Council - Regular Meeting

by Councilman Boulding, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Let's pray. Father God, we just thank you so much for this day and all your many blessings. Father, we just ask you to pour your blessings over the city, over this council, and over our mayor. Father, we just ask that everything that is conducted in this meeting tonight is pleasing in your sight. Father, we thank you for your son Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the and justice for all. Thank you. Mr. Williams, if you will call the roll, please.

Council Member Hendricks? Here. Council Member Dixon? Council Member Bolling? Here. Council Member Spence? Here. Council Member King?

Here.

Council President Simmons? Here. Madam President, five council members are in attendance, and a quorum is present.

Thank you very much. At this time, we'll get the approval of the agenda. But however, in the work session, we did remove items 12D and E from the agenda, if I can get approval for the agenda as amended.

So moved. Second.

Motion by Mr. Spence, second by Mr. Hendricks. All in favor of the motion?

5-0. Motion carries.

Thank you. At this time, we'll have a message from Mayor Tyler.

Thank you very much, Ms. Simmons and counsel. There's really one item that I would like to speak about today, and that is going to be regular agenda item B, which is the resolution to approve the tax abatement agreement with the IDB and JAR Properties, which is constructing the Wilson Hotel in downtown Florence. There's several reasons. We could get into the... to the legal aspects of the tax abatement agreements recommended by the IDB, a board of about 10 members of professionals here who evaluated this and have made this unanimous recommendation to us. But I want to take more of an approach A practical, more hands-on approach of why I would like for the council to pass these tax abatements. First of all, and I'm going to bounce around from place to place, the reality is people want to be staying here in Florence in hotels, shopping in our downtown, but the reality is we don't have hotel space for them. We know that we are leaking hotel rooms to other communities. The dollars that these individuals who would be visiting are already being spent. They're just not being spent here in Florence. They're being spent elsewhere. Most recent example, I think this Councilmember Dixon spoke to someone at the Lyman Rodeo who came to town. And those individuals said, we really wanted to stay in Florence, but there were no hotel rooms here. So they had to stay across the water in Colbert County because they didn't have hotel rooms here. Passing these tax abatements help encourage hotels and others to want to develop and be in Florence. Second reason is because it cost us nothing. There is no cost upfront for these tax abatements. No direct dollars are being provided. When I ran for office, I made the statement that I wanted to make decisions today that impact Florence's tomorrow. This project We make a decision today that does not cost us any money out of our pocket, helps Florence's tomorrow by producing, based on the decisions today, revenue down the road. There is no negative impact. The dollars are not being spent here as it is. They're being spent in other places. We're trying to capture that leakage and bring it back to Florence. This abatement doesn't take away from city services. We're not buying police cars because we're approving this tax abatement. We're not buying fire trucks because we're passing this abatement. We're not helping health insurance costs today because we are passing this tax abatement. It does not negatively impact Florence City Schools' educational, Ad valorem taxes are not affected here. Florence City Schools, public education dollars still come in to support Florence City Schools. Those taxes are not abated. This weekend, Sunday night, two months ago, I never heard of a place called Cartersville, Georgia. I had to go move my son there this weekend, Sunday night. Family drove over to stay in a hotel room in Cartersville, Georgia. While we were there in Cartersville, Georgia, I carried my entire family out to dinner. We ate breakfast, we ate lunch, moving my son into an apartment. We went to a local big box store and I spent several hundreds of dollars at that big box store in preparation of getting him moved in. I'll go back to visit Cartersville, Georgia at some point. The reality is me going and spending one night in Cartersville, Georgia, I spent my taxpayer dollars that went directly to the city of Cartersville by buying dinner there, by buying breakfast, by buying lunch and shopping at a store there. These hotel tax abatements, although they do not provide a direct source of revenue for us in the meantime during this abatement period, it will capture very directly all of the indirect taxes. The people who are going to be staying in Calvert County or in Decatur or anywhere else who come and stay in the Wilson Hotel downtown Florence are going to be just like my family and I were of let's go out and grab something to eat. Where do you want for breakfast this morning? Where are we going to lunch? Hey, let's run into the store. Those taxpayer dollars that are now occurring in other cities will now happen in the city of Florence when we move forward with passing tax abatements that encourage development here. I also want to talk about some issues that we're facing with our revenue. I wanna put it in terms, these terms. Currently, the city of Florence is facing some structural challenges with our revenue streams. Some structural challenges with our revenue streams. What I mean by structural challenges is this is not a cyclical thing, it's not just a one time little thing. We're having some real issues with the structure of how the city of Florence gets revenue. I'm gonna have four quick examples of this. Last five or six years, the city of Florence relied on federal stimulus dollars, and that's how we increased some salaries and paid for more better fringe benefits. We increased our operations, and we used temporary one-time federal stimulus dollars. Our expenses went up. Those one-time federal stimulus dollars have gone away. And so we have escalated expenses still, and we have a reduced flattening leveling out, cooling off of our revenue. We have a structural issue with our revenue because of federal stimulus dollars. Second of all, I'm gonna be the clanging cymbal when it comes to SSUT. We traditionally have been known as a retail hub. Everybody's thought about, let's come to Florence because we're going to be the retail hub. People from southern Tennessee have come into Florence. People from Calvert County came into Florence. People from all over came to Florence because this was the place to shop. SSUT impacts the bottom line dollar that we get from money spent here, but it also impacts impacts the people who from Southern Tennessee and from Calvert County who ordinarily would be coming into Florence as the retail hub to spend dollars, they're not coming into Florence anymore. They're staying at home in Southern Tennessee and ordering online. They're staying in Calvert County and ordering online. Our practice of being a retail hub is diminishing. Those dollars are drying up. It is structurally changing our revenue stream because we're getting reduced amount from online sales tax and the people who used to come here to shop are no longer coming here because they just ordered online, it's getting shipped to their house. That's not changing, not ever going away. It's just going to continue to increase. It is subtraction through addition. Every time that SSUT bottom line goes up, our overall tax revenue streams go down. We're losing money because of this. We are no longer the