City Council - Regular Meeting

this work session to order. Um, Monday night, we'll review payment of bills, go over the minutes. We'll start with resolution 875326 approving alcohol license for Rebar Group doing business as Oak and L. Uh, Miss Dickerson, any issues with this? Okay, this uh license is um for a one zero uh a 010 lounge retail liquor. This is a new application for the entity. There was no issues from the police department and I believe Michael will need to speak. No issues. No issues on this case.

Very well. Any comments or questions on this item? Seeing none, we'll move on to resolution number 875426 approving account information for Regions Bank and Wells Fargo Bank. Miss Dickerson, this is updating the um the authorizations on the bank accounts uh and updating it with the chief financial officer and then also placing uh titles in there in lie of names and that way if anytime there's an update we can change that bank account information.

Very good. Any comments or questions regarding that item? Seeing none, resolution number 875526 authorizing the mayor to execute a professional services contract with hospitality business solutions to promote and coordinate programs and the development of tourism. Mr. Munger,

good evening. Uh much in the same vein as the contract that was presented for tourism and promotional materials at the last meeting, this item was also included in the operational budget with funding to come from the $2 hospitality room tax that is levied and that the city originally pledged to go towards developing further tourism activities in the community. This professional services contract uh is uh starting in fe February running through the end of the year rate of $5,000 per month non-renewing uh unless consented to by the council. So this obligation is only for this fiscal year and there are sufficient funds in the operating budget to cover this expense.

Very good. Any comments or questions regarding this? Mr. President Brian, this this would go through the end of September and not through the end of December, correct? Yes, sir. fiscal year. Thank you, Brian. Can you tell me how this differs from the NAROM contract?

Yes, sir. So, the NAROM contract is largely uh video, audio, and photography based, like sort of like the videos that we've used in some of our development efforts recently and on our social media. They're helping on that side of things. This professional services contract is to support Miss Lynch's efforts to interface mostly with Aldrich Gardens uh and the Hoover Randall House and to help develop uh relationships there as far as pursuing grants, operational planning and promotion of those two uh facilities specifically. Very good. Any other comments, questions? Thank you.

Thank you. Resolution number 875626 adopting the Hoover Fire Department standards of cover and the 2025 through 2030 community-driven strategic plan. Chief Bentley presented on this um last Monday night.

Okay. Were there any questions for the fire department on on this item? He covered it pretty well. Very good. Resolution number 875726 authorizing the mayor execute a third amendment to lease agreement with RMC Investments uh for certain premises located at Hoover Commons. Mr. Mer, you sat down too quickly. It was very comfortable seat. So this agreement uh pertains to the police operations building on Laura Road. Uh that agreement runs only through the end of February. And we've been engaged both Chief Morris and I uh as well as Mr. Grimes uh with meeting with those owners about some redevelopment plans that they have for that center overall. And that allowed us to speak with them about the terms of our lease and basically entertain uh some different options in the future. And as we continue to negotiate a longer term lease, the original term of this was uh 10 years in duration with it was a five and a five. uh and the owner has agreed to a six-month extension at the same rate as what we're paying now, which is 45,852 uh annually. So, that would uh extend uh from March onward for 6 months. And that would allow us to basically complete that negotiation, including some of the security enhancements that the police department would like to see to help secure their parking area at that facility and allow us some time to basically evaluate our future with that property as well.

Very good. Any comments, questions? Mr. President, um Mr. Munger, do I understand that the owners of the ops building is also the owner for the Hoover Commons? Yes, sir. That's correct. Okay. I thought that that the ops building had a different owner than the commons itself.

So I have not checked title on the property, only the GIS as it pertains to property tax records, but uh when we met with them, they did indicate that they were owners of both. It may be held in a separate LLC, but the same owner uh is the principal of both. So it may be a separate corporation owns the ops property. I don't recall that it was, but I can certainly research that to you and get it to you before the meeting on Monday. Thank you, sir. Yes, sir.

With this only being a six month compared to fiveyear with options previously. So are is owners saying that there's possibility that we will not renew past this six months or is that still up for debate? And do we have a plan?

