Council - Regular Meeting

is officially called to order. If everybody would please stand, we will have the invocation by Mr. Linder. If you'll come to the podium with the invocation followed by the pledge of allegiance.

Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you so much for the opportunity to live in this community. We uh thank you for your son Jesus the Christ who saves us and redeems us and gives us a hope for everlasting life. Father, we pray for this time together as a community that even though we might have differences of opinion that we would share our insights without bringing offense to one another. Lord, we pray for a spirit of wisdom and revelation for our counsel. And we pray that everyone would be strengthened with the power of your might in their inner man. And we pray this in the name of Jesus. 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.

[clears throat] 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, we can get a motion to approve the agenda. Agenda as presented. So moved. Second. It's been motioned by Mr. Spence, second by Mr. Bowling. All in favor of the motion. 6. Motion carries. Thank you. At this time, we will have a message from Mayor Tyler.

Thank you, Miss Simmons. I'm going to step down here. I have about three things today. I would like to ask those who are here in attendance from the Forest Hills and Kilby robotics teams. Do we have any of those? Heather, will you come forward and stand up right here? We're going to get a picture of of you guys. Four steels and Kilby, these students recently represented the city of Florence and Florence City Schools. Is it the VEX or VEX? How do I say it? at the VEX Robotics World Championship last week in St. Louis Lewis, Missouri. Here's the thing. We often get to uh recognize sports teams, but I love the opportunity to get to represent a group particularly from from the STEM background who are representing representing the city of Florence, Florida City Schools and Robotics World Championships. I think Central Elementary also has some students uh who were present up there representing Lauderdale County. So, making it to the world championship stage meant that these students excelled at the local and the state level. And we want you guys to know that we're very proud of all of you for your efforts and what you've done. Somebody's going to have to come up and tell us what your robot does here in just a second. You represented the city of Florence and Florence City Schools very well, and I know that you guys have learned a lot along the way. Like myself, I've had to leave meetings early to go to uh sporting events, and I know some of you guys got to do that. So we won't be quick. Will somebody come up and tell us what your robot did and what the competition was like? Anybody want to be the spokesperson? Someone has to tell us.

Part of part of going to champ world championships is you have to speak. Anybody? I'll ask you questions. Come on. There you go. Tell us about your robot. [applause]

So we have like a revolver design robot. It's like basically this robot to where there's a conveyor belt and then there's a like a door thing on the back to where like it keeps the pieces from the stacks in there and you basically drive into the pieces like the pins and they go up the conveyor belt and then they fall down in to the to the like like the what what can I call this? the basket.

Yeah, like the kind of basket thing. And like [laughter] and uh so we make stacks and then we like put them in the goal and it's like really efficient. So we just we thought it would be the best we could do and yeah. And you did great. [applause]

Do we need to line up? Who's taking pictures? Moms, is that Rachel? You want to do that? Anybody line us up? I always need somebody together. Y'all will Gota get real close to each other. Stand up. There we go. His mom's gonna come pick here. I'll let y'all go first. Go. Go ahead. Go ahead.

No, you guys. Go ahead. One more. [applause]

You're welcome to go have a seat or go play baseball. Remember, hit it hard down the first baseline. You never know what'll happen. Also have a proclamation today. And this is who is who's here representing I didn't see them. Race amity. Yes. Would you all come forward as well?

I think representing uh race amity and the recipient is going to be Annie Miner. She's the chair of Miss Miner of a race amity committee along with the others from the committee. I won't read the full resolution, but I just want to summarize it. Say in recognition of the collective citizenry of the state of Alabama and across the United States, Florence joins other cities in proclaiming race amity day on June the 14th. We encourage a spirit of amity toward all and appreciation for the richness of our diversity. Miss Miner, I'm going to let you speak. And do we need to Rachel? Do we need to take pictures before or after she speaks? Either way, I want to present this, but I'll give you a chance to speak and address everybody, then I'll do that. Thank you, ma'am.

Good evening. The purpose of race uh am today is to recognize the people of our nation or its greatest assets. Further, the purpose is to recognize that our nation is comprised as uh let me I'm reading the wrong one. Mayor, I was going to feel your ears tonight, but I'm I'm going to cut it short. Thank you, Mayor Taylor. Yes, ma'am.

And to the city councilman, thank you so much for leading our uh race amity activist activities this year for being the first community in the shows to proclaim race united amity today. The purpose of race amate today is to cultivate the friendship among all the people regardless of race. That is the key tool as as the old end goal in advancing access, quality, justice, unity began in 1921 as a national corporate effort among the NAACP unitary fellowship and the Bahar faith. This will be the 106th year of our organization history. Race amid day is to recognize that we are the people of our nation as it greatest assets. To recognize that nation is like a beautiful quilt made a citizen from every kind of background. Race amate is encouraging friendship, respect and kindness among them. On this important day, the year we recognize 250 years of our great country history. Race amate day is a day when we can celebrate our sharers ideal and reflect on the beauty and richness of our diverse peoples with a spirit of friendship and good feelings towards one another. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] You got it.

I need one. Thank you very much.