regional hub, retail hub that we once were. Our property taxes overall are down. Year over year, we're down this year. If you think about it, the last year or so, the state legislature put a cap on property taxes. Your property value may be going up. It's capped at 7%. We're not capturing the other increase. If you remember, and this is a neutral comment, I'm just stating objective, observable facts. If you also remember, households with people who are over the age of 65, their property taxes were frozen. Traditionally, we were counting on increases in property taxes. People who were over the age of 65 or older, theirs was going up. That revenue stream no longer exists. So we have several structural impacts on our revenue here in the city of Florence. SSUT is hurting us. The property tax revenue is down. The reality is our revenue is not what it was because of that. Federal stimulus dollars are gone. We're no longer the regional retail hub. We as the city of Florence have to restructure how we look at generating revenue. The old way of generating revenue for the city of Florence is going away. We have to do something different. We have to prepare for growth. Councilman Hendricks says we have to grow the pie. Hotel abatements, like what we're considering for the Wilson Hotel, is an opportunity to recruit outside businesses in so that we can grow the pie. We need people here in town physically locating and coming and staying in Florence and spending those dollars here. That's not impacted by SSUT. Another reason why I'm asking the council to pass this hotel tax abatement is because I want to be very clear. Our neighbors are going to. Specifically, the state of Alabama legislature allowed agricultural authorities, and we have one in Florence, to pass tax incentives, abatements to recruit businesses there. These agricultural authorities can pass direct sales tax abatements, lodging tax abatements, standard tax abatements. They can offer below-market leases to the property. And here's what's happening. When an agricultural authority like what we have just to our east lands a hotel, which they can lease for $1 a year for 100 years, when they land a restaurant, when they land any other retail establishment, Great for us. You know, everybody wants to go eat at the new restaurant. We want to go shop at the new place. Here's the thing. 100% of those dollars that land in a hotel or restaurant or a retail center on the property of that ag center stay at that ag center. Florence City Schools gets theirs. You can't abate educational taxes. We get zero revenue. So what is the big box store that's going to come out there? Going to pull money away from the city of Florence because everybody wants to go shop at the new big shiny big box store. They may want to go stay at a hotel. They may want to go eat at that new restaurant. Our revenue goes down because we do not get those taxes. 100% of those perpetually forever stay at that ag center. That's going to be an issue for us, a significant issue for our revenue stream here in the city of Florence. It's going to draw tax dollars away from the city of Florence onto the property there. This is not a statement about whether the Ag Center is a good thing, a bad thing, whether it's going to be successful or not successful. The Ag Center is structured in such a way that they have their own tax district, and that money will stay there forever. It's been said that we need to reserve these tax abatements for full-time jobs, full-time jobs, you know, industry jobs, industry-type jobs. I'll say that we need tax abatements for both the hotels and the industry. It's not one or the other. It's both and. I don't like the idea of the NIL concept in college sports these days. I think it's ruined it for us. You don't have the loyalty that you once had. You can't just count on a kid going to a school and developing there. It's a free agency in college sports. I don't really like the idea. The reality is it's the nature of college sports now. If you don't buy into the NIL concept, like Clemson may have and Dabo Sweeney, you don't win the games. The nature of the environment that we're in, college sports for example, NIL, has changed the game. NIL is the way it is. We may not like it, we may not like the principle behind it, but it is the new reality. the same is true for tax abatements and incentives whether it's for retail if it's for a hotel if it's for industry i've told i think some of the council before i was in las vegas not long ago and i got to see how it is a it's a seller's market if you're a vendor that wants to consider landing in a city somewhere. Every state in the nation was represented at this conference. Multiple cities within every state were standing there. And they were in line going up to these retail establishments saying, what's it going to take to get you to come to my city, to my community? If that vendor, one of them I'll use as an example, Jersey Mike's. It's a bad example, but it makes my point here. Jersey Mike's was saying to the person who would walk up, hey, if you want me to land in your city, it's going to cost you $3 million in tax abatements. If somebody said, I don't like the idea of giving a Jersey Mike's a tax abatement, there was a line 100 people long. It was 100 people long. Jersey Mike's would go, all right, next. Next person up there, they're coming in from their state, from their community. What's it take to get Jersey Mike's? It's going to cost $3 million. Well, how about if I give you $1 million? Next, there was 100 people there. Jersey Mike's, it's a seller's market. They could say, you want me in your community? You will be here at my price. If you're not willing to be at that price, next in line will step up and he'll be there. We may not like the principle for tax incentives, but it is the nature of the game now. I want the city of Florence to win at this game for our future, for our tax revenue stream coming in because the conditions and environment's changing. I want Florence to win. If we want to win at this game, we have to change the way we look at this and consider other options. We gotta send the message to our business community. We gotta send the message to industry. We need to send the message to the hospitality industry, to the retail industry, to the restaurant industry. We're in it to win. We want you to be here. We need people physically locating in the city of Florence and spending money here. And if we don't change our approach, Our revenue streams are going to continue to dry up. And very shortly, very soon, you all are going to be hearing from department heads who I have said, it's time to start cutting budgets. And they're saying, now you're telling me to cut services at this point. And I'm saying, you will have to cut your budget for us to... to be where we need to be with revenue. And the fact is, traditional forms of revenue are drying up. It's cooling off, and we're going to have to adopt a different approach. Consequently, I hope you all consider these tax abatements. And if we can get industry to come in, we'll offer them tax abatements if we can get others. And if we say no, we're not going to do that. The reality is they're just going to go to the AgCenter, who's going to offer all the tax. But they're the next one in line. And they're going to say, you can come here. I'll give you what you ask. And it goes there. They get the benefit of the tax revenue perpetually. So I hope you think this through and that you consider granting these tax abatements. It's the exact same thing we did for the other hotel as well. That's all I have, Ms. Simmons. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. Do we have any reports from anybody? Do we have any reports from the department heads? Standing committees?

