Council - Regular Meeting

all right everyone uh welcome tonight to uh our july 27th 2026 meeting of the city council um before we get started we have a presentation uh from our friends from all the same alabama who have done a hydration drive for our uh homewood fire department so if you ladies want to come up and introduce yourselves and let us know a little bit about your uh work that you guys have done to get some supplies for our guys and girls

Good afternoon, Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is Zoe Frill, and I'm a student at Enterprise High School, where I serve as the Vice President of All the Same Alabama. I'd also like to mention the President, Jayden Bloodworth. Ever since we started this foundation, we've hosted a school supply drive, donated children's books to promote literacy, and organized a Mother's Day hygiene drive to provide essential items to mothers and families in need. Through these projects, we strive to create opportunities for young people to make a positive and lasting impact across Alabama. Today, we're honored to be partnered with Project Pulmonary, a nonprofit organization founded by Bettina Lee. Project Pulmonary is dedicated to raising awareness about the carcinogenic environments firefighters are exposed to every day while serving and protecting their community. Their mission is to educate the public about the long-term health risks firefighters face and advocate for greater awareness to support these brave first responders. Together, All the Same Alabama and Project Pulmonary are organizing a hydration drive for the firefighters serving your community. We work directly with local fire departments to raise hydration supplies, helping ensure firefighters have the resources they need while working long hours in physically demanding conditions, especially in Alabama's intense summer heat. This initiative has already taken us to Enterprise, Dothan, Montgomery. Today we're in Homewood, and tomorrow we'll be in Birmingham. By the conclusion of this drive, we'll have donated almost 10,000 water bottles and other hydration supplies. Seeing communities come together to support those who dedicate their lives to protecting others has been an incredible experience. As we continue to grow, we hope to bring projects like this to even more cities throughout Alabama and beyond. Our goal is to continue serving communities, promoting equality, and ensuring that everyone has access to the resources and support they need. We believe that by working together, we can strengthen our communities one project at a time. Finally, on behalf of All the Same Alabama and Project Pulmonary, sincerely like to thank the mayor and each member of the City Council for partnering with us on this hydration drive. Your support makes this initiative possible and we're grateful for the opportunity to work alongside your city in supporting the firefighters who work tireless to keep our community safe. Thank you for your time and consideration.

thank you so much amazing thank you so these young ladies are going to head over with our guys to station one and uh unload their supplies and hopefully get their picture made maybe in front of the 1927 fire truck and uh just uh hopefully i get to meet some of the guys there they could thank you in person we got some here in person that are here to say thank you we agree with you these guys are special and what they do for us just just is just can't be replaced and we thank you for supporting them so thanks so much all right okay well with that I will call this meeting to order and we will begin with an invocation from mr. Segrist followed by the Pledge of Allegiance so please stand if you're able

Father, we thank you for this day. Father, we thank you for our wonderful city. We thank you for the blessings that you have poured out on us. Father, I thank you for each and every department that resides here, Father God, and I ask you, Lord, to continue, Lord, to bless, Lord. And Lord, I just ask that you be with each and every person here tonight. God, I pray for a spirit of unity, clarity, as we make decisions, God, to move our great city forward. Lord, I thank you and I praise you, God, for the Wonderful position that our city is in today. And Lord, I thank you for the leadership that has provided direction, God, to put us in this great shape that we are in. God, continue to show favor on us. And Lord, I pray for each and every person as we leave here tonight. And it's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Mr. Seegers, if you will call the roll.

Yes, ma'am. Councilor Simmons. Here. Councilor Sims. Here. Councilor Lane. Here. Councilor Armstead. Here. Mayor Anderson.

Here. All right, so we have full house. Thank you so much. Okay, Mr. Seegers also distributed the minutes, so without objection, I would consider a motion to dispense of the reading and approve the minutes from July 13th.

Motion to approve. Second.

I have a motion from Councilor Lane with a second from Councilor Simmons. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, and that passes five to zero. Okay, so board vacancies. If you remember, we have an abatement board that we are reconfiguring to meet our ward map. And so we do have two appointments to make. so I will begin to let you know that for Ward 3 we have an applicant Tia Williams and she's the only applicant and so with that I would consider a motion to approve Ms. Williams to the abatement board for Ward 3 question I think we have to do we have to make a motion in a second before we can discuss that applicant yes we need a motion in a second motion to approve okay second okay I have a motion from councillor Sims with a count second from councillor Simmons discussion councillor Lane so we good question excellent question so mr. Smith because this we'd already had an applicant for Ward three Bo called him on the phone and discussed him being a supernumerary and he has accepted that so that will be our next appointment excellent question okay Okay, so with that, I have a motion from Councillor Sims with a second from Councillor Simmons. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, that passes five to zero. So with that, we have two supernumerary positions. So with one of those positions, I would consider a motion to appoint Mr. Randall Smith. counseling Approve, okay got mr. Lane and with a second from councillor Sims all those in favor aye Any opposed? All right, and that passes five to zero So with that we have appointed Tia Williams as our Ward three representative on the abatement board and Randall Smith as our Supernumerary now that still leaves Ward one Ward two another supernumerary position and so Brian if you can make make a note to maybe we'll put a post out this week we will keep that open until September the 14th so for all three of those positions okay all right we have one item to add from our pre-council agenda and that item is going to be 2207 26 a request for consideration of a budget transfer brought to us from mr. Squires and So with that, I would entertain a motion to approve the amended agenda.

Motion to approve amended agenda.

Okay. Second. All right, I have a motion from Councilor Armstead with a second from Councilor Simmons. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And that passes five to zero. Okay, so you may notice the agenda looks a little different tonight, so I want to thank Mr. Segrist for the work that he's done on this and working with our city attorneys. We had sort of this superfluous discussion wording that didn't you know meet the way we did things anymore so like other new business or other old business or things like that it just didn't quite fit the way we were doing our meetings now and so this will look a little different so we're gonna start with any public hearings and then we're gonna move into ordinances and then we'll move into resolutions so all the heavy work is on the front end of the agenda so public hearings and ordinances and then on to resolutions Okay, so we will begin with the public hearings section of the agenda. The first is item 130626, a request to set a public hearing for consideration to rezone the western portion of 1832 25th court south comprising approximately of 2079 square feet from I to institution to an NPD neighborhood preservation district zoning classification in order to make it consistent with the majority of the Lots current zoning designation brought to us from mr. Pugh we heard from mr. Garrison tonight we will set that public hearing for September the 14th right here at 6 o'clock The next item is 16-06-26, a public hearing set for tonight, July 27th, 2026, at 6 p.m., for consideration of declaring the property at 405 Woodvale Lane a public nuisance, brought to us from Mr. Cook. Mr. Cook, there you are. I started to call you up to the podium, and there you are. If you will give us a recap of this item.

