City Council - Regular Meeting

We will call this June 8th City Council meeting to order. Mr. Secretary, if you'll call the roll, please.

Council President Middlebrooks.

Here.

Council Pro Tem Driver. Council Member Schultz.

Here.

Council Member Smith.

Present.

Council Member Lovell. Present. Council Member Murphy.

Present.

Council Member McClinton.

Here. With the quorum being set, If you'll all rise for the invocation led by Ms. Dickerson and the Pledge of Allegiance led by Councilor Schultz.

Attention, salute, pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay, we've all received a copy of the agenda. Do I have a motion for approval? So moved.

So moved.

Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed, the ayes have it. We'll start off with a presentation from Representative Mike Shaw. Always happy to have you here, especially when you bring

Yeah, money, yeah. Well, thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mayor and the rest of the council. It's an honor to be here. We've talked about this in the past, the nature park, the Lockridge Nature Park, something that we originally started talking about back when I was on council. And then as I moved in my new role at the state, I had some funding available. So we've been partnering together for many years. We hit a snag, but now we're back in full tilt. I think y'all have some out-and-out money on coming with being, hopefully our grandkids will be able to to walk those trails without helping out. But so anyway, do have some, I've bought some money, 25 grand, $25,000 check for the nature park. I was actually out there over the weekend, took our little nephew and ran around the trails. And it's amazing how, you know, we talk about, Kids need less screen time. Kids need less time with the computer and the gaming system, which I'm a tech guy. I agree with it. But we've got to give them something to do. And watching our little nephew run around immediately doing little kid things, throwing rocks, chasing stuff, running around the trails and everything, I know people enjoy it already. But with the improvements y'all are working on, I think we're going to have many more people enjoy it. It's a great thing for our community. I appreciate you working with me to support it. So I'll hand this off to somebody in front of a camera, preferably. Come on down. Come on down.

Thank you, Mike.

Thanks, Mike.

Thanks, Mike.

Next up, we will have a couple of reports, updates from Chief Bentley. One on Fire Station 1 update and second one on fire accreditation.

Thank you, Mr. President, Council, and Mayor. I do have two quick updates. One on Fire Station 1 first. Wednesday at 4 o'clock, we plan to move in and start making calls out of Fire Station 1. And so that's exciting for us. It's gonna take us a few weeks to get everything the way we need it to be. Our folks have been working on it for about the past 10 days. And so with the help of IT and communications and everybody, we plan to move everything over from the old station to the new station on Wednesday. We've got some dates picked out in July for a grand open ribbon cutting, and we'll make that announcement after we consult with you guys to make sure that you're available. So all that's exciting, and so I'm here if you have any questions about that.

You said Wednesday, right, Chief? Wednesday. You need help moving?

We do not. But you can be there if you would like.

No, I was going to say I got a doctor appointment that day.

You can supervise. How about that? I think they've been working really hard, and everybody's excited. It's a super nice facility, and we're really grateful to the council and the mayor's office and all the support that we've had. We know we've had some difficulties with that, and it's behind, but we've arrived, and so we're grateful for this opportunity. Thank you.

Any comments, questions? Senator Fire Station Warren.

Also on last week, Sunday through Thursday, we had our peer accreditation evaluation. It was a four day event. We had four peer assessors that came in from the Center for Public Safety Excellence to evaluate our department. We had a person, Steve Lambert from Dallas, North Carolina. We had Ed Beardsley from Delray Beach, Florida. We had Ross Rankin from Fort Collins, Colorado. And then Bobby Grant from Owensboro, Kentucky. That was our peer team. They found our department to be credible and they recommended us to the commission in August in Chicago, so we'll present at that point. And then we'll have completed our second round for accreditation. Just a reminder, There's about 465 fire departments in the United States that are ISO class one. We're one of those departments and there's only 117 departments in the United States that hold both accredited status and ISO class one out of about 35,000 agencies across the nation. So we appreciate the support of the council and the mayor's office for that. I'm extremely proud of our members. We don't tell you this information to boast. We just tell you this information to kind of show you the level of commitment that our members have and we know the commitment that you have for us and we're grateful for that.