The owner, the owner very much wants to retain uh the police department specifically as a tenant. Uh they view the police department's presence there as a huge enhancement to their retail operation. Uh the response time is probably phenomenal to any events that they have there. Uh they were extremely positive about that open uh in the past. I believe it the department had been turned down uh when asking to be close their parking area and some things like that. Uh the owner is now completely receptive to that. Uh they have asked or they've given us preliminary terms for a full-term renewal. Um those require some negotiation and we asked for some more time to consider that. Uh but I believe both the owner and the department are both both very favorable towards retaining uh this asset under terms to be uh fleshed out over the next six months.

Understood. Thank you. Any further comments or questions? Do they have any uh any thoughts about maybe selling the city the property in the foreseeable future?

That was something that was uh discussed. I think they would entertain it. Um they were they were very open to a variety of things. Uh and really they're that is a very um limited use building. I believe it was a theater originally before it was converted. The city has invested substantially in it. It is very much a police facility now. And so I think the owner recognizes uh the value in it and I think they are open to discussing that. But uh at present lease only is what's been discussed. Thank you sir. Yes sir.

Hopefully you come back in six months and we've got more favorable terms. The current terms are very favorable. Uh resolution 875826 authorizing modification of use for a deck of grant funds and to extend fund availability. Mr. President, if it's suitable to you, the next three items all pertain to very similar

Sure. Let me reading agreements. Uh the first uh one that is mentioned um is the only one that differentiates and that is because uh this grant was originally awarded in 2023 to the city as part of the city's pursuit of a large covered pickle ball facility. Um, and there were several uh legislative measures of support that is are now converted to grant funding as well as a agreement with the county commission uh that brought another $350,000 towards this effort. U none of that came within it was probably 15% of the funding necessary to actually build the facility at current pricing levels and ADCA has been rolling these grants forward over the years. Um we do have the flexibility as confirmed with ADCA uh to reobligate the funds towards qualifying recreational improvements and they've given us a deadline of the end of this fiscal year to expend those funds which limits greatly what scope we have to put towards it. So, what we have proposed here is to uh put this $500,000 award, the second $500,000 award, and the final $100,000 award, and to allocate those funds towards paying for the reelectrification of Hoover East. Uh that is an ongoing project properly bid under the competitive bid law. It's satisfactory to ADCA and that allows us to fully utilize and capture those funds for a very necessary purpose. And then also the council would have the ability to uh maybe have more latitude in considering other improvements as a consequence.

That is also resolution number 875926 and 876026. Any comments or questions regarding the ADCA funds? Mr. When would those funds become available? So these funds are available on a reimburseable basis. So once these grant agreements are approved by council, uh they'll be executed by the mayor. will return those to ADCA next week and because we have been paying uh steadily we would basically take our pay request and begin sending them draw down requests and uh this is a very expensive project as you all know so my hope is that we would be able to draw down these funds probably over the course of the next two to three months. Thank you. Yes sir.

Okay we'll move on to res Thank you Mr. Munger. Yes sir. Resolution number 8761-26 approving plans and authorizing cooperation with the Alabama Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration uh for traffic signal and its upgrades on I65 and related roadways in within the city of Hoover. Mr. Promer.

Uh yes sir. So this is with ALDOT. So ALDOT's going to complete all the work. It's on Valley Dale Road the two exits associated with 65 both the on-ramp and offramps there. Item to note, we are already controlling these at this time along with the cameras. So, it's just simply upgrade to the signals, associated cameras and mounts. So, all work will be performed by ALDOT. And they outlined a very specific detail of how it's work's going to be done and everything's performed by them. So, there's nothing that the city's going to do for this. So, good. Easy. Any comments or questions regarding this item?

All right. Got off easy. Mr. Miller is going to handle resolution number 876226 authorizing the conveyance of temporary construction easements and a permanent utility easement for the state of Alabama. Uh Mr. Miller. Yes, sir. Good evening. Um do you have the a copy of the track sketch in front of you? Just FYI. Was that part of the packet when you That should be part of our packet. Yes. Okay. All right. If you could bring that out, if you could look at that. It's uh talking from a drawing is a little bit more simple than than uh Mr. Dickerson, are you able to bring that up on the big screen?

This is 12 on the draft agenda.

