do not know John Lennon and Paul McCartney uh they were the founding force of the Beatles and my words are all you need is love. Love is all you need. Thank you.

Thank you very much. [applause] Anyone else to my right?

If not, my name is Charlotte Tomlinson. um five generations from Florence, grew up here. Um I'm here for the poet laurate um designation, but I just feel like I I need to rebut um something that was said. Um, I'm a white person who doesn't hate myself and I know very well what white supremacy looks like. And I've don't haven't just seen it in Florence or in Alabama, but all over the place and even overseas where I've lived. So um this statue was erected in 1905 not 1965 and that was the time when when reconstruction had failed and people had lost their hopes and that's when the KKK was was at its strongest and people were sending out signals to oppress blacks as much as they possibly could. And that's what that statue represents. That's the history of it. And the fact that it was moved in 1965 to the new mid-century modern courthouse um is just worse because that's the middle of the civil rights movement that was taking place primarily in the deep south and a lot of it in Alabama. But

they moved the statue anyway to the new courthouse in 1965. So that's just prolonging prolonging the oppression. And so we have to counteract that. If we keep the statute, we have to have something to counteract that in 2026. There is hope for our country, for unity in our country. And I hope and pray that we unify as much as we possibly can in Florence, in Alabama, in the entire country, and in the world. We need it.

Thank you. Thank you. [applause] All right, I think that's all I've gotten everybody. So, at this time, Mr. Lighty, sir, you can only speak um once. You'll have an opportunity again in public comments. At this time, Mr. Lighty, if you would read the consent agenda, all matters list.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Excuse me. Um, good afternoon everybody. I my name is Kiara and I actually work for project say something and I wanted to say something as being like looks like the youngest person in this room and I currently attend law school now and to be a black person that attends a school that I would not have even been able to apply to what maybe 50 years ago is something that motivates me every single day. And to go to school not even learning my history is very heartbreaking. To talk to my peers and them not even know that what my grandparents went through. For them to honor the Confederacy thinking that it is just a their heritage and not to know the other part of the Confederacy. Why don't we share the whole story and not just one part of the story? If you want there to be real change and you want there to be real unification between the youth, then why not tell the full story? Why not let the youth learn so therefore they can learn empathy for others? So they can learn what happened and learn, hey, let's not do this again. Because I even in the 2020 was experienced a lot of racism from my peers. I was spit on. I had earrings pulled from my ears. I were c I was

called names. I was called gorilla and monkey. I was called man. I was called so many things only because they didn't even know what they were doing were wrong because this is what was always celebrated. If they go into the history of the monument theirel and they want to learn more about the Confederacy, they learn all the parts of the Confederacy, why don't we learn why don't we utter the black people? It's always been we never honor the black people. I had to learn my history myself. I I my family grew up in Delta, Mississippi. They were sharecroppers. they and it's like you don't think that people were sharecroers but you don't know that because that history isn't told. We want to forget that part. We want to, you know, just be happy golucky about things and not want to put a taint on Florence's history to say that this happened here. Every time I go to school, I have to drive past a Confederate flag every single time. I have to be next to peers that pride theirelves on their second amendments and tell me that I don't belong here. So [snorts] if you're doing this for the right reasons, why don't you think about the young people like me? What do you want them to learn about history? What do do you want them to have empathy for others who don't look like them? Because I want to learn all sides of the history to be able to make a decision for myself, not just one side. So, please vote for the marker. Not because I am with project say something because I'm fairly new here, but because as youth, we deserve to know our full history and not just one side of the history. Thank y'all.

Thank you. [applause] Okay, Mr. Lighty, if you'll read the consent agenda, please. All matters listed within the consent agenda have been distributed each member of the Florence City Council for reading and study are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion from the council with no separate discussion. Separate discussion is desired that item may be removed from the consent agenda and placed on the regular agenda by request. Do a whole motion. Do I hear a motion to approve the [laughter] consent agenda as presented? Motion second.

Okay. Motion by Mr. Bowling, second by Mr. Mr. Hendricks. Okay. All in favor of the motion.

6. Motion carries. Read the regular agenda. Item A under the regular agenda is resolution authorizing the placement of a historical marker in front of the Lauderdale County Courthouse sponsored by Miss Simmons. Do you have a motion for the immediate consideration? So moved. Second.

Motion by Mr. Hendrick, second by Mr. Bowling. All in favor of the motion. 6. Do a motion for the adoption? Motion. Second. Motion by Miss King, second by Katrina Simmons. Any discussion? No discussion at this time. All in favor of the motion. Oppose. Two votes. Four. Four against. Motion fails.

Under general business. Item A is an alcohol application for special events retail on premises liquor, beer, and wine by Annie Cooper. Do business as retirement party 702 Veterans Drive, which is the Florence Lauderdale Coliseum on Friday, April 3rd, 2026. Do you hear a motion for the immediate consideration? Motion. Second. Motion by Miss King, second by Miss Dixon. All in favor of the motion? 6. Do I hear a motion for the adoption? Motion second. Motion by Mr. Bolan, second by Mr. Hendricks. Any discussion?

All in favor of the motion? 6. Motion carries. Item B is al alcohol application for lounge retail liquor with on premises liquor, beer, and wine by the district incororated doing business as the district located at 1418 Huntsville Road, Florence. Do you hear a motion for immediate consideration? Motion. Second. Motion by Mr. Bowling, second by Miss King. All in favor of the motion 6. Do you hear a motion for the adoption?

