City Council - Regular Meeting

we'll call it order tonight's auburn city council meeting for september the 1st 2026 welcome all of you who've joined us live here in council chambers as well as they're listening on wa and i are watching through our streaming services with the roll call lindsay adams here here dawson here griswold here mormon here parsons here taylor here witten yes anders here would you please rise for a pledge for the pledge of allegiance and remain standing for a moment of silence to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please be seated. It is the first meeting of the month, and so at this time we'll recognize our outstanding employees with Employee of the Month as well as Service Awards. We're proud to introduce you to our September Employee of the Month, and I have a memorandum here from Matt Cain, the Fire Chief for the City of Auburn. I'm honored to recommend Sergeant Moses Webb for Employee of the Month. Sergeant Webb consistently demonstrates an exceptional commitment to the citizens of Auburn and his fellow firefighters. His compassion, humility, and servant leadership make him an outstanding representative of the Auburn Fire Department. One example came during a response to a call where Sergeant Webb took time to sit with a resident, work through a puzzle together, and engage in meaningful conversation. Moments like these are not unusual for Sergeant Webb and are a reflection of who he is. His ability to genuinely connect with people regularly strengthens the trust our community has in public safety. Whether responding to an emergency or simply spending time with residents, Sergeant Webb leaves people feeling cared for, valued and confident in our commitment to serving them beyond the emergency itself. During a recent response to the home of an elderly gentleman experiencing a medical emergency, Sergeant Webb learned the man lived alone and had no nearby family and very little food. Sergeant Webb made a return with groceries, making sure he had food available for the days ahead. He never sought recognition for his actions, choosing simply to help someone in need. Sergeant Webb leads by example, instilling professionalism, compassion, and service in younger firefighters. The respect he has earned throughout our community is evident in every interaction and call he responds to. He consistently exemplifies the values of the Auburn Fire Department through his integrity, selflessness, and unwavering commitment to serving others. For these reasons, Sergeant Webb is highly deserving of recognition as the employee of of the month. Thank you. We appreciate your hard work. As always, thank you to our outstanding employees for the work you do on behalf of our citizens. All the best to David Carr in retirement. Thank you for serving our community and our fire department for 25 years. And congratulations to Moses Webb. We're proud of you and thankful for the great work you do in our fire department. And congratulations to be named the employee of the month. During the committee, the whole, we had no official activities. Uh, the city manager did remind the city council that item 10 C one has been withdrawn and will not be considered tonight. Um, under announcements, I just want to say thank you to our staff. Uh, your handling of the recent municipal election was excellent. And I appreciate everybody that pitched in, uh, to assist and making sure that that, that process went well for our community. Certainly want to thank those people who volunteered and came and worked the poll sites during the day and very grateful for that and their leadership. And I want to thank in particular the churches of Embrace, Church of the Highlands and Parkway who hosted voting sites as well. Thank you for giving up your facilities for a day and allowing the city to to go through that process. I want to say congratulations to the Chambers family. Since our last meeting, there was a Habitat House dedication, and it's one of the best things that I've been able to be a part of since I've been the mayor, is being a part of those home dedications. The Chambers family was very excited about their new home. They worked very hard to earn the right for that new home, and I appreciate all the companies and individuals involved including the Department of Building Science on campus and many of our students that participate in providing this home for the Chambers family. Congratulations to all of them. Any announcements from the dice? Any additional announcements? Okay. We'll move ahead with Auburn University communications.

Good evening, City Council. I'm Mary Anders. My name is Andrew Faircloth, and I serve as Auburn SGA's Director of City Relations. And I'm here tonight just to tell you all about a couple of things, a couple of great things happening around our campus here recently as we start the semester. But to start you off, the University Program Council held its annual fall concert at the GPAC with headliner Steven Sanchez. Had incredible student turnout. It was a great opportunity for students to really meet people and get connected early on to the semester. Speaking of concerts, I'm sure y'all probably heard, but we had another concert this past weekend. Billboard number one artist, country music icon, and my personal favorite thing about her, she's a former Auburn student. Ella Langley held her concert this past weekend at Nobel Arena. I heard it was a great concert, had a lot of tickets sold. But first 56 events and applications are still underway. We held some involvement fairs for students to really get involved early and find their community early on in the semester. A couple applications I want to highlight to y'all tonight. Lobby board and AUDM applications have recently closed, but fortunately we do have freshman forum and SGA freshman senate applications still underway that we're encouraging students to apply for. SGA recently collaborated with International Student Organization to teach to hold a social hour where we taught international students how to play American football. Really great activity, really great for them to get engaged with Auburn and learn more about football. But a couple more things just to highlight to y'all tonight. Greek Life Teak raised over $65,000 for their St. Jude's Philanthropy, where they were also awarded this past summer Top Teak as they were the largest teak chapter in the nation. Auburn Zeta also recently attended their national convention in Palm Desert, California, where they were awarded the Founders Club Award for raising more than $350,000 in the past two years in support of their philanthropy, breast cancer education, and awareness. This made Auburn Zeta the number two fundraising chapter in the nation. And in terms of athletics, college football is back this week as Auburn heads to Atlanta to take on the Baylor Bears and Mercedes-Benz. But that's all for me tonight, Sean. Thank you all, and War Eagle.

War Eagle. War damn teak.

I think I felt like I knew that was coming, Kelly. Congratulations to your fraternity, though. That's great work. At this time, we'll open up for citizens' communications on items on tonight's agenda. This is only items that are on the agenda tonight. And so if you'd like to speak to the council, please come forward and give us your name and address for the record, and you will have five minutes to speak. Only on items on the agenda tonight.

Robert Wilkins, 261 Denson Drive, Auburn, Alabama. I want to talk about... 9B, different segments of that. In our financial report that we had at the end of the fiscal year, it was a letter of transmittal. I can't even talk today. Under that, on page 18, it had general fund reserves, and it had 6% of total expenditures that was approved by the city council. But unfortunately, the management team decided to do a goal of 25%. The ending balance was 75.1%. And that is $122 million that we could use for a lot of different things. But instead, our council said 6% or a little more. They didn't say 1,250% more. Somehow our management team seems like it's fine to put funds everywhere We have 36 of them some of them are for the state and federal funds, but that's not the way it should be okay also Why does it take six months to produce a financial report when a $4.3 billion business financial report they do in 34 to 35 days, not six months. And that company is called Apple. Maybe we need to talk to Tim Cook since he's an AU alumnus. Why do we need a legal team? Why do we need bigger government? We already had in the last five years nine and a half percent population increase nine and a half percent But we had 45 percent in revenue. Where's that revenue going? I guess in these funds just to sit there and look at them and How many cases have increased in dealing with our legal department? Because we're doing an in-house legal department, and I don't understand why we're doing it in the mid-year. If we want to do something like that, we should do it at the end of 2027 to discuss that. Legal departments can be very expensive. I know that if we hire someone, which is Paul Clark, to be in that division, then we're I guess we're going to pay him a pretty good bit. I assume one of the highest that we have. I want to know about the benefits. I want to know how many cases we've had to justify having any kind of legal department. And what Davis and Davison will get. Will they get the same amount they've gotten in the past? And we're going to have a legal department? I'm not sure what's going on. So when we talk about increasing things, we should know what that is. You as a council should definitely know it. Also, I want to talk about the most important thing. It deals with people. The city of Auburn, unfortunately, like every city, has homelessness. And I believe the Chateau and the Lamont that so many of these people are here to talk about, some of them are going to end up being in that position. What's so surprising to me, and I've known for a long time, but I never got up here and talked about it. I did at the forum that the mayor and I were at. But anyway, when a person is homeless, what does our police department does? Tommy Dawson said many times they're a great police department. I believe they are. But they're forced to take a homeless person and drop them off. Tigertown at Tigertown now, why would we do that? Why would this city mr. Watkins?

What does this have to do with the budget item non B, please because it's good concerning the homeless Okay. Well, there's not an item regarding the homeless in the budget amendment.

There's an Auburn Methodist Joe Davis, right?

That's not the homeless that's Rehousing and keeping people in their homes.

Okay. Well, I It's part of it because it's dealing with people who are nearly homeless and they are forced to, you know, they can't pay the rent. They can't do groceries or whatever. So, yes, it's a part of the homeless. So I will continue on. Okay. One voice. We send our people. When those people are dropped off, there's two choices. The hope-a-liker. police department picks them up and they either call Gene Causey, sorry I'm out of breath, I don't know why I'm that way, but they get Gene Causey And we have half of our people that are over there are from Auburn. So half the people, we should pay money. We should give money to One Voice, at least $50,000. And I know they're going to do a proposal for that. It should be done in mid-year. Also, I believe that the Auburn Methodist with Joe Davis, that he should get $50,000 because we need to be prepared. Things are happening, and we've got to quit ignoring that we have a problem with homelessness. And I appreciate it. And, Beth, thank you for your comment.