Chief, I think you are being humble. I had the opportunity to meet with the assessor and we know in Hoover that we have one of the best public safety programs in all the country. And to have outside eyes come in and reaffirm that just makes you feel good because they didn't say we were just a credible department. You're one of the top departments that they have seen. They've said great things about Chief Bentley and his leadership. So kudos to your leadership and your whole team because, look, it's every man on the force that – that makes that happen, and we're very proud of that.

Thank you very much. Mr. President, Chief, something quick for you. Can you just quickly let everyone know, ISO 1, how that impacts insurance in cities as well, too? Not everyone in the state of Alabama, not a lot in the state of Alabama are ISO 1 as well, too.

That's correct. So Insurance Service Office started as a nonprofit organization in the 70s to evaluate the cost of fire insurance. Over the years, it's evolved into a different agency and it was purchased in 2009 by Bear Risk, which is a analytics company. And so ISO evaluates departments based on their ability to handle the first alarm structural fires. And that's all it looks at. Now it looks at training, apparatus, station distribution, personnel, all of those things. And so structural fires are about 5% of what we do across the nation compared to the number of calls that we make. And so ISO is very important to us in getting our insurance ratings. ISO one is the best rating that you can have, one out of 10, 10 being the worst. And so it's very important to us. The accreditation process is equally as important because it looks at everything that we do, not only structural fires, but it looks at everything that we do and kind of gives us a model for continuous improvement. And so those two go very well together.

Thank you, Chief. That's all I have for reports. Mr. Mayor, do you have anything else to add at this moment?

Council just wanted to bring you up to date a little bit as we kick off our America 250 festivities. We're gonna be doing a flag raising ceremony outside of City Hall on the 22nd, which will be two weeks from tonight at 5.30. We'll mark the beginning of a series of different activities that we'll have up to the 4th of July. We're finalizing everything on the... Obviously, we're billing ourselves the 4th and the 1st, so our festivities at the Metropolitan Stadium will take place on July 1st, on that Wednesday. Gates will open at 6 o'clock. Entertainment beginning about 6.30. Extended fireworks show at 9 o'clock. Kids Zone, Free Apple Pie. The Superstars, Bucket Ruckus, Moore. $1 hot dogs, $2 beer for the night, and expecting a big, big crowd. Plus, we've partnered with Coca-Cola, and we'll be announcing shortly. We've also partnered with the Guinness Book of World Records. We'll be going, the city of Hoover, for the first time, be going for a world record that night, and we'll be talking about that again. But I wanted you all to be sure that coming a little bit early, two weeks from tonight, we'll do the flag raising, and we'll... start talking about other things that we've got going for the month. And on our website, we'll have a lot of the activities that the library's having over there and the senior center, a lot of positive things, fun things. I don't think we'll be around for the next 250, so let's enjoy this one. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. All right, moving on to public comments. I have down Mr. Gunther. Come on up, sir. Curtis Gunther, you've been with us before, so you.

