City Council - Regular Meeting

She's just a retired teacher. Got you.

Good evening, everyone. We ask that you stand. The Tuscaloosa City Council has now come to order. We're going to begin tonight's meeting with a prayer, and then we ask that you remain standing for our Pledge of Allegiance. Let's bow our heads, please. Dear God, bless our proceedings tonight. Give us the wisdom to know what is just and the strength to do what is right. 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.

Please be seated. Approval of the minutes. I'll make a motion.

Ms. Howard? Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Minutes stand approved. Proclamation statements by mayor and council. Before we get to the recognition for municipal court, I want to ask Wesley Snyder to come up here. Wesley is one of our great city employees, works in urban development. You also may know his father, who's a longtime police officer with the Tuscaloosa Police Department. Wesley is a young man who has faced such a difficult hardship, certainly as a father, I can't imagine. But him and his family have wanted to do something, are doing something with that, that I think is certainly to be congratulated and to be honored and recognized and ultimately to make a difference for other families who go through similar situations. So Mr. Snyder, I'm gonna turn it over to you to talk about what you're working on as it relates with the McDonald House. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

My name's Wesley Snyder. Our address is 5217 Northcliff Drive, Northport, Alabama, 35473. I'm using this platform to spread awareness for the Eccles Middle School Grayson Invitational Volleyball Tournament. The Grayson Invitational is a volleyball tournament in memory of our late son, Grayson Snyder, The tournament will be held at County High as well as Northport Intermediate School on September 11th and 12th. Grayson was born at DCH with an undiagnosed congenital diaphragmatic hernia. This is when the diaphragm is not properly developed, which, in Grayson's case, caused internal organs to shift upward where the lungs are, which means the lungs could not be developed. Grayson was immediately life-flighted to Children's Hospital in Birmingham, where he fought for 103 days before passing away. All the proceeds of this tournament will go directly to Ronald McDonald House of Alabama. If it wasn't for the Ronald McDonald House of Alabama, we frankly would have been lost. My wife, Kristen, our oldest son, Fisher, and I stayed at the house. During the 103 days that Grayson was in the NICU at Children's, it was one block away from Children's Hospital. This allowed us to spend less time commuting from Northport to downtown Birmingham and allowed us to spend more time with Grayson. My wife and I had been talking about creating an event that would help other families experiencing similar situations while also keeping Grayson's name alive. During this time, Amy Chamblee, the volleyball coach for Eccles Middle School, reached out to my wife, Kristen, and proposed hosting a volleyball tournament. If it wasn't for Chambly, the Echols administration and staff, and most importantly, the local community being on board with our tournament, there's no way that this would be as successful as it has been, if it would have even happened at all. So to any individual, business, church, or any other entity who has contributed to this tournament, we just want to reach out and say thank you from the bottom of our hearts. This will be the third year of the tournament. Throughout the efforts of our surrounding communities, we've been able to raise $30,000 for Ronald McDonald House in honor of Grayson. We've sponsored two rooms at the house for families to stay, and then we also get to educate individuals on the mission of the charity. If someone would like to donate items like toiletries, food, anything, let me know. I'll meet you and pick it up, drive it down there myself if I have to. We also collect pop tabs to drop off. So if you know somebody that just houses sodas all day, just say, hey, we'll take the caps. The first year of the tournament, I believe there were eight teams total. There are currently 16 teams registered this year. The A teams are Eccles, Duncanville, Northside, ACA, Sipsi Valley, Chelsea, Brookwood, Northridge, Homewood, Bompas, and Auburn. B teams so far are Eccles, Northside, Chelsea, Hale County, and Homewood. If anyone would like to contribute in any way, please reach out to Eccles Middle School, the Eccles Volleyball Team, Amy Chambly, my wife, Kressen, or myself. Our contact information is on the flyers that I've placed outside of the entrance to the council chambers and sent over to city staff to distribute to the council members. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Thank you.

supports this. I'm going to make sure 311 has this, so if anybody's watching this tonight, if they need more information, they can also contact 311. I tell you, I've told you this before. I don't know if I'd have the courage you've had to take something that happened and turn it into something so damn good. Thank you for what you're doing.

Hey, we appreciate it. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. Hey, good luck. God bless. Let's give them another round.

And if you know his dad, you're not surprised what a good young man that is. All right, changing gears. I want to ask Jessica Stewart to come up and join me. As you know, each year, instead of accepting payments for tickets within Municipal Court, we accept school supplies for the young people in the Tuscaloosa City Schools. So before I introduce the school board representatives that are here tonight, I'm gonna ask Jessica just to briefly, or Ms. Stewart, to briefly, you know about this program, but just one or two minutes about the program that we have for the public, and then we'll invite our guests up here. So, Jessica.

Good evening, council.

Good evening.

So this is one of several years that we've done this program and we've had a great turnout. This year was 923 supplies for 151 overtime parking tickets. I do want to take some time to brag on our staff as well. So we added it up. There's a combined total of 146 years of service in our department. And we see more than 2,500 citizens each month, and they each are greeted with courtesy and respect. So we're very proud of our staff and everything that they do. And they really enjoy this program as well. So all of these supplies will be donated to the city school system to go to new heights and be distributed as needed. How many supplies? Today we have 923 items. Good.

We have Kalisa Boorman and Lee Allen here. So if you would, come forward. What we'd like to do is take a photo, do a little photo op. So I'd ask the city council if you would come down from the dais. And maybe we all circle back here. Sure. And then after that, Ms. Boorman, if you'd say a few words.

