City Council - Regular Meeting

We all ready. I will call this March 3rd meeting of the Andalusia City Council to order. Uh just a couple of housekeeping things. Uh our mayor is at the power south trustee update which is an annual meeting. He is the chairman of the power south board. So uh he is missing the meeting here tonight. Uh Councilman Boswell is u not feeling well. Uh he had intended to be here. uh so would appreciate it if you would keep him in your prayers uh tonight. If you would join me, I will lead us in the prayer and the pledge. Almighty God, we thank you for your love and for your mercy. We thank you for the blessings that you have bestowed upon both this council, this city, and the residents of the city of Andalusia. Father, as our world is at war, we pray that you would touch the hearts and minds of coolheaded men, that they could make decisions that would bring peace and that the killing could stop. As we conduct this meeting, we pray for wisdom and insight to make good decisions for both our citizens and our town in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Attention, salute, pledge. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right.

I'd like to welcome our guest. We have some that are special here tonight. Uh we're going to recognize some uh young men that have been involved in wrestling. So before we conduct any other business, I will come down to the podium and if the young wrestlers will come and join me up there, I will read the resolution and present them to you. She's tough.

All right. And there is a young lady. So let me not miss that. So this resolution is being presented to each of you. Whereas the Andalusia Youth Wrestling Club is a nonprofit organization focused on teaching competitive wrestling. And whereas the group recently was reorganized and rebranded to compete as Andalusia Bulldogs. And whereas parents say that the team members had improved behavior, confidence, and discipline. And whereas every member of the 2526 team qualified to participate in regionals for their individual ages and weight classes through team Alabama US wrestling. And whereas the Bulldogs Railen Stacks did win the 12 and under 64 pound girls state championship. And whereas Jaden Lockheart did win the 8 and under 98B boys state championship. And whereas Ronan Staxs did win the 8 and under 78B state boys championship. And whereas Ace Ace George did win the six and under 56PB boys state championship. And whereas they represented Andelusia with class, learning valuable life lessons about the rewards of hard work. Now therefore be it resolved that I, Major Earl V. Johnson, on behalf of the city council of Andalusia, Alabama, and all of its citizens, do hereby recognize Railen Stacks. Raise your hand.

Jaden Lockheart, Ronan Stacks, and Ace George and their coaches, and extend to them our congratulations for their success and for representing our community so well. Adopted and approved this the third day of March, 2026. And congratulations to each of you. Let me see if I can get one for Are these Where is Michelle? I'll get a picture for Michelle. Are these individualized?

No. All right. One, two, three, four. Here we go. Congratulations. Congratulations. One, two, three. These are the kind of young people we want growing up in our town. One day you will be where I am and we want you to lead our town very well, just like you wrestle. Okay. It's always really good to see uh our young people rewarded for hard work. Hard work and discipline will take you long ways. All right. Uh you're more than welcome to stay. It's a brief meeting. We won't be very long. Uh or you can go ahead and and go, whichever you prefer.

Okay. Understand? All right. Good. Okay. Good deal. We'll be glad to have you. All right. We have our minutes from the previous meeting to be approved. Uh I would entertain a motion to approve the uh February 17th me minutes. Mr. Mayor Pro Tim, I move for approval of the said minutes uh from the uh meeting of February 17, 2026. All right, we have a motion to approve. Do we have a second? I second the motion.

All right, is there any further discussion regarding the minutes? If not, all in favor raise your right hand and say I. I.

Any oppose the same privilege? And it carries. We have no unfinished business. Under new business, we have the Andalusia City Schools education sales tax request. Uh it was presented to us last August. Uh and we had agreed. We held off approving that, waiting for them to get the pricing for uh an addition to the new elementary school that came in under the price that they had anticipated and the the board of education, Dr. Shakespeare has agreed that we will uh approve everything but the request for the elementary school edition pending him getting the price to redo old Maine at the high school. It badly needs to be redone. So once they have that number, they will bring a new price to us and and we will consider that then. But for now, we will uh approve instead of the let me find my page. Instead of 4,620, we will approve 1,120,000. So, do I hear a motion to approve that amount?

Mayor Pro Tim, I'll make a motion to approve the Andalusia City Schools education sales tax request for 2627. Okay. and and it is for 2526. They they misprinted in in here. I forgot to tell you that correct. So, all right, we have a motion to approve. Do we have a second? A second. Motion. All right, we have a second. Is there any further discussion? Any questions? If not, all in favor of approving the request as presented, let it be known by raising your right hand and saying I. I.

