Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Want to thank everybody for being here and the meeting is now called to order. If everybody would please stand. We will have the invocation by Miss King followed by the pledge of allegiance. Dear heavenly father, thank you for allowing us to be here tonight. Thank you for this ability to serve you. Thank you for all the people up here and attending this meeting. Please be with the Phillips family who um their baby boy has had to have surgery. Please be with that family during this time. Please lead us and guide us as we make decisions for this city. Thank you for this wonderful city that we serve and for the ability to to lead and serve. In your name we pray. Amen.

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

Thank you, Mr. Wonder, for calling. Council member Hendris here. Council member Dixon here. Council member Baldwin here. Council member Spence here. Council member King here. Council President Simmons here. Madam President, all six council members are in attendance and therefore a quorum is present. Thank you very much. We can uh let's get the approval of the agenda. We did remove item N in the work session uh that was requested by Mr. Jordan. So if we can get um motion to approve the agenda as amended. So moved. Second

motion by Mr. Hendrick, second by Mr. Bowl Bowling. All in favor of motion 6. Motion carries.

Thank you. Um Mayor Tyler is absent tonight. So we don't have any messages from um the mayor. However, I do want to take this opportunity and this time to acknowledge the scouting America troops 284. Will you all please stand? Let's give them a round of applause. And if y'all stay with y'all want to take a picture with the council y'all here, they're here on civic duty to watch the council in action. So, can we pause just to do that right quick? If y'all Well, you want to do it over there or you want to do You want them to come up here and we stay up here.

Who's Who's going to be our photographer? Miss Laura know you going to do it and we going down there. You want them just stand right here and we'll stand. Okay. Right here. Some of us still aren't calling that meeting up here. We're not going to be singing. You might have to move today.

Hey man, Jace, are you able to take a picture, please?

Here you go. Here you go. Hold on one second. Thank you. And thank you all for being here.

Thank you.

I can't see nothing. Again, thank you all for being here. Do we have any um reports from any department heads? Any standing committees? Miss King, I have the utilities uh committee meeting which was conducted on April the 8th at 400 p.m. In attendance was Mayor Tyler, Ted Cole, Will Hadock, Sandy Prum, Mark Lovejoy, Heath Johnston, Council Member Simmons, Council Member King. The city council and mayor manage five different budgets within the city. They are the general fund, solid waste, water and wastewater, electricity, which are five separate entities. No other mayor and council handle five budgets the way that our city does that the mayor is aware of. Today we are dealing with just the water and wastewater budget. Asking rate increase for water. We have been looking at this increase since October of 2023. The previous council has also was also approached with this rate increase. Mr. Cole feels this increase is crucial. There are multiple reasons for asking for this increase but one additional reason is the POS which is not funded. We have met with the POS requirements by 2029 possibly 2031. currently have three contracts with neighborhood neighboring water authorities, three-year contracts that will be renewed by July 1st, 2026. Based on the contracts, we are selling them water at $24 per this audit, it will cost us $3.56

per thousand gallons to treat and distribute it. We are losing $152. The last rate increase was 2023, which is a 3% increase. Prior to that, it was 2017. Our current rate structure is called the descending block rate structure and has been in existence for over 40 to 50 years. Currently, we charge a flat rate based on meter size. The more water you buy, the less you pay per thousand gallons. We feel that we are way behind the curve on the increases. Additionally, it should be more than the 3% done in 2023. All surrounding areas are higher than us. We feel the lowest would be the $4. We cannot sell water less than $4 per thale customer ever again. We would like to be close to the price point of killing which is $24.75 for minimum bill which is a rate of $8.25 per thousand gall. ADM potentially could come in and take over our water system. We are asking to take this before the full council. We will go into effect June 1st if approved. Everything has gone up since the last audit. Kllin has had their current rate since 2023 and was charging what we are now in 2004 to 22 which was years ago. Mr. Haddock and Mr. Cole want to try to use our our current rate structure other than completely redoing it which would take a lot of time and manh hours. This is a critical stage before ADM steps in and they raise the rates with an order from the governor. Eventually we would like to build an annual rate increase which is escalator similar to the city of Athens. Water authorities that buy water from us are expected to raise are expected a rate increase. This would