Okay, this property is owned by an Eric new bull Butler residing at 4, 5, Woodville line. we've got complaints on the excessive growth particularly in the backyard some time back we posted the property and sent out certified letters back several months ago the letter came back unavailable to unclaimed and so then y'all set the public hearing I sent another letter out to the same address letting them know of tonight's meeting and

I thought we did that after he did said the item that that's what the way I have it in order but because we were calling the okay call this public hearing to order I apologize I was waiting for him to finish before I did that but I will say I Okay, I gotcha. Okay, when he started getting into that, I gotcha.

Okay. Since my letters and posting of the property went out, I have had no conversations whatsoever with the residents of the property owner of the house. So that's where we are tonight.

Okay, thank you. We will now open this public comment portion of this hearing beginning by inviting the applicant to speak first if the applicant is here. After that, anyone who wishes to speak in favor in support of this item, come forward. Followed by anyone that is gonna speak in opposition. Is there anyone here to speak to this item in favor of? Seeing none, is there anyone?

This is 405 Woodvale.

Anyone who wishes to speak in opposition? Okay. I'm not here to speak in. Okay, if you'll come forward and if you will speak to the council, not to anyone else in the audience, and sign your name in, please, with your address.

Yeah, I didn't know you were speaking in my address. He walked in late. I just walked in. Okay. I walked in before, but the doors were locked.

Okay.

I didn't know y'all. There was a thing that was on the agenda and I didn't know y'all had already went through that and then came to us first because it said it was at six o'clock. We live at 405 Woodville Lane. I didn't know that you were addressing whether there was some in favor support or opposition or objection to anything I just heard you just say that so I didn't know until Scott said 405 i live at 405 woodville lane my name is eric butler and i came here today because you know i didn't know scott wanted me to come here today but i got a letter it was in the mailbox and i didn't know that once before that anybody wanted me to come down here and address the city council because i had come down here before i even wanted to see somebody else about it in the building inspection department afterwards because when I had been told that I could come down here and asked anything I wanted at city council and that my name would be on this agenda for anything that Scott had asked me to clean up when I came down here, I went through I sat through the whole thing on this on one of your also one of your city council meetings. And I was told that if I wanted to ask anything or to have anything addressed that I could come down here. I sat down here for nearly an hour and a half with my wife and we weren't to be part of it at all. So I didn't say anything to anybody but one person and that was in the building inspection department and it wasn't Scott. And since I got a letter, it was dated like 10 days ago. I got it in the mailbox like five days ago. And I got home three days ago. And if there's any question about that, because Scott's put me on this hearing, I don't think he would tell you he has seen me. And there was not anything that I knew or was aware of to avoid him, so I wouldn't be avoiding you. I've not been home for a while. I've been home, but only maybe stopping for a day or so and asking him for two or three months. There's been a lot of other things, but it won't matter. I know he wanted me to clean some stuff up in my driveway. And then all of a sudden, he had said, well, that he wanted me to clean up anything else and maybe trim trees, bushes, and other things like that. The only thing, I wished I got like five pictures only, and they would be on my wife's phone because they're impossible for me to get out of my phone. And I didn't know that there was an ordinance that said, yeah, I could be wrong, but... he he made this uh acknowledgement to me or whatever you wanted to say a couple months ago saying that things looked overgrown and i did not know that you had to cut or trim burford holly trees i only have two of them i cut down every tree in my front and backyard over the last 20 years don't have a one And I've got neighbors' trees encroaching my house from both sides, front and back. They're just bombarding my house and destroying it. From trucks to cars to you name it. I even just recently went over that with Scott. where I was doing everything, even going after this renter landlord that was supposedly, or he is supposedly renting a house to the left of me, a rental house, and it crushed a brand new car, or what was a brand new car, it was a year old. And then I was held liable for the crushed car for the tree that was on city property that crushed the top of the car. And I just got through settling that. I just got through settling that claim with them out of Missouri, out of St. Louis, Missouri, because they were going to go sue me next. And then Scott shows up. Four days after I made him aware of it, in my driveway, talking about cleaning up my driveway, and then he tells me, well, they're responsible, the city's responsible for the tree. There was even a lady that came down my road about One day after the car was crushed the car had not been towed off yet She said she was from the city of Homewood. She was taking pictures of the car I just want to get this out. I've not had a chance to address this to anybody Let's stick on the let's stick on the topic right here was the current presence Situation on the law. So let's I got you.

I got okay.

So well, I I've got a lot to object of, and it's cost me a lot, and it's been on countless City of Homewood. But I just mean the building inspection department. What Scott was saying was he wanted me to clean up the front of my driveway and stuff. Apparently, he's leaned over my fence. He had leaned over my fence. He's leaned over where the fence has been crushed in by a pine tree from my other adjacent neighbor. His whole pine tree was completely collapsed, And I mean, dead, dead as a pine tree can get, and waited for one of the storms we had a year ago, and it came in and crushed the whole side of my fence.

Okay, let me ask if there's anyone else out here who wants to speak to this item for or against. Okay, then I'm gonna go ahead and close the public hearing, and then we can continue our conversation, so go ahead.

Oh, my bad. But I showed this to Scott, like I'm responsible for my own damage. My neighbor, if you can call him a neighbor, he works for some eco lab. He's on the front of Woodvale Lane, it's Raleigh Avenue. He immediately had a guy, when I came around to him twice, this has been a couple of months, two months before I showed Scott this in my backyard. I showed it through my neighbor's backyard, adjacent to my backyard, the adjacent neighbor. And the pine tree, the guy I had where he had bought this house from this guy named Steve Foster, I knew him, he had lived in that house. He sold that house and the pine tree was about 150 foot tall. And it was the only tree in that backyard and it was dead as a doornail and I asked him to do something about the pine tree and then all of a sudden my whole fence is crushed in on the side. And mind you, I might have things that the the, what you call it, rhododendron and stuff that growed up around, just a wire rack and some other things. And if you can see them through the busted, crushed fence where, and he, the guy had within three days of me going to the front of his house at Raleigh Avenue, he's got eco lab trucks or something like he works for a bio lab in the front of his driveway. There are one house to the right of my house on Raleigh Avenue. And the whole pine tree came down, went over the backside of the telephone pole, and then every branch on it, every dead branch, every dead pine needle, stick, cone you can imagine, swapped the whole side of my fence line. I got 150 foot of fence line, and it must have took 70 foot of it out. I didn't have the money to erect it back. That guy not only would not be responsible for it, he immediately hired somebody to come in a pickup truck and completely dissembled the pine tree within about two days and hauled it away where I couldn't get insurance or anybody over there to look it in. I didn't have any evidence to show anybody.

Mr. Cook, can you work with, what is your recommendation? Can you work with the property owner and we could carry this item over until our next?

I had a simple solution for this, but I wanted to ask something else. I'm sorry, go ahead.

Let's stay on the present day topic. That's what I wanted to ask.

Okay, go ahead. Brian, can you pull up the picture I sent you about the yellow sign in the front yard? I believe I sent it to you. There you go. That was posted in his yard in April.

Said it had overgrowth and stuff on the front yard.

No, I didn't say it was in the front yard.