Motion. Second. Motion by Miss Dixon, second by Mr. Bowling. Uh, any discussion? All in favor of the motion. 6. Motion carries. Item C, alcohol application for special events retail on premises beer and wine by the Pickadon Court LLC doing business as the Winefest, 218 North Court Street, Florence, Alabama. Do you hear a motion for the immediate consideration? So moved. Second

motion by Mr. Hendrick, second by Mr. Bowling. All in favor of the motion? 6. Do you hear a motion for the adoption? So moved. Second. Motion by Mr. Hendrick, second by Mr. Bowling. Any discussion? All in favor of the motion. 6. Motion carries. That's all I have, Madam President.

Okay. Thank you very much. Um upcoming board vacancies. We did have three vacancies on the historical commission and uh tonight uh we had three that was appointed. Wesley James, William Valentine, and Mrs. Anita Smith Cobb was appointed to the um historical commission, and they'll be getting information um from the mayor of the council's office, mayor's office. And the building and property maintenance, we're going to be discussing that one at a later date as we get more into that. Um at this time, we'll have business from the public with a fiveminut time limit. This time we'll start to my right. Hello, my name is David Carson. I live in Florence and this is I told myself that I was only going to read from my speeches and not go off the cuff tonight. This is probably a mistake, but I'm feeling the vibe in the room. And uh I don't have a lot of backup here, so I got to be a little extra. That's just, you know, I'm going to get something out of this. Um it's good [clears throat] that this marker got voted down. I'm sure it's going to be right back in front of this council again soon enough cuz our board me, you know, the way our boards are structured, it's a bunch of bleeding heart liberals with a bunch of white guilt, you know. So, they're going to continuously throw this up here. And uh what am I going to say? I grew up in this town. I [snorts] was gone for a long time. I want to talk about myself a little bit so I'm not misunderstood of who you're dealing with and who I am. [snorts]

I grew up in this town and uh I I went to Hibet Junior High School. There was a very lots of racial violence in that school. Um, I was kind of a shy, introverted white kid, kind of on his own. And I did not have a very good time at that school. And that was my introduction of just who hates me and who doesn't. So, I had no illusions. You have to understand there's a generation and there's people like I'm I'm middle-aged but there's people younger than me coming up in this. We're growing up in this this experiment that the baby boomers put us through. We don't have the luxury y'all. This is not some novel concept for the more sheltered. Um racial racial tensions have always existed. Tribalism has existed since the dawn of time. It's part of human nature. It's not good. It's bad. It's the way God made us. We are we're tribes. We're tribal people. And we're in this experiment, this multi so-called multicultural um experiment here. And uh this is being worked out pretty much for the first time. And [snorts] um growing up, I I saw my so-called leaders and so-called supposed to be uh mentors maybe or my role models would always just throw me under the bus. No one ever stood up for me. Lectured all through school how evil I was, how evil my people are, how evil my skin color is. And um you know, my life just got more intense after that. I'm not one of these sheltered white liberals, okay? You have to understand who I am. All right? I lived under a bridge in a metropolitan city with over a million

people around thousands of psychopaths, okay? On drugs, out of my mind. I have no reason to be alive today, okay? I know the dark side of life. And there's people that's been in wars and stuff. I didn't have the luxury of a gun to defend myself. It's one thing you learn on the streets or in prison is that your own will take care of your own. Everyone kind of naturally travels up. That's the way prisons are run. People naturally segregate. There's no hate in that. It's just it's just like the situation on the ground. That's how you you keep order. I'm not advocating for uh desegregation. It's too late for that. For most of the uh history of this country, this this country has been 90% white up to around 1960. It's been declining ever since. And we're seeing where our society is now. It is what it is. I am not I'm more pro-white than I am anti-lack. The only time I go against black people or anyone for that matter, if they try to gang up on white people, I protect my people. I think that's what a man should do. I actually have more respect for black people that you're stand up. You have your interest. You You're defending your people. I actually respect that. It conflicts with me, but I respect that. What I have very little respect for is white people that throw each other under the bus for social credit. the time for I know it seems provocative, right? But this is a new generation come up. This is a little small town, but this is the situation our nation's in and it's only going to get worse. Our social fabric is going to continue to deteriorate as the white population goes down because we were the ones holding it together. As far as I'm concerned, we're just another group of people and and all we want is what we can get out of the government and screw everything else. You know, that's the way it is. You know, I

have one minute remaining. So, I mean that's that that I think hopefully I'll be proven wrong. You know, I do not claim to know everything. You know, I just assume just due to my life, I just assume the worst. So, it is what it is. I'm going to protect me and mine because no one did that when I was growing up. We don't have a month dedicated to our history. We're not even taught that we're a people. That we cannot even claim that we are a people. don't have to hate anyone, but if you come at me, I'm not naive. I'm not a naive, sheltered liberal. So, we'll see how it works out. I might have said too much, but I figure I keep it real. If you're mature enough to accept that and realize that, that's kind of cool. If you're not there yet, then, you know, I've got other things to do. I can't You got to educate yourself or maybe learn to um learn what life is really about. That's all I got. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else to my right? [clears throat]