Yes. President Simmons, the Planning and Building Committee met June 17. We called the meeting to order at 4.03. In attendance was Melissa Bailey, Mayor Tyler, Council President Simmons, Council Member Bolling, and Justin Mason. I'll try to make this as quick as possible. Regarding the planning department, currently, they're working on a couple of projects. The Seven Points streetscape is ready to go to bid. And this project, Melissa explained that this could be a phased project. So we could break it down into three or four different phases. One of the things that she pointed out was there's a large parking lot on Royal Avenue that is included in this project that will allow a lot of parking for seven points. And also in the project, the crosswalks would connect all intersections and the parking. It is currently, like I said, ready to go for bid. And again, it could be a phased project. She also mentioned the next phase of the River Heritage is from Patton Island Overlook to McFarland. No funding has been allocated right now for the design development side. The Veterans Drive Corridor infrastructure improvements, the project approach and cost proposal received and is awaiting funding. They are currently working on an ordinance for data centers I asked in the meeting if there was any federal funding or grants for the streetscapes. Melissa did inform us that federal highway administration requires states to set aside 10% of the funding for surface related transportation. It is very competitive in Alabama and all projects require a 20% match. Construction to federal standards and federal funding may only apply to construction costs and portions of the engineering. Swapping over to the building department side, Justin had informed us that in the last meeting, the building code changes were put into place. As I mentioned in the work session, there are 11 to 12 structures ready to be demoed. The notices went out. They're just currently waiting on if there's an appeal. The appeal would come to the council, and if there's no appeal, then they agree with the city, and then the city would move forward with demoing the properties. He did mention there is a current ordinance right now for short-term rentals. But until the fee schedule is adopted, no business license can be issued for those. We adjourn the meeting at 444. Thank you, Ms. Simmons.

Thank you. Any more reports from standing committees? We have no public hearings. At this time, we will have business from the floor pertaining to items on the consent and the regular agenda. With a five minute time limit, you may come to the podium, state your name, and your address. And this time, we're going to start with anyone in my right who would like to. My left, my bad. In the middle.