Oh, if you read the sign, it says that I got the sign. I took the sign and put it in my car. It was coming down here to talk to somebody else about it, wasn't you? I have it in the trunk of the car. It says on there, if you read it, overgrowth due to this and that. i couldn't get my grass any shorter it's nothing but leaves i can't grow grass from all the gigantic monster oak trees on both sides back in front of me and the pines on the left of me that's devastating everything in my yard other than the tree that was on city property that not long ago crushed that car So what I wanted to ask was this one thing. Scott is, I don't know what he's so bent on, and I don't mean that in a disrespectful way. I showed him that my whole, well two half of my fence line had been taken out due to a neighbor and i call that negligence because you know the pine tree's been dead for a year and a half after you bought the property and when we had sticking with this situation here but but that that is it the picture he was showing a minute ago was in my backyard and that was behind my fence line there that's all crushed in And I tried to show him, and I'm telling him I volunteered that, that you don't see fence boards and stuff like that explode like that for no reason, for lack of not maintenance or care or whatever. I mean, it just destroyed it like a hand grenade. Now, he might not say it like that to me, It's pretty devastating. I didn't have the money to go back and start digging piers again and put every item back in the ground again, board by board, even if I could have saved some of my fence board. And that's behind where you showed that picture a minute ago that Scott asked you all to pull up and before this sign. And I have that sign. And when you start reading that on the front, overgrowth and all this. And I told Scott, other than the crape myrtles and all that, the only thing I was expressing a minute ago for the front was we have crape myrtle trees all in the front they've been there for 30 years they're crape myrtle trees not bushes and we have two burford holly trees they're trees not bushes i don't have a tree in my whole back or front yard that belongs to us i cut every one of them down Because every tree front and back and side to side and in the back of my house that belongs adjacent to either neighbor left or right of me, either at 409 or 401 Woodville Lane, is devastating my house.

Okay.

Mr. Cook. I was going to say from roof to you name it. So I felt that I just wanted to. I told my wife I would express this, so if I've got the opportunity to say it, it's not the time to say it. You've said it, you've said it. I felt slighted by Scott.

Well, let me, Mr. Cook is a longtime servant of the city, and he does an excellent, very thorough job, and he's very straightforward, and he's very understanding, and that's why I'm going to ask him what he would like to do in this situation.

Well, this property has been, before y'all, and declared a public nuisance before because of unenclosed items particularly at the time was the front yard I did work with him a lot of that got cleaned up so we're past that first time I think I went out there maybe prior to that He's talking about the tree that fell on the car. And I did not tell him that that's a city problem, that we're liable. I said that that is a city tree. And it was in such bad shape, within three days, the city came out there with my instructions and cut it down. It disappeared. We've solved that problem. Now, we're here today with this. Our ordinance does not specify anything front yard, backyard, side yard. It's everything. The neighbor next door allowed me to go in his backyard and take the pictures. you'll go scroll through these a few of those Brian I appreciate it okay that's a front that's from the neighbor's yard next door so you can see from the neighbor's house I'm looking at his the back of his house and I am getting eat up by mosquitoes okay so the issue is primarily the backyard We do have an ordinance that you gotta maintain your property and you gotta maintain your fences and your walls and all that. But let's just get the yard cleaned up. Trees falling down from your neighbor onto your property, that's a civil issue. That's not a city issue. And if y'all decide that y'all declared a public nuisance tonight, then I can send crews over there tomorrow and clean it up. Or I can work with him. which I can work with him and give him time to do it, but there's a lot to be done. This is a long time.

Okay. Any other questions from other members of the council?

Yeah, I love that. Have you declared a public nuisance? What happens? Okay, you declare it public, and then you go clean it up? We go clean it up?

The city can either contract it out, or we can send city crews over there to do it. Okay, and when we do that? We send a bill. Whatever that bill is, there's 50% added to it as a penalty. Mm-hmm. We send the bill to the property owner, give them 30 days to pay it. If they don't, then it goes to the city clerk to place a lien on the property.

Okay. The question I have for him, what do you plan on doing with the fence?

I should just take the whole 70 running feet of it down.

I would probably agree with that.

And it's not because of lack of, but when Scott said a minute ago, well, like for example, not the back of the fence, but the tree that he said he immediately had removed. So the problem was solved. But it didn't solve the $16,800 that I was liable for the car. So see, a lot of these things, they sound real good after you removed a tree that caused devastation to me, but these people in St. Louis, Missouri demanded payment for the car immediately and they waited to settle with me so they wouldn't sue me. And I didn't really have an option. I didn't need to be sued and have to be liable for making the payment for the car. So when Scott says, well, that was just, I don't mean, he didn't say minor, so I'm not gonna put words in his mouth. But it just sounds like that, almost like it was trivial. So three days later, that tree was cut down. The city removed it. It was on city property, so to speak. Well, and the problem was solved or something, but it didn't solve the problem. All this money has been my issue. And I know Scott didn't look at it as an issue, but I'm not 21 anymore. And if Scott had given me the... It was an issue. We cut down the trees. I'm talking, but the issue had already come and gone. The car had been devastated. In total, they totaled the car.

I understand the car. The car has no bearing on this right now. What I'm looking at is a fence, and between the fence and the house, you can't even get back there.

How would you even? I go back there all the time. If he wants me to cut all the little whatever they call it. My wife's got names for the bushes and the plants. They're not all weeds.

Well, the fence has to go.

Well, I mean, whether I dissect the fence, try to save any of the material, the fence is all one material. My fence is not a rotten fence. It just was devastated by the, I'm sorry.

I'm not, I'm not, all I'm saying is it's been April when that sign went out there. Okay, we're at April, May, June, July. I mean, where are we going with this? And if you have no plans,

I didn't.

If you don't, if you can have a plan to work with him, if not, then we have to do our job. That's just my opinion. I was going to call. If I live behind this... It would have been done a lot better.

Just the side of my house is what you're seeing. My neighbor has a fence, and that's my fence that's leaning in on my property, not my neighbor's property.

I know, but what's on the other side is the problem. There's snakes. There's all kinds of creatures can be back in there.

There's not. I assure you, I go into my backyard all the time. You walk in there? I walk in there all the time. I've got I've got I've got a Coleman generator. I have a That's okay.

Yeah, let's move on. Yeah, anyone else have go ahead.

Mr. Clemson. So I guess the question is is either Either it's declared a public nuisance and and the crew goes out or if you were working with them What what would be the got the I guess parameters of that agreement?

he'll let me take care of it now how long would he have to

The question is, how long have we given in this situation? At least four months, I know.

Since April. And this is Ward 1, right? This is Ward 1. It is.

I didn't talk to. I have knocked on your door several times and let you know this is for you to call and what happened. You want to tell them what happened?

I know you've knocked on my door, and I didn't know you came at all, and you didn't leave a card at all, and I came down to the city of Honolulu. I'm sorry. I didn't want to readdress this with Scott. I can take care of this. I didn't need anybody to micromanage it.