Yeah, not quite. 135 Herby Drive. Um, well, I I have always considered myself a liberal. Um, I'm not a I'm not a conservative by any means uh politically. Uh, and I hope I'm not a racist. I never I've been called a racist here lately uh because of um I guess people that I've befriended and that have befriended me. Um you know what kills me is I have been again I was all for when all this first got started back in 2020. Uh, I wasn't really that interested in it to tell you the truth, but uh, they were talking about moving the statue and I thought, well, I can kind of see where, you know, black people might be offended going to pay their taxes and walking by the Confederate monument statue. But then when it got all political and got crazy, and that's what it did. It got crazy. Um, and you see how things went tonight. the minute this wasn't passed, who was out the door? All the project say something people and uh what's her name? Uh she was the first one out the door. Uh you were bullied, you were called, you were going to hell, you were doing this, you were doing that, you were a bunch of no good racist. I mean bullying. And here's what kills me. These are the same people, and I'm no fan of Trump's either, but these are the same people that'll jump Trump. What a bully he is, how low down he is, how he runs all over people. And yet tonight, you were everyone bullied. You were bullied and and intimidated into trying

to do something that a small group of people wanted. Like I said, the majority of people in Florence do not care that that statue is down there. do not care that that man whoever he was at the turn of the century when it was dedicated made that horrible speech and it was a horrible speech. Um but to upset the apple cart and um the county uh it's it you know it's in sitting in front of the county. It's not sitting in front of the city hall. It's sitting in front of the county courthouse and that's their business and the state won't let them move it. So that's where it belongs and it doesn't it doesn't project say something doesn't need to be have the clout to tell the city what to do and tell the taxpayers what to do. Uh she can u go push her little project say something somewhere else. Uh, I'm very proud of the ones who voted against this and I'm very proud of Mayor Tyler because he had the backbone to be a man and stand up. He didn't cow down. Um, so, um, I think we've got a real good group of folks here and I'm very proud of all of you. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Anyone else to my right? Do I need to say my name again? Thank you. You still know it, Mr. Lighty. Go ahead.

Okay. Um, I just want to elaborate on a statement that the gentleman just said. He said, "The white population is going down." What you got to understand is why is because of races mixing with each other. We not taking you down the population. Blacks and whites are coming together in union. So that is mixing the population and and it shouldn't be a problem when you say uh it's going down. See, that's because you're so used to running things and want to be superior over the black people and and that's not right. It's not right for anyone besides for God to be over us. And and the other thing um you say you're not prejudice, but you are. You are prejudice. When I see something on Facebook about accusing a young man, black man, of stealing, and then you see the comments going back and forth with Mr. Carson, you I was amazed the of the things that I saw and heard you saying about black people are thieves, black people are this. Yes, you do have black people that might be thieves.

Miss Pool always address the council, not the people in the audience.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. But you do have maybe black people, but it's not just black people. It's people period. It's people in their choices and their decisions, and they have to be accountable for those. So for you to literally try and say it's black people that it's our we are the problem. If you go back and look at history and research you would see just about everything that has been invented was invented by black people. You can laugh at that but go do your research in your history. everything, the light bulb, everything has been and we as young as when I was a kid, like the lady said, we didn't get to learn our history. We learned what they wanted us to learn. And that has been a problem. And it should be that you want everybody to know factual history about that monument that stands out there. factual and and research history that's been researched. So, I just say, you know, um to those of you that voted against it, it's obvious that you don't understand the impact and you didn't get it yesterday when you saw the unity uh at the unity breakfast, the beating downs of black people. So, it's obvious to me that you don't get it. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Anyone else to my right?

Vivian Pearson, 926 West College Street, here in Florence, Alabama. This is deeply troubling. This is deeply troubling. You guys see me here fighting for what's right. I don't come here to disturb the unity. I come here to fight for what is right. We fighting against one another about a monument. We all know what's right and we all know what's wrong. We know it's a problem and it just didn't become a problem. It's been a problem. At some point in life, we got to check our hearts. And we got to figure out, do I want to do what's right or do I want to continue to do what's not right? I've listened. I've observed and I just don't like what I've seen. My heart is flipping because Florence, Alabama has once again been divided. While we try to come together, something always comes in the midst and tears it apart. I have no no interest in a monument. I said it. I have no interest in a monument. I'm concerned about how people are being treated. I'm concerned about how people are homeless, how people have no food. I was cold. I couldn't get no help. That's what concerns me. A lot has been said. Many have shown their true colors. I

never would have thought that I would have seen some of the things I heard some of the things that I have heard. Some of you I can expect it, but some of y'all I didn't expect it. At the end of the day, we all must come to the conclusion that God is love. And we go to church, a lot of us go to church every Sunday. And I hope the preacher is teaching love. I don't care what color. God made his people a little bit lower than the angels. He gave us dominion over the earth. Take a look at this. Everything and everybody is in harmony except for us. We ain't got no harmony. And it's a shame before God that we as a people act this way. I'm sorry. I have to tell you because I sit back and I wasn't going to say anything because I always speak. I was gonna give somebody else the opportunity to speak tonight. But when I looked at this, I just can't help myself but to say this. Love is the key. This is a distraction and it's division. Some of y'all we don't never see until it's some mess on the agenda. Take it any way you want to take it. I'm a big girl. I live at 926 West College Street. Stop by and see me. My phone number, you can find it. It's easy to be found. I have a conversation with you because I just want to do what's right. I just want to treat people like I want to be treated and I'm pushing true love, freedom, justice, and equality. Anything other than that, I don't want nothing to do with

Thank you. Anyone else to my right? Kiara again from um Project Say Something. Um I just want to say this is not me speaking on behalf of Project Say Something, but rather me speaking on behalf of myself. Um I understand why a lot of you would not vote for the marker. It is it's hard to sit in justice. It's hard to do this fight. It's hard. Um, it's stressful. It is nerve-wracking. It is. It puts you in an uncomfortable situation to whether you will ruffle feathers, whether I understand you guys are elected, you know, officials. So, you know, you guys have to make sure you keep your job. But I do hope that one day you all will have the courage to stand up for Florence and allow Florence to show that we we do not support this. I actually currently live in Birmingham. We all know what happened in Birmingham and I will say Birmingham City now proudly states that they have nothing to do with the Birmingham that was before. that they do not do not support um you know bull Connor we know about Bull Connor um but they make it very very clear we our fight for monuments have not been Florence fight for monuments they have made it clear that they don't want to be associated with that negative part of history and I hope that one day that Florence will no longer want to be associated with that negative part of history and will take the time to [clears throat] spread light on the other part of history that is very important and to not disinish our