Mike White, 135 Irby Drive, Florence, Alabama. I hope all y'all aren't easily intimidated. You just got everything. You got a grilling. I expected any minute for Ron Tyler to take a light out and just shine it on all of you. Once a cop, always a cop, I guess. I've been following the Florence City Council since the days of Eddie Frost. I've never seen a mayor lobby for an item on an agenda item like Ron Tyler does. It seems like it's a little intimidating. It's like he's almost trying to force you into voting like he wants you to vote. Just to try to counter some of the things he said, abatements are fine if you're going to get your money back out of it. This is a 20-year abatement. for small jobs, part-time jobs that we have plenty of in Florence right now. People aren't gonna be able to live on them. Let's talk about this leakage we keep hearing about. This has been going on now for a year at least. I remember when Jimmy Oliver, oh, he was all gung-ho for it back when Eugene Sack wanted $70 million to do that hotel down there. And he laughed at him at first and then all of a sudden he flipped the switch. And so I went on booking.com during the softball tournament out there. There were hotels, rooms in every place in town. I'd love to know the actual dates of this leakage everybody keeps talking about. Can you give me some dates? I mean, and let's try this too. Has there not already been an abatement for this Wilson Hotel? Isn't this like double dipping? You know, there are 20% of the residents in this town that live below the poverty level. There are a lot of people that are worried. Right now, it's the end of the month. How am I gonna pay my utility bill? 50% of their income goes to rent. They drive old cars. If something goes wrong, I guess I'll have to walk to work. Does this board ever think about that? All these fine people with all their money and all their, you know, talking about we're going to spend this and we're going to spend that. You're not, you know. Think about the poor people in this town. And there are 20%, 27% of the children in schools gives some form of government assistance, like a lunch program or a breakfast program. This is not a rich town. And Tyler actually said there's going to be a challenge to the revenue stream. Well, giving away this tax abatement money is just part of that challenge.

You know, you just raised the water rates.

You just raised them. This is a slap in the face to every poor person in Florence. that you're gonna give a millionaire developer that was gonna build his hotel anyway. They had already done the footwork over there. They'd already started clearing off the land. He'd already bought the lot. He got the idea because Eugene Sack got all that money. I don't blame the guy. I would too. Grab it while you can. If you've got stupid enough people to give you out money, take the money. I don't blame him for that. But we didn't elect you to give out taxpayer money and you're just giving it away. Just here, here, here, take it. Well, you know, they don't need it. 20% of the people who barely get by in this town, they don't need it. I mean, if you can live with yourself and give out money to millionaires that don't need it, then that says a lot about what we've elected to the city of Florence. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Anyone else in the middle?

Keith Collier, 5060 Alley 157, Florence. I'd like to start by thanking President Simmons, Ms. King, and Mr. Hendricks for some communication the last couple of days. And that was very pleasant. And we know we got to talk and talk about some things. And sometimes that's not so common. So I appreciate y'all doing that. I'm a lifelong resident here. Used to be in the tourism industry back several years ago. Current small business owner. My family's here. Grandkids here. Hopefully more grandkids will be coming soon. So I love this area and I want to know what's best for the futures like Mayor Tyler was talking about. I think this project will do part of that. It's an answer to a need. I mean, you and I did a study. We're leaking these rooms. And we are, I can tell you that, because I've had three events in the last couple of years. My reps get here. They can't stay. So some of them went to Athens and stayed, spent all their money there. Some of them just drove back home after the event. That hurts. I mean, we need that local tax money here. As a local business owner, I need that local tax money here to support my people, my employees, my family. I mean, UNA, the D1 thing is big. It's bringing more people in. The sportsplex is doing great, bringing a lot of people in. Fishing tournaments are awesome. I mean, there are people here all the time. And that's a great thing. Our tourism department's doing a great job getting those folks here. But the reason you have them here, tourism is the best industry because people come in, they leave their money, they go back home. I mean, what better industry do you have than that? And then if you give them good experience, they come back and they tell other people about it too. And that is a great industry to have. It helps all of us. And I'm an accountant by trade, and I realize looking at all these numbers, it took me a long time to kind of get a hold of them too. The way I look at it, the hotel alone can generate $3.5 to $4 million in tax money, Florence City tax money. That's huge. That could fill those gaps big time. And that's just the lodging tax. You think about all the sales taxes collected. And the sales taxes, I mean, 1% of that's straight to the schools. And that's, boom, it's right there. And it helps our schools, helps our community. And just looking at the UNA study, In over $300,000 a year, directly to Florence City Schools, just from this hotel, the sales tax is going to go up. Over $4.6 million over the abatement period goes to the Florence City Schools. That's a UNA study. That's a big number. Over $4 million in Florence City lodging taxes alone, even after the abatements are waived during the abatement period, $4 million in lodging tax to the city of Florence. Annual sales taxes, $1.4 million a year is what UNA estimated in their study. That's over $20 million over the abatement period. New money coming in, people leaving here. And that's the city of Florence sales tax money. And the great thing about the abatements, the taxpayers are always cash positive. You're not paying anything out. The only way the abatement gets happening, if they're collecting money, y'all get it. They get it. It's a win-win. To me, it's a no-brainer to approve this. It's a win for the citizens of Florence that y'all represent. It's a win for the city. It's a win for developers. And it tells other developers, Florence is open for business. Come here. Build here. We'll support you. The community will support you. And let's go. So as a local taxpayer, I'd like you to vote in favor of the abatements recommended by the Industrial Development Board, the mayor of Florence. And that board is made up of business leaders that know what they're doing. And they've got experience in that. That's what they do. They understand it. They wouldn't have recommended it if they didn't think it would be a good thing for all of us. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else in the middle?