Have we ever taken a homeless person to Tiger Town and dropped them off?

if they request a ride, we would certainly facilitate that, but there's in no circumstance a time that we would make someone leave the city of Auburn to go to the city of Opelika and force them into a situation like that.

Would anybody else like to speak about items on tonight's agenda?

If we fully funded all the outside agency requests to what they've asked for.

During the biennial budget process you did, you funded One Voice Shelter, I believe, and I'm verifying with my team it's $10,000 per year. It is. We're double-checking, but I believe that's what was in there. That was what was requested and that was funded. The council's made it very clear over time that you want to fund certain things. Agencies have that opportunity to respond. The reason the Joe Davis item has come forward through Auburn United Methodist Church is that something – He came to you after the budget process. Staff was asked to look into a federal grant. We determined it was not cost-effective, even with six months of financial reporting that has to be done by law. We determined it was not cost-effective to use federal dollars there. The best and most cost-effective way without having to add personnel and do other things was for the city to give $35,000 directly to Auburn United Methodist Church through this program, which is exactly what they requested.

Have we had any requests for additional funding from any outside agencies?

We have not. We had one that was not mentioned here that inquired with the finance department about adjusting, not one of the ones funding homelessness. I'll also remind you that our community development block grant program, which is passed through federal funding, also deals with emergency homelessness through hotel vouchers. We do utility assistance, we do rental assistance, and we use federal funds for that. So there's a whole grouping of things that we do. We also fund other agencies like the United Way, Red Cross, et cetera. We all collaborate and work together. What I do want to be sure about is use a city council candidate any time. modify the budget and fund whatever agency, as long as it meets our parameters legally, which is why we need a legal department, because we actually have to verify things are legal. If we are legal to fund them, and it's back to your policy, it's a service that the city should otherwise be providing, but some other agencies have the expertise or are already in those businesses, that's why you fund them.

Megan, am I correct in believing that over the years when we have done mid-biennium budgets, that we normally do not take a look at our outside agencies. We do that every other year when we pass the main budget. That's correct. This situation was so unique, and we felt the need to go ahead and support the program at AUMC that we're really doing something that we've never done before as far as potentially looking at passing this.

That's correct. At the time that Mr. Davis had come to us, we had already passed, outside agency applications were closed and we had missed a grant funding cycle that culminates every June 30th. So we had runway to look at it. And because the council asked us to look at it, that's why I came back to you at mid buy-in and we did not open it up to others. However, I'm going to double check with Mr. Al Davis of our community services department. You've not heard from One Voice Shelter either requesting more money. Allison, the finance department did not receive a request.

And I spoke to Ms. Colsey yesterday in great length, and she and I are going to get together and I'm going to tour their facility. And at no point in time did she indicate that they needed additional funding at this time.

I think the idea that this city is not sensitive to the plight of people who are suffering in a need is not true. And we have tried to meet the need through our community through this opportunity here through AUMC. If Ms. Causey needs more, then we certainly are willing to do that. And I'm confident that our police are treating people who they find in a difficult situation with the utmost respect. So, anyway. All right. Anyone else like to speak to the council?

I want to ask a question on that. You said the community blocked grant money. So there's also health funds for homelessness. Do you know how much of that fund, how much money?

It's emergency homelessness assistance, and it is for hotel vouchers, and I don't recall off the top of my head this evening how much that is. That would have been in a document that this council adopted not that long ago.

Okay.

And there's also utility assistance and rental assistance as part of that.

Okay. But with that particular funding, there's not a whole lot that, you know, that Mr. Davis get. So they only getting maybe, I don't know how much, and Al should be able to answer this question as to how much money he get for that. that he separate, he distribute his money. It's not a whole lot. It's not a whole lot at all.

Or a total block grant application isn't very big, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. And even with the rental assistance and stuff, and I just want to be clear on this because I don't want people to think that he's getting a whole, whole lot of money to accommodate the homeless community. Even with utilities, it's not a whole lot of money. You know, once upon a time, I was there. And so I know that even paying utilities, if your light bill or something is $100, he may not be able to give you but $35 of them $100. And I don't think too much has changed from that. So how is it that the city can contribute to his or they cannot to the Community block.

So the city, those are federal funds. And so we're allowed to use those funds for those items. The city cannot directly fund somebody's hotel utility bill or their rent. Um, you have to go through federal funds are general funds. So the main way sells taxes, property taxes, other things come in our main line revenue sources. We are not allowed to expend city dollars on that. However, federal funds, the federal government says we can, and we can use those dollars for those things, which we do. If the city wants to fund those things another way, they have to fund an outside agency such as Auburn United Methodist Church and their group that's doing things, One Voice Shelter, United Way, Red Cross, et cetera. That's how it has to be funded. It's through those organizations as a conduit. We can give those organizations money, but we cannot directly fund some of those things ourselves.

Okay. Anyone else? Okay. We'll move ahead with city manager's communications.

Well, you already stole my thunder. Item 10C1, 527 Temple Street for the last time has been withdrawn, and we will move into the consent agenda if you are ready.

Please.

Our first item of the business is the consent agenda. Does any council member wish to remove an item from the consent agenda and deal with that item individually? Okay.

Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Motion to second any further questions. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And the consent agenda is approved. Ordinances.

Under ordinances, item 9A is a request to amend the district at Richland Road Plan Development District to increase the allowable commercial gross floor area from 20,000 square feet to 30,000 square feet. The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of this request at its July 9th meeting. Unanimous consent is necessary and a public hearing is required.

I'll introduce the ordinance and ask for unanimous consent.

Second. Second. Does anyone on the council have a problem moving forward with a vote on this this evening? Seeing and hearing none, any questions? Comments? Comments?

Lindsay with the roll call. We have a public hearing. It's in the.

Yeah, it wasn't on your original agenda, Mayor.

Okay.

So, yeah, it's a public hearing.

Okay. Excuse me. All right. I'll open the public hearing. If you'd like to address the city council about this, please come forward and give us your name and address for the record, and you have five minutes to speak. Okay. We'll close the public hearing. All right. Any comments or questions from the council?

I just, this request became, or came out of the fact that they have had a lot of interest in the commercial corner at Suge and Donahue, I mean, Suge and Richland.

That is the request. When the initial project came through, staff strongly encouraged it's really slated to be a master plan mixed use area, and commercial was very important to serve the neighborhood. And what's happened is, is predicted just based on market knowledge, they've had an overwhelming response to their retail space. This is not big box retail, by the way. Mr. Howard, what's the largest parcel? It's like...

The total parcel is about six acres.

Six-acre parcel, but individual space. It's not large square footage. Yeah, so you're talking about restaurants, coffee shops, dry cleaners, things like that. But when we've been at commercial development meetings, and our commercial development director, Kevin Howard, goes to more than me, but the one that I've been at this year, there's tremendous interest in this corner, so they want to add retail square footage to accommodate that.

And there's no change in the density of this project?

No change in the residential density. Okay, thank you.

Any other comments or questions? Okay, Lindsay, roll call.

Mormon.

Yes, ma'am.

Parsons. Yes. Taylor. Yes. Whitten. Yes. Adams. Yes. Boglitz. Yes, ma'am. Dawson.

Yes, ma'am.

Griswold.

Yes, ma'am. Yes.

Item 9B amends the biennial budget ordinance 3544 that was adopted on September 16, 2025 to account for events and changes that have occurred since The fiscal year 26-27 budget was adopted. This process is also known as the mid- and biennium budget. Unanimous consent is necessary.

I'd like to deny unanimous consent.

Second. Motion to second deny unanimous consent.

Just denied. No motion.

Just denied.

We're good. We'll hear this again in two weeks. It'll come right back up in two weeks. Under resolutions, item 10A1 authorizes a contract with Pratt Recycling Incorporated for the loose recycling single stream processing contract at a rate of $165 per ton. The proposed contract will be for an initial three-year term with the city's option to renew for two additional three-year terms. The estimated FY27 expense for this contract is $379,500. Move for approval. Second.

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

This was included in the rate study that was recently done, correct?

It was anticipated in the rate study and is calculated into the budget that you are looking to approve the mid biennium budget. One challenge is we didn't know exactly how to capture the cost. For sure of what it is, it's a little more than anticipated. I can have Katrina Cook, our Environmental Services Director, speak to anything else you need with it. But yes, there won't be a rate increase because of this, but this is new. We have not paid before. We've long hauled our recycling to Columbus, Georgia, but now we have to pay for them to, in essence, buy the ton to take the recycling. And so there is a cost to the recycling, but it was built in and there won't be additional expense to the end user.

And is this the closest and most efficient facility to take our recyclings to?