affect industrial businesses inside of the city as well as the rural residents outside of the city. We are uh providing water basically to everybody except Kellin um in this rate increase. This would be an impact countywide. Miss Simmons asked how they would plan to educate the public. Mr. Cole suggests Facebook post and they will be sending out letters to residents as soon as it's approved by the full council. Ideally, there should been an increum All along Mr. Lovejoy and Mr. Johnson talked about revenues and expenditures. We are projected to lose 1.9 million even with a 1.5 increase in revenue for our upcoming physical year million in debt before the PA studies. We adjourned at 57. Thank you Miss King. Any other standing committees? Okay. At this time we do have a public hearing. Miss Bailey. This evening we do have two public hearings. Um, and I will introduce them both at the same time. Uh the first one was a public hearing for the request for reszoning of 2 acres at the corner of Mobile and Cherry Street by Scholes Commercial LLC from B3 Central Business District to a planned unit development. The second is to approve the resoning of 6.8 acres at 125 Fairground Road by Proscape Outdoors LLC from B1 Neighborhood Business to B2 general business with a conditional overlay. Both of these uh resonings come to you all with a recommendation, a full recommendation of the um both are in accordance with the city's comprehensive plan. And I'll be glad to take any questions from the

council before we open the public hearing. There'll be none. Okay. Hearing none, I recommend that we open the public hearing for comments from the floor on both of these items at the same time. Okay. All right. We'll u take comments from the public. Anyone to my right want to come and speak uh for or against? In the middle, you may come. I live on Fairground Road.

Hold on till you get to the podium. And if you'll state your name and your address. I'm Susan Perry. I live at 147 Fairground Road at the end of that. Uh I just want to know what the reasonzoning is is about. I know what it um what is going to be going in there or what am I going to be living next to? What's going to be going in? No, not till I get to you. Miss Bailey, do you want to answer that or Okay. Yes, please do. Cuz I, you know, I know it's resone, but you know, I don't know what's going to be going in next to me.

Let me let me trade places with you. Okay. So currently the property is zoned B1 which is a commercial district. Um it is going to the next level of our commercial zoning which is a B2 district. It does have a conditional overlay uh that's accompanying it. Currently there are commercial activities going on on the property and the property owner has expressed that they will continue those same operations as they have there now which is related to a landscaping building u or landscaping business. Um there could be additional activities on the property but they will be related to the current activity on the bless you the current activity on the property. The conditional overlay does require additional screening requirements um as well as a list of permitted uses that will accompany the reszoning. Does that help?

I think so. Okay. Okay. Thank you, Eddie. And there was another one.

Hi, good evening. I'm Tyler Brandon. I live at 412 East Tom Bigby Street. So, I was wanting to speak uh about the development at Mobile and Cherry. Um so, recently there were several town homes built one block down at Mobile and Popppler. Um I'm prodevelopment, but I'm also pro sidewalk. Those town homes have eaten into the sidewalk with cars parked there. I'm hoping that this new development, and of course, I I don't know what it is. I assume they're town homes, will also not eat into the sidewalk. The garages are too small. The parking is not available. Um, so when I walk there, I the sidewalk is blocked. So I I I think that's, you know, it's a minor issue, but but I I hope we keep developing, but I hope we keep the sidewalks in effect where people can use them. And I don't know if the development will or will not block the sidewalk, of course, but is there is there a way we we can find out or maybe call you again. So for this particular development under this PUD, these are single family homes. Uh while sidewalks are required on the perimeter, uh they are not necessarily required on the interior of the property. As far as those that are parking and blocking the sidewalk, that is a code enforcement issue. Uh that could be either criminal and or under um our building code requirement. So I would um report that um to you know the proper authorities, which in this case would either be the building department or the police department.

Okay. Thank you very much. So, I think that answers my question. Thank you'all.

There you have it. Thank you. Anyone else in the middle to my left? Okay, Miss Baylor, I recommend that we close the public hearing. Thank you. Hearing is still closed. Okay. At this time, we will have business from the floor pertaining to the items on the consent or the regular agenda with a 5m minute time limit. You may come to the podium, get your name and address. We'll start to my left in the middle. to my right. Okay. All right. Mr. Lady, we have one. So, if you'll go ahead and put the consent agenda. All listed within the consent agenda have been distributed to each one of the Florida City Council for reading and study are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one of the council with no separate discussion. If separate discussion is desired, then it may be removed from the consent agenda and placed on the regular agenda by request. I hear a motion to approve the agenda.