history. I heard someone say, you know, black black history has a month. Yeah. The shortest month of the year because black history isn't taught in schools really. Um being someone who graduated recently, black history is not taught in schools. Being someone who was a teacher, there are certain things I can't even say. I can't even say the word social justice in the school. I can't say I can't say African-American because that's critical race theory. Everything about my history has been deemed as something that cannot be spoken about. So, while I understand that, you know, it may not be today is the day for you guys to approve the marker. I hope that one day you guys will be able to sit in that uncomfortableness and be able to stand out against the crowd and be able to do what's right. I always say um get in good trouble because it's it's troubling. I put myself at risk even speaking against these things. And it's crazy to think that I put my life at risk just for speaking for justice, for speaking for unity, to say that, hey, I deserve the same things that you have. I deserve history, too. I my my family, we deserve monuments as well. We deserve for our history to be honored. So, I just want to say um thank y'all for even taking this up and letting us have the time for this to be a vote. And I hope that one day Florence will, you know, reconcile their history. Thank you guys.

Thank you. Anyone else to my right? Okay. In the middle. Oh, I was expecting this tonight. Oh, please don't make me say my address again. What I say not, I don't want it announced.

Oh, shoot. I'm Danny Schmidtoffer. I was born and raised in Florence in 1953. Mr. Mayor, I sure love to sit down with you and maybe we can take it me and not just me, other people, too, cuz I just have a BS in history. I got many years as a reenactor and speaking to kids and what have you. But before I thing I really want to talk to, I want to show y'all a picture of somebody that was a dear friend of mine. He was a past commander of the uh Charlotte, North Carolina NAACP. He was also a member of the Sons of Confederate veterans and he walked across South Carolina carrying a battle flag. HK Edgarton, you can go on YouTube and he'll tell you his story. He died this past weekend. A great southern American. Okay. But he knew both sides. I said something earlier about warts and all history. It's got to be the true history. It can't be no. Oh, uh, I wanted to feel this way. I feel this way about this. By God, it's got to be that way. And to hell with somebody else. You're going to hell if you don't believe what I believe. No, it's got to be true history or we'll never get past this. Now, Florence, I was white growing up, but I was poor, you know. I don't make no bones about it. And but I don't remember Florence being an absolutely horrible place. Never has been. And I don't want it to be a bad place now. For God's sakes, no. But I thank you and applaud y'all for that monument was put up for what I told you it was put up for. It's a tombstone when it comes right down to it. If if the black folks have done some wonderful things, then get a group, let them get a group together like we do and put markers up. I'm in my son's Confederate veterans. I put I was in charge of putting six 10 to 12 foot granite monuments up. We worked

our butts off to do that. They can too. They can. And they don't need the city or any other government entity to pay for it. Ever put it up theirelves. But anyway, I do have something I want to bring up. I said I was going to do it if I ever had an opportunity. Who's the police commissioner? Who's in charge of the police department? Anybody? Hopefully. Who do I talk to? [laughter] We typically don't have dialogue back and forth, but to answer your question, Chief Mike Halt. Okay. We don't have dialogue back and forth. If you don't mind, if you'll pull the mic down so you can see the mic in

I'm just having to lean. My legs are killing me. Uh where I live, the speed limit is 55 miles an hour on on Chisum Highway. It's grown up so bad. Houses, apartments, whatever. You go a little further, it drops to 45 when you're getting within a half a mile of uh uh Forest Hill School. I understand that 55 miles an hour and it's become a residential area. We watched at not this past Halloween but the year before it was raining and people were parking on the highways getting out and taking their kids trick-or-treating. It raining, people flying. Why does that happen? It's dangerous. It is a residential area now. Now, I don't know if it's the county is that's the city, the county, or the state, but somebody's going to get killed out there. Probably already has. And as a citizen, I just want to bring it up to y'all. It needs to be done something about it before that happens. And I thank you all for the good work that you do. And if you don't mind, I I'll go home. I'm tired. My legs are killing me. But thank you for listening to us. Appreciate every one of you. and I love being home in Florence again. I've been gone too long. Thank you.

Thank you. Right. Good to see you.

Anyone else in the middle? Vicky Kirkman, 10006 Clearwater Drive, Florence, Alabama. So, I wanted to say first of all, I wish I had gotten the email to ask questions or answer questions before I got here. I did not get the email until I got here, but I did send emails asking for you guys to vote for the marker. I am not a part of project say something but I was definitely in favor of the marker and that is because I wanted to see something farther than just the monument that was there. I know when it first came up previously in the years past that there was a lot of chaos and whatever that took place, but at the end of the day, I thought that the historic commission that put the marker together that the sand would have provided more history and that there would have been something that would have been educational for others to see. I am very disappointed and I want it to be known that I'm disappointed that that failed for the two. Um I don't know where to go from the from here. Um I just think that the I don't know if the conversation was already known that it was going to fail. Sometimes I know that those things do happen that when it comes to the vote is already taken care of before it gets here. So, but I just wanted to be known that I am very disappointed that that

vote failed. Thank you. Thank you. And

good afternoon. I'm John Williams, 333 Lindenburg Avenue. Just want to say to this council, very disappointed that you all voted down this market. It goes to show what you all believe in and what you stand for, including you, mayor. It goes to show what you all stand for. You will stand for racism. Literally, that's what that monument depicts. Racism. I have a degree in history and political science and history. Studied history greatly. Getting up here listening to people ramble about history and talking about this and that. I don't care about the the racist comments that people make. I don't care what they think, what they say. What I'm concerned about is how you all can justify in your hearts. I hope you'll be able to tell your children when they walk down the street and they see that monument and they possibly ask you what that monument says. I hope that you can clearly give them information as to what that monument is really stating. You all know and I'm sure this vote was already taken before this happened. We know how it works. I'm not going to sit here and tell you and sugarcoat anything with you. I'm going to be real with you and let you know. Yeah. Very disappointed. I hope that you all can live with that. The four of you and the mayor that was so against the marker being placed, a marker that had educational history on it that would depict what that monument states. I hope that you all can live with that. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else in the middle?