It is. It's 44 miles from us.

And this program has been in existence since 2017?

2017. Seagull Stream Recycling has been available. We've received Alabama Department of Environmental Management grants of $1.2 million to move this program forward.

Thank you. Thank Katrina real quick before you sit. Sorry, we are working on a transfer station study that's also been part of the rate study and so on that would, in essence, she can talk just real quickly to understand what a transfer station is and how it can reduce some of these trips.

Yes, we're looking for a transfer station so that we don't have to haul our material to Columbus. Having six trucks go there every day is costly. So we will bring down those costs if we initiate our own transfer station on the property that we currently have. So right now we're going through a recycling study to see if we have enough material in order to get that done, and we're very close to getting an answer and things are looking well for us.

And when you become a transfer station, how often do you then transfer the recycling? Would you then have to transfer it to another facility? We will.

We will have different options. So it depends on how we work that. We can get a sorter where we can build all our material ourselves, and we can go to market and sell those items. Or we can use Pratt just like we're doing now. We will use a 18-wheeler transfer truck. They will come and pick up our material and take it away. And our trucks stay here, and we're able to service more households with the number of people that we have.

And less wear and tear on our vehicles? Yes. Thank you.

So as you know, Katrina's been working on that for a long time. That's been on the horizon for a while. We've embarked on that study now, and we'll be reporting back to you some results when they are ready.

If we were transferring out, would it still be a similar $165 a ton to whoever's coming to get it?

No, that fee will be $33 a ton per hauling. Okay, thank you.

Katrina, what percentage do you think of Auburn citizens participate?

We have 85% participation. We have the largest in the state, and we actually have the first recycling program in the state. So we're very happy with that. It began in 1987. Next year we'll celebrate 40 years of curbside recycling.

Is that Jan Dempsey in Recycle Rose?

That's Recycle Rose.

There it is.

Love it.

Thank you, Katrina. Great job by you and your staff.

Katrina, we love having you up here. People remember that old program. They may think about that as the good old days where we put glass in one thing and cardboard in another. But it was not cheaper than the single stream, at least from the perspective of the customer.

That's correct. Well, it wasn't convenient. Um, we had a citizen survey study done and we asked those questions on that survey and a lot of the dissatisfaction with our program was because it wasn't convenient. They had to curb sort everything that was located at the curb in different containers. And it took us a lot longer to collect that material. So with the single stream process and everything being loose, it's a lot easier. And you can tell there's a little sticker across that 95 gallon cart that tells you those items that can go inside there. Um, so that is one of the, one of the things, and we went from a 30% participation rate to 85% participation.

And any program will reduce the amount that's taken to the garbage dump to the dump.

That's correct. It saves landfill space.

Yeah. Okay. Thank you, ma'am. Anyone else have a question?

Poor Katrina steps away. Are you sure? All right. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions from the council? All right. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And motion carries.

Item 10A2 authorizes a contract with Temple Incorporated to perform management services for the city's traffic control center for a two-year period in the amount of $260,515.

Move for approval. Second. A motion and a second. Any comments, questions from the council?

This is something I didn't know very much about, but our traffic control center is manned virtually, I understand, 24-7 and can be accessed and controlled if emergencies happen.

So things like the interstate closes in the middle of the night, we can adjust signals and do other things remotely. It's part of this. It's a lot of software and other things, but that's been going on for some time where we can do this. That happens. We've had equipment hit the Wrights Mill Bridge. We've had other things where we've had to reroute, and this is the whole system goes into a mode where folks, even in Birmingham, can jump on that are part of this contract along with our staff.

Will this item change any of our operations or improve them?

Michael?

Currently not at this point in time. It's the same old same contract, basically, that keeps us operational with glance. So all the information that we have today we still retain.

Just remember you have the follow-on coming if you approve it in the budget, which is the artificial intelligence contract that is capturing data that allows us to adjust our signals much more dynamically. Okay.

Any other questions? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And the motion carries.

Item 10A3 authorizes the purchase of 3,000.23 stream and wetland mitigation credits for the North Donahue Drive Widening Project Phase 1 from Westerville Ecological Services in the amount of $475,815. Move for approval. Second.

Motion is second. Comments, questions?

This is the... Is this the last piece of right-of-way or area that's needed to begin the widening?

It is not. This is stream and wetland mitigation credits. We still have another piece of right-of-way that's coming forward. Is that correct, the largest piece?

That is correct. That is the last piece.

We need to have that done soon.

That's the last piece. And these credits go towards rehabbing the Tallapoosa? Lower Tallapoosa. Okay. Tallapoosa Rivershed. Okay. Thank you.

So could you explain how this works, the mitigation? We pay into something to a fund, and then the fund is distributed to other places?

Yeah, I'll try a city manager speak before we get the engineer speak, but in essence – You're allowed through federal regulations. There are stream banks and wetland banks. The cities had their own. So theoretically, you're taking areas and you're expanding or restoring streams or wetlands kind of equal. You get credits for doing that equal to what we're buying. So we have to disturb areas around the Saugahatchee Creek, some wetlands, and we have to do some crossings. of Donahue, the federal government says if you want to disturb those things by law, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gets involved, it's a complicated process. The only way you can do that is you've got to offset what you did, and you try to keep it in the same watershed for the most part. You have to offset what you did somewhere in the area if possible. So you buy from this bank that is restoring. The city off and on over the years has had its own stream and wetlands banks, one of which was in Sam Harris Park for a while, and we used those credits for our own projects when needed. Do you have anything to add? Did I miss anything? No, ma'am. Perfect.

Thank you. Any other questions? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And the motion carries.

Item 10B1 authorizes a tax abatement for INFAC North America Incorporated for improvements to an existing building and the acquisition of new machinery and equipment for property located at 2250 Riley Street. The company anticipates creating 120 jobs and investing approximately $14 million. Move to approve.

Second. Motion to second. Any comments, questions?

120 new jobs, local jobs created, I think.

Correct.

And many of these will be local hires?

They are. So the labor shed for Auburn is considered Lee County and the four surrounding counties. So the vast majority of employees for any company comes from there. To say that people don't move in from other states, you know, that depends on expertise needed and so on. But by and large, it comes from our local labor shed.

Thank you. Very good. You know where they come from. It's a job for somebody, so I don't think you should worry about where they come from as much. Folks need a job. They need a job.

We receive city funds for every paycheck written in Auburn anyway, right? Correct.

You get 1% of, yeah.

Of those 120 employees, the city is still going to benefit financially.

Correct.

Yeah. Thank you.

Any other comments? All right. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And the motion carries.

Item 10B2 authorizes a tax abatement for Mobus North America Electrified Powertrain for the acquisition of new equipment, which will be installed and operated by INFAC North America Incorporated to be located at 2250 Riley Street. The company anticipates investing approximately $22 million.

Move approval. Second.

Motion, second. Any comments, questions? Can you explain the relationship between INFAC and Mobus?

Okay. take a stab at it and Philip can jump in. In essence, the equipment from OBIS. they are going to be manufacturing contract manufacturing. INFAC is going to contract manufacture things for Mobus in their plant at 2250 Riley Street. So it's Mobus equipment, so they get the abatement because they own the equipment. And INFAC manufactures using their equipment. It's contract manufacturing. Very common, especially with automotive manufacturers and others, that they have their equipment in some of their suppliers' plants.

Thank you. So the Mobison won't create jobs. They're all rolled in. Excellent question.

Yeah, they're rolled into the 120 jobs there. But the combined investment you can see at that site is over $36 million between the two.

And as with both tax abatements, the taxes for schools, the hospital, and the Lee County Development Center are not abated.

That's correct. And the Industrial Board is also reducing the city millage that is being abated and has been slowly over time reducing that number as well. So we're moving into a different era. Good. Thank you.

We know what the pay scale looks like for these jobs.

Mr. Dunlap. Yes, please, sir.

Find the microphone.

I can't tell you exactly what the dollar amount is. They're not minimum wage type jobs. They are a little bit more sophisticated jobs because you're dealing with electronic components. This is being used for EVs. And so what your electric vehicles. Philip, what's an EV? Electric vehicles, sorry. And Mobis is a specialist in electronics. And so rather than build a new facility, they contract manufacture with another company that will utilize their equipment and produce those product lines that'll go directly to Hyundai and Kia in this area. The interesting thing is they also supply other of the big three, so there's an opportunity to expand the footprint here. I do want to add one thing. The jobs that are created are U.S. citizens. We don't import foreigners. Only a small group comes to work in these factories. I heard recently during this campaign that 75% of these jobs created. It's been a real burr under my saddle that I really have not appreciated that because it's misinformation. We do not hire bring in 75% of the employees to put them in a factory in Auburn, Alabama. About 99% of the jobs created are jobs hired from Lee County and the four surrounding counties. And that's a fact. I have the list of every single company that we recruited in 42 years. So I know who is hiring. I know how many jobs they have in the factory. And so I know the information. Nobody ever asked me that information. Somebody just made something up. So I wanted to give you the facts.