Perfect. One, two, three. All right, perfect, y'all. Thank you.

Y'all move out of my home. I got to get used to it.

Hello. Hello, everyone. I'm Calissa Borman. I'm the manager at the New Heights Community Resource Center. We are thrilled on behalf of Dr. Darien and the entire Tuscaloosa City School System, we are thrilled to accept these supplies. We put them to very good use. They're distributed throughout all the schools. When families show up, register. We're also the home of the International Welcome Center. So when families show up to register children for the school and they don't have supplies, we carry them into our nifty little room and let the kids pick out supplies. We also send the graph paper to the math teachers and Lee Allen, who's our neighborhood bridges person for the school system. Lee helps coordinate lots and lots of things that happen down at New Heights. And so this is her little pet project that she organizes and knows what we have. And it helps a lot. It helps in tremendous ways. So we're just very thankful for the continued support.

What's your comment? good good yes sir thank you thank you thank you and one last one last thing I do want to highlight is as team members and especially at our team meetings and hopefully throughout our organization we talk about our core beliefs and core belief three we term is serving underserved communities the fourth is talking about shared responsibility What the municipal court team has done under Ms. Stewart's leadership certainly meets core belief three and core belief four. I couldn't be more proud of you and your team members for making those core beliefs a reality. So please thank everyone involved. And again, Ms. Boardman, we have no greater partner than the Tuscaloosa City Schools. So keep doing what you're doing. That's all I have. Do we have any council announcements tonight? I'll be a jack, so...

Mayor, I would like to make one, two last announcements before school starts here in the city on the 10th. On Thursday, August the 6th, there will be a back to school drive that will be sponsored by Pastor David Gay and Beulah Baptist Church from six to eight. And also Saturday, there will be a back to school drive that will be at 2711 Clover Road, Clover Road Church from 10 to two. So those are two last opportunities for us to get our students excited and ready for school.

Thank you, Ms. Howard. Any other council announcements tonight? Any agenda item comments by citizens? No, sir. Unfinished business. Clerk?

This order's demolition of certain buildings located at 1601 Mimosa Park Road. So moved.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Mr. Williams?

Mr. Mayor, City Council, this is for the condemnation of buildings 6, 7, 12, 14, 19, 20, and 21, 22, 26, 28, 31, and 33 of 1601 Mimosa Park Road, commonly known as Legacy Country Club Apartments. These buildings were posted for condemnation on May 4th, 2026. There's over 600 combined housing code violations between the 13 buildings. The owner has been contacted as aware of this hearing. The owner is aware that the property is condemned and demolished by the city. The cost of demolition will be charged back to the owners. What you're looking at here is a vicinity map of the area, showing you exactly where it's located down off of Country Club, Mimosa Park Road, I'm sorry. This is an overview of the apartment complex showing all the buildings. Here you have all buildings numbered. The ones in red are the ones that are up for condemnation tonight. All right. Y'all please bear with me. We got a lot to cover here. So let's start here. Again now, don't forget, we have over 600 housing code violations for the buildings being discussed tonight. But we wanna talk about the history of this property. On May 8th, 2025, a task force with property maintenance team, code enforcement, TPD, TFR, and community and neighborhood services, property maintenance, and on-site manager was with us. On winter of 2026, code enforcement and PM issues was reported. Okay, I'm sorry, back up to 2025. At that time, we placed this property into property maintenance. and no issues were ever addressed while it was in property maintenance. No work was ever done. So fast forward to 2026, the winter of 2026, code enforcement and property maintenance issues were reported. On March 23rd of 2026, I did a ride through. Multiple issues were identified. Administrative office had a note on there that said that they had gone to a remote manager And I'm going to show you a picture of that here in just a second. April 21st, 2026, a task force suite was conducted with representatives from property maintenance, code enforcement, TPD, TFR, and community and neighborhood services. May 4th, 2026, condemnation notices were posted on site for 13 buildings. On May 15th, we had a Zoom call with the property owners, the owner's attorney, and property managers.

Let me catch up here.

All right, so here is the notice that I was referring to there where they went to just an off-site manager, the phone number there. Speaking of which, I called that number, got no answer, left a message, and never got a reply. So... So we're gonna just scroll through here. I wanna show you there's building six. This first few are just gonna be your exterior of the building, building seven. And we've got some interior here, building seven. Show you some of the conditions that we're dealing with here. Multiple units open to the public. This is building 14. Building 17. I don't got to say no more.

Mm-hmm.

As you're noticing, we're going through several different units when we're going through these. Building 19. The apartment you're looking at there was a fire from 2024 that was never addressed. This is building 20. This unit here, I want to stop and pause for just a second. When we were out there doing these pictures, I showed up on site. This door had a screw in it that was backed out. As I walked around the backside of the building, the AC was on. This unit's supposed to be unoccupied. The AC unit was on, so I called TPD at this time and asked them to come out to inspect. We found a lady living in this apartment, I'm sorry, there was six adults and two children living in this apartment who had illegally been sublet this apartment by somebody who we have no clue who they were or anything else. We were able to get them housing and got them out of there because they were not allowed to stay there. Building 21.

Excuse me, 21, was that a fire?