Let's see. Is this his have one more thing, Miss Simmons, I'd like to ask um a couple of guests of mine if whoever wants to come up with them. Would would Emily Stson Kobe Gilchrist is Kobe? Will you come with Emily? Emily, you're welcome to have your father come up. I know I know we spoke at you previously about the water rates and we heard some of the technical side from Tad. I really want now to take a a quick look at what it looks like from the growth and development in the future of our area. So, I've asked these two to come up and and I we're going to be very brief because that's had a lot of time in the work session. So we we recently met together and discussed the interest of several developers. It's been a lot of interest for a long time. Several developers in in in building new houses and ne new neighborhoods. Is that right? And we we had that conversation with each other. In order to build houses these days or new neighborhoods, you need land and infrastructure. I that's pretty much you got to have space, you got to have electricity, you got to have gas when whoever wants it, but you got to have water and sewer for sure. So to to be clear, you all are ready to build new houses here in Florence, right? And that's what you your business exists for. So during our meeting when we talked, I mentioned about the limitations that we have in providing water and maybe some sewer access in certain parts of town. Does that

all of that sounds familiar? I'm setting you up. I know we discussed also, you know, about the electricity department. They have one crew that's that's designated for residential and at times they're going to be very busy and they may not be able to get to uh to you all very quickly. Uh when they when they don't have as much going on, they can they can hook up electricity a little faster and and we're we're working through some of that. Kobe, you mentioned that developers are facing a window of opportunity to to capture some of the future growth that's on the horizon and really stress that we're on a limited schedule. Florence, we Florence is on a limited schedule to provide infrastructure capacity or or the window is gonna close on us. Right. Right. Yes.

So, what was the window of time and and you may have to get up close to that microphone real quick and I'm sorry I'm calling you before I did Emily, but I I will make up for it. What was the window of time that you were wanting us to be able to provide better access to some of those infrastructure needs for you to be able to really put houses out? I would like to see in the next 12 to 18 months us have some kind of growth, some kind of at least a plan set forth where I know and I can present that to the people to help get get those projects started. Um I mean the quicker the better, but really 12 to 18 months we got to have something

12 to 18 months you're looking to see some and if we can't meet that demand you let's hope we do that's going to be our goal. If we can't meet that demand I mean are you all just going to stop building houses or I mean what do you do? You go somewhere else and build them? What's the What's the alternative if we can't meet that demand? Yeah. U there has to be houses somewhere and there'll be other cities that will help me provide it, you know. So if if Florence can't provide you the infrastructure capacity you're looking for, where are you going to go? Muscle shows or anywhere like that that'll help me get there. Other people are going to provide that capacity that you're looking for and you're going you're going to put the houses there and Florence is going to miss out essentially. Right. Right. And of course I live here so I'd rather see it here than there. But

yeah, me me too. Emily, you are aware of uh let me ask you this question. Are you aware of some water issues here in Florence that may affect water flow that limits some fire suppression capabilities in neighborhoods? Yes.

Um is that limitation on water capacity and water flow that impacts fire suppression, is that impacting some of the developers here in town right now? Let me ask you this. Is it the responsibility of the person wanting to build a house or add onto a house? Is it the responsibility of the developer or do you feel like it's the responsibility of the city to help provide the necessary water capacity to meet, you know, infrastructure needs when you're building or fire suppression needs in neighborhoods? Whose responsibility? Do you think it is? The city.

In either of y'all's opinions, you know, are we at this important and immediate crossroads really for the the future growth of Florence? Is that where we find ourselves? We're actually linked. Actually linked. You all want to see us provide the capacity you need to be able to build houses because the future of Florence and our growth impact really is dependent upon it. I mean it's and if if we failed to provide the capacity you need for infrastructure, you guys are going somewhere else to build the houses. Is that right? That is correct. Yeah. Anything else that you want to you want to add? I've called you up here to ask you a series of questions, but I want to give you the opportunity to

So, dad and I met with a developer that came today from Knoxville, Tennessee, a huge developer. Um, he first off wanted to know why there was no new development in the city of Florence. Um, and he's presented us with a great opportunity in Muscle Shoes. So, we are from here. This is home to us. We would rather be, like Kobe said, on this side of the river. But when you come to the city and you ask and you ask for things to, you know, move forward and it's no, no, no. We can't. We don't have a choice. Because you're in the business of building houses.

And it's not just us. It affects other it affects other people, too. I mean, we employ a lot of people in a development. I mean, there's, you know, concrete, there's brick layers, there's contractors, there's, you know, all those people. They're trying to make a living, too. And so, you know, it trickles down from from the top down to just our, you know, citizens in general. It just costs money for us to be able to run the infrastructure for you all to be able to hook on to so you can build neighborhoods here in Florence. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you very much. Appreciate you all coming. Thank you. That's all I have, Miss Simmons.

Thank you very much, U. Mayor Tyler. At this time, we will have um reports from any department heads. None standing committees. Oh, standing committees. None. Okay. And we do have one public hearing and Miss Bailey.