And 70% of the people that work in Auburn facilities don't live in Auburn.

We are an employment center for the four surrounding counties. So what happens is around 30% of every new factory we hire live in the city of Auburn. About 70%, and it can fluctuate to 70% to 75%, comes from the four surrounding counties. A few years ago, I did a plot. I worked with Briggs & Stratton. We did a plot, and we put a map in, and every single employee, they hired people from as far away as LaGrange, all the way to Tallahassee. So it's really interesting, I-85 creates a vehicle that allows people to commute 40, 50 miles for a job because I guarantee every single person in this room, when somebody says to you, how long does it take you to get, when you go to work, you don't tell them it takes me 18 miles to go to work, you tell them it takes me 30 minutes to go to work. It's about time. And if we create a job here that's a good paying job and a good opportunity, then people will commute for that job. So the kind of companies we have, we have technical companies, but we also have really solid companies that provide opportunities for every level. So the kind of effort that we put into this recruiting, I'm pretty passionate about it, and I really resent somebody saying that we don't do a good job personally. I take it personal. I'm sorry I shouldn't have said anything.

Thank you, Mr. Dunlap.

Thank you.

I think it's important, though, the industrial board and city council's philosophy has been we want to provide good-paying jobs with responsible employers, with benefits, with educational opportunities, many opportunities to give and ensure that people have access to good-paying jobs that will take care of their families, and that's what we're trying to do here.

At all levels, people with a high school degree, people with a college degree.

Yep, some people with no degrees. It just depends. You can be very skilled and have none of the above, and we want to make sure that we're providing opportunities for everybody as best we can.

Everyone deserves an opportunity. That's correct.

Okay. Any other comments, questions? All right. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries.

All right. Last reminder, 10C1 has been drawn by the applicant. So item 10C2 is a request for conditional use approval of a commercial and entertainment use and event center to be located at 1000 Main Street, Suite B in the Corridor Redevelopment Suburban Zoning District. This project is known as Celebration Event Center. The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of this request at its August 13th meeting. This item was postponed at the August 18th City Council meeting. A public hearing has already been held. And during the August 18th meeting, there was a motion and a second for approval and a motion and a second to add a condition that events not exceed 10 p.m. seven days a week.

Mr. Adams, I'll hand it off to you.

We postponed this because we wanted to have a chance to reach out to the applicant to make sure that that condition on the timing was worked with their business plan. I have had an opportunity to speak to the applicant. The 10 o'clock condition he's acceptable with, I believe he is here tonight. I'm not going to make you come up or anything. I had a good conversation with him. That's acceptable to him. So I'm good with moving forward with the condition this evening.

Okay.

All right. So right now we need to vote and approve the condition, correct?

That's correct.

All right. So the condition is that this Celebration Events Center will be closing down and be open until 10 o'clock.

That's right. 10 p.m. All right.

Any questions or comments from the council on that? All right. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. And that motion carries. Now we need a motion to approve.

You already got the motion.

You just need to. Okay. Any other questions? All right. All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Celebration event center has been approved. All right.

All right, Mayor. Those are all the items of business we have for you this evening. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. This time we'll open citizens open forum. This is your opportunity to speak to the council about anything that would be on your mind. Please. address your comments to the council. You have three minutes, and we'd ask that you come to the dais and share with us your name and address.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Leticia Smith, and I am the president of the NAACP Lee County Branch 5038. I reside at 2262 Heritage Ridge Lane. So in addition to being here in my official capacity, I'm also a concerned resident of this community. So to Mayor Anders and to all of the other city council members, I am here tonight because I am deeply disappointed and very concerned about how you handled the approval of the redevelopment of the Chateau and Lamont Square apartments. And while I understand the importance of growth in Auburn, I also believe that progress should not be come at the expense of the most vulnerable residents in our community. Many of the families, the seniors, the children who live in this community, they rely on this community as being one of the few remaining affordable housing options here in this city. So with that said, please note that my disappointment has nothing to do with the redevelopment itself. My concern is about the apparent lack of a clear and comprehensive plan to ensure that the residents are not displaced without some viable, affordable alternatives. So what troubles me the most about how this situation was handled is that with the hundreds of people that would be displaced, only seven of you did it cross your mind. And if it did, it did not alter your decision about how you voted. Housing affordability is already a challenge in this community. And with this development, many of our residents will have to leave Auburn. In a lot of cases, some of them, unfortunately, do not have anywhere to go. And when people lose affordable housing, homelessness becomes a real possibility. And while every displaced resident will not become homeless, every displaced resident will face a housing instability. So when this decision was made, Auburn narrowed risk, turning the housing challenge into a homelessness challenge. So granted, while the mayor and many of you say you are committed to doing all these great things to help after the fact, to many other residents, this feels less like leadership and more like an afterthought. So I would like to add that on June 30th, many of you came to a Ward 1 meeting and said that you were all interested in all-in and more affordable housing. So you can imagine how disappointed we were in less than two months later when your actions did not align with your words. City Council, we need you to provide some free application assistance, some free security deposit assistance, some moving assistance, some credit balance assistance, and some assistance with landlord risk management and housing mitigation. This is the least that you can do. The true measure of a community is not how it grows, but how it cares for the people who help to build it.

Thank you. Who will be next?

Stephen Falk, pastor of Auburn Amazon Church 576 Martin Luther King Drive here in Auburn. Good evening, Mayor Enders and members of the city council, city manager, and citizens of Auburn. First, I commend this council for the work that you're doing to grow and develop our city. Auburn is growing and growth is good. but growth must include everybody. Tonight, I remember the question Cain asked God, am I my brother's keeper? I submit tonight that we are our brother's keeper. I come on behalf of approximately 200 families from Chateau and the Le Mans, nearly 500 people, including children who are being displaced from their homes for new development. I am not against development, nor am I against quality housing for Auburn University students. My concern is one group's progress creates a hardship for another. These are not just 200 apartments, these are 200 families. These are workers These are working people who cook our food, clean our buildings, work in our businesses, care for our elderly, and help make Auburn the wonderful city that it is. Tonight, I make two requests. First, that these families need financial assistance. I ask the city to bring together city officials, property owners, real estate professionals, as well as property development others to help these families find affordable housing and provide relocation assistance where possible. If Auburn can plan for development, Auburn also can plan for displacement. Second, I ask this council to establish a resident displacement and relocation policy so this does not happen again. Such a policy should require adequate notice, a relocation plan, appropriate relocation assistance, and special consideration for children, seniors, persons with a disability, and low-income families. Auburn needs Auburn University. Auburn needs developers. Auburn need economic growth, but Auburn also need working families. We cannot become such a prosperous city that ordinary working people can no longer afford to live here. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Cheryl Parker McGee. I reside at 634 Shelton Way in Auburn. Mayor, it's good to see you this evening. Council members, good to see you. City manager. I'm going to start out with a Bible quote. Matthew 25, 40 states that, and the king shall answer and say unto them, verily I say unto you, and as much as ye have done it unto the least of my brethren, you've done it unto me. Most of us would agree that the least of us refers to anyone who is hungry, thirsty, a stranger, who is sick or homeless. Homeless. Today it's the residents of Chateau and Le Mans. Tomorrow, it could be any of us. Any of us in this room. It could be any of us who have worked, paid taxes, lived in the city of Auburn, but are being priced out. It is us who work every day or who have retired but don't meet the rental requirements of three times the elevated rental amounts in this city or perhaps don't meet the other credit requirements. Purchasing a home is beyond what many of us can even dream of as being the American dream when homes in this area, livable homes, start at roughly $300,000. we don't meet the requirements to even get a bank loan for that amount. So what happens? We start to have wave after wave of homelessness. It's an issue that we're going to have to deal with more and more in this city. What happens when tent cities start popping up downtown on football weekends? You don't want your alumni seeing that. Those of us who live here 12 months a year should have some buy-in to this city, but we can't afford to. Many of us are just one missed social security check, one sick child, one death of a family member away from homelessness. Where are any of us going to go if we lose our current housing because we can't afford to go anywhere else? Homelessness drains much from a community. Are you ready for its toll? I appreciate the information given to us from the city manager about the different opportunities that may be available. Most of those, though, are short-term responses to long-term problems. They may get somebody into housing. It doesn't keep them there.

Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

I appreciate your opportunity to give us to speak. I am Kathy Molnar. I'm a resident at 2080 Estate Drive, and I've been a citizen in Auburn now for 50 years. And I am representing tonight Auburn United Methodist Church on behalf of Joe Davis. And I wanted to share some of the experiences that I have as a mentor with some of the families, the single mothers with children in our program, because I believe some of their experiences and what I have learned from them will mirror some of the experiences that will come from those who will be displaced in the Le Mans and in the Chateau apartment complexes. One of the mothers that I work with, with three boys, I have learned so much from her. It has been eye opening, it has been heart opening. I have realized how important it is to have not only housing stability, but to have the support to also be stable in other parts of your life and how important that is for your children. I wanted to share with you her health situation. She was able to get help with some of our referrals through Mercy Medical Clinic. Her health became better. She improved her working hours. She is able to afford her own personal health insurance now, and that gives her a stronger parent and a stronger presence in the lives of her three sons. In terms of food insecurity, Whenever there is a high amount of your expenditure money being spent on housing, it makes it harder to meet other things. And she has three growing boys and athletes. So what we found is we referred her both to our community market, and through the community market through this area. And it helped her to get the support she needed for her children. The education. It would have been hard for her children to have to go to another school. It would have affected their success and their future. So she was able to keep them in the school. They're in robotics. They're in sports. That has been a success story. The economic strain of credit. We worked with her in rebuilding our credit. She now has reliable transportation. because of not only giving her stable housing, but giving her the support for self-sufficiency and to meet her private goals. And so I would challenge each of you tonight to realize that these are contributing working members of our community. They call it home like us. They are raising the next generation of contributing working citizens. And we have the ability to take the situation and give them the support and give them the hope and give them what they want to still call Auburn their home as we call Auburn our home. Thank you for your time.

We'll be next.

My name is Anthony Brock, resident at 349 Lightness Drive. I'm a concerned citizen. I want to first say that upon hearing about Le Mans Square and Chateau Apartment, it angered me. But then sitting and thinking, it then went from anger to frustration, but then ultimately it ended in sadness. Because number one, I am a true resident of Auburn. I've been here over 45 years. My family grew up here. I now have kids who attend college, but I'm sure at some point they want to come back to Auburn and live. I work for an agency. We use $1.2 million to help with utilities assistance. We use $875,000 to help with rental assistance. In that process, we do major case management where we sit and we listen to what these individuals go through on a daily basis. I can tell you that these citizens want to be here in Auburn, but they cannot afford to live here in Auburn. I'm not sure what you may have against single parents. I'm not sure what you may have against elderly. I'm not sure what you may have against true Auburn citizens. I looked at it first as an issue, but it's now a crisis. This is a crisis. I speak with landlords, private landlords, property managers every day. Eviction rate is through the roof somewhere in there. These individuals will be put out on the street, nowhere to go, but to not know that we have people on city council who voted on this, And then take a minute or a second to basically sit down and understand what people go through. That's the biggest key. It's just putting yourself in someone else's place and realizing and understanding what they are going through. I deal with that every day. And at a point in my life, younger, I was there at that point. It hits home with me because these individuals are the very ones who are the backbone of Auburn. They've worked here. Their kids grew up here. But now they're at a point to where they can be financially outcast. Having to leave this city is a sad, sad thing to do. Those kids are gonna have to find somewhere to go to school. But ultimately, you guys get to make a decision that can ultimately help these individuals. Don't drop the football this time. Fourth and goal. Thank you, Mr. Brock.

Mr. Cosgrove. Yeah.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Happy September.

I'm Steve Cosgrove, the 1927 Watercress Drive. I first came to Auburn in February of 1975. That makes me old. It was an amazing place then, and it's an amazing place now. My wife and I met here, graduated degrees, got married here, moved off to Alaska, did not know a soul. worked in school systems there, and we had two really, really neat children. Coleman, he's a psychiatrist here. Our daughter, Jenna, they're down in Pensacola, Florida area. We chose to move back to Auburn because of the sort of place it was. We knew what kind of place it was. And I just applaud, and I really tip my hat to you. You're the face of the community. You're the face of the community, each of you. Not just your respective wards and neighborhoods and so forth, but in the community. And I really, really appreciate what you do in representing the best interest in the well-being of Auburn, and I mean that. I saw it back in Jim Haygood's day, I saw it back in Bill Hamm's day, Jan Dempsey, on and on and on, and I'm seeing it now. And by the way, congratulations to those of you put yourself back on that ballot again and again to represent the citizens and the well-being of Auburn in a successful manner. Where I contributed best was in getting to know kids and families through the Parks and Recreation program. And Becky Richardson was running it then for 47, 48 years, and now it's in April hands with Allison.

You're doing a great job with that, Allison.

And all your staff, too, Houston and Jay and Kevin. But I appreciate the opportunity to do that. That's the best thing I do in life is support kids and families through activities like that. But I really appreciate everything you all do. It's impossible to satisfy the entire spectrum of dynamics and needs. And you can only do your best. And I really appreciate what you do. And I want to tell you that. Thank you. Thank you very much. Who will be next?

Nolan Torbert, lead pastor of True Deliverance Holy Church, 936 North Donahue Drive. I want to say to the mayor and the council, thank you so much for leading great leadership to this point. I'm sure everyone in this room tonight can agree that Auburn is facing a crisis and a shortage of affordable houses. If you think that's not the case, you're thinking wrong. The question remains, what are we going to do? What are we going to do about it? This afternoon, I would like to suggest three things that could assist align the burden and hardship per affordable homes. I heard about the homeless. One of the voices here at the coalition, I'm on that. Homeless is real. I'm on the board. Heard somebody mention the housing authority. We're on the board. We got a few thousand people to list today. So homeless is real. But the three things I would like to suggest in the council, if y'all would really be prayerful, the word of the Lord said, in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path. If you would consider changing the zone if needed, number one. Number two, Charge these out-of-town developers and investors a certain percentage of their building project and allow those fees or funds to go strictly toward affordable houses. Number three, if you do approve the building or high-rises, approve it with certain conditions. What do I mean as an example? If a building project is going to have 200 rooms, then a certain percentage of the rooms should be allocated for affordable homes. I know that can happen. I know cities. You can reach out to them. I know cities that are doing this. They approve any high-rises, but they let them know that a certain percentage have to go to the homeless. I think that would help. We're about out of land here in Auburn. It's a growing city, but it's a serious thing that we're going to have to, and I know y'all are thinking about it. Y'all are looking at ideas, but I would be appreciative. And if you all were highly considered these three things, you know, part, I know y'all around the table, but I think when you find the city, I can point you that cities are already doing that because I mean, homeless, uh, It's a national thing. I mean, you know, affordable houses, we're not the only one in Auburn. But someone stood up and said, we no longer want this in the city. So they took effort. And I encourage each of you, in all your ways, acknowledge God and let God lead you in the right direction. He will. I think everybody here loves Auburn, but we're facing a crisis. Thank you. Thank you, Bishop.

Hello, all. My name is Tamara Andrews. I'm 13, 37, Jordan Parkway, I guess I gotta say that for it. Born and raised Auburn, 1248 Dunfer Avenue. Grew up there my whole life. When I grew up, I played softball under Dawson with his daughter. I actually went to school with her. She was my classmate. And I went off to college, came back, and I wish that I could go and come back and say that I came back to the most amazing city that I left, but I can't. Just a few open-end questions. If you want to answer at some point, go ahead. If you can't answer here, some kind of way, get back to me or someone that can get in contact with me. I'll give you my number if you need that. First question, is there a plan for a homeless shelter in the near future? Because as we can see, apparently, it's a homeless crisis going on around here. And like they said, y'all don't want to see them punk people down there while they're tailgating. I was going to ask about hiring from the plants in the area for local citizens that pay taxes in the area. But as we heard kind of earlier, that under 50% of the citizens get to get those good paying jobs from the local area. I assume that that's the expectations for citizens to go outside of their local area in order to get a decent paying job to keep up with the rates in this area. I don't even work in this area to have to afford to live in this area.

Um, but I still pay taxes here.

Why is it student apartments are off limits to citizens, but city apartments or citizen apartments that are available for citizens. Those are not off limits from the students. So I was, I moved back here probably, um, 20, 20, 20, 21. I moved straight in with my parents and guess what? I was ready to go and guess where I went. Anybody want to guess? Nobody want to guess? Just take a wild guess. You got it. I knew you were going to get it. You were trying. It was on the tip of your tongue. And I lived there. And for me, it wasn't the best place. I didn't love it. It wasn't the best thing since sliced bread. But it was something for me to be able to get a start when I came back here. And now there are going to be people coming back from college that don't have that good start like me because they ain't got nowhere to go. Why aren't zoning meetings better publicized? The small size requiring you to stop and get a piece of paper is not sufficient enough when you have better options to publicize the information. The last quote I want to kind of go off of, people say to me, you're successful. What are you crying about? I'm crying about the people. I'm crying about their daughters, our daughters, as one family. What good is it? What good is anything that everyone can't have? Every ism. They think we're done with racism.