Yes, sir. Building 21, here is another fire. This is a fire from 2025 that was never addressed. Or 24, I'm sorry, this one was 24, the other one was 2021. Here you're in the burn unit right here. This burn unit, the extensive damages here, the complete stairwell was burnt completely out on this one. This is building 22. Building 26. 28. 31. 33. On June 2nd, 2026, I went back out there after we had spoke with the management company, and we were told that they had went out and started making progress on securing up the buildings. You can see here, multiple units open to the public still, not secured. June 12th, the same thing. Good Lord. Animal Control was called out there for a dead deer in the pool. These are just some on-site pictures. It's an ongoing issue, June 20th, 2026. Same thing, unit's still open to the public. August 3rd, which is tonight, or yesterday, I'm sorry.

This picture of this dumpster and all that laying there was yesterday?

Yes. That dumpster's been there in all the pictures, the previous exterior pictures, but I didn't have all of them there. But that dumpster's been in that condition ever since I started the process. Once again, though, we have multiple units still open to the public. I want to revert back to these are your two burn units here. The one on my right up there, I believe if I'm not mistaken, that burn unit was 2021. And then the one on my left up there was in 2024. Both of these would have required a permit to make repairs. No permits was ever pulled. No repairs were ever made. I just want to remind y'all that this property was posted for condemnation on May 4th, 2026. For four months, no efforts have been made to make repairs. If y'all have any questions, I'm here to answer. The owner and the owner's representative are here to represent.

Yes, Mr. Williams. Where are the owners from?

Excuse me. Where do the owners reside?

Nashville. I'm sorry.

Also, you said one fire took place 2021 and 2025. Is that correct?

2021 and 2024. I don't have those dates right in front of me, but I do believe that's correct.

All right.

Any other questions, Mr. Williams? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Williams. If you will be available, I imagine there may be some questions. Before I ask the owner and owner's representatives, He'll come forward. First, I want to thank Councillor Howard for being the tip of the spear on this for really over a year now and her just relentless advocacy to work this through, the myriad of codes that are required with this. I can't say enough about Mr. Williams and our staff with an urban... urban development. They have done a fantastic job of navigating this through a myriad of different laws that have to be navigated, and certainly all the other different departments that have assisted urban development. It's shameful to look at those pictures. It's inhuman, frankly. The owner would not accept that in his neighborhood, and he would never live in conditions like that. He wouldn't. And it's shameful. He thinks that's acceptable. I know no other way of saying it. But at the end of the day, the best case scenario is to get this fixed and get it fixed quickly. Based off some of the discussions that we've had today with Ms. Howard and other council members, we think there may be a pathway to buy two weeks to look towards a larger solution that rectifies this problem once and for all, while at the same time, the city reserving its right to take action if promises are not kept. So at this time, I'm gonna ask Mr. Holmes to discuss an idea that the council may want to entertain. And then we will hear from the owner and the owner's representative. So Mr. Holmes.

Good evening, counsel. This one just is a little bit of background why this one is different. Y'all see condemnations, if not weekly, nearly weekly. Frequently somebody is working to repair them or at least would like to work to repair them. And frequently, they're given 30, 60, 90 days to show efforts in those repairs. And I think one of the ones on tonight's agenda is actually one of the success stories we have. What makes this one different that doesn't put... This owner in the position to continue 90 days is to do the repairs needed. From what you see here, no question is going to require financing. Part of that financing will require this property is security, and no bank is going to loan them this money while this case is under condemnation. I know there were some requests today from the property owner, and I'll let Mr. Winter speak to those a little bit more. to get some more time, to be able to get a loan, to do the things that they are planning to do. I know in talking to some of you, there were some significant concerns about allowing any more time beyond tonight. Some of those concerns were securing the property, paying some outstanding money owed to the city, including a substantial water bill, and coming up with some sort of agreement that if this case comes off of condemnation and doesn't come back to see you every 30, 60, or 90 days, to still give you the power to bring it back up here, should they not be good on their word. So, in discussing with Mr. Winter, kind of between meetings and via text, what I believe they've agreed to do, and I'll let him stand up and speak in a moment, is to, if this body is willing to table it for two weeks tonight, to allow them time to pay those outstanding bills to negotiate an agreement with my office and to have that property secure, then potentially in two weeks this council would consider allowing the Office of Urban Development to withdraw this to allow them to take out the financing they need to take and to make those repairs. Obviously, this council will make that decision two weeks from now, but It seems to me that if those things aren't done, this council will not consider giving them any additional time beyond those two weeks.

Any questions of Mr. Holmes before I ask Mr. Winter to come up and address City Council? Okay. Mr. Winter, we certainly know you, but if you wouldn't mind, please give your name and address.

Yes, sir. Thank you so much, sir. Mr. Mayor, Mr. Holmes, members of the City Council, I'm Brian Winter. I work at 4901 Rice Mine Road Northeast, Tuscaloosa.

First of all, I want to apologize to you having to deal with this.