Hey there. My name is Trace Ellen, 1131 Bradshaw Drive. I'm here to talk about the additional abatement for Wilson Hotel. Mr. Hendrix, I agree with you about growth and how important it is and how it's needed in our area. But respectfully, we constantly hear the same things over again, and nothing fundamentally changes in the city of Florence when these initiatives are given out. I know that you're a successful business owner because mine relies heavily on yours. And the reason why I do business with you is because you are a reliable business owner who has set a standard for worth ethic and accountability that people in this town can depend on. Never in my time of knowing you have I ever heard your name or your company attached to litigation. I can't say the same for this guy. Just like this right here, that is public record. and that is ongoing for $1.7 million as a lawsuit that alleges that work was paid for that was left uncompleted, redundant and inflated invoices, and defective work that was so bad that had to be completely redone by another contractor. And if you need this copy, you can have it. Mr. Boland, I say this with the utmost respect, but you personally know and are friends with people who have been taken advantage of this company. Ms. Simmons, I've been critical of you because your district is hurting the most out of all of them. And you are a mouthpiece for the wealthy. And it's sad. Your district is on Facebook begging for your attention. begging for the city of Florence help on certain properties that are unkept and many other ongoing issues. Miss King, my district elected you to move Florence forward, but we elected you to make those decisions responsibly. I know that this is a tough decision, but I hope you vote with your conscience. I think it's fair for all of us to ask if someone like him is worth doing business with. And if these are the top of the decisions that you're willing to stand on in the future, because if these allegations by our neighbors are accurate, who's to say those same kind of problems and concerns couldn't happen on a job this big at the city's expense. on a bill that we don't even know that's going to happen completely or be completely taken care of. Because just recently, Mr. Auburn himself has been quoted about potentially selling his construction company. Character and integrity used to mean something. And I feel like if this council is going to grant yet another public incentive in the total of $2.1 million at the end of it, then they should have a high degree of confidence in the type of business that they're giving these incentives to. Because it's my understanding these are privileges, not entitlements, in the name of growth or not. I'm fully aware that all your minds are already made up, and this will not make a difference. But it had to be said, and I do ask that you maybe do your due diligence and reconsider, because aligning yourself and rewarding a con man is not a hill I'd want to die on. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Anyone else in the middle?

Gracie Crowley, 323 North Prairie Street. I would like to speak on behalf of Pearson Allred that the case that Trey is referring to, it is public record. And we have won the case five times in multiple states. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else in the middle? Okay. To my right.

Jordan Jaggers, 265 Cox Street Parkway South. Good evening, Mayor, President Simmons, council members.

Can y'all hear me okay? Just making sure.