Thank you, President Simmons. The public hearing is to approve the reszoning of 9.83 acres on Florence Boulevard between Bonita Drive and County Road 27 by the owners Jester and Doss. This is an R1 single family lot. Um it is it is an undeveloped piece of property and uh the owners are looking to reszone it to B2. All the surrounding property is B2 as it does front Florence Boulevard. Um it does come to the council with a unanimous recommendation from the planning commission and it is in alignment with the city's comprehensive plan. Is there any questions from the council at this time? Okay. Hearing none, I recommend that we open the public hearing and the floor for comments.

Thank you. The floor is now open for public comments and we will start with anyone on my right would like to come up and speak for or against the middle to my left Miss Bailey. There be none. I recommend that we close the public hearing. Thank you. Public hearing is now closed. Okay. At this time we will have business from the floor pertaining to items on the consent and the regular agenda with a fivem minute time limit. You can come to the podium. uh state your name and your address and we will start with my left this time. Anyone want to speak on the consent or the regular agenda? Okay. In the middle to my right.

Oh, I'm I'm sorry. Uh Riverhead had his hand up. I didn't see him. I'm sorry.

It's all good. I'm kind of hidden behind this this this pole. It's all good. rest. Greetings members of the Florent City Council. My name is River Zerinsky and I'm here to speak on regular agenda items D and E. And I'm just going to ask a couple of questions. So my first question is back in uh fall of 2021, Decater uh reached uh a 98 million settlement relating to a couple factories along the Tennessee River that were accused of uh you know adding chemicals you know to the water. And my question is, is that a potential path uh to to get some money so it wouldn't have to be added on to fees for the from the residents? Uh my next question right now Rogersville is also having similar issues whereas Rogersville's issues are they uh have a lot of u empty space that could be houses but their town's water system is basically at capacity from what I understand and with Rogersville interested in water. My question is, is this a potential opportunity for us to make the deal with Rogersville where we can get some money from Rogersville so that money wouldn't have to be given to fees uh to our residents? Now, my third question is, so uh in April of 2024, there were increases approved for certain utility related visits such as with meters. And my question is in is in

a scenario where neither of the first two options would be available to us, could we slash a few of the fees for hookup visits or for security lights to at least give residents of Florence a little bit of savings on something. And with that, I yield my time. Thank you'all so much. Thank you. Anyone else in the middle like to speak on the consent of the regular? Okay. to my right. [clears throat]

Hello, my name is David Carson. Um, I gave my address to Bob Lighty over there or or not Bob. Yeah, Lighty over there because um people will stalk me online. Uh, I I'm here to talk about the of course the water rate increase. I want like to start this to say that I love water. I I drink a lot of water. I stopped drinking soda in my early 20s. Um [snorts] and I've never trust trusted the Florence water. Um I buy the five gallon dispenser um gallons. I I go I I drink about go through about 25 gallons of that a month. I um use it to make my coffee. Um I I use it to I give it to my pets. My I won't let my cats drink the Florence water. Um I I shower and I, you know, anything in the bathroom, that's basically what what the um water goes. So water is very important to me. Water's very is essential. That's the basis of a civilization. Like the first thing you need like like food, shelter, and some way to separate the good water from the bad water. It is. Now, I don't think anyone's going to argue that water isn't essential. And I think it's good that um some some attention is going to be um put on on trying to um try to get our water department afloat and maybe get some improvements in. That being said, the water department is $74 million in debt or at least according to that meeting I was recording um a couple weeks ago. 74 millions million dollars in debt. That's the first time I've heard that. Do you know how many utility meetings I've been gone to in the last like 3 years? That should be the first thing that is said at that meeting every meeting. And that's the first time I just slipped my mind. We're $74 million in debt. But by the way, you know, no, that's the first time I heard $74 million in debt. Shaina Balk, our our uh chief financial officer, I remember she came up here during the time talking

about like city hall and maybe some appropriations said, "Oh, as a city, we're financially fine." How could you be financially fine when your water department is $74 million in debt? Something needs to be done. Increasing water rates is probably one of them. But but it should not solely come from that. My problem is is from day one, Mayor Tyler started talking about cuz he saw this coming. He I think he knew knew what direction I'd go in. He goes, "There's five separate pots that we have to and they they're they're segregated. You cannot mix them together and stuff." And yeah, that's generally how those funds work in theory, but you can use the general fund, which I he didn't like it. I used I used uh it was Grock that I used by the way when I responded to that that um no it's it's not it's not against the law to use the general funds to help the water department. Um Alabama code 11-50-78 states that u the general fund can be used for water upgrades. Should it solely fund it? No. But um the reason I'm saying this is this it's the timing of everything like the first I made I notic the timing is at the start of this year you made sure to get everyone raises gave your hand out to UNA for like non-existent jobs here for training for non-existent jobs here because UNA funds your campaign then gives you political connections. You have no problem giving um appropriations for that given everybody raises. Surely you knew this was coming. you did that before this and now we're like well we're sorry we can't give any we have money in our general fund to give you a we're partners in that case you know what's mine is yours and you know we we're in this together but with our own city department our water department like no you're on your own and you have to get it from the customers we cannot we cannot touch our prec precious general fund there's there's cuts more cuts you can be made things is you already spent the money at the start of this year giving out and giving raises

that's the reason you don't have money in your general fund to throw in the water rates. So, I think the water the water department is in trouble and water is important. It's more important than handouts to UNA. It's more important and you mentioned the library. You know, the library won't even let me have a a rent a have a conference center even though my tax dollars pay for it there. You have one minute remaining.