And I want to thank everybody, including Ms. Coates and Mr. Turnley, for working through this with us. I'm sorry. But city staff has really done well. And I want to thank Ms. Howard for listening. This is a tough situation. First I want to do is I want to ask Mr. Powell to come up here and stand with me at the board here because you all know I can be kind of rough on people. And I've already given him an old-fashioned chewing out. Probably went a little overboard. But I live here too. And the simple fact is that this has gone on too long. Now... That's an understatement. I understand that, Mr. Fail, and I'm not debating that. I mean, to me, Mr. Fail, the question is, where do we go from here? So, I wish I had gotten in on this a little earlier. I wasn't that lawyer in May. I don't even know who it was. I got in about a month ago, and we've been working through these issues and trying to get something squared away, and two weeks ago, y'all were nice enough to table for two weeks. So, let me kind of cut to the chase on that, and those two weeks... We have hired somebody to go out every day and check these things and make sure that these doors are boarded up. As you can see from a lot of these pictures, we board them up and they take them down. That's the reality of it. This morning, Mr. Henry, I appreciate you checking in on this property. But this morning, Mr. Henry was out there at 9 o'clock, and we had already hired this gentleman on Saturday to start checking this out. And I've sent Ms. Howard the pictures that I just got, but they got down there today, and in the first place they went into, there was a massive water leak. Apparently, there's the old-fashioned steel pipes in this, and they burst, and there was water everywhere. So they're still out there right now, boarding up from this weekend. And they will continue to board it up until it's there. The problem is that tomorrow morning, a lot of those boards will be knocked down. There's probably more that's done on the weekend, but there they are. And I sent Ms. Howard a picture that I just got where you could see where the board was kicked in in one of those tonight. Ms. Howard can vouch for that. So that's where we are. One little thing, they did spend $850,000 on putting all new roofs on these. And the other thing is that the first time this came up at the doors, they wrote, I think, a $16,500 check to board them up. And then, of course, the boards kept coming down. But I think we've rectified the board issue because Mr. Powell has hired a gentleman who's from town, who actually lives in the south side of town. He's a contractor. And he is going up there every day and checking on it and getting the things boarded up. So I think that issue will be addressed. The second part is with the pool. They actually started on Saturday with draining the pool and cleaning the pool up. Now, that's where we get to the rest of this. And if you would, Ms. Brandy, would you? I have it here. You know I hate these things. I'm getting old. I'm almost 60 now. I've been doing this too long. Okay. As for the rest of this... This is a significant size complex. There's 224 units. And frankly, I don't think you can tell from the pictures how big it is until you go down there. They're spread apart. And it's a lot bigger than it looks. So with respect to one other thing, there was an issue about the trash in the dumpsters. Well, Mr. Chastine went down there on Monday, he saw the dumpsters were overflowed, he called the dumpsters this morning, they were picked up and cleaned out. So going forward, the dumpsters should not be an issue, okay? Mr. Chastine is working through Mr. Trick there, Mr. Sincroft with Trick Construction, and I'll get to that in a minute, all right? So we've started to handle the board issue, the boarding up issue, we've started to handle, we've handled the pool, getting that cleaned up, and then we are dealing with the garbage thing. So the question is, where do we go? Well, as you may know, I've dealt with some of these types of things before, never quite this situation. But as I told Ms. Howard and Council President Turner last week, if he doesn't do what he's supposed to do, you're going to hear it from me first. That's going to be a problem. But the more important thing is where we go now is that, frankly, the estimate on this is more than $6 million to fix this. There's going to be a massive redoing on this. And in order to do that, and that's kind of one of the issues since Mace has been on the docket. He's been trying to get the money to do it, but he's getting into a sticking point because the finances and the pending condemnation, they don't go together with financiers. And you just can't go to the bank and take $6 million out. But that's not your problem. So what I'd like to show you is the plan. And we've sat down. And I would like to share with you a couple things.

Mr. Sincroft, would you be so kind as to stand up?

That's Mr. Sincroft. He's the president of Trick Construction. His dear partner, Fred Trick, passed away about a month ago. If you didn't know Fred, you missed out. One of the best funerals I've ever been to in my life. He was an incredible man. But Aaron's been trained well and he's been working there for 20 plus years. So he would handle the construction. I'm going to hand you that contract. Mr. Morris, would you stand up? You all know this guy, Jordan Morris, architect extraordinaire, and he is going to work with Mr. Powell and the TRIX and the city staff to take care of the code issues and go through there and do that. So, you know, two weeks ago we asked for some time to do this stuff, and if I may pass these down.

We can pass.

This is a contract, a preliminary contract to be done with district construction to be sort of a general contractor management, contract construction management. And lastly, just so you know, last week Mr. Powell came down and we interviewed a bunch of different contractors. And we have some great contractors in town. So this was actually a very difficult decision, because I know so many of them. And we talked about it. And he belabored over it a little. But the reason why we talked to Trick about it was, frankly, because Aaron is the nephew of both Fred and Bill Trick. And Bill Trick develops apartment complexes. And he's worked on a bunch of those in terms of rehabbing and building. And we thought it was a natural good fit. With respect to Jordan, I think you know that Jordan's been involved in a lot of things with the city.

Here's the contract we signed. So we've got the architect in place, we've got the contractor in place, and now what we need to do