I am Curtis Gunther, and I live at Lake Cyrus. I want to thank Mr. President, Mr. Mayor, and the council members for allowing me to speak tonight. I know that I have spoken to most of you, probably all of you at one time or another personally, about family connection. And so what I wanted to do is this is the time of year I currently serve as the treasurer of Family Connections. I've been on the board for 30 of the 50 years we've been in existence. And for the people in the audience, if you'll indulge me for a few minutes, I know you've heard this, but I would like to share a few things about us. I'm not gonna get into specific numbers tonight, but I will say that we have served thousands in the community, both in Jefferson County and Shelby County. And of course, you all know that, but many in the audience may not. So with that, we are... We were recently honored to have been selected to be a part of the new wonderful adventure that is the Sandlin Foundation for Kids of Kindness. And we're excited by the opportunity to work together with them to positively impact the lives of countless children and families. Family Connection has a long history of serving youth in crisis and has partnered with the city of Hoover for many years. We have served youth and families from Hoover through our residential youth services, our Safe Place program, and now through our counseling services, which is new, we started this year. As part of our strategic plan, one of our goals has been to increase services to youth and families by expanding our service areas. A key part of this will be expanding our counseling services, which provide individual and family counseling to youths between the ages of 12 and 21. According to the Mental Health of America, Alabama was ranked worst in the country for mental health workforce availability and youth with private insurance that does not cover mental or emotional problems. And for most of us, and for myself, I find that shocking if you don't. Alabama ranked 50th with a higher prevalence of mental illness among children and teens and lower rates of access to care. We are seeking to address these issues and provide virtually needed individual and family counseling to all youth and families who need it, regardless of their ability to pay. By providing these services, we can help with youth deal with crisis and prevent them from further risk and issues such as running away, homelessness, or involvement with juvenile justice. Our goal at Family Connections is always family reunification. However, if that's not a possibility, we have the tools and the relationships and resources to help ensure that all youth can be safe in a stable environment that will ensure their health and wellbeing. By opening a new satellite counseling clinic in Hoover, we expanded on the current counseling services we provide at our shelter, which is located outside or in the area of Alabaster. And we provide our shelter in schools and our Alabama campus. We are looking to open a permanent center which will be able to strengthen our relationship with schools, the juvenile justice system, and other community providers to provide crisis intervention and counseling services to youth and families throughout the Hoover area. We're currently exploring an option for a commercial lease space in Hoover area and are hopeful to have a clinic open by the end of 2026. We currently have four members of our counseling team led by Wendy McNish, our Director of Counseling Services, and our Executive Director, Jennifer Ellison. Our team currently includes one bilingual counselor, and we anticipate we'll have a need to add more counselors as demand for our services increases to grow. Family Connection, Okay, I'll try to cut this really quick. We're celebrating our 50th anniversary and just recently celebrated our 50th anniversary. Now they do say timing is everything and I think tonight being here and Mr. Shaw is giving money to the city to help in critical areas that are needed. And I'm here to ask for money, which I do quite a bit. But I just wanted to thank everybody here because I know the council members have supported us throughout the years and they continue to support us. But again, I'm asking for your help. This is my budgeting time of year. So anything that the city can do to help us with this endeavor, we greatly appreciate.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Gunther. Okay. Thursday night, we went over in detail all the items on our agenda. Um, for the routine items, we have the consent agenda, which is one through seven. Are there any members of council that needs to remove an item from the consent agenda? Seeing none. Uh, these will be voted on as a block without any discussion, unless a member of the public has any item that they wish to be moved. All right. Seeing none. Um, Mr. City attorney, if you'll read the consent agenda.

Item one is a review of the payment of bills. Item two is the approval of minutes. Item three is a resolution 88-5126 that authorizes the mayor to execute a reimbursable agreement regarding an ALDOT project. Resolution 88-5226 is a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute a utility consultant engineer agreement with ALDOT Item five is a resolution 88-53-26 authorizing the mayor to execute a change order concerning a drainage project. Item six is a resolution 88-54-26 authorizing the mayor to execute a change order for the construction of an addition for various adjustments identified in the construction process. Item seven is a resolution 88-55-26 authorized to the mayor to execute an agreement for the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham concerning the River Chase Business Park. Those are all the items on the consent agenda.

Motion to move as read, Mr. President.

Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed? The ayes have it. Moving to our regular agenda. This will be a public hearing for resolution number 886226. Mr. Walker.

This is a resolution setting a public hearing for July 13, 2026 to consider an economic development proposal for property identified as Stadium Trace Village Phase 2 and Phase 3.

Mr. Munger. Yes, sir. So as the resolution outlines, and as you're aware, Section 94 of the Constitution requires at least seven days' notice with public publication, or legal publication, I should say, prior to any action of the Council on matters related to economic development projects. With the timeline that you have outlined in the resolution here, if authorized, this would allow us to move forward with beginning that publication and then on the meeting of Monday, July 13th, you would hear detailed presentations from economic development staff, other relevant staff members, as well as the developer regarding his specific plans and requests of the city. It's proposed that there would be no action on that night, but then as enumerated in section two, the following Monday, which would be June 22nd, would be the first available time that the council could consider the proposal.