Yeah. [clears throat] That anyway, don't in your arts and museums department that no one cares about and no one's ever in those museums. There's plenty of cuts you can make and I'm sure you can take a deeper dive in the water department or maybe utilities department. Utilities department's having a rodeo. You're going to be voting on a rodeo. You're paying for a rodeo, but you know, clean water is like no, you're on your own, man. Customers got to pay for that. So, I don't know. Get water needs to be uh corrected. I just think you should get the priorities straight. And yeah, it's not five. It is five separate parts in theory, but you can use the general fund to supplement the water. And that's all I got. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else to my right? [clears throat] Yeah. My quite uh 135 Herby Drive, Florence, Alabama. Um, I mean, Mayor Tyler really made an impassion plea for raising the water rates. Um, almost seemed like a sales pitch. Um, all of this uh talking about cuts here, cuts there, it's too bad that uh that wasn't done before the $90 million budget was passed. Um, I didn't hear anything about cuts to salaries or cuts to personnel or cuts to equipment in certain departments. [snorts] Uh, a lot of the things that could have been cut uh that weren't cut. But that's okay. What's done is done. What we're talking about right now is u the mess that this uh past council has gotten or past councils has gotten the city into. As far as uh infrastructure goes, a lot of us were screaming about infrastructure when people were passing uh resolutions to build pickle ball parks and uh to build uh tear down one uh parking deck to build another. It's almost an insult to talk about spending $48 million on a city hall building when you've let the one that you've got rot because um basically the past 10 years

they've wanted it to be torn down. Uh there's not that many people left that work in it anymore anyway. You've got buildings all over town, little complexes. Uh the gas department's got one on Rickwood Road. Uh they just got through building some kind of million-dollar building for parks and wreck out on Savannah Highway. Just drive around. Look at all these buildings they've got. Um but we've got to I mean the water rates have got to be um they've got to be raised. Uh should have been done a long time ago. But here's the problem. Uh 2029 and I Yeah. and uh uh Mayor Tyler and um uh the head of the water department. Oh, we've got to have it right now. We got to start this building right now. 2029, we got to do it right now. Uh this is a terrible time. Gas is at an all-time high. We're u groceries, you can barely afford them. Um, I was hoping when uh we voted out most of that last crew uh we would get a crew in this time that put the citizens first, especially the poorer citizens in Florence. Um, but it seems like we don't really think about that. So, let me talk about the current financial shape of some of the taxpayers in the city of Florence. What's the percentage of Florence, Alabama residents that live below the poverty line? It's actually increased. It used to be 20.4%. Now, it's 21.6. Also, child poverty has risen to 27%. 15.1%

of families live below the poverty line. They have a lot of trouble paying the their rates on utilities as it is. The community action agency will get a little money and they'll open up their appointment line and every appointment is gone within an hour. But let's spend some more money on a pickle ball park. Okay. What's the average median household income in Florence, Alabama? Well, the median household income as of 2024, that's all chat GPG would give me, unfortunately, uh was 55 57,557, which is 15.8% 8% less than the annual income of 666 66 659 across the entire state of Alabama.

You have one minute remaining.

No, I don't get I didn't get much time at all, did I? Well, I'm doing it at the end of the thing. Um, it's no I mean, you know this. You all know this. You know that this is not a rich community. You may pretend it is, but it's not. There's a lot of people that live credit cards barely getting by and they may act like they're getting everything great, but they're one check away from being on the streets and they can't afford it. Uh that's the bottom line of it. You can sell all you want to, but the bottom line is you've got a bunch of residents here that are going to have a heck of a time paying for a 64% increase on their water bill. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Anyone else to my right? I have two two issues. I just talk about the water first. if it's on the consent or the uh regular agenda and you stay within your five minute time aotment.

My name is Natalie Wester and I live in district 2. As opposed to the water rate increase, Councilman Hendricks, he met with us yesterday and walked us through some of the details and I'm grateful for that because there's a lot of things I did not know and I don't think I probably would have known if he hadn't explained it to us. made us a nice little graph with all the water rates from city to city. It was very informative. Um he also showed us how we are on a descending rate structure here in this city as opposed to a lot of cities who are on a ascending rate structure. So this means the more water you use in Florence, the less you pay per gallon. He also mentioned that the city sells water to three entities and with the descending structure it cost us more to supply it per gallon than we make on that. Um this in my opinion would need to be addressed immediately before we incur such a large rate increase. I think he said it was somewhere around 54%. Um I think the issue too is not whether all the math can be explained. It's what we as residents are experiencing. And we keep hearing about the separate funds and all that might be true in theory, but the money comes from the same place. It comes from us, the taxpayer. We're already experiencing some of the highest sales tax rates. The sales tax on groceries is is insane. You go every week to and it's just crazy. Um, we pay some of the highest property taxes. Our property taxes, mine, have over doubled in the last couple years. Um, also the gas prices in Florence as opposed to surrounding cities. I mean, you can drive to Town Creek and anywhere else and it's 30 to 40 cents less a gallon. Um, I think everybody is feeling that squeeze and there are some residents and some income brackets that are feeling that a lot more than others. Um, so while I do agree that a rate increase is necessary to address this aging infrastructure, it can't be viewed in isolation and I feel like that's what's kind of happening. um it has to

be considered alongside the overall spending and as far as things coming from the general fund. Um we've see seen these continued investments in projects. I think that a lot of residents feel are oversized and they're out of step with what the current needs are for the city. Um and I feel that you as a council, especially a lot of the new council members, um need to be better stewards of our taxpayer money on some of these important issues. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anyone else to my right? Okay. If not, Mr. Lighty. All matters listed within the consent agenda have been distributed to each member of the floor and 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.