is get some time to get this thing going. And so with that, I want to just show you here the rehabilitation plan. Just so you know, background on Mr. Powell. And I'm going to let him talk in a minute, but I kind of want to get through this. They've been around since 2006. They are in Nashville. They are focused on a multi-family. They've had 6,000 units across the Southeast and 34 communities. And these are some of the places they have. So as you can see here, Orange Beach, very nice. Biloxi. Lake Charles, and Biloxi. And these are the people we've got on board now. Trick's got a great team over there and a good picture of Aaron on the website. Not Aaron, Jordan, so I stole that from him. But again, we've replaced and painted all the exteriors. Now we've got to get to the rest of it. So... The first problem we have is security, because they can board this up, now the kingdom come, and they're gonna get knocked down. So this is the plan we've developed in conjunction with TRIC. First thing we're gonna do in the first 30 days, our goal is to fence the property, construct gated entrances with a coded gate like you would see there, like the other folks have in other neighborhoods. Nice gate, they come up and you put your code in. And then I only have 10 slides. This is my world's fastest thing, Mr. Mayor. I thought you'd love it. I just want to narrow our discussions. And then we're going to do a rear gate with emergency like we did and install security cameras, especially at the dumpster where people come and seem to be dumping stuff and all over. And also the entry gates and other strategic locations. And some of these doors, as you've seen, have been broken open. That's how people have moved into them. And we'll replace all those patio doors. The second part is that there are currently, actually, it's actually 34 residents. There's 16 units that are still occupied. That's down from 224 over time. They've been getting people out, and that's part of the problem. So they want to execute the rehabilitation plan. The COPUS will start September 1st. It'll either be three to four phases, and there'll be equal number of units in each phase. We've got to sit down and get that down with Jordan, exactly what has to be done. So these are treated like individual units, so we've got to pull permits on every single one. And I want to thank Turnley especially for explaining this to Mr. because we got, there was a little confusion on that and I frankly got turned a little on that too myself. So I gotta take the issue on that. Address all the life safety issues first, remediate the fire damage units, those are gut jobs. And the second, we'll rehab the condemned in two phases and then probably the rest of them two phases, the ones that are there. So that's probably a nine to 12 month deal there. It's got about six and a half million dollars plus the $850,000 they've already paid. You're talking a rehab in excess of $7 million. So, in terms of rehabbing the properties, there's exterior siding. The parking lot's got some holes, so we've got to repark the parking lot, seal coat and stripe it, repair and resurface the pool. There's a mail room that needs to be redone, a fitness room that needs to be redone, a clubhouse and leasing office that needs to be redone. As you saw by Mr. Virgil's great pictures, there's obviously a lot inside that has to be done, including remediation for mold. And then they're going to renovate all the unit interiors, repurpose the existing tennis courts, and construct what's going to be a community park. I hate to say this, just not a lot of people playing tennis these days. So if you look at it, that's what the pool looks like today. That's what we expect the pool to look like in the future. And this is the design for the park they want to put in there. You know, outdoor fitness center. And then, like those things we have along... Randall Riley Parkway, they had all those workout things I need to use more of, and a little patio area there, and then a kids' play area. So what our request is tonight is what we need to do is sit down with Mr. Holmes so we can get a memorandum of understanding, because unless we need to get that done, and then once we get that done, we'll be in a situation where will have set goals. And my hope would be that Mr. Powell and myself, Mr. Powell or myself, probably Mr. Powell and Mr. Holmes and Mr. Virgil eternally or Ms. Kreitz can go down on a monthly basis and see the progress that's being made. I know she's like, no, I don't want to do that. But she's been great throughout this whole process, too. You've got a great team here. Anyway, and do this. So what we need is to get a memorandum of understanding set up with the city, and then we would need you to step back off of this, off the condemnation so we can get it off so we can get the financing, which the financers are well aware of where we are on this. He's had to report the potential condemnation. So they're good to go once we get that off. You can always, as Scott told me today, you can put that right back on the agenda if they don't do what they're supposed to do. And as a citizen of Tuscaloosa, I would hope that you would do that. Okay? I would. Don't you worry.

So, Mr. Winter.

Mr. Winter. So, I think the whole point there is this, is that we can get the financing, get started on this in 30 days.

Mr. Winter, let me make sure before you run out of time. What Mr. Holmes outlined.

Yeah.

We will counsel tables for two weeks.

Yeah.

In return, you secure the building, you pay back taxes, your water and sewer bill, and simultaneously you begin negotiations with the city attorney's office on a memorandum of understanding that the council could possibly consider two weeks from tonight.

I think we were going to do two weeks, but I'm happy to work on it in a week. Two weeks. I mean two weeks. I can get it done. I know how busy he is.

Two weeks.

And I don't think that's an issue. I think we'll have a check down here for you. I don't think that's an issue. I think Scott and I can get this worked out. We've done enough things together in this city that those things...

So what you're saying is you and your client agree to that?

Are you good with that? I'm good with that. He's good with that. You heard it here. Okay. So the point here is that if we can't get it backed off and we can't get the financing started... then this thing just sits there. It'll get foreclosed on. It'll be in a foreclosure. It'll be a mess for a long time. And it'll only get worse. And nobody wants that. And I certainly don't want that. And I know you guys don't want that. I know Raven certainly doesn't want that. So I got in this a month ago. I appreciate the two weeks you gave us. In that time, we've been working through these issues, trying to come up, get the people lined up. We've got them lined up. We've got a good team assembled. I think we can make this happen. I think we can turn the proverbial lemons into some lemonade. I think in the end we'll have a place that everybody will want to live. We'll have good affordable workforce housing like we want. It's quite close to 5029 there. It's a perfect spot, and I think he'll do it. I'm going to let him say a quick word here to you. He already came and said, you know, my bad. So anyway.

Well, believe it or not, this is my first city council meeting. I've been in real estate for 20 years. I've never been to a city council meeting, and I can assure you this is not the reason that I want to be in front of you. So, Mr. Mayor, everything you said earlier, I agree with completely. You're right. This is entirely my responsibility. I've been a partner in this deal for the entirety of our ownership, which is about 10 years. And as of about 18 months ago, I became the proud 100% owner of this facility. this property and this issue that we have here. I've made mistakes, but what I will tell you is this is not indicative of what we do. You can look through our entire portfolio. You saw four examples. You can look through our entire portfolio and you will not see this. You don't have any reason to believe me when I say that, but You don't. This is a unique situation, but it's one that I take full responsibility for, full accountability. It's my mistake. I've made many mistakes. Part of it was not communicating personally with the city and allowing a representative to do that for me. And she did her best, but that should have been me. So I apologize to you for that. I apologize to the council and the mayor for having to spend your time on this because I know there are many other things you could spend your time on that would benefit the city of Tuscaloosa versus dealing with this.