Some moved. Second.

Motion by Mr. Spence, second by Mr. Bowling. All in favor for the motion. 60. Motion carries. Regular agenda. Agenda. Item A is a grant SH entrepreneurial center incorporated business incubator for appropriation funding. This item do not do not receive any consideration at the February 17, 2026 city council meeting. Motion for adoption is all that is needed at this time and it's $10,000 for those funds account 2127-5175 sponsored by Mayor Tyler and the council.

Motion second. I have a motion by Miss King, second by Miss Dixon. any discussion at this point?

Yes, Madame President. By way of discussion, uh I would like to bring up the fact that um this was not included in the original budget. Um I I don't understand why. Well, I was later told that uh the reason why it was not in the original budget was because the previous budget when it was in um in I guess 2025 budget um it there was an issue going on across the river and um the the funding at that time the appropriation was just canceled and not paid to uh this uh this company. Uh, so I I guess my my biggest issue with this is it the original budget when we went back to the drawing board to try to find a cost of living raise, this was added to it and I just don't feel comfortable with that. Thank you.

Thank you. Any additional discussion?

Yes. Um, Council Member Dixon and I went and took a tour um because I wasn't sure at the last meeting that we discussed this really what all that they did. And by taking a tour and understanding how much they support small businesses locally, um, I feel like are the heart of Florence. And I feel like this is a very minimal amount compared to the things that they do for our community, helping start these businesses from scratch, giving people the ability to have this office space, to have access to printers and, you know, Wi-Fi and all the things that they need to do to start their companies up. And then they eventually move out. They only stay there so long and then they move into other places in Florence and they continue to grow uh reach well outside of the Florence area. They are selling products all over the United States. Um the building was full of offices. I met people that I knew, people I didn't um we spent probably over I was so impressed by what they do and what they do for our community and I do believe in in supporting small business.

Thank you. Any additional comments, discussion? Okay. Um, all in favor of the motion. Four votes for oppos. Motion carries.

Okay. ID is a contract with BL Services LLC for concrete and clay sewer replacement phase 2 in the amount of $913,500 from the remaining SRF loans sponsored by Tad Cole the water and wastewater department. Okay. Do I have a motion for immediate consideration? So moved. Second.

Motion by Mr. Hendrick, second by Mr. Bowling. All in favor of the motion. 60. Do I have a motion for the adoption? Some move. Second. Motion by Mr. Spence, second by Miss King. Any discussion?

All in favor of the motion. 60. Motion. Item C is an ordinance to approve the reszoning of 6.80 plus or minus acres at 125 Fairground Road by Procape Outdoors LLC from B1 neighborhood business to V2 with a conditional overlay. uh and the veto that's a journal business with conditional overlay. Do I hear a motion for immediate consideration? So moved. Second.

Motion by Mr. Spence, second by Mr. Bowling. All in favor of the motion. 61. Do I have a motion for the adoption? So moved. Second.

Motion by Mr. Spence, second by Mr. Bowling. All in favor of the motion. 60. Motion carries. Item D is ordinance to approve the request for reszoning of 2 0 plus 1 acres at the corner street and Cherry Street by Scholes commercial LLC from B3 central business to PUD planned unit development. Do a motion for immediate consideration. moved. Second

motion by Mr. Hendrick, second by Mr. All in favor of the motion. 6 motion for adoption. So move second. Motion by Mr. Spence, second by Mr. Hendricks. Any discussion? All in favor of the motion. 6. Motion carries. Item E is an ordinance to approve the annexation of property near Gresham Road and Middle Road as requested by the Creger family and others. Do I hear a motion for the immediate consideration? Motion.

Second. Motion by Miss King, second by Miss Dixon. All in favor of the motion. Do I have a motion for adoption? Motion. Second motion by Miss Dixon, second by Mr. Bowling. Any discussion?