Thank you. Do I hear a motion to approve the agenda as presented? Motion. Second motion by Miss King, second by Miss Dixon. All in favor of the motion. 6. Motion carries. The regular agenda. Item A under the regular agenda, ordinance to approve reszoning 9.83 83 plus or minus acres north of Florence Boulevard between Bonita Drive and County Road 27 by Dudley Doss from R1 single family residential large lot to B2 general business

dear Hill motion for immediate consideration motion second motion by Mr. Bowling second by Mr. Spence. All in favor of the motion. 6. 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. Item B is contract Shockret of America LLC uh for demo of the old concrete plant and building pad for the future substation at Rogersville the amount of $98,750 from a budgeted funds account number 923.00. Do you hear a motion for immediate consideration? So move second. Motion by Mr. Spence, second by Miss King. All in favor of the motion.

6. Do you hear a motion for the adoption? So move. Second. Motion by Mr. Hendrick, second by Mr. Bowling. Any discussion? All in favor of the motion. 6. Motion carries. Item C is a resolution the acceptance of extensions of Rustin Street in Gerard Drive to Florence Lauderdale Industrial Park as public streets. Do a motion for immediate consideration? Motion. Second.

Motion by Miss Dixon, second by Mr. Spence. All in favor of the motion. 6. 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. Item D is an ordinance to establish new water rates. Do you hear a motion for 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? Some move. Second. Motion by Mr. Spence, second by Mr. Bowling. Any discussion?

Yes. I just want to say that we have had a long history of very low water rates in this city, but we ha have now reached a point where we must act. There is no longer an option at this time and we cannot ignore the situation any longer. I want everyone to know that this was not an easy decision. I have spent a great deal of time asking questions, making calls, and looking at possible alternatives. At this point, there are simply none. This decision is not about adding anything extra. This increase is solely to support the maintenance and daily operation of our water department. If we want to grow our infrastructure, be progressive, move our city forward, we must first make sure that we are properly maintaining and operating the departments that are the foundation of our city. Without that foundation, we cannot build for the future. My own [clears throat] water bill in a household of five is going from $26 to $44, which is a difference of $18. And we use a good amount of water. And while this is an increase, we have lived for a very long time with rates that are far belong surrounding areas. This is a difficult step, but it is a responsible one. This is a step that ensures that we can continue to provide reliable water service daily while we also protect the future of our city for tomorrow. I care deeply about this community and I would not support this if I did not believe that it was absolutely necessary and the best solution that we have.

Thank you. Any other discussion? I would like to say that um this this was certainly not an easy task um for me being that I certainly I represent a district that's more of your lower income base. Um I have toiled over this. I have thought about this. I've had many conversations um with the mayor, with the department head, uh with just different people trying to figure out a way that we did not have to do this. Um, and I did not ever take this lightly by no means, but it was my duty to look out for my district as well as to ensure the safety and the reliability of water because this is not an option at this point. It's essential u that this must have to happen. We can point the blame of what didn't happen 20 years ago, but at this hour, none of that matters because here we are right now at this junction where something must be done to ensure uh our infrastructure as well as the safety of our citizens and all of those around. We do not want to become, as the mayor stated last night in uh the district meeting uh for district 1. It was held at WC Handy Rec Center. had many citizens there um to hear all of this, but we don't take this lightly and we do not want to become um other cities and different states. And I'm not going to call those name, but if you have followed any of the media, you already know where I'm talking about and those that I'm talking about, but we don't want to become that. I don't want to become that we have to be a city to necessarily boil water and put people at risk uh for their health at their health. Yes, I will continue to advocate for those who are having the struggles and I know that it's going to be a burden on some, but I will continue my best to advocate for resources and help in any way that I can uh to help them

through this this crisis um at this time. So, that's where I am with it. Thank you. Anyone else?