When can you take care of it? I can start immediately. Okay, and when do you think you can conclude on this?

How much time would you like?

Two weeks. Seven days.

Two weeks. We'll be back here in two weeks at 6 o'clock. We closed the public hearing, so two weeks.

Can you do it in two weeks?

I just do everything.

You know what? It's actually not two weeks. It's actually three weeks because it's August the 10th. Is that two weeks from tonight? Two weeks. Two weeks. August the 10th. August the 10th. Yes. August the 10th.

don't august the 10th august the 10th six o'clock that is only two weeks that's right two weeks that's right two weeks i was thinking yes otherwise otherwise someone's gonna make a motion tonight and we're gonna so in my understanding that if you declare this public nuisance that we're allowing him two weeks to get it in compliance nope if it's not done in two weeks and the city goes in are you carrying this over for two

Well, like that was going to carry over for 2 weeks, but also I'm that listen, I'm I would rather you go ahead and clear it for 2 weeks you have 2 weeks and it's not done in 2 weeks, the city comes in and cleans it up can we make that kind of a motion and allowed to that motion we can make Mister attorneys. It's not handled in 2 weeks. then the city goes in. So that's the motion counseling location.

I don't have a problem that but how soon can we react if it's not if this hasn't been done in 2 weeks and we make motion at night how soon can the city go in. I'll make a motion. 2 weeks he has to clean it up if not.

And most counseling.

SECOND THIS IS THIS IS TWO WEEKS TO CLEAN IT UP IT'S DECLARED A PUBLIC NUISANCE IF NOT CLEANED UP IN TWO WEEKS THEN WE GO IN THE NEXT DAY COMES IN THE NEXT DAY NO WE GO THE NEXT DAY IT'S DONE YEAH APRIL 11 AUGUST 11.

DIFFERENT MOTION OKAY SO OKAY SO I'M SORRY THE MOTION IS THAT THAT HE HAS TWO WEEKS CLEAN THIS UP AND THEN WE COME BACK IN TWO WEEKS MAKE ANOTHER MOTION SO REALLY WE'RE CARING THIS FOR TWO WEEKS OKAY SO DO WE NEED TO TAKE A VOTE ON THIS that's so are we carrying this over are we passing a resolution Is it a vote to carry it over? Is it a vote? Do we vote to carry it over? No, we don't.

Let me ask you a question. If we declare it a public nuisance tonight, okay, in two weeks, and it's not done... It goes straight to Scott, correct? Huh? No?

I don't have the ordinance directly in front of me, which I did. I think there's some provisions in that ordinance that basically says the property owner has up until the city goes on the property or hires somebody to abate it himself.

I was just going to say, could we not assume that I would not make my best efforts? I mean, I've never been before y'all to ask y'all for anything.

I'm sorry. Let's just carry it to August 10th and then if it's not.

We're carrying this item over for two weeks. If on August the 10th this is not resolved, we will vote on a resolution to declare it a public nuisance and we will come out the next day to take care of it. So two weeks.

And I wanted to ask you, is it Ms. Andres?

Yes.

How would we be saying that I took care of most of what Scott's calling overgrowth?

You need to work with him on that. He's very, very experienced in this. Decades and decades. He's the one. yep that's who you want to work with okay moving on thank you thank you for coming out tonight we appreciate i'm glad we got to hear from you all right next item 100726 a request to set a public hearing to declare property at 10 45 forest brook drive at public nuisance due to excessive growth brought to us from mr cook this public hearing is set for september the 14th at six o'clock next item 110726 a request to set a public hearing to declare property at 608 shades creek parkway a public nuisance due to excessive growth brought to us from mr cook this public hearing is set for september 14th next item 120726 request to set a public hearing to declare property at 1580 barry road a public nuisance due to excessive growth this will also be set for a public hearing on september the 14th at six o'clock this concludes our portion of the public hearing section of our agenda we are moving on to ordinances first item is 140626 a request for consideration to stripe a yield line and install yield signs at rumson road and new yorkshire drive intersection brought to us from amy zary our city engineer mr siegers if you will give us a recap of this item

Yes, ma'am, this was a request from the city engineer to improve traffic safety at the intersection of runs and road and Yorkshire drive by installing yield signs and striking a yield line. The ordinance received its first reading on July 13th, 2026 and was carried over to allow the council additional time to for review and consideration. This action is intended to provide clear right of way guidance and enhance safety at this intersection.

Thank you, Mr. Segrist. We had the first reading of this ordinance on July the 13th at our last meeting. We carried it over until tonight. Is there a motion for approval?

Motion to approve. Second.

All right. I have a motion from Councillor Armstead with a second from Councillor Simmons. Any further discussion on this item? seeing none all those in favor aye any opposed all right that passes 5 to 0 and his ordinance number 29 85 you will note we did not have a roll call vote that is because you've had the first reading and now we understand that we do not have a roll call vote after we've had a first reading and carried that item over two weeks so new process again learning new things all the time all right next item 060726 a request for consideration of an amendment to ordinance 2949 to better define compact motor vehicle and support effective enforcement of compact parking regulations also brought to us from amy zary our city engineer mr siegrist

Yes, ma'am. This amendment clarifies the definition of compact motor vehicle to eliminate any in ambiguity and provide a clear enforceable standard for vehicles using designated compact parking spaces. The proposed changes will assist city staff with consistent enforcement and help ensure compact parking spaces are used as intended.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Seagrass. And so we've had a, let's see, Mr. Mural or Mr. Jackson. Thank you. If you will do the reading of the ordinance.

yes ma'am section one of ordinance two nine four nine previously adopted on september fifteen two thousand twenty five is amended to read as follows it shall be unlawful for any permit for excuse me any person firm corporation or association park caused to be park or permit to be parked any motor vehicle is defined by the highway code of the state of alabama other than a compact motor vehicle in the two parking spaces adjacent to patriot park as described in exhibit a attached to the ordinance For purposes of the ordinance, compact motor vehicle means a motor vehicle whose overall length and width permit the vehicle when properly positioned to be parked entirely within the boundaries of a designated parking space without any portion of the vehicle extending beyond the outer edges of the lines marking that space. Whether a vehicle is a compact motor vehicle shall be determined by its physical dimensions and not by the manner in which it is actually parked. Section two preserves the remainder of the ordinance language as originally written. Section three is the effective date.

Thank you so much. And we will carry this over until our next meeting, which, as we've all learned, is August the 10th. All right, next item, 070726, a request for consideration of 29th Court South, a one-way conversion. Also brought to us from Amy Ziery, our city engineer, Mr. Segrist.

Yes, ma'am. This item is a request for the City Council to consider converting 29th Court South to a one-way traffic. This proposal is intended to improve traffic flow, enhance safety, and address operational concerns identified by the city staff.

Thank you. And now, Mr. Jackson, a reading of the proposed ordinance.