I'm sorry. It's better. I apologize. I'll lean down. I want to speak to you briefly about two things. One, I was on the about the abatement on the agenda tonight and how it impacts local businesses and what it actually is. And two is the resolution of support for the Sweet Home Alabama Tax Incentive Act. But to clarify some of the statements that were put in the paper posted online about this abatement, I just want to make sure we're all on the same page. We currently don't have an abatement agreement put together. We have a reimbursement agreement put together, which makes it all the more confusing when it's posted as an abatement. but also because Section 42 calls it an abatement and then the actual body says it's a reimbursement split 50-50. We have to spend the money, file the paperwork, and then get a reimbursement later. Two, we haven't received a dime from the city. No money has been funneled to this project. No money has been funneled to the hotel. No current tax dollars. This vote isn't about giving us more money. It's about how we incentivize and the mechanism that's used that encourages us to buy from local businesses. So I want to be clear in how these incentives work. They are performance-based. Every dollar we receive comes from the work that we do and generate from building the hotel and the increased tax revenue from people coming and staying at it. So it's important to understand that we're funding our incentives by operating and opening and constructing a $40 million hotel. The Industrial Development Board has already approved this abatement. And we now ask the city to approve it, as they've done in the past with these IDB abatements. And this would replace our 50-50 reimbursement agreement in Section 4.2 of our development agreement, which I thank you for that you've signed. I appreciate you working with us on it. In the current reimbursement, if it stays in place, both the city and the company will have to keep track of every single receipt in great detail, break out the tax that's listed at the bottom of the receipt, and have payroll and accounting taxes, excuse me, payroll and accounting going into it hours and time-wise that we have to meticulously keep, and then 30 days after the construction is complete and we are open, go through all of that and provide a reimbursement 50-50 for it. So from a business standpoint, I have half the normal incentive that I would with an abatement to buy locally, which doubles how much I have to buy and then pair with that hamstring to all the paperwork that goes with it. So I have to spend more to save less if I'm going to use somebody locally. And when you put that in the picture, it's very tough because that's inviting me to an unfriendly business environment and hoping that I buy something instead of a business friendly environment where I keep the dollars local, where I keep the tax money flowing for schools and I keep the cash flow in the city with local business leaders, owners, employees where we spend our dollars here. So That's why we're asking for this abatement. In simple terms, the abatement is Florence's way of helping local businesses capture the construction cost of a $40 million hotel. It's making it to where we don't have to go outside of the city for a lower price. It's kind of like going to the Target customer service for a price match policy on behalf of Florence. So it allows that money to go to Florence City Schools and stay with the local vendors who provide those services here that are currently outpriced in Birmingham and Huntsville. The second item, which is more important to me, is the Sweet Home Alabama Incentive Act. So when we bring that to a work session, and you will hear from us again to talk through that, that is just a letter of resolution. It is not asking for more money. It is a 24-point application that is set aside for us to fill out and bring the supporting documents to to be able to actually support what the state has passed through their legislature.

One minute.

Approve an act. to fund things like the Hotel Wilson, a tourism destination. So in short, I thank you for the agreement you endorsed. I thank you for the work that you're putting forward now and that you're going to put forward in our future conversations that we have, especially about this Sweet Home Alabama Act. And tonight, I hope that you will consider the immediate impact that this construction abatement will have on local vendors in our schools. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else to my right? Okay, there be none. Mr. Williams.

All matters listed within the consent agenda have been distributed to each member of the Florence City Council for reading and study, are considered to be routine, and will be enacted by one motion of the council with no separate discussion. If a separate discussion is desired, that item may be removed from the consent agenda and placed on the regular agenda by request.

CHAIRPERSON WONG. Do we have a motion? Motion.

Second.

Motion by Mr. King, second by Mr. Spence. All in favor of the motion?

5-0, motion passes.

Legal agenda.

Item 12A is a real estate purchase for Rickwood Road and Marion Street properties. It is for $109,620 sponsored by Tadcold. Excuse me. Chair, do you have a motion for immediate consideration?

So moved. Second.

It's been motioned by Mr. Hendricks, seconded by Mr. Spence. All in favor of the motion?

6, excuse me, 5-0. Motion passed.

Do I hear a motion for the adoption?

So moved.

OK, we don't have a second on that one. Didn't get a second.

No, ma'am. Motion fails then. Item 12B is a resolution to approve the tax abatement agreement between the Industrial Development Board of the City of Florence and JAR Properties LLC regarding the construction of the Wilson Hotel in downtown Florence, sponsored by Mayor Tyler.

DEBBIE CRITCHFIELD C. Dear Hill, motion for immediate consideration.

So moved.

Do we have a second? Didn't have a second.

All right, that motion fails as well. Item 12C is a contract with United Power Services Inc. for the Florence Electric Department substation equipment on-site oil sampling. It's from budgeted funds, account 923, outside services employed, sponsored by Mary McDuffa. OK.

Chair Hill, motion for immediate consideration.

So moved.

Second. Motion by Mr. Spence, second by Ms. King. All in favor of the motion?

5-0.

Do you have a motion for the adoption?

Motion. Second.

Motion by Mr. Bowling, second by Mr. Spence. Any discussion? All in favor of the motion?

5-0. Motion passes. Item 12F is a contract with BH Craig Construction Company for the Briarcliff lift station improvements in the amount of $635,000. It's SRF funded and sponsored by Tad Coal.

Do you hear a motion for immediate consideration?

So moved.

Second. Motion by Mr. Spence, second by Ms. King. All in favor of the motion?

5-0.

Do you hear a motion for the adoption?

Motion. Second.

Motion by Mr. Bowling, second by Mr. Spence. Any discussion? All in favor of the motion?

5-0. Motion passes.

OK. General business. Don't have any. At this time, we'll have business from the floor with a five-minute time limit. We'll start to my right. In the middle. To my left. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see it.