Yeah, I'm going to go I was going to save this for the end, but sometimes I know people leave and then they don't get to hear it. I'm just going to say it now. Um, it is unfort I'm just going to read it. Um, it is unfortunate that we are placed in our current position, one that has reached near crisis. But that does not change the circumstances or the decisions we must make today. We all at some point in our lives are forced to make decisions based on what is best, even if it's not what we want. This is one of those decisions. I do not take lightly today's vote and have put great thought into it as I've considered the people as well as the potential outcomes. I or better stated we as a city have a lot of control over a lot of things. We can control our efforts in researching, learning, listening, creative and critical thinking, persistence and determination. The list could go on. However, there is one thing in this equation today that no one has control over and that is time. We cannot go back in time and change our current circumstances, nor can we add time to where we are today. My vote will be on where we sit in time right now. It would be far worse for ADM to come in and tell the city what the rates need to be and have no control over what customers are charged. Although we have no control over time, there are other parts of the equation we can control. We can be diligent and persistent in coming up with future solutions to ensure we do not once again end up where we are today. We can think outside the box, brainstorm new ideas, we can research, we can learn, and we can listen. Over the last week, I have been pursuing ideas that could possibly help, not solve, but help lessen the burden placed on rate payers. But new ideas take time. I am not one who favors doing the same things just because they've always been done that way, especially if the

outcomes are not favorable. And I am not one who will just accept an answer of because I want to know the why. Why can't we do this? Or if it's never been done before, why? I like to ask, how can we make this work? Or what new ways of doing things can change our outcome? So today's vote, although is based on time, I am committed to ensuring the city is moving forward as we find the best solutions for our city's future. Thank you. Anyone else have any discussion? Okay. If not, all in favor of the motion 6. Motion carries. Item E is an ordinance to establish new sewer rates.

A motion for immediate consideration. Motion. Motion by Miss King, second by Mr. Hendricks. All in favor of the motion. 6. Do a motion for the adoption. So moved. Second. Motion by Mr. Spence, second by Mr. Hendricks. Any discussion? All in favor of the motion? 6. Motion carries.

General business. Under general business, item A is is an alcohol beverage application with on premises on premise beer and on I'm sorry, off- premise beer and off- premise wine by Nova Convenience LLC doing business as MAP code number 928 located at 2000 Hton Drive, Florence, Alabama 35630. Do you hear a motion for immediate consideration? Motion second.

Motion by Miss King, second by Mr. Bowling. All in favor of the motion stick. You hear a motion for the adoption? So move. Second. Motion by Mr. Hendrick, second by Mr. Bowling. Any discussion? All in favor of the motion?

6. Motion carries. Item B, the alcohol application uh for lounge retail liquor package store with off premises liquor, beer, and wine by RLM Spirits LLC. Doing business as Schul Creek Beverage located at 4140 Florence Boulevard, Florence, Alabama. Do a motion for immediate consideration. Motion second. Motion by Mr. Bowling, second by Mr. Hendricks. 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. Item C is alcohol beverage application for special event with on premises liquor, beer, and wine by Juan Pñena doing business as a basically having a birthday party located at 702 Veterans Drive, Florence, Alabama. That's the Lauderdale Coliseum to take place on Saturday, July 18th. Do you hear a motion for 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 Miss Dixon. Any discussion? All in favor of the motion. 6. Motion carries.

That's all I have, Madam President. Thank you. Um, upcoming boards, we still have uh two vacancy alter alternate vacancies for the building and property maintenance board of appeals and then we have one on the beautifification board. At this time, we'll have business from the public with a 5m minute time limit. We'll come to the podium, state your name and address. We'll start with my left. Anybody on my left? Okay. In the middle. Okay. are I guess you didn't leave. Oh, in the middle. Okay. To my right. Hello. My name is David Carson. Um, I saw I saw Shannon B shake her head. She didn't want to step up and say anything. I wanted to hear her tell us that our city's financially fine again. I wanted to hear that. Um, can't get enough of that. Our water department is $74 million in debt. I want to hear about how great our financial shape our city is in. Um, what can I say? There's really not much to say. Um, water is important. I dispelled your five pots argument with one Alabama code. So, yeah, you can use the general fund to help supplement the water department. Whether or not you do that or not, well, that depends on what Mayor Tyler wants. I've got a suggestion and a question I want to end this in. My suggestion is, I mean, I'm sure the council the council up here, you've got lives. You got other things you need to be doing. I think it would save a lot of time if you get like some stamps and put your signature on them, all of you, and just hand them to Mayor Mayor Tyler so he could just do that because that's really it's going to get the same result. And I have a question.

I've asked this question last time I was here, I believe, and it was completely ignored. So I I'll keep asking this question. My question is, now listen closely. Very simple question. Is there corruption in Florence City government? Yes or no? I will repeat the question. Is there corruption in Florence City government? Yes or no? People watching this, watch their response. They'll probably ignore me. Thank you. Anyone else to my right?

It's me again. Uh, this issue is regarding a nonfunctioning school zone light on the southbound lane of Pine Street. Uh, this light has been inoperable since the snow ice event of 2024 when it was hit by a car. a resident of Dixie Avenue reached out to me and said she informed Miss Eubanks, Mr. Hendris, and the city about it at that time. I have a child at Kilby and I have a sophomore at UNA. I have personally been emailing since October of 2024, so that's a year and a half. Uh, since then, I have documented vehicles with a speed gun traveling upwards of 45 to 50 miles an hour through a 25 mph school zone during active drop off and pickup times. uh traveling southbound on Pine Street, you have no way of knowing that you're in a school zone without this light and without proper street markings. Um I've contacted the UNA administration, including the president's office, uh UNA police, Florence Police Department, and I've also spoken to Councilwoman Simmons. I received an email from the city engineer, Todd Sullivan, asking to speak to me on the phone about these issues. He thought it'd be easier than emailing. Um he has never called me. I have now called and left four messages for Todd over the past five weeks and I have sent follow-up emails without a single response. Uh I requested from Chief Holt via email enhanced speed detection and ticket writing in the school zone and he said and I quote that enforcement is based on highest crash locations and citizen complaint volume and due to that data enforcing certain areas like the school zone is not practical. Um he also stated that he does not have any influence over repairing the light. Um respectfully neither of those data points address the risk. Uh and this is not about complaints. It's about a known hazard. A nonfunctioning school zone light combined with consistent speeding in an