Greetings and salutations. My name is Tony Laam. Uh 5:30 West Cleveland. Uh this time the uh I love Florence. I moved here in 1989, December. Love it. January uh 2000, I preached my first sermon at 4:00. I thank God for that. As I travel up and down the road from uh Grenada, Mississippi, where I'm was born and raised, I traveled to Nachas Trace. And if you ever travel to Nachas Trace, there are some beautiful signs in the pullover areas that tells the history of the Nachas Trace. In my 35 years of traveling the trace, I've stopped at every one I've read them. I stopped with my children. I read them. Stopped with my wife when she moved here from California. And we enjoy it. And I am so thankful for the US National Park and Recreation Service for placing those signs cuz if someone decided they did not want to put the signs, I would not know anything about the trace and the history. Just simple as that. Signs help. History helps. And I love the city of Florence. I've walked all the way through the city of Florence looking at historical markers and I read them. And I still love the city of Florence. There's nothing wrong with reading. There's nothing wrong with seeing the signs. It's history. Whether the signs are located even at churches, African-American churches, or either white church, we are all individuals. We're all God's children. So when when people get here and they say they and them, we try not to. I teach my children not to say we're all human. We're human beings. I love the city of Florence.

As a pastor in a methodist church, we have a saying that if it's not written down, it didn't happen. I tell my secretary all the time, every time we have a board meeting, who makes the motion, who second it, if it's not written down, it didn't happen. And when we do not write history down for our children and grandchildren to read it later on, [snorts] you know how those stories go. When we tell them by by mouth, they can change, but when it's written down, people can read it. I don't have to be alive for other people to read it later on. I love the city of Florence. Adding a sign, adding a plaque is not eliminating anything. is only adding to it. And I am so thankful that other boards still add signs and add history. I don't take down history from my church's walls. I add to it. When I become the pastor of a church, I don't erase anything from the previous pastors. I only add to it because that's my job is to add to it. I love the city of Florence. I love it. I've set my family here and I will be here. I love the city of Florence. Jesus Christ looked upon over Jerusalem and he said he wept over the city. Not every decision made is good. I look at veranda today and I weep. over the city. In Mississippi, there's a lot of divide. There's a lot of divide. And I did not find any of that when I

moved to Florence. And I love it. When I moved over in where uh my district three and and uh I never forget when I moved into the neighborhood, my my family came from Mississippi and they said to me, "You have white neighbors." I said, "Daddy, and they didn't move out when I moved in." I love the city of Florence. When I moved to my current house and neighbor, my neighbors brought over pies. They thank me. I love the city of Florence. Where I'm from in Mississippi, there's so much. Lord Jesus. Walmart has two interestes. They got a white person on one interest and a black person on other interest. That's divide. I love the city of Florence. And I honestly weep, okay, over decisions made. Think about your future. There's nothing wrong with adding a plaque. There's nothing wrong with adding another side to let someone know what happened. I weep over the city tonight. I pray for not only this city, I pray for your decisions that they may be based in love and respect for human kindness. I weep over the city.

Thank you.

Anyone else in the middle? Good evening again. Ricky Cole, 1212 Glenn Avenue, Florence, Alabama. Uh, I'm not going to tell you I'm disappointed. Uh, but I am. You heard me say it, but I'm not saying it to you. Um, 1970, early 7, later part of 77, we took the general aptitude test battery for the military at Coffee High School. And I had a black Marine Corps recruiter come to the school and tell me that I had scored higher than they had ever seen before. And he recruited me heavily for the Marine Corps. And I was good in academics. And I shared with him that the last thing I wanted to do was join the military. And he continued to pursue me because how well I scored on the Gatby test. Finally, I told him, I said, 'Well, at that time, they had what they call the bonus baby. You could go in, you could sign up and get $2,500 to sign up for bonus. Once you completed your infantry training, they would pay you for signing up. It was to encourage youth to sign up for the military. But being from Alabama, if I were to sign up for the Marine Corps, I would have had to do my Marine Corps basic at Paris Island, South Carolina, which I had heard a lot about how hot it was down there in the sand fleas, and I thought I was cute or handsome or whatever, and the last thing I wanted to do was mess up my my look. But anyway, I shared with this recruiter, I said, "Well, if you can make sure that I can

do my basic training in MCRD San Diego, I'll sign up." And in my science class at Coffee High School, early part, latter part of 7077, I did a delay entry and almost nine months later, I went in. But in my science class, he came to the school and presented me with an acceptance into the Marine Corps. Long story short, once I got into boot camp, I was selected as first squad leader, first squad leader. And I think there was only five blacks in this particular squad, 30 92. And being selected as first squad leader, a white kid jumped me and wanted to fight me because I was chosen over him. and [snorts] the Marine Corps drill instructors, each one of them pulled us all together and said that there would be no racism in the Marine Corps. We were all one. And if one of us died, we all died. And we had a vote tonight. And I'm not going to agree with the fact that it was already premeditated, but it was already premeditated in each one of your individual hearts where you would vote on that. And some of you I'm disappointed with because you really show your true colors the way your heart really represented here tonight. You even heard it from your own counterparts that that statue should be in the cemetery. And it's got some harsh words. And if you can't even hear it from your own kind, then something's wrong with your heart. Very wrong with your heart. And if you haven't read the language, you need to read it again. And if that's the sentiment that you all have for this city, then you all are in the wrong position. Each one of you that voted against just a marker that really doesn't have the words that I would say on it, but it was put together by your own historical society and you can't

even honor that. So that says a lot for your integrity, each one of you that didn't vote for the marker. Thank you.