Thank you. So at this time, does the city council have any questions for Mr. Powell, Mr. Winters?

I don't have any questions, but I do have some comments. So first of all, it's nice to finally meet you and speak with you today. I know we had some communication issues, efforts in the past. But nonetheless, I would just like to say to Mr. Holmes that along with what Mr. Winters is agreeing to, Let me backtrack. I want to say thank you to Mr. Williams and Ms. Kreitz. The mayor and I recently have... We go riding through District 2 often, so this has been one of our frequent stops. The city has put a lot of time and effort into just this one agenda item, which is taking away the resources and the time that they could be spending across the rest of the city. So honestly, I am... so much more in favor of condemnation. But I also have the issue of wanting to protect the possibility of workforce development housing and affordable housing in any way possible. But I also have to protect the integrity of the communities that surround these properties. So what I would like to add to this is that within two weeks, everything that you've already agreed to, paying any arrears, getting a memorandum of understanding, but I would like to see within these two weeks, and definitely by, let's just say within two weeks, that the property is secured, secured to the point to where There are security cameras. The surrounding neighbors and communities that have been complaining a lot to me feel that this area is more secured and is getting more attention. I think you said on-site management. I think we need that pretty quickly out there in this area, just so that we can feel that we are moving, finally moving in the right direction, because I've been dealing with this for about two years. I want to say thank you to 311. When we had the issue with the pool, it took... phone tagging with 311 and residents out there trying to locate a manager. This has been a nightmare for me, just getting the complaints from my residents. So I would rather eliminate a problem, but if we can help fix it, I want to take that route. But I do want to see more security. I want to see some... However you've been securing the property before that's been getting kicked in, I feel that that needs to change within the next two weeks. We need some solid securing of the buildings that are out there now that are vacant because that's creating another issue. So I would like to see all of that happen along with what you currently have going on.

I would say this. I did talk to Mr. Holmes today about getting small duty police officers to be down there as security. And we're going to work through that. It'll be my first call in the morning. And I'll also call the Sheriff's Department and try and do that. I'm going to be candid. We originally talked about 30 days for the fencing.

I honestly don't physically know if we can get the fencing up in 30 days.

I'm looking at Aaron. In our plan, we had thought we'll have the fencing up in 30 days, but we can get a police officer down there, and as I said, the man who is handling the boarding up, he can go there every morning and make sure everything's boarded up.

Whatever it takes. And I would also like to say this. I am, at this point, I don't know where we'll all be as a council in about two weeks, but I am right now against... taking it off. And I don't know how we will have to come back and talk, but I'm against withdrawing it from the condemnation process. I don't want to do anything that will make it harder for us to get back to this point after six months.

And Scott and I actually talked about that. Mr. Holmes, I'm sorry. colleagues were so but we talked about that and there would probably have to be what's called a waiver of the right to notice which would allow you to put it right back on without advertising again and I think that would be fine I think he's serious about fixing this problem and that's why we can do that Miss Howard this is procedurally in

a spot that that i don't think i've ever encountered before with one of these nor nor i believe urban development architect's office and we've already had some discussions today as to what we need to do to to give council assurance that we can be right back here in in front of you while still giving them the the freedom they're going to need to to get the to borrow the money okay

Any other questions? I'll be on it. I mean, and I know Mr. Holmes will be. And as I said, if I won't be up here, we've got a problem.

I'll just say I'm pretty frustrated by it. I mean, I've been watching this property for two years be completely unlocked, no deadbolts, doors wide open. And two weeks ago, you asked us for two weeks, you'd make – a large leap forward on this. We have. And then I go down at 9 o'clock this morning. I got you that you're saying a lot's happened since 9 a.m., but I rode the property at 9 a.m., and nothing had happened. And while boarded-up doors do get torn down... The back doors of this building have never been boarded up as of 9 a.m. this morning.

And we got the guys on board on Friday. After we visited, we went with those people last week. We got them on board. They started on Saturday. They came back this morning. And as soon as you said that, I'll show you my phone, Mr. Henry. I was blowing it up. Why is there no things there? And I got the picture set because we walked into the first one and here's the issue. So we've got a team down there to do it. The team's going to be expanded when TRIC gets on board. We got the sign thing today. And, you know, we're either going to get it done or we're not. And I think the thing is going to get done. If not, you know.

To be fair, that was the message two weeks ago. No, it wasn't.

I don't think that. I think the promise was that we were going to get a plan together in two weeks to make it happen. And that's what we did. We sat down. We went and got contractors. We got local people. That's what we were going to do. And I think we've done that. And I think we've got people on board now that can make this happen. I didn't have that two weeks ago. I didn't know what the scope was going to be. I didn't know what the extension was. I got Mr. Powell down, and we got down, and we got through it, and we worked through all this stuff. So I think we have accomplished a lot in two weeks. You're a developer. You know it doesn't happen like that.

I could have that property boarded by morning if I had to.

And you're... You might have, but I tried to get... You're going to tear down my property.

I'd have had it boarded in 24 hours.

I get that, but what I'm telling you is I did the best I could. We did the best we could to get people on board. We got them on board now, and that's what we're doing moving forward. I'm not trying to argue with you. I'm just trying to tell you that's what we did two weeks ago.