Yes. I would like to say thank you for the people that are here tonight um to support this on this road. This has been, as Melissa said earlier, 20 over 20 years and a lot of people have waited for this day. This is huge. And so a lot of people there's been a lot of work and I appreciate Miss Bailey for all the hard work that she has put into this because this has taken several months since this has been one of the topics since I have taken office that we have dealt with on a weekly basis. So I am so glad and so thrilled to get this done for these people, these residents.

Any additional discussion? All in favor of the motion 6. Motion carries. On the left is a resolution declaring that the city of Florence is committed to leading with civility, dignity, and respect to meet the needs of its citizens. Do you hear a motion for immediate consideration? So moved. Second. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Motion by Mr. Second by Katrina. All in favor of the motion. 60. Do you have a motion for the adoption?

Motion. Second.

Motion by Miss Dixon, second by Mr. Bowling. Any discussion? By way of discussion. I just want to read this and I did. Civility is not just about being polite. It's about our fellow residents leaders with dignity, especially when we disagree. By adopting this resolution, we are ensuring that our disagreements focus on solving issues in personal attacks. As government leaders, it is our responsibility to rem to model the respectful, constructive communication we wish to see in our community. This pledge strengthens our ability to collaborate not just amongst ourselves, but with the residents that we serve. We all love Florence and this resolution is a declaration of our shared commitment to the common good and well-being of every resident. We not only respect we not only respect not only other each other's opinions but more importantly we respect each other's integrity and with dignity. If any additional discussion all in favor of the motion

6 motion carries.

Thank you to the council. LMG is an alcohol application for restaurant license for on premise liquor, beer, and wine by Taco Spot company doing business as Taco Spot located at 1202 Florence Boulevard, Florence, Alabama. Sponsored by Robert Lighty. Okay. Do I hear a motion for immediate consideration? Motion. Motion by Mr. Bowling. Second by Miss King. All in favor of the motion. 6. Do we have a motion for the adoption? So move.

Second. Motion by Mr. Hendrick, second by Katrina Simmons. Any discussion? All in favor of the motion.

6. Motion. By the way, motion carries 6. Okay. General business. That's all I have. All righty. General business. We um made some board appointments. The industrial work with it on the industrial two openings right there. And we appointed um Corey Ribson and Carol, I'm sorry. Weber.

Well, we we appointed Cory Richardson and Carl Weaver.

Yeah, those were the two for the industrial um development board. And for the um historical preservation, we reappointed Chris Stingle and Eric Foster for those two appointments. So, that's all I have at this time. We will have business uh from the public with a fiveminut time limit. If you come to the podium and state your name, we'll start to my left. Miss Bailey, Melissa Bailey, director of planning and community development. I just wanted to take a moment to thank you all um for the uh passage of the annexation ordinance and also to congratulate the uh Crater and Shishmanian families as well as others that are within uh this property. Next, um it has been a long time coming. There are generations that started this process that are no longer with us and are being represented by their children and their grandchildren. And you know, I think it it speaks to perseverance. It speaks to uh continuing to ask for the things that you want and need and getting those out of the municipality that you um live in. um but also working in the reverse and ensuring that that we're listening and we're holding the hands that need to be held and ushering through a process that is not easy. And so with that uh not having the opportunity to speak on the ordinance um I I felt that I needed to take this opportunity while I had it and uh thank them once again for for their perseverance and for helping us uh to get where we are today and to let them

know how much I appreciate their willingness to go through that process and and to stick with it. um even over two decades. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anyone else to my left? In the middle. To my right. Okay. All righty. Oh, okay. Sorry. Oh, that's okay. We'll wait on you.

Greg Shashmanian, 12200 County Road 46. Uh thank you for this opportunity to speak directly to you to you in this public forum. Today is a very special day for the Creo family and for my wife and I. For years we have worked with many city of Florence employees to realize our goal of joining the city of Florence. It was a very long journey that required a tremendous amount of patience. We were determined to accomplish our goal. Now that you have approved the annexation of our properties, it feels great to finally achieve this goal. As comedian Jackie Gleason used to say, how sweet it is. Our sincere thanks to Senator Tim Nelson, both former Mayor Betterton and current Mayor Ron Tyler, the planning department for all their hard work and the city council. I'm uncertain if we could have accomplished this without the support of department director Melissa Bailey and her staff. I might have worn out my welcome, but we sincerely appreciate Melissa's support. Chapel King, our new District 6 representative, continues to be very supportive, providing outstanding two-way communication. Thank you to our neighbors, Kelly, Brenda, and Freeman Kger for all their help and encouragement. We shared many phone conversations during the many highs and lows of this complicated annexation process. We look forward to continuing to work together with the city to plan and shape

the future development of our community. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else to my right? Okay. There'll be none at this time. We will have the council members report with a 5minut time limit starting with Mr. Bowling.