Yes, ma'am. Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Homewood at a regular meeting, duly assembled accord being present as follows. Section 1, every person, firm, or corporation operating a motor vehicle as defined in the Highway Code of the State of Alabama on 29th Court South shall travel in an easterly direction only. Section 2, the violation of any section of this ordinance constitutes a misdemeanor, and a violation thereof on conviction is punished as provided by Section 1-8 of the Code of Ordinances. Section 3 is a provision allowing the City to erect signage indicated on Exhibit A, and Section 4 is the effective date.

okay thank you so much and again we will discuss this and vote at our next meeting on august the 10th and this concludes our ordinance section of our agenda and we will move into resolutions so uh first item up is 010726 a request to authorize private removal of a large pine tree located in the rear right of way unmaintained alley behind 3107 overton drive without objection we are going to carry that item over for our staff to go out and take a look at that property. Next item is 040726, a request to fund Safe and Healthy Homewood from July 1, 2026 through September 30th, 2026 using the opioid fund brought to us from Mr. Smith. Mr. Seegers.

Yes, ma'am. This request is for the council to approve to fund safe and healthy Homewood using the city's Alabama opioid settlement funds for the period of July 1st, 2026 through September 30th of 2026. The funding will support the organization's continued efforts to provide substance misuse prevention, education, and community outreach programs that align with the approved uses of opioid settlement funds. Approval of this item will allow these services to continue uninterrupted during this funding period.

Thank you so much. Do I have a motion and a second to approve this item?

Motion to approve. Second.

I have a motion from Councillor Armstead with a second from Councillor Simmons. Any discussion on this item before we vote?

Mayor, may I offer a point of information?

You sure may, Mr. Jackson. I know you know a lot about this topic.

I do. I am Homewood's opioid attorney. I did request, and will reiterate my request, that the proposal that was provided to the city for these funds be included in the minutes, the budgeted... expenditures do not expressly address opioid remediation opioid addiction remediation the proposal did so i think the city is on much better ground if it makes sure the minutes include the proposal so counselor armstead does that is that we make that part of your motion so the motion would be to approve if the proposal is included in the minutes from this meeting I don't think the motion is contingent on that. I think the minutes just need to include the proposal or you can tie it to the motion if you want to.

I would motion to approve it either way. Okay. Second.

Okay. All right. We now amended that to include to make sure that this proposal is included in the minutes with a motion from Councillor Armstead and a second from Councillor Simmons. All those in favor? Councillor Lane. Yes.

The this has nothing to do with any budgets either. This is correct. This is a be like this when everybody know this money is that's not out of any budgets that we're we're is only for these purposes. That's right. Right. That's right.

And it's not revenue funding from the city. This is correct. That's funding. We're not that's right. But that's right okay all those in favor aye any opposed all right that passes five to zero and that is resolution 2676. all right next item 050726 a request for consideration to allow a retaining wall to extend into the public right-of-way in front of 419 ponceana drive brought to us from mr pew mr siegrist

Yes, ma'am as you stated this was for allowing a retaining wall at 4.19 policy in a drive to extend into the public right away this request has been reviewed by the building official and Council approval is required because the proposed encroachment extends onto the city right of the city on right of way approval allow this property owner to proceed with the retaining wall as proposed subject to any conditions established by the city.

Thank you, Mr. Seegerson. I will add that there will be no irrigation system that will be in the city right-of-way, so that is not going to be allowed or part of this motion. I'll begin with a motion and a second to approve before we can discuss.

Motion to approve. Second.

I have a motion from Councilor Simmons with a second from Councilor Armstead. What discussion would, do you all have? Councilor Lane.

Yeah, the only discussion I have on this is I notice it's already there. Correct. Okay. Yes. So how did the builder come here and do that without getting a permit or getting approval?

Correct.

And somewhere along the line, this happens too often in Homewood. Yes. And it's after the fact. And it's got to stop. I mean, And I don't know what the answer is, but this is happening. I mean, look, it's beautiful and it's going to pass and it's fine, but they got to go through the right way of doing things here.

There have been other problems that this property so yes, that's correct. And this is the meaning the the builder not not not not the city, but of the builders has also that there have been a couple of the builder that's right. Yes, I'm saying that the builder has to make sure the bill not to do his yes, he should put this other issues of the right so it's a. And Mister cook, yes. You might come up to the microphone. I'm sorry. Thank you. Get your steps in today.

Yes, we've been working with the builder on this. He's had several issues up there. Good thing. There is a permit for the wall because of its height. It had to be engineered. A lot of times when you submit your plans for something, and I'm not saying this is the case because I haven't reviewed it. It's not my place to review it. but probably what he presented did not go into the right way, but once he got out there replacing what's probably already there, he extended it just to make things work out.

Looks good.

And that's when we caught it. So that's probably what happened, but there was a permit for it.

Okay. Scott, since you're standing here already, just to clarify, I think, that what is pictured is the for this retaining wall that is where it's terminating correctly correct and thanks yes that's right it's not going any further and no irrigation maybe a couple of feet into the into the right it's right up against the sidewalk but it is a narrow sidewalk right there so yeah did we have did we do anything about liability on the one didn't somebody have to give up liability on one we just did didn't we on uh

because someone riding a bike or something hits here.

Councillor Simmons, that's part of your motion, right? To include an indemnification agreement. Councillor Armstead, part of your second? That is correct. Yeah, that's part of it. Okay, excellent. Okay, thank you. All right, so we've got a motion from Councillor Simmons with a second from Councillor Armstead. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, and that passes five to zero, and that is resolution 2677. all right next item is 080726 a request for consideration for an update to the traffic calming policy brought to us from amy zary our city engineer mr siegrist

Yes, ma'am this was an update intended to review and improve the current process and criteria used to evaluate home. Homewood neighborhood traffic calming request ensuring that this policy reflects current best practices provides a consistent and transparent approach and a better address a bet in better addresses traffic safety concerns throughout this community.

All right, thank you, Mr. Seegers. I will say Ms. Zeri has done an excellent job of sort of simplifying and giving some clarification to what we had in place before. Before we discuss, is there a motion for approval and a second?

Motion to approve. Second all right. I have a motion from councillor Sims with a second from councillor Simmons any discussion on this item I just have a just to check to see if there were any updates in between the last time this was presented we in particular talked about the installation of the speed cushions and the materials you use I just want to see if there are any updates from since since the last discussion Thank You Amy

So I have confirmed that the material will be rubber speed cushions, they'll be bolted in, and then there's an epoxy that is also combined with the bolts to just ensure better stability.

And that was from Birmingham, the city of Birmingham, is that right?

Birmingham, yeah, I was reaching out to their supplier that they use, and that's the information I received.

Thank you.

I think some of that conversation, too, was about whether they could be moved if road work was getting done. I guess it sounds like they can.

Mm-hmm, that's right.

And just thinking ahead to you, were you able to get any quotes on pricing just to think about the future burden of the installation of this?

I did get a quote. I don't have the number on the top of my head, but it is something that with our budget that we have this year, we potentially could have fit in five or so locations for speed cushions.

So going forward this will be a budget item when there's petitions that come forth and they'll just draw down from that. That's right.