Please wrap it up, ma'am.

What about elitism?

Thank you. What about separatism? Your time's up. I'm sorry.

What about classism? That's all.

Who will be next? Yes ma'am.

Good evening, Mayor Anders and members of the City Council. My name is Tamika Martin. I'm a resident of 736 Stuff Avenue in Northwest Auburn. I am also a local realtor. So affordable housing is important to me both personally and professionally. First, I want to say that I appreciate the conversation that we're having around affordable housing. As someone who lives in northwest Auburn, I see the growth happening around us. I see new homes being built, but I also know that many people who currently live in our community look at the prices of those homes and wonder whether home ownership in Auburn would ever be in their reach. My concern tonight is about what happens when affordable homes do become available. If the city uses public resources, incentive partnerships, land, or other means to help create homes specifically intended to be affordable for low and moderate income households, how will we make sure those homes actually reach the people they are intended to serve? Will there be income qualifications for buyers? Will there be owner occupancy requirements so that these homes are purchased by people who actually intend to live in them? Will there be protections that prevent investors or individuals with significantly greater financial resources from competing for those homes that are specifically created for income qualified buyers? And will there be a process that give qualified local residents a fair opportunity to learn about these homes, prepare financially, and apply for them? That's particularly important to me because simply building a home at an affordable price doesn't necessarily mean the household it is intended to help will have the opportunity to purchase it. We can build affordable housing, but we also need to make sure there is a clear pathway connecting people to those homes, the ones that we're trying to serve. So my question to the council is this. As Auburn moves forward in creating more affordable home ownership opportunities, what safeguards and qualification processes will be in place to ensure those homes are actually purchased by income-qualified households that they were intended to serve? Because ultimately, I think the question isn't just can we build affordable homes, it's also how do we make sure the people who need those opportunities actually have access to them. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you. Who will be next?

Robert Wilkins, 261 Denson Drive, Auburn, Alabama. Some of our issues have been created for many decades, especially the last decade that I've been here, a little over a decade. Part of it is the rubber stamping of the Auburn Planning Commission, the rezoning, the usage changes. There's too many exceptions done on all those accounts, and that has created... a situation where we're getting into now. Some of the things that I believe in is that we get creative. How creative can we get? We have a university that has a tremendous amount of resources from its agricultural school to its architectural school to its engineering school. Why aren't we tapping into them? Why aren't we bringing those people in? Also, they have tap-ins of universities all over this country. Auburn can be an example because we have the financial resources to get creative, and I believe that we can do that. I want to give you some examples, and they're just ideas, but they need to be ideas of everybody, not just Robert Wilkins. They need to be of everybody. There are different materials that we should use, like mushroom roots, the 3D printed local soil, hempcrete, which is hemp that is not the one that you smoke and so forth, but it's a very strong product, it's a very light product, and it's a product that's got great insulation. To create something, we got in our cultural school, we can grow a lot of those things and test them out. And we can get grants for the university so they'll be happy also, especially in conjunction with the university. A land, community land trust model. There's already one used in the state of Alabama. It's up in Jacksonville. And we need to think about that. Also city and university owned underutilized land. Lot size reform. Cluster village model on shared land. What I think you should do, I'm a big believer in task force, and I believe you should do a citizens pilot task force involving AU, the citizens, and just a few of the bureaucratic system. I think you should identify one to three publicly controlled or low-cost partial for demonstrations. Choose one or two material systems and see what you can do with them. Structure ownership through the community land trust. It's land that's owned, that's bought. It can be done through foundations or whatever it might create here. And that land is kept there. The houses are sold. New houses are built on that land. But the biggest problem, the biggest cost in this city is land. And our developers will pay any amount for that land. Okay? So we need to be able to put money together in order to do that.

We'll be next.

Hello. Good evening. My name is Shanta Torbert, and I'm a local real estate agent with Keller Williams of 20 years. I'm here in the Auburn area, and I have a strong commitment to these local issues.

Address, ma'am. Your address.

The address is 1747 Ocotree Road. Thank you. Thank you. My concern is affordable housing in the Auburn area. I just want to make sure everybody know what affordable housing is first. Affordable housing in Auburn refers to a resident that allow low to moderate income households to spend no more than 30% of their income on housing costs. ensuring access to safe and stable living environment. This includes various options like rental units and homes for purchase aimed at supporting the community, diverse population, and addressing local housing needs. A significant concern of mine is affordable housing. I've reached out, one point in time I reached out to the Department of the Auburn Planning to let them know that I had land for sale and it was very affordable. Trying to get them to maybe look into it to purchase land and Hoping they would, you know, seize the opportunity to purchase it. Unfortunately, the city did not take the action, and six months later, another company acquired the property and developed three homes, and each home was over $900,000. This situation has led to maybe increasing property taxes, maybe pushing residents out that's on a fixed income, who can no longer afford to be in the city of Auburn. I would like to know how the city plans to tackle affordable housing if they are not actively planning on purchasing properties or rehabbing homes for its citizens. So that's my concern. Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll be next.

Good afternoon, mayor, council members, city manager, citizens of Auburn, Alabama. It's hard for me not to mention that, well, first of all, I'm Yolanda Jackson, and I live at 1020 Holmes Avenue. I'm Yolanda, and I was born and bred right here in Auburn. And so was my classmate, Ron Anders. I graduated from Auburn University. So did Ron Anders. Because of that graduation, it was my ultimate desire to help others by dedicating myself as an educator in pursuing goals that people set in life. It has been a blessing to have raised and cared for my children and my grandchildren within our family home here in the city. Never dreaming about the possibility of what human beings are facing with the selling of their homes to various developers. However, it has saddened me, my heart, to think about, and I'm not a political person, and believe it or not, Ron don't think so, but I don't talk very much, not in public. But it saddened my heart to think about what you're doing within a zero mile radius of where I was born and raised. You are saying you and your home can't be within three to five mile radius of Auburn. Why? We've been here all our lives. And as has been said, you know, our kids, they grow up, you move away, but you want to move back home. And we're not going to be able to offer them anything because it's nothing affordable. Yes, individuals come and go within the loveliest village on the plains. But you have demonstrated through your overt actions the abundance of concern for the well-being of our citizens. However, Every day, citizens can imagine a chance to have a home to stay in here in the city, not three to five miles a radius away. Finally, sorry. Thank you.

Thank you, Lynn.

Coming forward, sir. Okay, you're leaving. All right.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council, City Manager. I'm Calvin Patrick. I live at 804 Bedell Avenue. I'm the Outreach Pastor at True Deliverance Holiness Church. Amen. You know, sitting back and listening about the homeless situation, and other issues that's facing the community in Auburn. If we're gonna build affordable housing that's intended for the people that can afford certain housing, there needs to be an income limit. We have to make this strategic. not just a good political statement, say we're doing something. And it has to be intentional, and it has to be direct, like previous ones have stated, to serve the purpose of those it's intended to be. And with this issue, back in July 16th, while living on Bedell, the people on the street was complaining about the traffic going up and down the street all the time, wide open. So we got a petition signed by every occupant on Bedell, 100%. We submitted it. In three weeks, okay, to sit out there, they did a study. But the study they did, they put the speed monitor, the black rope that goes on the road, they put it about 150 feet from the stop sign. Everybody's slowing down then. And then they put it on a Tuesday, middle of the day, ain't no traffic. And so when I called and inquired about it, they came up with the speed limit, you know, three weeks. And they said, careful, your request got denied. I said, it's what the citizen wanted. They said the speed limit was 25 and the average speed was 26. I said, really? I said, yeah, where it was signed up, you couldn't help but to get that outcome. And then when the time of the week it was signed up on, you're not going to have no traffic. So they said they're going to revisit the situation. Okay, at first it was three weeks. I'm still waiting on the revisiting. Seemed like when you don't do something correct, At first, you don't need to push to the back of the table. You need to straighten that out before you go farther. I haven't seen no one else come out there. It doesn't seem like he's just got kicked to the curb through email correspondence. It's all I have been.

Thank you, Mr. Patrick. Who will be next?

Good evening. I am Norma J. Sanders, and my address is 2298 Canongate Drive. I live in Opelika. I am here this afternoon to represent the NAACP Lee County Branch 5038. I would like to make the following statement on their behalf. We would like for Mayor Anders, City Councilwoman, City Councilman, we would like for you to ask yourselves life's most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others? As the NAACP reflects back on the situation of Lamont Square and Chateau Apartments, it is unbelievable how you did not consider or possibly plan for affordable housing. in regards to Lamont Square and Chateau apartment tenants consisting of dads, moms, children, senior citizens, retirees, and single parent households. Yes, we stand before you tonight saying you have failed the individuals of Lamont Square and Chateau apartments. All people of the city of Auburn are significant in your decisions made because no work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence. The individuals of various communities being impacted by these new developments or zone changes are here this evening. They have been saying to you their lives began to end the day they become silent about things that matter in the city of Auburn. Thank you.