Good evening everyone. Thank you for being here. Thank you to everyone that's online and also thank you to the Boy Scouts for being here today. Uh it's so great to see some young faces uh here. Uh you know just learning and supporting the council and we really appreciate that. Uh I would like to speak really quick um uh on the my vote for the Sholes incubators. Um, I I also support small businesses. I don't want it to seem that I do not. My vote was was merely because it was added late to a budget that we were already trying to cut. So, as a part of the finance committee, I feel like it's my duty also as a a council member for district 4 uh to, you know, look at that and and truly um analyze whether that should be there or not. if it was added late and then to also um get the information about a recent in in the previous year um situation. Um so that also um really uh you know it's what I wanted I thought about when I was thinking how I wanted to vote for this. Um but I am pro small business. I work for a small business. So, uh I want to see them thrive, but um in a lot of cases, it it's not the city's responsibility for a small business to thrive. There are other ways. Um and if I'm not mistaken, they these small businesses actually pay to for these services. So, um it's not a free and clear um for as they grow. Uh we want to see them grow in our city and if they move off that's great. Uh but I do want to make it clear that I am pro small business. Uh I'm not trying that did not I I don't want anybody to think that was

my vote was against the small businesses. It was just merely against it being added late to a budget we were already trying to slash. Um in DC we did uh talk a lot about the civility, dignity, and respect. Um, we I'm I'm so that we were able to bring that resolution in and pass it as a council. Um, we do not want to ever take your your free speech away from you. You are more than welcome to be here. It's our job to sit here and listen for 5 minutes. And if you decide last minute you want to get up and say something, it's it's our job to sit here and listen uh and take in the information. And we want to do that. And the only thing is this is a two-way street. We respect you. You respect us. And um I I think that is a very small thing to ask. I said we do not want to take uh any of your rights away. We want to hear what you have to say because we, you know, that's our job. We need to listen to uh our citizens and what they have to say, what their concerns are. Uh so we definitely want to do that. I I will end with uh Mr. Lighty. Uh I have not worked with you for um I I know your retirement is coming up at the end of this month. This is your last meeting with us if I'm correct. Unless you want to keep coming on for May or uh I do you have you have been a true asset to this city um over the many years and we appreciate everything. Like I said, we've only worked together very, very short time, but I know for many of the city employees and the council that have been here for a while, um we do appreciate what you have done uh for our city, but enjoy your retirement, enjoy your family, and uh we'll see you

somewhere down the road. Thank you so much, Bob. We appreciate it. Uh and that's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Spitz. Um, want to thank everyone for being in the crowd tonight, especially to the Boy Scouts for being here in your civic duty and representing your troop. Um, well, um, also I'd like to, um, thank our city employees for what they do each and every day and how they work hard in day in and day out and continue to to help u maintain our city. So, thank you. Also, I'd like to make everyone aware of our District 5 um community meeting which will be this Thursday night, the 23rd at um 6:00 p.m. at Forest Hills Baptist Church. It's at 1110 Stoall Drive in Forest Hills. So, I would like to invite anyone that would like to be there to come. We're going to have some good topics discussion. We're also going to carry over um Will Hadock is going to be there. Tad's going to be out of town, but he's going to further discuss um the rates and things like that, what we talked about tonight. So, kind of reflection off of what tonight was um said and then Thursday night. Um so, just want would like to invite everyone there in district 5. Um, and I know there there's some tough decisions that we have to make and things that might not have been handled or whatever over the years, but um, it's a responsibility and I want the community know and especially District 5, it's in the best interest of our city and our future generations to come. Um, I do take this um, responsibility serious and remain committed to being diligent and thoughtful in every decision that I make. I don't take those lightly. I sit there and look into them, do my research and talk to, you know, Miss Simmons and Jackie. They've been here and and department heads and things like that. So, we just don't get up here and talk. We're we're out looking into