Is this the process sort of like what we're seeing in Birmingham, say in English Village, we're talking those flats, those are the things we're talking about. And the process, what is the process that we have to go through? So say goes to you. I mean some of them. That's yeah, OK. But I know there was something there was something made there.

If there's any kind of changes that then I'm trying to get the time lapse is what I'm trying to get more so with the time lapse process is and this is how it was before it starts at engineering and we do our internal review based on data collected from the traffic department. What we're changing is that we're having the complete streets advisory committee review and then as well as the technical oversight committee which is planning and traffic and myself and then police and fire will review. After that we'll do a preliminary review with the mayor and the respective counselor of the area and we will have the applicant get a petition.

How often does the advisory committee meet, though, the one zone?

So they meet quarterly, however.

Okay, go ahead.

I think they'd rather meet more. Right.

They would like to meet more. That's what I'm getting at. If the residents, we get these things going and we get, they get it printed. They want a purpose. And then they're not going to meet for a quarter, I mean.

No, they want to meet more.

A quarter a month and then we have to wait then and another change happens, then they got to go back and redo it again, correct? That's right. If there's any kind of changes.

So if we are allowed to email just the Complete Streets Advisory Committee and not have an official meeting, then that could definitely expedite the process.

But I will say they are very they are very willing and able like they were you know, Nick they're like ready to get to work so I mean I've been a few that I mean when when a residence when they call and try to get this that going yeah, I want to hear about 8 months later, you know saying that's that's the point that's right being a little proactive on this and we can yeah.

That's why I was asking what kind of timeline. I'm not holding you to anything, just your speculations on something like that.

Yeah, and I think to your point, too, Councilor Lane, I mean, I appreciate the work Amy's done in revising this policy because it does actually present a tangible process and timeline, which was much needed. So I'm grateful to see the work on this and it moving forward.

Well, I've got a motion from Councillor Sims on that note, with a second from Councillor Simmons. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, that passes five to zero and is resolution 2678. Thank you, Amy. All right, next item, 090726, a request for consideration for an update to public record request procedures. Brought to us from Mr. Segrist, our city clerk.

Yes, ma'am. This is to ask the council to consider provisions to the existing public records request procedures. The proposed updates are intended to clarify the request process, ensure compliance with Alabama law, improve efficiency in responding to requests, and establish clear, consistent procedures for staff and the public. The goal is to promote transparency while ensuring the city resources are used effectively.

Thank you. Mr. Segrist, I would entertain a motion and a second to approve.

Motion to approve. Second.

All right, I have a motion from Councillor Armstead with a second from Councillor Simmons. Any discussion on this item? Councillor Lane.

Yes. What we're approving tonight is, what are we approving exactly, okay? Because what I've seen is the, you're talking about dollar figures when people call in or wanna do a FOIA, okay? How it's set up right now that we're proposing, how does that compare with all the other cities around? Are we way out of whack, are we way below? Is this common practice? Because I don't wanna take away residents who request information from the city which by law they have to do and all of a sudden charge them $50 or you know where I'm going with this but there's charges.

Yes and this will not affect Homewood residents whatsoever this will actually be in benefit to Homewood residents.

Who's paying it?

this is tell them what you told me about the data mining so what we have is we have outside companies who inquire information city information they want to go back years they want our vendors they want information and this is a defense mechanism to ward off those requests uh this is not to in any way shape or form hinder or or you know put red tape in front of homewood residents with the with the structure the way it is and in the in the way that um fraud attempts and hacking and things like that i don't feel comfortable giving any of our city information out to anybody other than a homewood resident And so this revision will definitely make things tougher on people that are trying to data mine and get our information to sell it to other vendors. This will not affect Homewood residents whatsoever.

How do we determine that? Who's a resident, who's not?

Well, by the statute, you have to be a Homewood resident. We're not required to fulfill requests if they are an out of state. If an out of state person requests and their address is from the out of state, I'm not obligated to fulfill that request. But if a Alabama resident or a resident, of course, of the city of Homewood, then we are required to try to fulfill that records request if it is possible for us to do so.

Okay. I personally would like to have more discussion on this at a later time and see more, because there's a lot of, I don't know, with our attorneys, is this all, does this sound, I mean, The question I have, is this legal? I mean, are we liable? We have to draw a line somewhere, I understand, but I think there's more to discuss on this topic. There's more to meet the eye here.

It is legal as drafted. Whether to implement it is a policy decision. What Mr. Segrist is referencing are out-of-state companies that will, just as one example, blanket the country with requests for 20 years of purchases of the fire department and bundle that data and sell that data to vendors.

can that be in will that be put into the ordinance or resolution we're doing here can that be put in like that so residents i mean i i'm my point is the residence is what i'm talking about and i don't you know the way the way i read it sounded like if a resident comes and they want to go back four years ago five years ago three years ago and all of a sudden they want 20 30 40 pages of things and all of a sudden we got a charge to them i mean is that going to happen that's the question

What is the charge now? It's a per page charge.

Because I think it's emailed now that we don't even do paperages, do we?

We do have to be careful with the express terms of how we draft it.

it's the discretion of the city clerk where i think the homewood residents get the benefit and that's to me it can be a when we start putting prices for foia for residents at any cost to me and now if we're printing the pages and this is i understand but if you can email it to them it shouldn't be any charge that's my personal opinion well i think that's what mr ziegers is is is aiming for

Yes Yeah, I told you this will not affect Homewood residents whatsoever No charge Mr. Cook he had something you want to ask Yes, if you'll come read it at the microphone, thank you Just came in today

hello i'm submitting a public records request for a machine readable copy of all active open code enforcement violations code cases notices of violations citations unsafe structure cases nuisance abatement cases and related code enforcement records that were opened, issued, inspected, updated, or remained active within the past 30 days. Please include only records that are currently active, open, pending, compliance unresolved, or not yet closed. If your system allows filtering by status, Please include any available fields such as property address, parcel number, property ID, owner name if public, owner mailing address if public, case number, violation type, code section, violation description, date open, date inspection, date notice issued, compliance deadline, case status, fine amount if applicable, lien amount if applicable, hearing date if applicable, officer, inspector's name, If public photos, notices, orders, or related documents, if available electronically, or any other fields included in your code enforcement export or database, please provide the data in CSV, TXT, XLXX, PDF, batch, database, base export, or other bulk electronic format if available. i'm requesting this directly from the county city code enforcement department municipal court or other public agency as a public record not from third party website any portion of this request is maintained by another department please for this request or let me know the correct office to contact there are fees to production copying recording data access please provide an estimate before processing Thank you very much. It gives a name, a company name, LLC, and an Alabama 205 area code with a phone number. No address. So that came in today.

No address?

I think that's kind of what you were talking about.

Mr. Scott, thank you for doing that. I think, in my opinion here, The Homewood residents would want us to address this. That would protect them. And I think as Mr. Seegers mentioned before, no Homewood resident would be charged for any request. This is his job, this is for him to, and it's duty to maintain. But just in my opinion after reading all of that, This is being put in place to protect our citizens. For them to mine data for that, for their business purposes, to sell it, to me, I think it's just, that's ridiculous. That's ridiculous.