I'm being clear. If we give two weeks and it's not all done, I got no desire to keep this going because as a city, we have one lever. It's condemnation. We can't go down there and fix it and secure it and do it all ourselves. But it's not reasonable to have 20 or 30 open apartments down there.

You're right. And that's why they'll be there all night fixing it tonight.

Any other questions for Mr. Winter?

Well, I hope this works. I think it's a good plan that I see. I really hope it works, but I want you to know I'm very skeptical. My issue is... Out-of-town landlords and owners seem to thumb their nose at Tuscaloosa, and I think that's what your company has done. You may not feel that way, but it's the way I look at it, and I agree with Mr. Henry, and I think we all agree. I'll be glad to vote for Compton Nation if we don't see anything going in two weeks.

Absolutely, and I get that, and that's why we've been trying to get the people on board. We spent... I had to get the people in. I had to get schedules coordinated, get everybody in to do that. And we've done it. And so now we've got good people on board. I think we have a good team. You know this team. And I think you know I'm going to do what I say I'll do. I won't have any credibility. So that's just not the way it works.

Any other questions for Mr. Winter or Mr. Powell? All right.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

This is a public hearing when it was introduced. Does anyone here wish to speak for or against? If you would, please come forward and give your name and address.

Derek Collins. The property's been there for two years going downhill, and he want to wait till tonight when you guys want to finally demo it. He had two weeks. Two weeks ago, I heard it get tabled. henry said there wasn't anything done in two weeks so what makes us think he's going to do anything in the next two weeks um i do not think this should get past you guys tonight uh there's plenty of more developers out here that would love the opportunity um it's right there like he said off i-20 um there's more student housing down there anyway and more housing It's been going down for two years, so nobody's been able to live in that vicinity, so he's been taking up property where single-family homes or anything could have went for nothing. There's no profit being made. It's going downhill. He's back behind on taxes, the power bill, and the water. There's plenty of ways to get the money. If he say he can pay it now, we'll demo it and let him go pay it if he want to start somewhere else. He would still have to pay his bills. So I don't think two weeks, his plan that he came up with, nah, it may look good, but it sound good for the ears. He's not going to get the $6.5 million. She don't want to take the condemnations off. I don't blame her. She shouldn't. She worked hard for it. And no financier is going to give it to him. No matter who he got in his back pocket, anything like that, it's not going to work. Yeah. I'm sorry, but I don't think this is going to be a good thing if y'all let it get past y'all tonight. I think he's going to take it, and he's going to probably try to sell it off to the next highest bidder. But just, no, no, no.

Thank you, Mr. Collins. Anyone else wish to address their city council tonight? Seeing none, we will close the public hearing. Is there a motion to table for two weeks in return that the facility be the legacy of Country Club Hills, the legacy of Country Club, that be secured, that within that two-week period there's a payment of any back taxes and water and sewer bills, and the agreement that both parties will work towards an MOU that ultimately delivers what's in the PowerPoint slide deck? Do I hear a motion?

I will make that motion. I will make that motion.

I'll second. It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? Seeing none, voting Mr. Lanier. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Motion passes 5-0. I think Mr. Winter, Mr. Powell, I think you heard the message loud and clear. I would not come back here in two weeks and not have accomplishments to show. Thank you very much. Consent agenda. Clerk.

This approves items A through E on the consent agenda.

Been moved and seconded. Voting, Ms. Howard.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Consent agenda is adopted. Public hearings. Clerk.

This order is demolition of the structure located at 906 and a half, 18th Street. So moved. Second.

Been moved and seconded. Mr. Williams.

This is for the condemnation of 906 and a half, 18th Street, posted for condemnation on April 1st, 2026. This property has 48 housing code violations. The owner has been contacted, is aware of this hearing. The owner is aware that if it's condemned and demolished, the cost of demolition will be charged back to the owner. The owner has pulled a permit, has started making repairs to the exterior, and he is supposed to be here to represent.

Is the owner here? If you would, sir, please come forward and give your name and address.

My name is Lonnie Golightly. My address, you want my personal address or the address here? It's fine. The address is 906 and a half 18th Street. I've been in the process of getting situated. I had to go through a whole process of basically getting the tenants removed so I could do the repairs that was needed. And that took quite a few months. And when I went through the process, it would actually give another 30 days. So a lot has been delayed because of out of my control.

Well, I do want to say.

Yeah. Okay, good.

Yeah, I do want to say that this is some good progress. This is good progress. I appreciate the progress that's been made, and I'm sure my colleagues do too. So I am, you know, I don't know what my colleagues would like to do, but I would like to follow Mr. Williams' recommendation for this. I support that.

How long do you think you need to get the housing code violations wrapped up?

I think 90 days is what Mr. Williams is recommending. Okay.

I'll make a motion to that, if it's appropriate. I'll second.

Okay. It's been moved and seconded for 90 days. Is there anyone here who wants to speak for or against the demolition?

You think you can get it done in 90 days, though?

Yes. Seeing none, voting Mr. Lanier. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Demolition is tabled for 90 days. Good luck.

All right. Thank you.

Good job. Good job.

Thank you. Clark.

Clark.

This order is demolition of the structure located at 1219 19th Alley.

Do I hear a motion and a second?

Motion.

I'll second. Moved and seconded. Mr. Williams.

This is for the condemnation of 1219 19th Alley posted for condemnation on April 1st, 2026. This property has 48 housing code violations. The owner has been contacted as aware of this hearing. The owner is aware if it's condemned and demolished, the cost of demolition will be charged back to the owner. We did find out today this actual property is in zoning for commercial only. It's been vacated for over six months, so it lost its grandfather clause, so it cannot be reconstructed as a residential house right now. The owner is here to represent.