situations and things that are going to affect our constituents and our community. And we want you all to know that and that we're very supportive and we welcome any um um any input because there will be a Q&A um opportunity on Thursday night to ask questions, the good, the bad, the ugly, whatever that you know District 5 wants to ask. And I think that you know I want to lay that ground out there. So, um, also I'd like to echo, um, Miss, um, President Simmons, um, comments on civility and what we've learned and where we've walked with that. And it is a form of respect on both parties. And we want people to be able to come in and and say things and we want to come to us and have conversations with about Florence, about where we're going and the future of Florence. You know, we've been in some stagnant things, I think. And I think you've got a board up here that is willing and want and again to Mr. Lighty um y'all he is very humorous. I'm just going to tell you we've learned to u in this short 6 months almost time that he is um he he has some humor to him and we appreciate him and what his his dedication to our city and what he's done. So, um, we appreciate you and wish you nothing but God's blessings and the future, you know, and enjoy the the wife and the grandkids. So, thank you.

Thank you, Miss King.

Thank you everyone for coming tonight, especially to the Boy Scouts. We're glad that y'all are here with us. Um, thank you to the Kriger and the Shashanian families that are here tonight. Welcome to District 6. I am here for you. Feel free to call me at any time that you need anything. We are proud to have you in the city of Florence. If you are just now tuning in or you go back and watch this later, please go back and watch the work session that started at 4 p.m. Please watch the part about the water. We want everyone to be informed. We want I want you to contact me if you have questions before these decisions are made. We want to hear from you. um the beautifification. I appreciate River um for coming tonight. I have some handouts if anybody wants uh those on the wildflower project. The Caring Place is having a murder mystery to raise money. That will be May the 7th at 5:30. If you would like to purchase tickets for that event, um it is the caringplace.org. They would love to have your support to come out for that to help them raise money. We, as Mr. Spence said, we do not take these decisions lightly, these water choices that we have to make. Um, we have to do these things to move our city forward and be progressive and and keep up with the maintenance and operations that we need to do. And so, um, again, please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. Mr. Lighty, we um will miss you. We are glad for all the hard work and foring up with us and all that you've done for these past few months. We wish you well in your retirement.

Thank you, Mr. Hendris. Well, first I'd like to thank you for putting the civility pledge on the agenda tonight. It's been a been a while and I was so glad to see it. So, thank you. Uh also like to congratulate all our appointees. Uh I know Cory's here, Eric's here. I don't know if any others are here, but uh congratulations on your appointments tonight. Um like to give a shout out to the water department. Uh as most of you know, the April is the month that the fire department goes out and tests all our fire hydrants. And we had some lingering brown water in one street in my district and they went over and tapped a fire hydrant and let it run for a while to clear that up for the residents over there. So, thank you for doing that. Um, want to let everybody know, um, this week, uh, we we've had the, uh, all the historic tours going on this past weekend, uh, was Forks of Cyprus. Uh, I attended that. It was well attended. Uh, I'd like to give a shout out to Harry Wallace and Curse Flowers for doing that for us. But this weekend, uh, Saturday 10:00 a.m., Billy Warren will be leading the at UNA. And then the final tour will be a week from Saturday at 10:00 a.m. and that will be North Court Street and Seminary Street. Um Bob, we'll let you know we got a job opening. Um if you want to get with me next week, um hear from you. Uh and if and if we don't have a a city clerk show up by the next meeting, I hope to see you uh come back and fill in for us for a little while. We would we would love to have that. And I'm going to close uh with a thank you, Miss Conrad. Thank you for inviting me into your home last week. Um I think it was last Friday. We spent some time together. Uh Miss Dixon joined us. I

left with a a bag of cheese straws, but we talked about the the water rates. Um and thank you for always being so welcoming for me. That's all I've got.