But that's not even, I don't think that it's even legal. He didn't put an address or anything. You don't even have to respond to that, do you? Email address. Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean anything. An email address can be anything.

We do have to respond. The response could be that your request is inadequate, but it does require a response.

Okay. Inadequate, you don't know who the company is, you don't have an address, you don't even know where the, I mean, if it's somebody. But that's the purpose.

Bo for a request to be made is there certain contact information you need to formalize the request when it comes in or would just an e-mail. Be sufficient.

But no we need you know we need the resident like the address the name and then you know

So when a request comes in from a resident you have you collect that additional information to to be able to evaluate it and then basically act upon provision 7 which is the city may reduce or waive fees was determined to be in the public interest or when record requested records can be produced with minimal burden like you can make a determination like oh it's the interest because it's a homewood resident asking for this.

Yes.

I also think that we can probably defer a lot of legitimate requests because of the amount of information available online right now, too.

Agreed. And here again, in my experience here, most residential citizens' requests are, there's usually a pretty swift turnaround time if it, depending on the day-to-day actions.

can we codify that there's no charge to homewood residents you can i don't know if we can defend it because the open records act applies equally to all alabama residents how many requests do you get from homewood residents per month it varies but not a ton hundreds no no ten

something no sometimes not even sometimes not even like i said it's it's uh subjective i mean it usually something happens you know something hap you know but it doesn't it doesn't happen frequently most of my um public records request deals with outside entities um but what i don't want to hinder is when there is a, let's say that there's a property here. Most of your property management is outside of the state of Alabama. So we have a property here that they want records on, then even though it's an out of state, I still wanna get those records to them in a timely fashion because I want the turnaround time if it's a new restaurant and they wanna check the property, things like that. We want them to open as swiftly as possible providing that they, handle all their business correctly. So like I said, I'll state it again, this will be a benefit to Homewood residents. This will not affect them at all. And the old way, it was charged page by page and so like I said, this is moving us into today as opposed to.

I mean, there's a lot going on here.

Mr. Jackson, we have a motion and a second, though, at this point. We need to vote. Is that right?

Can I ask a question on that? If we vote and we vote, if it goes down, can it be brought back up?

Okay. And we can always amend this resolution, and that's always something we can take back up and amend it, so that's, you know.

Well, I mean, I just want to make sure, what I read, the 30, the 50, you know, dollars an hour, this kind of thing. I don't want to get a, I'll get a phone call or I'll get an email saying, hey, why am I being charged? I just want to make sure that's not going to happen. And to do that, do we have to have that in writing? That's what I'm asking. And if you say about Alabama, though, it's an Alabama law that anybody can do it. So what are we talking about, just Homewood residents? And we're gonna charge people from Mountain Brook or Vestavia who ask a question? I mean, is that where we're going with this? See, there's too many open scenarios here. I prefer wait two weeks and let's go at it again. I'm voting to vote. No, I know we have to vote. We have to vote. We have a motion and a second. We'll go ahead and vote.

I just have a follow-up question to you both. So you're talking about the prior circumstance with the by page was that also waived previously for Homewood residents or was that charged routinely?

It was charged.

right so this this actually provides more an ability to not only uh collect funds in commercial type you know requests but also when there is a public interest or a homewood resident interest then it allows us the opportunity to provide that you know in service to them yes okay

Yeah, I specifically sought this out to serve the residents better.

And other municipalities are doing the same thing?

I don't know if theirs is exactly like ours, but I based a lot of that resolution based upon information that I gathered from other municipalities.

Okay. I have a motion from Councillor Armstead and a second from Councillor Simmons. Any further discussion before we vote?

No.

Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? No. Okay. I believe that's four to one. Is that right? That motion passes four to one. Okay. And that is going to be resolution 2679.

And I apologize, what was the motion?

Motion was Councilor Armstead with a second from Councilor Simmons. Passed four to one, resolution 2679. All right, next item, 240726, a request for consideration of approval of vouchers for period July 14th through July 27th, 2026, brought to us from Mr. Bischoff, Kelly Lee, and Mr. Segrist. Any, I'm sorry, entertain a motion to approve with a second?

Motion to approve.

I have a motion from Councillor Simmons and a second from Councillor Sims. Any discussion on this item before we vote? All right, seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That passes five to zero and is resolution 2680. All right, last item, guys. Cale texted and said this is our longest meeting yet.

He's not here and it went long.

All right, item 220726, a request for consideration of a budget transfer broadcast from Mr. Squires, our public works director, Mr. Segrist.

yes ma'am this this was a budget transfer to we have two air conditioning units that are failing or have failed and this is also to help repair some plumbing issues that we had in one of the women's restrooms all right I would consider a motion and a second for approval

Motion to approve. Second.

All right, I have a motion from Councilor Armstead with a second from Councilor Sims. All those in favor? Oh, I'm sorry, any discussion? I apologize. Any discussion?

I guess to clarify, we did say that this was at the community center.

Community center, that's right.

To fix air conditioning units at the community center and plumbing at the community center, direct center. Correct.

Do we need to discuss anything about what we discussed in the pre-council as far as how this is being done?

You are welcome to do that.

OK. We discussed in pre-council that the transfer will be coming from the wages from Park and Recreation to the building fund. Yes, sir. Generally, if it's not there, if it wasn't there, we would go into... No ordinance? No ordinance, or no, we would take... Yeah, carryover balance.

Which would require an ordinance.

Which would require an ordinance, OK. This will let everybody know that's what we discussed earlier back there so they'll know what we're what we're doing here.

I appreciate that you can all right so we have a motion council arm said with a second from councilor Sims all those in favor. Any opposed that passes 5, 0, and that is resolution 2681 all right guys we made it. Let's start over word one what's going on word one councilor Simmons, thank you.

Mayor, I just wanted to give a shout-out to Trinity and West Homewood for all of the community service things that they're doing. I'm always amazed at the things that they participate in and just, you know, again, it's not even a gentle reminder. It is a huge reminder that we are here to serve others and not ourselves. I would also like to acknowledge Amy Azuri for all the work that she's putting in, especially with the traffic calming. Again, I know that job is tough, but you make it look easy and you do an excellent job. And so I want to thank you for that. I also want to thank, although he's not here, Cale, for the work that he does. I mean, I know that there have been some things said out that I don't necessarily agree with, and specifically about the approach of defunding the police and fire. That is not the intent. We all know that that's more of an, we're waiting on an organization study to evaluate staffing needs. and I wanna thank him for his work in getting that done. Again, it's not an easy job, but Cale makes it look easy and he does an excellent job along with all the other staff here, Mr. Cook and all the internal workings of our city to serve our citizens, thank you.

That's right, Councillor Simmons. I'm actually headed to Trinity, the hub, tomorrow. Got to drop off over there tomorrow, as a matter of fact. So, all right. What's going on in Ward 2, Councillor Sims?