There you go. Perfect. Perfect. So, what you have in front of you is a dedication of a permanent utility easement and then two temporary construction easements. Uh this is just to get your bearings because it's not shown on the map. The very top where it says acquire acquired rightway that is interstate 459. Um the acquired rideway that's in the arc that's kind of towards the bottom of the page. That would be the proposed location of the uh Rossbridge extension uh as it connects to what you're seeing the acquired routeway that's running on the bottom kind of running northeast u that would be South Shades Crest Road. So just for your reference in there. So Hoover owns that tract of land. Um so we are asking for dedication of a 20 foot easement permanent easement for utilities mainly for the water service uh to be connected and come under bore under the interstate to re get reconnected back to uh to South Shades Crest area.

Okay. Any comments or questions regarding this? Thank you. Thank you. What? Th this is just the per the the easement, correct? There's no funding for this in this resolution. No, sir. There will be no funding for this. This will be a donation from the city to back towards the project um for that that location. Um looking forward, it would be Hoover uh if we developed that site at all. They would have direct water access to where they could tap in um and not have to worry about boring under South Shades Crest Road or another location. So who again would be responsible for funding the uh the movement of utilities?

The utilities would be part of the exit 9 project. Thank you. Right. Good. Mr. Smith. Yes sir. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Uh resolution number 876326 authorizing participation in the Alabama State and Local Cyber Security Grant Program and authorizing the mayor to execute a rules of engagement agreement with the state of Alabama office of information technology and Auburn University's McCra Institute. Miss Lopez, Dr. Lopez, excuse me.

Good evening. Uh basically the city of Hoover we applied for and we've been accepted into the Alabama state and local cyber security grant program. Uh this is a grant that's going to be uh one-time services in lie of getting direct monies. Uh and so they're going to help improve the civ city's cyber security readiness and these agenda items and these documents are going basically used to further that process. We do have Jonathan Scherk here tonight with McCreary Institute if you had any specific questions uh that he can answer those as well. Any questions or comments?

We supposed to ask any questions about cyber security? Might might be best to limit our questions. All right. Thank you. Uh you've got the next item, the resolution number 876526, adopting an updated investment policy for the city of Hoover.

Uh yes. So uh in preparing to uh call our first investment committee of the calendar year uh in reviewing this policy we realized there were just a few small changes that we wanted to make with the understanding that after reviewing it I realized this is kind of written that in the from the standpoint the city treasuring these things but we actually kind of outsource that now Raymond James is our current investment adviser so we're going to do a more complete revamping uh probably April May June of this But this the main thing that this particular update changes is the structure of the investment committee that instead of naming specific positions on the city council that are on there, it gives a little bit more flexibility and the council president can choose three members from the council that are on there and then it would maintain the mayor and the city administrator as the other two members of that committee. Uh and then the other changes are slight changes uh just updating terminology that needed to be in place. So

very good. Um just for a little background. So in the past the council president was an automatic member of this committee. And look I recognize my strengths and weak weaknesses. Uh as a school teacher I may not be the best candidate for this committee when others up here have much more valuable experience than I do. So, I ask for this change in this committee structure. Any comments or questions to Miss Dr. Lopez? Very good. Thank you. Uh, next is resolution 876626 authorizing the mayor of the city of Hoover to execute a license agreement with Richard Shirley. Mr. Martin, good evening. Uh the resolution before you uh would uh enact a an agreement with Mr. Shirley who is a property owner adjacent to the end the dead end of Lebell Lane. Uh you go past, if you're familiar with that street, you go past the garden home development uh heading out Leel Lane. It is on your left and as soon as you pass the last turnout for the garden home development, uh the public right ofway comes to an end shortly thereafter and transitions over into private property um uh dead ends into Mr. Shirley's property. Um Mr. Shirley has requested this agreement in order to make certain improvements within the dead end of the public right ofway but before exiting the public right of way there. Uh the purpose as stated by Mr. Shirley is that with the dead end in place it has attracted a number of folks uh to the end of the

street dumping their refues garbage and otherwise making for a nuisance situation that Mr. Shirley would like to avoid and certainly we would like to avoid um dumping there as well. Uh Mr. Shirley's long-term plans are to construct his forever home on the property just beyond. And so he has asked that we enter into this arrangement whereby he can construct a gate and a couple of columns uh to secure the end of the public rideway. Uh in reviewing this particular matter, uh it does not appear that there would be others injured by Mr. Shirley slightly encroaching in the dead end of that ride ofway. And um again, you have the benefits of closing off the the private drive just beyond and the tail end of the rideway to dumping illicitly that has been taking place. I will note that if at any point in time the city determines that this needs to be terminated that we can uh let Mr. Shirley or his successors and assigns know that we are terminating the agreement for whatever reason deemed worthy by the council and whatever improvements are placed in the public rightway uh Mr. Shirley or his successors in the signs will need to remove those and return the rightway to its uh previous state.