Thank you, Miss Dixon. Okay, where to start on my long list? Um, Mr. Lady, you were my first contact. I think you're the first face that I saw when I came to uh put in my papers to run for city council and I remember that very clearly. and um you were very friendly and you were um very respectful and you were there to answer my questions and you've continued to be there to answer my questions all along and I just really really appreciate um your kindness and your willingness to work with each of us and and help us along the way especi especially as newbies. Um also what else do I have? Well, thank you very much and I wish you just the the best retirement ever until you go back and work with Jackie here. Um, let's see. I want to say to the scouts, to the Boy Scouts, thank you so much for being here. It's great to see you. You guys look fabulous in your uniforms and I love all the patches. I had a few of my badges. Not patches, right? Badges. Patches. I don't know. I I had I had scouts. I had one Eagle Scout and a couple other scouts along the way and I can't remember but I remember sewing them all on. I do remember that. I want to tell you um um Mr. Hendrix mentioned that we went over to Mary's house and um she asks a lot of questions and and questions are really good and I just wanted I want to throw that out to you guys while you're here that asking questions is good and as council people sometimes we don't know all the things and when people ask us a question we can think hm that's probably something I should go learn about that's something I should go figure out. So ask yourself questions along the way and

then go find people and resources that can help you find those answers. It's just a great practice. So um thanks for asking questions, Mary, and for letting me in your home. I appreciate it. Um let's see what else I wanted to talk about speeding just a little bit because I get I don't know about you guys, but I get a I get phone calls about speeding and especially on veterans drive. So I'm just going to put that out there. If people will please slow down, just watch your speed. I know it's I know we're in a hurry. I know we're all in a hurry. We're trying to get somewhere. Uh but we can just slow down. You're not going to get there that much faster if you're going speeding. It just makes things a little bit more dangerous down. Um I What else? Oh yes, the wild flowers. River already left, but I was going to tell him I would love to see some wild flowers out at Veterans Park one day at Veterans Memorial Park. So, I'm going to just put that out there and maybe somebody will hear it and next year maybe we can get some wild flowers out there. But, um, speaking of Veterans Memorial Park, I wanted to talk about the pickle ball. Hello. Hello. Um the the tournament they they just had out just had a a tournament for one place the Scholes it was very very successful. We had somebody come all the way from Hawaii to participate in that. Um so it is um really great to see that pickle ball court being used for tournaments and um bringing people into our community. And all I hear every time I go out there is how well um it is staffed. Their staff is doing a fabulous job and that it is just a a great great facility. One of the best out there is what I keep hearing. It's really great to hear. Also, um the water, let's just

talk about the water. Um, it's going to need it's going to need to h happen. If you will go back as as Miss King said and watch the work session, we got some explanation from Ted Co on that and it's it's evident that it needs to happen. Now, I just wanted to share I shared this in the work session um because everybody wants to know how much and we have um some some col some papers up here and they have columns and they have numbers all over it and if you just look at that it just kind of makes your mind spin. So, I reached out to um if you will please go back and look at my water rates, my water bill. Um now this is only water. This is does not include any of my electricity or all the other things that show up in your utility bill. But I've had him go back to when I had um 6 to 7 people living in the household. So this is for a household of about six. And one month um I was at $63 and he said my rates they're going to be proposing it would go up to 93. Another one was $33. It would go up to 52. This is including tax by the way. I wanted to clarify that. Another one was 41. It would go up to 63 and 58 up to 89. And those are kind of spread throughout um the months. So you can kind of get a feel. So So that's that's out when it comes in your mailbox because I think those are the numbers people will be wondering out. And of course it will all depend upon your consumption. Do you have a swimming pool? Do you water your lawn? Do you have a garden? um how many kids do you have and how often do they take baths and how long and all those things. So um just I just wanted to share that so you