Mike White, 135 River Drive, Florence, Alabama. Well, we live for another day. I'm proud of you anyway. Kick it on down the road and that give Ron Tyler's more time to perfect his speech. He can maybe intimidate you a little bit more in two weeks. And that'll give Jackie Hendricks time to work on it too. Mr. Jarre there can get all his employees back in two more weeks, sit over here and clap. And maybe I can get some people out of my Facebook group over here in two weeks. Y'all might want to read it. It's a former Voter Mile Out page. Now it's called Florence Government Watchers. And out of the posts that have been on there, I can count maybe four out of 1,000 that were in favor of this. People are hurting in this town. And we need every dollar we can get in tax money. We need some real jobs is what we need. We don't need any more. We've got plenty of part-time jobs that people can barely get by on. We don't need that. I mean, a hotel is well and good. Like I said, I'd love to see the actual dates of this leakage that Jackie keeps talking about and everybody, because I couldn't find it. And I made sure when it rolled around last year, and I sure would love to know where the leakage came from that city pole vault thing. I don't believe there was enough people for that to be leak, which I believe they could have stayed up there at the Hampton Inn. So, you know, I'm not calling anybody. I'm just saying things get kind of twisted. You fall, Thomas. Anyway. It gives everybody a little time to think and cool down. Besides, it didn't need to be done tonight anyway because it was even put in the paper by Bernie Zielinski in the Times Daily that Ron Tyler said he didn't put it last time because Josh Bolling was going to be out of town. So Alyssa Dixon isn't here, so it shouldn't have been on the agenda tonight. If it's that important to not be on the agenda for Josh Bolling, you owe the same courtesy to Alyssa Dixon. But, you know, I'm proud of Josh because I just knew he was going to vote in favor of it because he's a member of the Home Builders Association. You might want to recruit yourself, you know, because I'm sure Mr. Jarre is a member of the Home Builders Association, too. May not be. I don't know. I'm not a member. But, you know, there's a lot of funny things that have gone on about this. I'm not as upset about this building as I was about Eugene Sack. But Eugene Sack is a done deal. I'll still believe it when I see it. Because I think what he's doing is getting that hotel ready to sell. Just like I think this one's going to get ready to sell someday. uh you know but maybe not you know but i don't i still say the city needs this tax don't need to be giving out two million dollars in tax money we need every dime we can get our hands on uh we're going into debt for our water treatment plant we're already in debt for going into debt for this city hall i don't know what all that thing was i walked in on or are they going to build the city hall i didn't know we voted on it yet but anyway i follow that a little more closely I hadn't been doing things like I should because I've been having a lot of problems with this ankle and I'm probably gonna have to have it operated on again. So I've been kind of laying back and I hadn't been following things like I should, but I think I'm gonna follow a little more closely. But anyway, I am proud of you four. Thank you very much for at least letting this go down the road and the citizens have their day. Please. I know some of them have gotten in touch with you. Read your emails. Because I know for a fact they've emailed you and asked you not to vote for this thing. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Anyone else in the middle? To my left.

James Bobo here, 248 Cypress Creek Drive. I think some of you know me. I know you guys personally, but I'm also on the industrial development board and I was one of the guys, uh, Tyndall Davis, I believe was here earlier, uh, who made this recommendation to pass along to the city. So, um, spoke with Ms. King earlier. Appreciate you sharing your time. I just wanted to make myself available to you. Um, if you have any questions about how these things work, uh, there was a reason why, um, you know, I came here a couple of years ago trying to do something a little different. I was asking for something significantly greater. It didn't work out, but it worked out in my favor in doing something different in a different city. Over the past five years, I've done $200-plus million in real estate development across North Alabama. I know why people need these things to make these types of projects work. i've heard all kinds of things it's interesting to hear like someone's coming out of pocket to pay for this tax nobody's coming out pocket to pay for this tax at the end of the day it makes the most sense to encourage this type of development so we'll have more tax in the coffers right so um but uh anyway again i'm here i'm available please reach out to me i hope that this uh that this is potentially just kicking the can down the road for a future approval date and uh I just can't believe that we're not, I mean, anyway, you know, the schools are going to benefit from this continually. The schools will continue to benefit from it, from the ancillary benefits and development that comes along with this. So, but anyway, thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else to my left? At this time we'll have council members' reports with a five minute time limit. Ms. King.

Thank you everyone that came out tonight to attend this meeting and everybody watching from home. I have had many people reach out to me regarding the IDB recommendation for the Hotel Wilson. I am doing my best to return every email and call and I appreciate everyone who's taken their time to share their thoughts. I have spent a significant amount of time researching this matter at this point, but I still do not feel that I have enough information to make a final decision. This is an important issue that deserves careful consideration. I am disappointed in the Board that much of the discussion has taken place on social media rather than through direct communication with the City Council. I have had many people who have made contact with me unaware of previous agreements and incentives that have already been approved. I will take the time necessary to review the facts, ask questions, and make the decision I believe that is in the best interest of our city and our residents. Thank you all for coming.

Thank you, Ms. King. Mr. Hendricks?

No comments.

Thank you. Mr. Bowling?