area where every Kilby child and UNA student is a pedestrian. Um the dereliction and neglect of duty at all levels from UNA to the city is unconscionable to me as a mother. Uh, at this point, I feel like it's no longer an issue of lack of awareness, but in action. So, I guess I'm asking you guys, since I don't get a response from anyone else, who's responsible for fixing the light? When will it be repaired? And what immediate steps will be taken to slow down traffic before a child or student at UNA is hurt? Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else to my right? Okay. At this time, we will have council member uh members report with a fivem minute time limit starting with Mr. Spence.

Hey, we want to thank everyone for being here tonight, present in the in the space and then also those who were watching um via YouTube. Um we had our community meeting on the 23rd of April which was well attended and um at Forest Hills Baptist Church and the mayor and um Will Haddock spoke on the rates. um we was being a proactive and and having that discussed at that time and very good conversations um happened that night and have had some good conversations with people in the community in district 5. Um also want to uh recognize the robotics team from the Florence City School System and and even the county and congratulate them for their outstanding work and what they did. Um, also, First Fridays was a great um, last Friday night. The downtown was packed and a great night for our city and for our community. But again, I I mean, I can echo what everybody said here tonight and things that we need to do and thank the mayor for his detailed information tonight and what he's been doing and each council member up here. Um, we have talked to people in our community. We have researched. We have done things. we've talked with one another and this is just something that had to be had to be done and we don't take it lightly again um like Miss Simmons said. So, um and blame our past. We have to project forward and move Florence forward and be proactive in where the direction that we're going. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Spence, Miss King. Thank you everyone that came out tonight, everyone listening listening from home. We do appreciate you all coming out and hearing from you. Um that feedback is important to us and thankful for the robotics team and them coming out tonight and we appreciate that. My number is 69569621. I'm available if you want to talk at any time especially discussing these water rates or you have any questions feel free to me. I'm always available.

Thank you Miss King, Mr. Hendricks. Thank you, President Simmons. Um, yes, thank you all for coming tonight and please continue to show up. We We love when we have a full house. Uh, Miss Wester, I assume that um earlier today you texted me a picture and it was determined that it's in my district and I'm assuming that's where that light is. The light is actually in uh district one. Hily's in your district with the white or is that the corner of Cumberland?

Okay. I'll I'll get with Miss Simmons in and since you live in my district, I'll be your liaison and and and communicate with you on that. Okay. Um just want to let you know that I I would do that as as one of of of mine in my district. Um, we were in Montgomery last week and I went to a a zoning and and Melissa, I'm so glad you're still here. I went to a zoning uh meeting and it was about your downtown and we were the freaking poster child. It was incredible. Um, and and I just want to give kudos to our planning department and to DFA, our downtown Florence Alliance and Chris Stangle because every single thing that they said you should be doing to revitalize your downtown, we've been doing for a long time and and and are about to expand on that. I was so proud of us as a city when I sat there and watched these other cities ask these questions of how do you do that and how do you do that? and I thought, well, just come up and ask us and we'll show you. So, so I'm very proud of us for that. Um, I want to mention First Fridays. We were all there, most all of us that didn't have conflicts. Um, it makes me so proud that First Fridays is in my district. Um, I love it when it's a full crowd like that. One of my big regrets in life is that I can't visit Florence, Alabama for the first time on a first Fridays like that and just feel what that feels like and because I do feel like we growing up with it, we take it for granted. But but very good first Fridays and and good job DFA for that. Finished up our walking tours on Saturday. We had North Court Street in Short Seminary. Those will come around again next April. It was a beautiful day. I encourage all of you to do that. We did five walking tours. um and and they're just fantastic. Now, the

events on the horizon, we have the Storytelling Festival coming up May 14th through the 16th at the Scholes Theater. Put that on your calendars. And then, uh Arts Alive, uh in Wilson Park is Saturday and Sunday, May 16th and 17th. Hope to see you all there. Um, and since I'm on a proud kick tonight, I also am very proud of the unity that we've had tonight as a council. We were 6, I think, right down the list on everything we did. And uh, and there was some tough stuff on here. So, I'm I am very proud of all of us and and and want to say thank you. That's all I've got.

Thank you, Miss Dixon.