Thanks mayor and just um, I would just add to piggyback on a little bit what counselor was just saying I believe actually you Minus the organizational study to I think in my first term two out of the five years of that term We had a temporary hiring freeze while going through the budgeting process to try to make a determination over the appropriateness of position title you know continuing as is or if it was an opportunity to you know change what title that position was and how that impacts grade and pay scales and so forth so it's just you know part of an evaluation going into the budget now with the city manager we have a great opportunity to right-size you know some of our staffing and looking at the positions levels and also how that fits in the picture overall for budget. But other thing I want to mention is Mister Cook as you leave thank you for your service just wanted to say Dale Avenue in Manhattan was an ongoing. Project of the of a prior nuisance there was a tree that was cut down also they worked. Public works came out and cleared the right away. on the corner of that intersection, both sides of this are in particular on the Manhattan side of the street. The neighbors are following that issue very closely. And thanks to Scott and Public Works for taking care of that in part, you know, in partnership. And the neighbors are very grateful. So thank you, Scott. Also, just another conversation city engineer, city manager, some of the Homewood City Schools staff met near Edgewood Elementary a couple weeks ago to discuss, you know, congestion around carpool and start resuming and start a school year. We know that that's always an issue around all our all our school sites. So just trying to get ready as you know, we ensure hopefully promote and hopefully ensure safety around our schools from a transportation standpoint. Obviously, there's a lot of cars, but also students walking grateful for the community we have that students can walk to school. But we just want to make sure we're ensuring safety and doing that in partnership with the city, the district and our police department in particular. So thankful for that conversation. And we just ask going into the school year that everyone remembers and reads the guidance that the school puts out for carpool, that you follow that guidance, that you obey traffic laws. because they will be enforced. So if something says it's a one way, then treat it as a one way. If something's a two way, don't treat it as a one way. Watch out, you know, when you park, don't park on a yellow curb. because that impacts sight line for students who may be crossing. So please ask all residents to remember those things as we head into the start of the school year soon. But again, grateful for the district's partnership in helping communicate those messages. And the city will do our best to work with residents because it not only impacts those people during carpool but also the adjacent landowner owners to the school as well when they try and get in and out of their driveways so it's a long story about traffic but i'm grateful for everything that's going on their city staff are doing to you know really promote safety so thanks

I was just sort of reliving that carpool situations, especially at the middle school. All right, Ward 3, Councilor Lane.

Boy, he stole, both of them stole my thunder. I want you to see right here, I only got one thing written here. You know what that says? Bill and Manhattan.

Yes.

And I talked to Scott, because I watch it all the time. I've been watching. I said, okay, when is this going to be done? When is this going to be done? And, you know, after the Bateman Board, they made the great moves, and kudos to, it looks fabulous. I mean, it looks good. I'll say that. It looks great. I want to, and both to Scott again and the police department, it just so happened on one of the streets here recently in the past couple weeks where we had a, builder or a truck that was sat out there way too long at Mayfair and Whitehall, and they parked his vehicle at the stop sign. I mean, and it stayed there forever. I mean, really, until some residents, rightfully so, reached out to me, and then on a Sunday, I called the police department, I called Chief, and one hour that truck was gone, that quick. So the communications we have between our residents, And it's really vital to follow up with them to make things happen. And so, I mean, really, I think they're doing a great job, the whole city itself. Now, I do want to apologize to the gentleman who was here earlier tonight. I felt like, you know, I think about, you know, you try to think of what's good for Homewood and what they have to go through in life. And some people aren't as fortunate as we are. I mean, maybe myself, I'll say this. And the pressure's on these people to have to do things to clean up And it's an expense that he might not physically be able to do. And I hate it that we have to go to the public nuisance situation where it costs him, like I asked, how much it costs. And there's 50% on top of that. That's big money to people. And I mean, as I... Hmm. TIME OUT. I GET A LITTLE SENSITIVE ON STUFF LIKE THIS. ANYWAY, I JUST WANT TO TELL THEM I'M SORRY.

THANK YOU, CHRIS. I APPRECIATE THAT. ALL RIGHT, COUNCILOR ARNSTAD.

uh first um i'm gonna say the portal uh it it's been an excellent resource just to i mean so i enter a lot of stuff in the portal for people but the idea that we could get a really good sense of where we need to be uh focusing our attention uh at least or more concerted effort is uh is evident when you're putting things in the portal or when you're And now with some new features, I don't know if you guys have seen, but like you can follow and it'll literally ping you when things are happening within the portal, which is great just to kind of get another idea of what's going on in the ward, within the ward and what's happening. And, you know, we've had trash containers have been a thing. So people who have a need, please consult the portal. It's a great resource. two is you know i'll echo what counselor simmons and counselor um counselor nick counselor sims uh said earlier i do also appreciate kale's efforts uh that he's made in these areas um we all agree we're important it's just stewardship and responsibility a balanced budget and making an effort to to make sure that we are doing the absolute best we can for homeless residents and i think Him taking the leadership to do that should be applauded, so I really appreciate his efforts in doing that. And that, for me, is, I guess, everything for this week and this meeting. So thank you.

last week i spoke at the kiwanis club for birmingham along with graham smith from mountain brook and james stewart from irondale and stewart welsh was the moderator and he asked the question uh you know he asked different questions and one of them was what you know what's the highlight of uh so far serving as mayor and i said without a doubt cale smith is our city manager i said he is so and he and cale was there and he had no idea I was gonna do that, and he was embarrassed, of course, but I just said, he is so responsible, he is so thorough, he is so, he takes this just deadly seriously, of course, which he's so pragmatic and judicious, and he's done such an excellent job, and there was no question that you know he's just going to serve the city in the best capacity so we appreciate him very much um okay we have a few dates i think school starts before we get back here is that right it was the 12th okay okay august 12th oh i know okay oh you do know okay well you can take the girls to the back to school bonanza at the homewood public library again our homewood public library is the busiest library in the state of alabama So we have a couple programs, Tuesday, July 28th from 10.30 to 12, the Back to School Bonanza, celebrating all the summer readers and their summer reading program. And then a petting zoo on Tuesday, August 4th from 10.30 to 12.30 with farm and exotic animals. I will also put a plug in for the Birmingham Zoo. They have a big machinery petting zoo on this Saturday, August 1st. and HPD will be there and HFD will be there. And I put that up on my social media a couple of weeks ago and that is the single most, ever since the high school reopened, I had a big, that went super viral. That post went super, super viral. 38,000 people saw that. You can see in the corner it says how many people see it. 38,000 people were so excited about going to the zoo this Saturday to see the big trucks and have the big petting zoo. so i want to put a shout out to the folks at the birmingham zoo for that and then our next council meeting will be back here on august the 10th uh at six o'clock and so without objection we will adjourn sorry guys have a long night i want to plug this we i wanted to plug this i forgot we'll plug it next next time we'll get brian to get that up there brian and free bride