Yes. Thank you, Ms. Simmons. I'd like to thank everybody for being here tonight. By a non-second does not mean it's a no. It also doesn't mean it's a yes. The reason why I chose to stay silent was because in the past two days, I've gotten more information on this. than I've gotten in the last month. When this recommendation was made by the IDB, I don't know what protocol is, but I feel like they should have came before the council and explained everything, explained their decision. I feel like that's very important. Communication through this whole process has not been good. But yet, like you said, Ms. King, it's easier to go on Facebook and dog everybody for the decision that they think you're gonna make. That's very disappointing. So yes, we will kick this can down the road. I'm going to get more information. Mr. White, I would like to clarify, I requested that this be moved to this meeting because I was going to be out of the country and wanted to be here. And then yet here I am kicking the can down the road again. And I think Ms. Dixon would like to be here as well. I want to say this, Mr. Allred. I do appreciate the fact that you are from the Shoals area. You've built a company here in the Shoals area. You employ Shoals people, and you want to invest in the Shoals. I appreciate that. Thank you for that. Hopefully, I can get some more information. I can get the questions answered that I need. And we'll come back to this in two weeks, I guess. I'm not sure. Now, on a brighter note, this week is All-Star Week for the state of Alabama. We have two board members here, our superintendent and our newly AD, Coach Miles. So we have several student athletes participating in the North-South All-Stars. And there are many from the county as well. I just have the city of Florence and Mars Hill. From the city of Florence, Jason Payne is participating in basketball. Wells Goodson, soccer. Becca Beavers, soccer. Aiden Thigpen, kid I love, golf. Great golfer, guys. Logan Kilpatrick, cross country. And then we have three coaches from the city of Florence that are coaching the North team. Leslie Mitchell is coaching girls golf, I believe. Lisa Schaefer, cross country. And Tiffany Walker, girls soccer. And then we have three participants from Morris Hill, Molly Wright, who is competing in softball for the North, Dylan Blackburn, soccer. And a little proud of this last one, Evan Ann Bolling. She's participating tomorrow night, 5 PM, soccer. So I'll be in Montgomery watching her compete for the North. But I think it's amazing that we have that many student athletes from Florence participating in the North-South All-Stars. And we should be really proud of what we are producing.

That's all I have.

Thank you, Mr. Bolling. Mr. Spence?

Well, we want to thank everyone for being here tonight and those who are watching on YouTube. And just to our city employees and what they do each and every day, we appreciate you and want to recognize you. Actually, I want to say something about Karaoke Idol. This year was really great on July 16th in support of the Salvation Army echelon. So that was a great night for them and money raised. I have a lot of stuff here. I'm just going to be very... I'm disappointed in the IDD board did not get with us. I'm going to echo what Josh and Chapel. I think if we've known this for four weeks and we've come down to two or three days, of text, messenger, whatever. I don't communicate on Facebook, will not communicate on Facebook. I will not, I'm not going to do that. So I'm going to provide you my email. It's tspence at florenceal.org, 256-956-9800. You can communicate with me that way. I would appreciate that. I will be open to sit down, open book. I would be glad to have conversations with anyone. So we appreciate, again, you all being here tonight and would like to have those conversations. And we'll see where we go.

Thank you, Mr. Spence. Thank you for everyone being here. I know second tonight did not mean that it's a done deal. We need more time to reevaluate. And I am certainly for business and business and economic growth here in the Shoals. And I think I can speak for all of the council that we are for that. IDB board. Yeah. If you all will get with the council, that is their request. That is their request. So I just ask that you please so it can move forward so we can collaborate. If that's the request, if this is going to help this move to the next phase, I just ask that you honor. I can't make you, but I ask that you honor that since they're wanting to speak with you. If you would just honor that so we can. Move forward and get a decision one way or the other. For the gentleman that says that he does attack me on Facebook, but that's nothing new. Everybody attacks Katrina Simmons on Facebook, and it is what it is. I'm used to it now, but what you say on Facebook about me, that does not mean that it's true. So I will never respond to any of that. And as far as my district, I am always in tune with my district and I know their needs. And as far as I would never think like them and I understand about the property. I think everybody in the city of Florence know how I advocate continuously about district one and how it looks and how it deteriorates. So That's not a shame on me. I can only do is ask the citizens to please clean up their property. I've gone with the mayor, which he knows and everybody with all of the right proper channels and hopefully we'll move those things forward with that. With that being said, Mr. Spence, if you'll pray us out. Thank you for all coming. Please stand.

Father God, we just thank you for this day. We thank you for your many blessings, Lord God. I just pray for discernment and direction, Father God, in our city and how we lead for the mayor, for the council, and for the constituents that we serve, Lord God. We just lift you up, and we praise you, and we honor you, and we thank you for all that you are doing for us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.