Anyone else?

Greetings, Mary Anderson, and to all of you who sit here tonight. There's been a lot of conversation.

Address, please.

Yes. Jesse Sheely, 1962, Miracle Road.

Thank you.

You all are very familiar with my face. And that's a good thing.

We are, but we have to ask every time.

That's a good thing. But just real quick, I was sitting back there, and I was thinking, what can I say? to give thought to this entire meeting tonight. And this is what came to mind. I want each of you to take your pen, if you don't mind, and write this down. Luke 16, 19 through 31. When you have a moment, please go home and read that, okay? Because at the end of the day, What really truly matters is how we treat one another at the end of the day. That's what it boils down to. I've sat back there and I've looked and observed at nonverbal communication. I am a psychologist. I have a psychology background. And nonverbal communication truly speaks louder than any word you all can say. That's the truth. The story talks about a gentleman, a poor gentleman named Lazarus and a rich man. And they both died. But unfortunately, the rich man went to hell and the poor man went to heaven. And it goes on to tell us that The rich man, the wealthy man said, can you just send Lazarus just to ease my pains? And he said, no. He said, there's a great gulf now. There's a great gulf between us. In other words, what you do on this side counts for what is done on the other side. Some of you may not be... religious. Some of you may not have a relationship with the Lord. But at the end of the day, we all have to answer to what we did on this side of eternity. Let's make it right for these individuals. They're counting on you. Some of them elected you. Let's not fail them this time.

Thank you, Ms. Shealy.

Thank you.

We'll be next.

Good evening.

Mayor Anders. My name is Debbie Vaughn. I don't normally come in front of people to speak, so bear with me. I'm at 847 Dewey. Well, it was street, and now it's drive. I might be back to street. And I came to speak for the people. I had a speech written out, and everybody has talked so well. It hurt my feelings, and I've been disappointed in all of you in that you're not connecting with all the people of Auburn. But to me it seems like you're connected to the people who go to your churches, who live Moore's Mill, who live over in Grove Hill. You know those people very well. They live in your neighborhood. But do you know the people that live at Le Mans? Do you know the people that live at Chateau? Do you know the people who live down Donahue? And do you understand that a lot of people do not have the money to purchase a $450,000 house? And a $450,000 house payment ranges, depending on your down payment, around, what, $2,000 a month? $2,500 a month? Maybe you guys have assets. You know, oh, is it 35? I'm sorry, 35. So, you know, even with me, I'm retired now, but I had a decent job. But I wouldn't have to be. you know, pinching pennies for that kind of mortgage payment with three children. Our children, my children went to Auburn High School. My children went when it was cheaper. But now, they were athletes. Now you have to pay lots and lots of money for our kids to do all these Boy Scouts and be on the soccer team. be on the lacrosse and all of that. We don't take that into consideration because we don't have to suffer through stuff. I know that my lights are probably going to be on, and I know even though beef prices have gone up sky high, that I might be able to get me a pound of ground beef. But some of our brothers and sisters in this community cannot do that. They cannot pay the bill. They cannot even be at the city council meeting because a lot of their jobs won't let them off. You say there are jobs coming, but will those jobs be able to pay for a $450,000 house? Okay. So that is all I have to say. Everybody else did a great job. But that is my input. And thank you for listening to me.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Good evening. My name is Dee Reed. My address is 8533 3rd Avenue, South Birmingham, Alabama, and I serve as the Alabama State Organizing Manager for Black Voters Matter. So, so much has already been said, and I love how we've had the opportunity to center the people. And tonight, my responsibility is to serve as a reminder of your responsibility. because this moment requires bold and courageous leadership. Leadership that does not simply serve the few, but truly serves the many. Leadership that understands public office is not about power for power's sake, but it truly is about the people. And as we come out of your municipal elections last week, I came tonight with a simple message, that is, we will not forget. We will not forget the votes made during your tenure. Somebody said we will not forget. Because as mayor and as members of this council, you have been entrusted with a tremendous responsibility. You were elected to serve the people, and I'm talking about all of them. And every vote you take has consequences. Every time residents come before you concerned about their homes, their neighborhoods, their families, and their ability to remain in their communities, how you respond, it absolutely matters. The people are paying attention. And we will not forget. And over the next four years, we will remember the impact and the implications of the decisions made right here. We will remember who stood with the people and who did not stand with the people. We will remember who had the courage to ask, can we do this, but should we do this? We will not forget. Somebody say, we will not forget. So tonight, I'm asking you to lead with the many in mind and not simply the few. And remember, just as you have a responsibility to the people, Mayor, we have a responsibility to remember. We will not forget. Thank you.

Thank you. We'll be next.

Okay.

We'll close Citizens Communications. Who on the council would like to respond?

I would.

Please.

First of all, I just want to thank everybody for coming out tonight and expressing their concerns about what's happening in our city, in Le Mans Square, and in Chateau. We're not just affected by Le Mans Square and Chateau, but there's other areas in our cities that are also going to be affected by the decisions that we make as a council. In saying that, it is on its way. It's already happened. We see it all around us. And we see everyday lives, people's lives being destroyed, disrupted, and now being displaced. It saddened me, and I said it at the last council meeting, that this had to happen to people who was living affordable. Developer came in. They decided they wanted to take that away. I had no problem with, I have no problem with developing. I have no problem with, um, these developers coming in and do what they do, but I got a problem when we allow them to do what they do because developers going to do what they do. Okay. But as, as council members, we get to think, and we got to think beyond what some of these developers are trying to do and trying to displace people. It's sad. I am a product of everybody that's sitting out there in that audience. And I heard somebody say that got up and speak and talking about where people live and how we, how most of, well, they said basically all of us We know where our next meal come from. All of us may not know that. I'm sitting to the, you know, maybe everybody to my left may know where their next meal coming from. But every day, sometimes I even have to wonder, even sitting on this city council, I'm not one of the rich and the elite. So when people hurt because of this, I hurt. I can feel the pain. I know what it's like. Somebody might have been there and gone beyond that, but I'm not one of those people. So I just want to say there was some questions asked tonight about uh, zone chain changing. That is one of the things that we do have to look at as a city. Because when I first got on this council, I asked the question, even the neighborhood that I lived in that used to be called the Quarters was a black neighborhood. I didn't know there were businesses there. There was a cab station. There was a store. There was all these things in this neighborhood. And at that point, that was what I would have thought was neighborhood conservation. It would have been reserved even if something else would have been built there. So it hardened my heart. that a neighborhood, and I'm talking about my neighborhood, but there's broader neighborhoods around the city, like the Backland, and some of y'all might not be familiar with some of these old names. The Backland, Drake Town, and all these other places. Holiday, a lot of different places in Auburn. And what happened to NC? What happened to Neighborhood Conservation? I'm living in a spot in my own cell where it's surrounded by nothing but students. Students everywhere. All over. It's about five, maybe ten, no, it ain't even ten, I don't think. Gloria Jean, help me count. I don't even think it's ten people that stay in my neighborhood. Six? Okay, thank you. Six of us left and the rest of them students. I refuse to move and sell simply because I'm just like y'all. I ain't got nowhere to go. Ain't nobody going to give me enough money to go nowhere. So I'm going to stay right there. And I've had the pleasure of, and I thank everybody who allowed me to sit in this seat and try to do what I can. But by the time I got here, it was almost too late. So we just have to think of ways as city council people to work on some of the things that these people have asked for. Homeliness is going to be the key thing that Auburn is facing right now. Not for you, you, and you, but for us. I see it coming. It's already here, and we ignore it. So I just hope that we take it in our heart as a council. The damage had already been done, I assume, with Le Mans and Chateau, but it should have been planned out because somebody knew it was coming. And there should have been some plan, some plan. You're talking about 200 units, but you're talking about almost 500 people that's going to be affected by this. So I can go on and on and on, but I just want to lay the foundation right now. And I hope my fellow council members, I hope that you consider our city manager, who has just about all the power, I hope that you consider, you may look at me funny and think that's not true, but we all know, okay? I hope that we all can consider, and I'm not really trying to be sarcastic or anything, I'm just telling it like it is, that we consider doing something before 2027, because it has been said that everybody's lease in Le Mans and Chateau is going to, expire in 2027. So we just, I promise you, knocking on the door. So what are we going to do?