Any opposed? the same privilege and it carries. The last uh item of business tonight is a franchise agreement with Ceasepire item B.

Oh, I'm sorry. I missed the resurface. Uh, we have a resolution 2026-02 to appropriate $85,000 from the capital account to be appropriated to cover the cost of resurfacing Third Avenue. The Third Avenue project has been approved. However, the the funding was not in the grant to pay for the resurfacing. It paid for everything else, but uh uh the resurfacing is on the city and we have a resolution here to pay for it out of our capital funds. So I would entertain a motion to resurface 3 avenue. Mayor Prom, I make a motion that we approve resolution 20 26-02 resurfacing third avenue and the reservicing cost not to exceed $85,000 and will come from capital.

Okay, you heard have heard Councilman Mount's uh motion. Do we have a second? Mayor Pro. I'll second that motion. All right, we have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? All right. If not, then all in favor, let it be known by saying I and raising your right hand. I.

Any oppose the same privilege? And it carries. All right. Now we are to the point of the uh franchise agreement and I'm going to ask uh Jake Cowan who is a senior vice president uh who happens to live in Covington County to come and tell us about this franchise agreement if you can use the microphone here at the podium. Thank you mayor pro team council opportunity and u speak on this. So uh ceasefire we have a a grant from the uh federal government to deploy a 677 milei uh fiber optic middle mile network which is just a a highcapacity uh fiber network. Um it'll uh covers 27 counties in South Alabama. Of course, it includes Andalusia and Covenant County. Um, uh, in Andalusia, we would deploy, uh, a high-capacity cabinet, which would be the electronics that serve fiber to the home, um, and the underlying, uh, the network. Um, in in Andalusia, we would have three routes out. So, we would have multiple redundancy where if, uh, one fiber path got cut, uh, or up to two fiber paths got cut, we could still uh, maintain um, a network service. Um and so as part of the grant with the federal government, phase one would be complete the 677 mile project by July of 27. Um and then phase two uh as soon as that's complete, we move into market expansion. Um and as part of uh as part of the grant and taking the federal dollars, we will operate open access and non-discriminatory network, which just means uh we will provide service at at uh non-discriminatory rates. uh to any other provider whether it's another

telecom provider that competes with us, a cell phone provider, another phone company locally. So, they could also use the network to increase their um reliability and redundancy. Um Mayor Pro Tim, anything else you want me to cover? Uh I think that pretty well covers it. Um, and just for general information, uh, the charges that Ceasefire will incur are consistent with all of the other internet providers that have a franchise agreement with the city of Andalusia. Um, before you start moving to homes, we're looking at at least a year. Yes, sir. Or or a little longer.

Yes, sir. But for businesses that are along the state right of way, you'll be able they'll be able to get service much faster. Yeah, we hope before the end of the year. Okay. So, so this project is ex or or service is expected to start sometime by the fourth quarter or a little earlier.

Yes, sir. So, and and the city is hoping that by having an additional internet provider that it will make the other internet providers um make their service uh more dependable. The biggest thing that I hear is that people uh can't use it. uh businesses have to have it to bill uh to get my car tuned up. If the internet doesn't work, they can't do it. Uh if they get it tuned up and then it goes down, they can't bill me. So, all these things are important to businesses and particularly to individuals who work from home with the requirement of high-speed internet. So, this will make it even better for them. they'll have more choices and and we're hoping by having multiple providers uh a person can get redundancy and never be without internet. It's not likely that two providers would be down at the same time. So that's the thinking of the city as we enter into this agreement. Okay.

Does does the council have any questions for Mr. Cowan? Okay. He answered most of our questions upstairs in the workshop. So, all right. You have before you the resolution uh for telecommunication services and redundancies in the city of Andalusia. Do I hear a motion that we approve the franchise agreement? Mr. Mayor Prom, I so move. All right. We have a motion from Councilman Nicks. Do we have a second?

A second. A motion. All right, we have a second from Councilman Mau. Is there any further discussion? If not, then all in favor of the agreement, let it be known by raising your right hand and saying I. I.

Any oppose the same privilege? And it carries. Let me uh that's all of the business unless someone has something. Uh let me again say to you young people, uh we're proud of you. And uh keep in mind we're going to need you to take a seat up here one day. Somebody will have to run this city because we're we're going to get old. So you guys give that a lot of thought. All right. If there is no further business, then we will be adjourned.