could be aware and um I think that's all I have. That's enough for me. Okay, thank you. Okay, my turn. They pretty much have hit everything so I'll make my try to be very brief. Mr. writing. We've been together a long time and um you have helped me so much along the way, have guided me, we've traveled together, and even you led me the ropes on that too. So, I just want to say how much I appreciate you for all that you have done and showed me since 2016, really 2015 cuz that's when I started um out on this journey considering to run. So, just want to say thank you so much and I wish you all the blessings and everything that comes with it and enjoy your best life with them grandb babies and your family. So, thank you. Um, on April the 11th, I host an event called the hidden treasures of our life. I'm sorry, hidden treasures of our youth. And it was successful events. 61 kids registered, 50 kids attended, and it was just um it was phenomenal. So, I want to say thank you to all of the facilitators, to the partnerships, all of the volunteers who helped make an impact in the kids' lives. Want to say thank you to the Florence Fire Rescue. They showed up and uh took pictures with the kids and that was a good highlight. I also want to say thank you to uh Miss King, to Mr. Spence. Thank you all for coming by to show your support. I do appreciate that. and want to say thank you to all parents for signing your kids up and allowing your children to participate in such an event. Um, Miss Dixon touched on the that was hosted by one place of the shows. I serve on that board and so um I was there was just it was outstanding. We had nearly 150 um attendees. We had

around came out of Tennessee and Mississippi and then she stayed at Hawaii Hawaii when and um it was just a good event and it certainly was a very good event for the one place of the Scholes which um do an incredible work for sexual assault domestic violence. Um so thank you all for supporting that so it can be a success so they can continue the work um that they do with that. also small business. My vote reflected because we were um I truly support small business because I have a lot of them within my district and if anybody follow me, you'll see how much that I support and I certainly promote them on social media encouraging people um to shop there and to go and visit them. They are the backbone of our community as well. So, I do support small business. Um, welcome again to our troops. You guys look great over there. Our little future leaders, our little hidden treasures. So, thank you so much for being here. Also want to say that district one be having our community meetings. I have too. It's my district is is just all over Florence. I but up with everybody's district except district 6. We're going to change that, right? So the May the 4th will be the one at Handy Recreation Center. It starts at 6:00 p.m. So if you vote at Handy Rec Center, your precinct, your voting uh your committee meeting will be at WC Handy at um the rec center. If you vote at Shared Avenue Church of Christ, your your meeting will be on May the 11th at both of them are at 6 uh p.m. Um the water rates, we've had lots of conversations about that. I've toiled on it. I've fought day and night in regards to that. I know that it has to be done,

but I know it is going to be a burden and some hardships um on some and we will try to find your resources and to help as best as we can. I get calls every month. Where can I find assistance to help pay my utilities or my rent or uh those who have the food insecurity? So, I I get it. There's many within my district as well as district three where more the lower income. It's not everybody in our districts, but we do have a large population of those with the lower income who I know that this is going to be a strain um on you financially. Also, grass cutting season. Please, please, please everybody mow your lawn, cut your grass, hold your neighbors accountable. And um you can also call the bill department, the building department when the the lawns are not being cut and um with the upkeep of that. And I've already told you about the civility. This coming May the 1st, we will start first Friday's back. So make sure that everybody set aside some times, come downtown, enjoy the community, come and spend some time with your council members. We will all be there throughout this first Friday season. So, we're asking that you all come and share with us, hang out with us. We're actually, we may look all business up here, but we're a lot of So, we don't want to see a different side of us besides sitting up here always on the business. We'll still be business if that's what you want to talk about, but we can also relax. Everybody needs to relax sometime. is good for your mental capacity, your wellbeing. It will be that. So, as always, call me anytime, 256 349 3879. I just encourage you, do not wait till a a community meeting. We don't have those every month, every

week. So, don't if you have a problem or issue, don't wait until a community meeting, call us anytime, and we will be able to try our best to um assist you. If I don't know the answer, there's plenty of people around me and resources that I can get you uh the answers that you need. With that being said, I've talked enough tonight. And again, thank you to everyone that is that has come out. We pray traveling for our mayor as he travels back um to Alabama on his u business trip. And we will all stand and be dismissed. Councilman Spence, would you dismiss us in prayer? Let's pray. Father God, we just thank you for this day. We thank you for um your grace, your mercy. We thank you for this this time together, Lord God. And as we look at our city, Father God, and we progress forward that we just look at what we need to look at for the needs and the priorities of our community, Lord Jesus. And we just pray a blessing and protection over our city. and just as we respect one another and we um agree with one another but yet we might disagree but that you know we walk away and we're we're friends and we're loving one another. Father God, we believe and trust in all we give you all the praise, glory, and honor for it's in your name we pray. Amen. Amen.