Very good. Um myself and councelor Murphy wrote out and met with Mr. Shirley on his property and viewed it and uh Mr. Shirley is here as well tonight. I understand he can't be here Monday night. Uh so is there any questions or comments to Mr. Martin or to Mr. Shirley regarding this item? Mr. Martin. Um, did this go before planning and zoning or was there no need for that? No, sir. We did not determine there was a need to go before them. This is strictly as uh as caretakers of the public rightway, a council issue.

And this would allow him to also create a gated even though it's one dwelling, he would have a gated community of his own of sorts. uh the the gate would cut off the drive to his private residence. How would trash service be affected? Uh he would have to move and locate any kind of garbage service for pickup outside of the gate. Thank you, sir.

Just for clarity too, um this is a dead end site is a very large piece of u estate property. Uh so one way in one way out on the end of the cod basically uh and the way the trash is set most individuals is set it on the main strip. So they'll be parking outside. Uh if it wasn't for the ability for him to kind of uh have a gate, that's the only reason why we're here is like a very tight spot. Uh it doesn't prevent uh any other properties from getting access. uh the city doesn't have a uh need or any assets behind the property that requires access to through property. Uh so no need for the city at all. Uh although utilities uh sit right there on the property lines. Uh so it's uh very straightforward and I think as uh the mayor stated earlier when he was campaigning you know our ability to try to uh look at everyone and make a educated decision to improve you know quality of life for folks versus just making it difficult for them to be able to do the things they need to do. So um it's a straightforward process on that end.

Agreed. Mr. shorts. Garbage will be on the outside, but if public safety needs to get in on the inside, police or fire, how does that happen? Uh, construction of the gate is going to have to they're going to have to acquire a permit from the building department and coordinate with fire marshall as far as access for emergency services. So, that's built into the uh in Okay, thank you. Any further comments, Martin? What is the current zoning for the property? Uh, agricultural. Will he need to try to go and and get that to be in a state zoning or everything's good as agricultural?

Everything's fine as far as the the zoning is concerned. The our agricultural district u does allow for single family residences on larger tracks and this one is approximately 13 acres. My last check. Would he be allowed to build more than one dwelling on that property? Uh his he's going to be restricted by the amount of roadway frontage. U so right now there's only enough frontage on a public ride ofway for that one dwelling. Thank you, sir. All right, M. Shirley, did you have anything to add?

You don't have to. Just ask. appreciate you taking time out. The biggest thing is my wife is pretty appreciate your time. And surely you can uh take that cooking oil to the public safety center. I believe behind or the maybe one of the fire departments. I believe they will dispose of that for you. Uh moving on. Did you have some? Uh resolution number 876426 finalizing the budget for fiscal year 2026. Dr. Lopez.

All right. So, I think we're going to go into a little more detail on Monday night about this, but this is uh this item on the agenda mostly is covering our capital requests. As you remember, we put uh this part of the budget off uh to look at those capital project requests a little bit more closely. Uh and so when you look at your exhibit A, line one is basically those items that are in that proposed capital request. And then there's uh several pages of more detail behind that. Uh line two though, in addition to that, we had several other items we've gone ahead and added on here as well that will be part of the final original budget for fiscal 26. Line two being an additional $450,000 for the Hoover Board of Education. Uh this will allow the the total front door fees to be 1.1 million which is the estimate on the revenue side and then the grand total of contribution estimated for the school board in fiscal 26 to be about $6.1 million. Uh then lines four through six are items related to the police department using uh various special revenue funds. Uh, I can go into those now. I can go into detail on Monday.