I think you flip-flopped those dates.

I apologize. I did. I was reading from the bottom up. The corrected dates would be the first presentation on June 22nd. The voting of the council would first be available on July 13th. Apologies.

Motion to approve Resolution 88-62-26.

Second. I have a motion and a second. Any comments or questions from council?

Mr. President, I just want to understand real quick what we are voting on today if we're going to be seeing this again in July.

Yes, sir. This is just a vote to set the public hearing for July the 13th where the actual vote would take place and identifying June the 22nd as a presentation night for the public to hear what is being planned, and that will give the public three weeks to communicate with city leaders on their thoughts of the idea of and also on July 13th to come and voice their opinions that night as well.

Thank you, sir.

Any other comments or questions from council? Any from the public? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed? The ayes have it. Moving on to ordinance number 262702.

This is an ordinance to amend ordinance number 263 which is the zoning ordinance of the city of Hoover, Alabama for the property located at 3960 South Shadescrest Road being zoned to R1, which is single-family residential.

Motion to adopt ordinance number 2702. Second.

I have a motion and a second. Any comments or questions from council on this item? Any comments or questions from the audience? Ms. Dickerson, if you'll call the roll, please.

Council Member Schultz?

Aye.

Council Member Smith?

Aye.

Council Member Lovell? Aye. Council Member Murphy?

Aye.

Council Member McClinton?

Aye.

Council President Middlebrooks?

Aye. With six ayes, the ordinance is adopted. Moving on to resolution number 884926.

This is a resolution granting conditional use approval to operate a dog daycare for the property located at 5361 U.S. Highway 280.

Motion to approve resolution 884926. Second.

I have a motion and a second. Any comments or questions from the council? Seeing none, any comments or questions from the audience? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Those opposed, the ayes have it. Moving on to resolution number 8850-26.

This is a resolution granting conditional use approval to reclassify existing child care operation from a daycare home to a group daycare home for the property located at 3599 Deerfield Drive.

Do I have a motion? Resolution number 8850-26 fails due to lack of a motion. Moving on to ordinance number 262705.

Mr. President, this ordinance is for immediate consideration and will require suspension of the rules. And it's an ordinance of the city to exempt certain covered items from the municipal sales and use tax during the back to school sales tax holiday is authorized by 40-23-210 through 40-23-213 of the Code of Alabama.

Motion to suspend the rules for ordinance number 262705.

Second. I have a motion and a second to suspend the rules. Ms. Dickerson, if you'll call the roll for that suspension.

Council Member Schultz.

Aye.

Council Member Smith.

Aye.

Council Member Lovell. Aye. Council Member Murphy.

Aye.

Council Member McClendon.

Aye.

Council President Middlebrooks.

Aye. We will suspend, we'll have immediate consideration for, and it's number 262705. Do I have a motion for adoption?

Motion for adoption of orders number 262705. Second.

I have a motion and a second. Any comments or questions from council?

Yes, Mr. President. Page 105 of the information packet shows the amount for computers to be $1.173, which I think is a typo. And I don't know, Mr. Attorney, is that going to, there should be a comma there instead of a period. Sure.

What's the correct number? You can put that in there.

I'm sorry? What's the correct number and the clerk can make the change? It should be $1,173 instead of $1.173. All right.

Thanks for the correction. The clerk will make that.

I'm sorry? What were you talking about on this one? Yeah, that's on page 105 of the information packet. Page 104, the information packet shows it as 105. The Adobe PDF shows it as page 104. Okay. So as long as we're good with the, it's not a dollar computer, it's an $1,100 computer. Yeah. Okay.

This doesn't require amendment, just a clarification for the clerk. We proceed to call the vote.