Yes. Okay. First of all, I I want to thank Mayor Tyler for um for communicating with us. I just I don't think you guys understand how important I can tell it is for him to be involved with us as city council people. Um anytime I text him, anytime I call him, any question I have, he gets back to me so quickly and um we have great conversations and he explains things very well. And so I just want to thank you for for being so concerned about our city and um working so closely with us as a city council. I think we all feel that and appreciate that. Um also I wanted to um congratulate our robotics teams that went Kilby and Florence or Forest Hills Elementary from the Florence City School. We also had um another school from our community um out in the county central also had a team there. Now, these are elementary school kids, and I actually got to go because my son was one of them, and it was I cannot tell you how amazing of an experience that was to watch these kids competing alongside with kids from around the world. Um, our Forest Hills team competed with um Korea, Japan, China, India, Canada, and then a whole bunch of other teams um within within our country. And it was just an unbelievable experience. One that they probably don't really appreciate yet, but as they get older and look back on it, it it will probably have been life-changing for them to have that experience to go and um work together with other teams from around the world. Um so congratulations to Central Forest Hills Elementary and Kilby for being able to um get to the point that they could participate in that. Um, also, um, maybe that was it. Was that it? My My son told me the other day that I rambled

too much during these, [laughter] so I'm trying to be very thoughtful about what I say so I don't ramble. Um, I think that's it. Thank you, Mr. Boling.

Yes. Uh, thank you everyone for being here tonight. Um, I I I'm I'm just not going to repeat everything that everybody has said with the uh water rates. I will say one thing. Uh, River brought up the Rogersville community and and as it sits right now, they run off of a well and they don't have enough water. Um, we would love to sell them water, but that's probably a $10 million project, something like that. Um, and you know, when we have operating cost, and that's what we're looking at is operating costs, you know, that would be more uh of an investment. And it it would be an investment. I think it would be a good investment, but uh that's where that would that's what that would look like if we were to sell to Rogersville. Um, I do have a question. Uh so if we because something was brought up if if we can pull from the general fund and we can what do we do next year? What I mean do we pull from the general fund every single year? You know if we have some in reserves that we can do that that would be a possibility but I mean we have to think about years down the road and the money might not always be there. So, um, you know, yes, legally we can pull, but this is something that has been put off and put off and put off, and we're just trying to make it right. We're trying to get our water department back where we need it operational because we're talking about operate operating cost and that's it. So, uh, that's all I'm going to say about that. I would like to congrats the robotics team as well. That's pretty awesome. Um, and I would also like to give a big shout out to Blackberry Golf Course. The last two days there's been over 130 high school golfers competing

in Substate uh tournament. We had class 4A boys, class 4A, 5A girls, and then today was class 1 A2A boys. Um, the golf course was in amazing shape. Derek and his staff did a awesome job with that. Um the pro shop staff, Eric, his staff did an amazing job. Um they pretty much did everything for the tournament directors and I was the tournament director for today. That's why I was a little late. Um but I would also like to say I have one of my players sitting right back there, Zach Nelson. Zach is a seventh grader. uh he shot 6 over 78 today and he is one of the reasons why we will be moving on to the state tournament for the first time in my seven-year tenure. So, uh big shout out to Zach. Uh he played amazing today. My team did amazing today and I'm just so so proud of them. And that's all I have.

Thank you. I too want to say congratulations to the robotic uh team on their accomplishment. So, congratulations. Uh again, we want to say thank you to Mayor Tyler for coming uh yesterday to the District One community meeting and sharing all of that um information and it was a good meeting. And um also want to say thank you to Miss Vicky Kirkman from the Florence uh city school board. She was there to share um some insights as well. And uh just all of the citizens and everybody that took the time to come out and to get be engaged um in their community. I also want to say thank you to Miss Dixon for for coming. I thought she was out of town and she walked in. It's like, wow. But I do appreciate you being there to um support um my community meeting. Also, I have another community meeting that will be coming up this coming Monday, May the 11th, at 6:00 p.m. at the Sherid Avenue Church of Christ for everyone who lives in District 1. Please come uh be a part of your district, be a part of the city, be engaged. You have any comments, um any things that you want on the agenda, let me know. um swiftly and so we can make sure that we have the appropriate u answers uh there for you. Mayor Tyler will be there again sharing some information. Uh we won't be discussing water rates. That's a done deal. But there's other things that people have already reached out to us that they have some issues and some concerns out there. So uh those things will be addressed. So I just encourage everybody to please come. If you vote at Sherid Avenue, that's your place that you need to come for um your community district meeting because it will be tailor made for that specific area out there. Also, this is small business week. So, they've got a little contest, a little fun things that's happening on social media with that with the shows chamber. So, support support small business. Miss Wesner, uh in regards to the light, you have been emailing me. I've been trying to I've been corresponding back with you. Also,

Mayor Tyler is in uh that that email feed as well. And I'm sure I saw him taking notes. So, I know u the lack of that you're not responding. I'm sure that Mayor Tyler will get on that and u that part is in my district. So, please keep me um in the loop of all of that. So, thank you very much. If we don't have any, mayor, do you have anything else? Okay, if everybody will please stand again. Thank you all for coming. Come back, be involved in your city. And we'll have a closing prayer by uh Councilman Bowling.

Let us pray. Father God, we just thank you so much for this day and all your many wonderful blessings. Father, you pour your blessings down on this great city each and every day, and we thank you for that. Father, we just ask that you uh give us a peace on our hearts, a peace on our minds, and that we can just uh like Mr. Linder said, uh we might not always agree, but we can understand each other. Father, we thank you for your son, Jesus, and his sacrifice on the cross. And in the mighty name of Jesus, I