I I think you're going to go much more detail on Monday night, so it's a little bit more transparent to our to our public and so forth. Sure. U, just the just the highlights, I think. Yeah. And then, uh, there's a small settlement for an ALDOT project. On line seven, line eight are the grants that were just previously discussed, the revenue portion for the ADCA, and then an upgrade for uh, one upgrade on line nine. and then the balancing of that. So, are there any questions for Dr. Lopez tonight concerning this item? What do you anticipate the ending fund balance to be at the end of the year at this point? Is it the $79 million figure in the general fund or the capital projects fund?

Uh both. Or both. I knew that would be the answer. Uh this budget is uh the ending general fund balance would be 74 and a.5 million. And for the capital projects fund, we're only going to have probably around one and a half, maybe two million unallocated. We're getting everything else will be allocated. Thank you. Mhm. Maybe we can find a way to allocate 100,000 or so. Okay.

All right. Resolution number 873826 granting conditional use approval for a three- tenant shopping center for the property located at 1543 Montgomery Highway. Mr. Martin.

Uh yes. Uh the conditional use for this location comes to you with a positive recommendation from the planning commission uh from January and u I believe we had two conditions recommended by the planning commission. Uh both of those have been satisfied. uh the cross shared parking and access agreement uh being recorded as well as the variances obtained related to parking landscaping and setbacks from the BZA. So both of those conditions have been uh satisfied and it comes with a positive recommendation to this body. Very good. Any comments or questions for Mr. Mark? Mr. President M. Where does this property sit?

It is located there was a former pawn shop on the site. Quick pawn. Yes, sir. That's it. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? All right. Got the next one as well. Resolution 876726. A resolution for a public nuisance report of cost for the address located at 3766 Abby Glenn Way.

Yes sir. Uh this was a case that the council declared a nuisance uh and had us pursue remedy uh with the circuit court. uh circuit court found in our favor and allow enabled us to go clean the property of the nuisance. We had a hoarding situation in the rear of the yard that was really out of control and uh so we did have a contractor go and um remedy that situation and I believe this is a reporting of those costs and we're seeking uh lean on the property to recover them. Very good. Uh any comments or questions regarding this,

Mr. President? Um, and I don't know if this is a question

for the city attorney or for Mack, but in all the years previously where the city has gone and cleaned up properties, uh, has the city ever placed leans on any of those properties, especially those that were, I guess some would call frequent flyers. Uh, I know we have placed leans on property pertaining to the weed and grass uh getting overgrown and us going and abating that. Um, you would have to do a deeper dive, longer history uh to find another case. Um, since since I've been handling code enforcement items, this was the first uh hoarding situation that we've gone and cleaned up.

Mr. Mr. President, I don't know if maybe if we want to look into in the future or maybe even reaching back and trying to uh place leans on properties where the city has gone and spent uh substantial funds to clean up properties to uh try to get those the next time that property is sold. Mhm. Yeah. I believe leans are placed on on all properties where we go on and then cut the grass and so forth until they uh take care of those leans. They're unable to transfer any titles or whatever.

They're the they're paid at the next time for the taxes with the taxes. So, I go I give the items to the taxes tax collector and the tax assessor and they place it on that. So the next time that it rolls around for them to pay taxes, there's uh one cut off a year. So everything from last year will pretty much be on the next year's taxes. In previous years have were handled the same way. That's correct.

Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, sir. Mr. President, and uh Charlie will let me know if I'm how far I can go with this. Um I know some Yeah, I'll be careful. I know some individuals uh are having trouble being able to sell their homes. Um I've been to and of course President Milbrook has been in locations as well too that the smell is so horrendous uh that you can smell it four or five blocks away. Um some of these situations are not just grass or trees. Some of them are hoarding to the point where I think some of them we've been out there before. I I know we have a judicial system we have to, you know, follow course. In those circumstance, how do you how do we deal with that reoccurring situations, especially when residents are having so many challenges with being able to sell their home?

Well, that would be a nuisance and noxious fumes are covered by the statute. So whatever steps that Max department feels like we need to do, that's why they have code enforcement and as Wendy's pointed out, we can go in there and and abate whatever that nuisance is and whatever our cost are, she puts the lean on the property and we collect it. So if there's any uh any of the properties that if it's just a problem with odor, you know, we can go in there and do something about that, Mac. So that's just be something that once it's cleaned up, you have to continue to just follow the same protocol. But outside of that, there's nothing really other than going through because I think this some of these things take four, five, six months.