Thank [applause] you. Ray Simpson 75. I'm going call you cowards. Cowards. For 20 years, I've been coming up here and the same cowards, white cowards, been sitting there way back 20 years ago. We keep voting and putting y'all in office. And y'all still running from the truth. Still running from the truth. I'm saved. I'm going to go home happy, peaceful. But you know, as a former military person, fought in Vietnam, a former Black Panther. I never been a coward. And so it's kind of hard for me to understand cowards. cowards. When you look in the mirror tonight,

you're looking at a coward. Thank you. Anyone else in my right? Okay. To my left. That's my

Hi, I'm Stephanie Harvey, 127 Fed Street, Florence, Alabama. I'm not disappointed nor I'm not shocked about the vote. I don't know why any of y'all are any of you black people. Let's go back to 1988 where they put a black man's car who was a drug dealer in the Christmas parade and then put a sign on it and said this is what we do to our drug dealers here. Let's go back to 1993 where they threw a 16-year-old black boy behind the projects, beat him, mutilated him, and then we rided it on the north on the on the west side. But let's not talk about this because not one of y'all got up here and asked the question that I want to ask. Why did y'all take WC Handy off the preservation list? Why are y'all trying to erase history? Period. Leave the statue up there because every day it makes me want to fight. You want to put a statue up, then ask the question, why are y'all trying to erase WC Handy? Y'all making money off a black man's name that you never gave the family no money to, but you go and take it off the preservation society list. And that's a poorer. He's a He's the father of the blues. He's our history here. We have a whole festival for that. I want some questions and answers about WC Handy. Why haven't y'all put any money into WC Handy? Why have y'all took $10,000 away from the Handy home? What is really going on here? That is the real question. I want to know why Handy is off the preservation list. And then none of you black people got up here and ask that question. Where

are y'all when we are fighting for district one? Anytime y'all want to come, I ain't never seen this many black people up here at a city council meeting. But soon as they start fighting over white and black, that's when you want to show. Let's truth be told, black people, we need to fix our own community first before we can start pointing this racism thing again. Y'all been fighting over this statue since 2020, and I'm sick of it. And I want to know why our real history WC Handy has been tucking off the preservation list. You going to make some money off of him this summer? Give me that question. And if you don't want to put no money in WC Handy, then you just shouldn't have a festival at all. Because the only thing that y'all want is the land over there in District 1. I could give a crap about that statue out there cuz half of us in here don't even know who the Confederate soldier standing up there is. Cuz I don't. So why you sitting up here fighting over a statue? You need to be trying to come to the community council meeting and try to help district one get this priority just like in district three. It should be a room full of people over here in district three because your side of town looks like crap. My side of town looks like crap. So I don't have to get up here and talk about racism cuz I was 12 years old when y'all threw Chris Stan back over there. Y'all can say whoever you want to say that Chandler killed and we know on on in district one who killed stand back. We know and we know who put the put the car in the Christmas parade back in 88. Y'all don't want to go back and talk about that. Y'all don't want to talk about the real racism. Y'all want TO TALK ABOUT

SOMEBODY WHO BEEN DEAD OVER a hundred years. I don't know nothing about slavery, but I know about Chris Stanach. And I know what they did to Chandler's car and they put it in the in the Christmas parade. So stop sitting up here and looking at me like y'all don't know what I'm talking about. I want answers about why WC Handy is off the preservation list. And to the rest of the black people up here, y'all need to get with District One and you need to come and fight. But it's quite funny that you always want to step and and march and and and and put each other down. That's what's wrong with this world now. It's because they trying to divide black and white. It's not about black and white. Just like I said in the in my campaign, it's about the poor and the rich. But you don't want to look at me. You too busy looking at your phone. But that's all right. That's all right. And that's all I got to say today. Thank you. Anyone else?

Anyone else on my left? Okay. Okay. At this time, we will have um council member reports. Miss King,

thank you so much for everybody who came out tonight and spoke uh for all the emails that we've received um this week. And thank you for those watching from home. We do listen and we do appreciate you for coming. Last Thursday, I had u my first District 6 um community meeting that went very well. We had a great attendance and I appreciate everybody that came out to that. Um we plan to have a couple more of those this year. I'm always here if you need anything. Feel free to reach out to me and thank you all for coming tonight. Thank you, Miss King. Mr. Hendricks. Well, I think we can all agree that there was a lot of divisive divisive.

Thank you. It's been a long evening. Divisiveness in this room tonight. Um, and there are a lot of folks that were here earlier who left wondering why I voted the way I did. A lot of my friends, a lot of my supporters. Um, and they need to know. Um, but you know, first I'd like to say that I have never been against a marker for our community. And I will repeat that. I have never been against a marker for our community.