I would like to say a few things. Sure. First, I appreciate everyone who came and spoke. I've taken very detailed notes, and I appreciate your comments, and they all matter. But I do think it's important to understand that there are a few things that got to this point. One is a conditional use approval that was on our last agenda for Chateau and Le Mans. And every one of us on this dais has the opportunity to ask this council to make a postponement. We do it on the regular. And not one of the council members on this dais took a moment to ask us to postpone either one of those items, including Connie Fitch-Taylor. So, nope, I have the floor. I'm good. Call my name. When you take to social media and you state inaccuracies about this dais and decisions we make, then it needs to be understood what a leader has the ability to do. We've listened. We continue to listen. I know that several people on this dais immediately went to work in discussing with real estate agents, the developer, community groups within the area, including some that have spoke tonight. One that I haven't heard tonight, who I think has been instrumental and has had some solid plans, is the Auburn Tenant Union. And I look forward to their first meeting that they hope to have, I think, on September the 9th. And I think they have a solid plan that they have asked us to consider and discuss. We've talked about changing our zones. We're in the middle of that right now. There have been conversations I've had with many people in this dais, including the city manager, about what are the processes that we could actually have a charge to developers that would go into inclusion housing fund that could possibly go to the Auburn Housing Authority to help facilitate. Those conversations are happening. Also, Other things that have been mentioned. So I want it to be noted that while we sit up here and we have been elected by the people and we hear the people, we are listening to the people and we've had multiple conversations. And they may not all be held directly. at a church or in a courtyard somewhere, but they are being had and they're being effective. And so I believe in the next 30, 40, 60 days that we will have some clear and sustained things that we can do as a council that will take action. I believe there's plans in place that we're looking at land across this city. I've asked multiple times in my tenure on this dais, can we buy land and hold it for affordable housing? So I, I say all that to say it's important that everyone has a voice, and I do appreciate everyone's voice this evening and throughout the thing. But if we're going to sit here and be critical, we all need to take the brunt of that, and we all have on this dais the ability to make decisions and ask for action.

Anyone else?

Yes, I do. I want to respond here. I want to respond to County Fisher-Taylor. Okay. The last council meeting, when this discussion came up, just to be clear, yes, all of us had the opportunity to table this thing, all right? But when you sitting and you asking, I'm thinking to myself, When the question came up, and there were some of you out there, when the question came up, there was a lot of dialogue that went on with some of the city council members. And I was hoping at least five of us, from the dialogue that was carried on in our meeting, that I was thinking that at least five of us was going to vote this thing down. Okay? So the reason why I didn't table it is because I thought it was going to be voted down because of some of the dialogue. So just as well as I could have tabled it, and if you knew that you was going to be one of the ones that didn't vote it down, then Beth Whitten could have tabled it.

Please, let us finish, please. Anyone else? Anyone else like to speak?

Two people have indicated that they would like a conversation on zoning and rezoning and looking at the ordinances. And I think we all expect that conversation to occur. And I would like to throw my hat in the ring and say I welcome that conversation. I have... I think we all have a dog in that fight. I think we all want to see a greater Auburn. We all want to see an Auburn where everybody feels like a family. So I certainly welcome that conversation.

Ms. Crouch, I have a few questions for you, please. When a private individual that owns a piece of property wants to divest themselves of that property, or they could even demolish their property if they want to. Can the city stop that? Delay that? Stop that?

If an individual wants to sell, the answer is no, of course not. It's property rights state. Second, if somebody wants to demo an existing building... I mean, whether they want to redevelop it or not, it's a simple permitting process, just making sure it follows an environmental regulation. The council has no purview over that. That's just pulling a demolition permit. So it's up to the property owner if they meet the criteria.

And in this current zoning that these apartments fall under – Permitted by right means that they have the right to build this type of development and they do not go through the planning department or come before the city council, correct?

It means they don't go through planning commission or city council. They do go through the planning department.

Planning department. They're not voted on at the planning commission.

That's correct. That means that the planning commission and city council at a point in time and ultimately the city council have decided what is a permitted or a conditional use or not allowed at all.

Okay. I appreciate everybody that came to speak tonight. There was passion in your voice and thought you planned, you thought about what you wanted to say to us and you did a great job and I appreciate it. It was moving and I'm grateful for the time that you took to be here. When that decision was before me a couple weeks ago, I was asked to consider conditional use. The conditional use was what made sense to go to these pieces of property? And they were already multifamily housing. And so to me, it made all the sense in the world to put multifamily back there. I was not asked to make the decision whether to redevelop this property. That decision was made by the person who owned the property. I was asked to consider, on a conditional use, what makes sense to go there. And that's what I did. I'm I'm sorry. It makes me, I have a hole in my stomach about the hurt. But I didn't feel like that I was doing the job of representing the people if I didn't consider exactly what I was being asked to do. I don't know who owns this piece of property. I don't know what mitigating factors went into this gentleman, company, family making this decision to sell. But they obviously wanted to sell this property. The next day, I spent time, I probably spent most of my day talking to different people, from the developer to a local developer of low-income housing to a couple of people that are in property management in this community to Sharon Talbert, who does an excellent job with our housing authority, all trying to figure out what we can do and what can be done to help. In the very, very near future, I will be part of a meeting with some property managers in this city to try to understand what their inventories are and what opportunities lie with them. And there's also going to be a meeting that's going to be held with a local low-income developer who has been in our community for a long time and has certainly got a track record and has projects that people are living in right now in the Auburn area. I don't want to make promises to anybody. I don't know what's going to come for me in those meetings. I don't know if there's going to be opportunities there, if there's going to be challenges there. I don't know what's going to happen. But I believe, and I'm speaking for myself, that this council sees that we've got a tremendous crisis on our hands and we've got to meet it. And so that's what I'll be working on. That will be my motivation moving forward. And you have my word on that.

May I like to say, Connie, Ms. Connie, you know better than to say Megan was in charge of the city. She's not. She works for us. We have to vote on everything that comes through here. You know that. That was unfair if you took a shot at her. Good power.

I didn't see.

You shouldn't have took a shot at her, Ms. Connie. You were wrong for that, just like you were wrong for some of the stuff that appeared on social media when you knew that Shady Grove is Where Shady Cove is not in my ward, it's in your ward.

And I clarified that. I didn't see where you clarified it. Well, some things you don't see.

And another thing, you knew about that thing on Thursday coming through. You could have got with us, and we could have tabled that thing for you last. You've given me numbers of times to ask me to table things for you, and I do it. You've asked me to give you my money for travel. I did that. I've tried to help you where I can. I come up with the idea of honoring Miss Rosa Parks over on Boykin Street. I started all that. It wasn't you, Miss Connie. So don't put me like I'm the demon or something. Oh. And another thing, I appreciate you being here tonight, Bishop Torbert. I have a lot of faith in you, and I admire what you say, and I trust your word to be your bond, and I know you would, if you didn't believe in the issue, you wouldn't be up here talking about it. So I can appreciate that, and that's something I was certainly looking at. But You made the point, not you, you, and it's us. I didn't come up with a silver spoon in my mouth. I had a mama who had to work in a sewing room and come to a house with no electricity. I lived like that. Nobody helped me. They helped us. We had to dig out all on our own. Had to take my dad to the VA hospital back then in 1975 because we couldn't afford the hospital here in Lee County. So nobody has a monopoly on being poor. I grew up poor myself.

Can we please be respectful?

Please let Mr. Dawson finish. Thank you. I appreciate what you said tonight, and I'll certainly be looking at it. Those of you that know me know I'll do what I say I'm going to do. And we're already looking at some things where we can get some affordable housing for this community. I understand that. I know where you're coming from. But I was not intentionally trying to keep 200 folks. And the guy that represented the developer even said we're looking for places for these people to move to if we do – Buy this property and change it. He said here at that meeting he was looking for places to put these residents. And then he all said he wasn't going to kick anybody out. He might not renew the lease when it comes up, but anybody has a right. If you own a piece of property yourself, you have a right to rent it like you want to rent it. I mean, it's just that I don't understand that. We're in America, and you have a right to own something and have control of it. Thank you.

Anyone else?

Yeah. I got something else to say.

Okay.

That's right. We're in America, and we have the right to say anything we want to say. I have the right on social media and in front of the camera to say what I wanted to say. Even if it felt, if I stabbed somebody, then so be it. And that's just the way I feel. I don't think I said anything wrong on social media. I just put the truth out there. So I don't see where everybody want to sit here and don't realize that Beth attacked me. But then everybody else want to come back and attack me. We ain't doing that. I got to work with these people for the next four years, and we're not doing that. I did not call anybody's name on social media or in the news. If the shoe fit. Just give me time because you gave everybody else time. So I'll just say this. I'm not going to be attacked by no city council. I don't disrespect.

You absolutely disrespect.

You disrespected me.

Ma'am, you have disrespected me for the whole time you've been on this council. I move with adjourn. That's simply because you've disrespected me. We're adjourned.