Well, we see quite a bit of this in municipal court and what we we try to work with the residents and if they'll clean it up and they're within the the code, then we dismiss it. If there is, somebody used the term frequent flyer a while ago. If they come back in, then the next time they have to pay a fine and you have a graduated fine schedule um and we tell them the next time that every day that it allows to go unabated is a separate and distinct charge. And that so far that's us I start to say usually that's really gotten their attention.

Okay. because when you add up the fines are rather nominal. I think we have a $100 cap on going from memory mac, but the court costs are there and when you do that on a daily basis, you run up a bill quickly. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Uh Mr. Martin, since we've abated this property, have we been back out to view it? And where where does it currently stand?

We have. Um there is a return of some items that you would not customarily find uh in a rear yard accumulating once again. Um late in the last uh quadrinium, we actually asked our our legal team at that time to see if we could go back to the circuit court and have them consider their ruling a standing order that we may jumpst start the process so to speak um and pick up right where we left off with the last abatement. Uh circuit court decided that they did not consider that ruling a standing order. So, uh, if we do pursue remedy through circuit court for this particular property again, we'll have to start over.

Do we anticipate that process? I do. Okay. Very good. Any further comments or questions? All right. Finally, we will set a public hearing for March the 9th, 2026 for resolution number 875226 granting conditional use approval to allow a drive-through facility for Dutch Brothers Coffee for the property located at 1855 Montgomery Highway. Have anything to

Just that uh this does come with a positive recommendation from the planning commission. Uh there are several conditions that the planning commission recommends. Uh one that if there's any queuing that backs on to highway 31, the operator will be required to amend the ingress and egress to the satisfaction of the city engineer. Just a quick note, they did have a traffic engineer examine the plan and produce a synopsis. Um the the operator will have uh believe um was it 60 60 spaces um stacking spaces in the drive-thru considerable number and amount of space for patrons to go on site into the drive-thru lane. Uh so the traffic engineer was of the opinion that this would not have any adverse impacts uh on Highway 31, but out of an abundance of caution, we recommended to the planning commission to at least give us a uh a condition there that if we do run into a situation where there are any conflicts on 31 or the main access drive into the shopping center that we'll have some recourse to go to the operator. So that's why you'll see that condition in the recommendation. Um secondly, if there's any new lighting uh or any new lighting that added to the site would match the existing shopping center as closely as possible. Uh third, the sign or sign package would need to be applied for separately and meet the requirements of the Riverchase plan unit development. Uh next, that the site and building to be planned and constructed in substantial conformity to the plan submitted as part of the conditional use application. Uh next that the property would be subdivided prior to permitting. Uh they are looking to do a an out parcel in the existing parking field that is on the site uh under utilized sector of the

parking field. Um next that the landscaping on the master site would be restored uh at the time of the subdivision plat being considered and then finally that the operator would obtain a business license prior to operation. Miss Schulz, the traffic engineer that looked at it, was that ours or was that theirs? Skipper. Skipper. So, was theirs. It was hired by them. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay. Um, and did you say 67 uh cars? Is that what you said? Uh 60 is the is the number that it's in my mind on the stacking space. And the landscaping, is that just for their facility or for the entire shopping center? The entire shopping center.

Okay. So that will need to be done first. That's correct. At or at some point? Yes. Okay. Right. Thank you.

Any further comments or questions? Mr. President, um I w I got to be last. Um Mac, I watched the planning and zoning meeting. Um, and I know that a another business represented uh the possibility of there being some type of conditional uh requirement within the PUD or within the Riverchase Arc or something like that that no drive-throughs should be allowed. Has that been researched and and put to rest? We actually have uh multiple drive-thrus that are in existence in Riverchase. Um you have the Taco Bell um about a block up uh north of the data center along with uh I think what is about to be Guthy's

a different shopping center. I didn't know if maybe if there was anything specific or special about that particular property. Nothing I'm aware of in Riverchase. Okay, very good. Thank you. All right, we are at the end of the agenda. Any comments or announcements by council? I believe we will have a send off Monday night for Miss Hoover Teen and Miss Hoover. Come on out to support them. And with that, we are adjourned.