Just voted against. But tonight, we were asked to vote on a divisive marker referencing a divisive statue that was to be placed in a divisive location. And my question is, how does that make our community better? Because in my opinion, it doesn't. And that's why I voted the way that I did. But I also feel there's a better way. What I prefer to see is a marker that acknowledges our past. One that represents unity and healing and reminds us that we need toi to continue to work and build on these things every day. And I think that's the compromise we're looking for as a community. And I hope as a council that we can discuss this as we move forward. That's all I've got to say tonight. Thank you, Mr. Hendricks. Miss Dixon,

thank you. I I want to say thank you to everybody who came out tonight and um for the emails that I received. Also, I want you all to know that I read if I got it before last night, I read every single email and I responded to every single email and I appreciate those that reached out to me. I do. Um I'm just going to read this so that I can hopefully get everything in that I want to. This morning when I woke up, my husband asked me if I slept well and it was a joke because he knows that I have not slept well all week. He then asked if I had been up all night thinking about a marker to which I replied, "No, I've been up all night thinking about people." Most people know that I'm a transplant to this great city and we came for what we thought would be only two short years, but quickly learned that this is the place we wanted to stay. Because of this, I do not know the history as those who have lived here their entire lives. This vote tonight is important, and I did not and would not take it lightly. For me to cast my vote, I felt it necessary to learn what it was I was voting on. And so, I did just that. I asked questions and I read and I had conversations and I reached out to numerous people. I read and responded to email after email after email. Essentially, I gained as much information as I possibly could so that I could make an education and thoughtful decision. At this time, I felt it is necessary to express to you my thoughts on today's proceedings. I realize first and foremost that there are multiple layers to this vote and many, many factors to consider. For one, as a city council, we feel it is important to create a strong working relationship with the county and that by doing so, we all benefit the county and the city. The vote today must consider placement of the historical marker and how that interacts with us within our county. As I have mentioned, I have searched to understand the history and have read the

dedicatory speech that was given by Dr. Moody back in 1903 in which we are discussing today. I have read it many times over regardless of how emotionally difficult it was for me to take in. In his speech, Dr. Moody Moody makes the following statement as he references the north and the south. And I quote, "There is a line which must separate us in our beliefs and sediments until it shall fade away in the light of truth and experience." End quote. Today, I am forced to stand on that line. We as a council were forced to stand on that line. It is not a line of north and south as it was then, but it is a line, a line that no one should ever have to stand on. Yet here we are. We are challenged with the decision of how to move forward in a place in which I, for one, do not want to move one way or the other off the line. And so the only thing I personally know to do when I am in such a position is to turn to God, my creator. And as I have done that, he has impressed on my heart that he is not just my God, not just my creator, but the God and creator of every human soul that does, has, and ever will walk this earth. As I have pondered this reality over the last week, I feel that I am standing on a different kind of line than the one Mr. Moody described. And figuratively speaking, I hear voices calling out to me, many of them screaming, "Remember me." They are the voices from images from the history books of my young adolescence that haunt me still to this day. There are images that at the time I wished I had never seen but today remind me of which should never have been. These voices are screaming, "Remember me." Voices from decades ago. Voices from the day we now live. All are screaming, "Remember me." And from the line I stand on, I hear voices from heaven calling down. They are the voices of our future children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. They scream out,

"Remember me." All these voices are what today's vote is about for me. So I asked myself, what am I voting on today? I'm not voting on a metal sign attached to a pole on the side of a city road. It's not about the specific place. Today's vote is about people. The people of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, all of which want to be remembered. One of the most important questions I've asked myself is, is it enough? It is with great sadness that I must say it will never be enough. Nothing will ever be enough for what has occurred throughout history. My vote today is not about whether or not we should have a historic marker. It's not about building strong relationships with the county that I so desire to do. It is not about the placement. It is about the people on both sides of the line in which I stand. If Dr. Mr. Moody got anything right in his address that day. It is this very sentence and I quote again, "There is a line in which must separate us in the beliefs and sediments until until it shall fade away in the light of truth and experience. I am sure it is not what he meant, but we are living in that day. The day that the line needs to fade away in the light of truth and experience." Do we do this with a marker? Maybe it's a start. But where it really starts is within each and every one of us. Healing needs to occur. And we don't do that through sweeping he history under the rug like it never happened. We educate. We learn from our experiences and then look toward a brighter future that we create in our everyday interactions with each other. We fade the line through love, through respect, and through the actions that will bring us together in unity. So that there is no longer a line for anyone to feel they are forced to stand on because that line has faded. And that is that is where my uh boat went today. There were many things about this boat

that was hard. I'm not I'm I'm not I'm not sure about all of the things, but what this is one thing that I am absolutely sure of and today I put my vote in love and unity. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Dixon. Mr. Bowling.

Yes. Uh thank you everyone for uh coming tonight and uh unfortunately I'm a little disappointed that everybody decided to leave uh throughout the meeting and uh I wish they would have stayed to hear some of our comments. I mean, we had an opportunity to speak um before the vote uh and maybe I should have took that opportunity or the rest of us should have, but uh I chose not to. So, for those who are staying and those that want to listen, um I'll be able to explain a little bit. I would first like to say, um uh the weekend weather is going to be a little crazy. I appreciate uh the mayor already getting on top of that and um and and you know, taking care of what we need to take care of. There are numbers on the website to call if you need help uh with electricity, police, all that. Um there you can find those numbers on the website. Uh, I had a chance to visit the Children's Museum and it is an amazing place. They are doing a wonderful job there. That is truly a hidden gem that we have here. Um, if you've not had a chance to visit the Children's Museum or if you've taken your kids or grandkids, it's a great place and they're doing more things. There's still more to come. Um, so I'm really excited uh to see what they're going to do there. uh the board of appeals, we are moving it. You know, hopefully we will come close to um appointing some people here in the near future for that. I think this is going to be a great thing. Um it protects the city and and the citizens. So, it is a wonderful board that we will have and I'm so happy that Justin Mason and his team with the building department have started u moving Florence forward with upgrading our building codes, fire codes, and now this board of appeals. So now I'll I'll I'll talk a little bit about my vote. I'm a very practical thinker.