Any other comments or questions from council? Any from the audience? Hearing none, Ms. Dickerson, if you'll call the roll, please.

Council Member Schultz. Aye. Council Member Smith. Aye. Council Member Lovell.

Aye.

Council Member Murphy.

Aye.

Council Member Clinton.

Aye.

Council President Middlebrooks.

Aye. With six ayes, this ordinance is adopted. Moving on, these will be first readings. No action will be taken tonight. Setting public hearings for June 22nd. Ordinance number 262703. Mr. Waldron.

This is an ordinance that amends municipal code 8-453 regarding standards and requirements for mobile food unit operation.

And ordinance number 262704.

This is an ordinance to amend the zoning ordinance regarding zoning regulations concerning food trucks.

Very good. And next will be setting public hearings for June 22nd. Once again, no action will be taken tonight. These will be items 15 through 18. Resolution number 885726. Mr. Waldrop.

This is a resolution declaring a weed and other vegetation nuisance and directing the abatement of those. for property located at 3491 Flintshire Drive. You want me to just proceed on, Mr. President? Yes, sir. Resolution 8858-26 is declaring a weed and other vegetation nuisance for property located at 219 Russet Woods Drive. Resolution 8859-26 is a resolution declaring a weed ordinance violation and directing the abatement at property located at 1901 Greenvale Road, and resolution 886026 is a resolution declaring a weed and vegetation violation, a property located at 2337 Tyler Road.

And I do have an update on two of those. 219 Resett Woods Drive and 1901 Greenvale Road will be removed. They were cut to satisfaction.

Very good. Finally, we will set a public hearing for July the 13th, resolution number 886126.

This is a resolution declaring that a nuisance and unsafe conditions exist on property located at 5823 Ryan Village Drive, and these require immediate abatement.

Very good. That comes to the end of our business portion of the Agenda, any comments from council tonight?

Mr. President. Mr. Schmidt. In speaking with Ms. Lovell, I found that she and the mayor and others attended a meeting with Tattersall owners, EBSCO, I believe last week, and they had hoped to find EBSCO to be a working partner with what may be going under the property that the previous administration wanted to put apartments. And apparently what, Mayor, you may want to correct me, I know what Ms. Loveless told me, but that the owners at this point say that they're willing to outlive this administration and this council until they can get apartments. So I hope there are many of y'all that can live long enough to help them remember that statement.

Thank you, Mr. Smith. Mr. Schultz, did you want to follow that?

I'll follow it. I want to commend two events that happened yesterday. We had an event for the Hoover Parks and Rec Foundation. Councilor Lovell and I gave it a shot, as well as Councilor McClinton with his team in the cornhole tournament. We did not fare well. I'm sorry, we did not bring... trophy in and also a comment the Parks and Rec and SFM for helping bring the Scott Dawson unite Birmingham last night to the map it was a very good event unfortunately the main event last night got rained out but Saturday was was very successful but both events really really good for the city of Hoover I think very good miss Mary did you have anything to add

Well, I would just add that we talked about events. Obviously, the SEC baseball tournament was a huge success. And then after today with Oklahoma winning and Alabama winning, there'll be five SEC schools out of eight vying for the World Series. So SEC has won the last six. And I would say got a very good possibility this summer for the SEC will win number seven. So as we say, to get to Omaha, you come through Hoover, Alabama.

Very good. Mr. City Attorney, I believe we will end this meeting through an executive session.

Yes, sir. We would like to meet with the city council and other city officials to discuss an economic development matter, which is allowed by the Alabama ethics law, and we certify that the law is being complied with.

Very good. That does take a roll call, though. Mr. Dickerson, if you'll call a roll for an executive session.

Aye.

Council Member Smith. Aye. Council Member Lovell. Aye. Council Member Murphy.

Aye.

Council Member McClinton. Aye. Council President Middlebrooks.

Aye. With six ayes, we will leave this meeting and adjourn out of the executive session. No action will be taken during the session. It's just an informative session, and we will not return to the chambers after that. Everyone have a great night.