I don't know where it's going exactly. I don't know who's paying for it. How am I supposed to vote on that? I I don't know where it's going and I don't know who who is who's paying for it. Is that is that the city's responsibility? is uh the one the organization who's pushing it. Are they paying for it? Is the historical commission paying for it? I don't know these things. I need those are questions that I I did not get answers for. Um so that how do I to me now I'm speaking on behalf of Josh Bowling, not everybody else. For me, how as a practical thinker, how do I vote for that? Okay, that's number one. Number two, I've been saying this um I, you know, and I agree with what Jackie said. This is a county statue. Um you know, we were told that we were not that we didn't move it. That's a previous administration. Um you know, it's on county land. So, what is what is there to do? Some would say put a marker out. Okay, I get that. I I I hear you. But I'm I'm a little I there were a lot of assumptions made tonight. Uh a a lot of people made assumptions about who I am as a person. I want to have a conversation with everybody. Miss Pearson, you talked about love. That that's that's how I feel. But you know, if we're going to make accusations, then then we need to seek to understand first, right? I feel like that's that's what we're supposed to do. You know, if if we're children of God, we seek to understand first before we make assumptions. And I I just I I want to talk to everybody and have a conversation with you.

But if you look at practical reasons why my vote went the way it went is because there was no no understanding at all. I can make assumptions, but I can't vote on something that I don't know. And I and the things that I don't understand. And I hope you can you can see where I I'm at on that. Now, if this is going back to the drawing board, maybe. So, I don't know. I don't know where this goes. But what I'm saying is my vote tonight was off of information I had. I can't make assumptions on on what is gonna happen and who's going to pay for it and all this kind of stuff. I I just have to know I I we need facts. This is a body that we we are elected to take in the facts and we vote to keep this city moving forward. And that's what I want to do. I I I never in a million years thought a you know we we couldn't be unified unless we had a marker. I mean we are the city of Florence. If we can't have conversations with each other then then you know what are we doing? And I I appreciate everybody's comment tonight. I'm listening. I hear you. Let's have a conversation. I I'll sit down with every one of you. I I I I promise you that's not just me saying it. we can sit down. Let's have a conversation. I'm open to that. Thank you, Miss Simmons.

Thank you, Mr. Polling, Mr. Spence.

I would like to thank everyone for coming out tonight who were present and those who are watching um via YouTube. And thank you for all the comments. I thank everyone for the emails, but I too am I'm a one-on-one person. I would appreciate if um if you would like to have a conversation, I'm like Josh um regarding that marker. I would be glad to sit down with you. No one reached out to me via phone or email or to sit down. I got um a lot of email well a lot of emails and again um a lot of the emails were continuous emails um copy and pasted and I want to know your true feelings, your true thoughts and I did not have that in in majority of those emails but I am about unity again. And I am just like Jo what Josh said is you don't you I know who I am in God. And I I think unifying and unifying our city and moving Florence forward and that's what we're here for. I feel like that's what we were elected for to move forward with things that that need to happen for our city. And so again I invite you to reach out to me and I will be glad to sit down with you in the office or over coffee whatever it may be. But again, we appreciate everybody and I want to recognize um an u Anita Smith Cobb, Wesley James, and William Valentine for being um voted into the um historical commission. We appreciate them volunteering their time and being a part of that committee. Thank you and have a safe and be safe over anything that might happen with the inclement weather. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Spence. I want to thank everybody for coming out. I know this has been a long night, but I think it's a needed night. Um, I appreciate everybody with their comments, uh, speaking your truth, um, however you deem it to be. So, I just appreciate that. The marker, I've been on the council for a while, so we have been dealing with this with the statue and now the marker for quite some time, for many years. So, we've attempted to write um something to go on a market for many years and we have taken votes and it has been voted down. Um I was part of one of them, those that tried to write it, it got voted down. I think I looked it up today. The last one I do recall was I believe was 2024 uh that it got voted down. And so, it's been going on a long time. The can has just continuously been kicked down the road. Um I respect how everybody however you feel in your heart. Um only you know your truth and what what you feel in your heart. However, we did receive numerous emails but we as elected officials we should do our homework uh when we don't understand something every one of us. So we should do that. I often do that. I don't always get it right, but when I don't understand something, I do try to seek and I ask uh questions to try to understand uh what we're doing. So, history is history, the good, bad, and the ugly. And I know a lot of people have said, well, we don't like the language with that. Basing it on that, it's never going to be good language. You can't write that as a good language because the situation wasn't good. Um, and I'm not trying to convince anybody because your vote is your vote. But it will never, in my

humble opinion, you can never write a marker from what is being derived at as a good marker because the situation wasn't good. Uh, the things was inhumane back then. So, I supported that um because history is history. I know we don't like to talk about it, but you can't change it. And it comes with the good, bad, and the ugly. and it is what it is. So my vote reflected that and with that I believe in unity. Those who know me and have followed me, I'm always talking about unity and diversity. That's what I believe. I think that we need that. I pray that one day that our city can get to that of that healing and seeing everybody as an human and not just look at color. Have I felt it? Of course I have. I felt it a lot. Do I still feel it? Of course I do. But I still love in spite of and I hope that this one day that this city will come to that. Stop looking at a person's skin color and love everybody. That is the only way that we're going to be able to truly move this city forward to move district one forward. And be weather safe. I love you all. And that's all I have. If nothing, mayor, do you want to have anything? Okay. If not, we'll have Mr. Boling is going to close us out in prayer.

Let us pray. Father God, we just thank you so much for uh this day. Uh Father, your blessings just pour it down on us each and every day. And we just thank you so much for that. Father, I pray a special prayer for this city that uh we seek to understand. We might not always agree, but we seek to understand and we love. And Father, we just ask for your guidance with our hearts, our minds, our eyes, our ears. And father, we just thank you for always being our father. Most importantly, Father, we thank you for your son Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Amen.