And your recommendation was to move forward with condemnation, correct?

Yes, there's nothing that they can do to the house to save it at this time.

Okay, thank you. Is this the one that there were multiple owners?

Yes, and there is someone here to represent.

I believe you said there's nothing they can do to fix this house.

No, sir, it cannot be repaired. reconstructed as a residence. This is commercial only now and they lost their grandfather after being vacated for six months.

So really the best, the only thing to do is demolish it. Yes. To move forward with the demolition.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Williams. Is the owner or owner's representative here? Anyone here from 1219 19th Alley? Mayor. Yes, if you would, please come forward and give your name and address.

My name is Clement Graham. We own a property. on that property of 1219 19th Alley. We wanted to redo it, but after he explained to me that it's commercial land now, it's just like it's not ours. So, hell, I'm going to tear it down.

Okay, so. Any questions? All right, thank you, sir. Any questions of staff? This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here wishing to speak for or against the demolition? Seeing none. No, sir. If you would, please come forward and give your name and address.

I'm Samuel Davis. I actually live just south of town in Hunters Run area. But I was looking at that, and it's a commercial piece of property, and my question comes into play. Since it is zoned commercial, could it be turned into an apartment complex in that area? Would that satisfy that?

No. I'm not sure what the commercial zoning is.

If you would, please come forward and speak into the microphone.

No, the property being zoned commercially would not allow it to become a multifamily structure. The permitted uses table are outlined online, so no apartments.

Anyone else wish to speak? Seeing none, I'm voting to demolish Ms. Howard.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. Demolition is ordered. Clerk.

This order is demolition of the structure located at 1225 19th Alley. So moved. Second.

Been moved and second. Mr. Williams.

This is for the condemnation of 1225 19th Alley posted for condemnation April 1st, 2026. This property also has 48 housing code violations. The owner has been contacted as aware of this hearing. The owner is aware that if it's condemned to demolish, the cost of demolition will be charged back to the owner. Once again, this is in the same area and the same restrictions as the previous house. The owners are here to represent.

Okay. The owner's here. If you would, please come forward and give your name and address.

Yes, my name is Etta Nolan Lee, and I disagree with my house getting torn down because it's not bad as it looks. And so I disagree with it being commercial, not residential.

Are you talking about the last agenda item?

Yes, the 1225.

Okay, next door. Okay, gotcha.

And I disagree with it. And I want y'all to give me more time to fix on it. I done had deaf, my son's passed 11 months apart, and they put a toll on me. So I'm asking y'all to give me time to fix it up.

I'm a little confused.

Is this one also commercial?

What can be done with it?

It's next door to the other one.

Mr. Williams, both of these lots are commercial, correct? They're now zoned commercial. Okay, yes.

So this lot is zoned commercial. This lot has only been vacated for four months, so it still technically falls in the grandfather clause. Albeit, the repairs and the cost of repairs for this house are over $76,000, which is over 50% of the estimated value of the house as it sits, which leaves it nonconforming.

I disagree with it.

So in other words, if it's deemed nonconforming, planning will not allow them to pull a permit.

Okay, so they, even if we wanted to table this, they still can't pull a permit to do the work? That's right. Okay.

Any other questions? Doesn't sound like we have a choice. I think she understands what she said.

So it's zoned commercial now, but it's still in the grandfather clause, but still they're not at a place where they can pull a permit because over 70%, over 50% of the work needs to be done to rehab the house.

That's just what he said. Like I told him, he haven't went on the inside. He's looking for what on the outside. And I disagree with it. And I told him the same thing.

Ms. Kreutz, was this zoning... existing prior to framework or did this change during the framework?

Can I talk some more? The house on 10th Avenue, they towed those down. And they turned around and put, they said, you can't build nothing there, but they turned around and put apartments there. I don't understand the system.

So can I just do this? This is in my district. This is one of my good constituents. And I think if we could have, known about some things ahead of time, we probably could have talked. So can we table this for a week or just for a week?

I'll make a motion to table it for a week.

Can we speak? You got my contact, right? Yes. Okay. I just want to make sure that we all have an understanding of what has to happen. I don't think we're at a place where we can change.

We have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? Seeing none, is there anyone here that wishes to speak for or against the demolition? Seeing none, voting to table for one week, Mr. Lanier. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

The demolition is tabled for one week. Ms. Howard, I need to step away just for a second, but I'm going to ask that you take over the meeting agenda. I should be back in just a few minutes.

Okay. Okay. All right, we are, so is there anyone else? Are we done with public hearings? Brenda? We've got one more public hearing. Approving the ABC application? For Piggly Wiggly, yes, ma'am.

This approves an off-premises only retail beer and table wine license for Piggly Wiggly 956. Can I get a motion?

Can I get a second?

Second.

All right, we have a motion and a second. Ms. Mary Beth Franks.

Good evening, counsel. I have a District 5 application for B&W Foods Incorporated, doing business as Piggly Wiggly 956. They're applying for a retail beer and a retail table wine, off-premises only. They're located at 4205 University Boulevard East. Their hours are Sunday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Here's my aerial view. All my reports have been filed with the city clerk. TPD will give their report, and then the applicant.

CPD?

Good evening, Council. Police Department doesn't have any objection to this application.

All right. Is this a public hearing?

This is the public hearing, but I believe the applicant is here.

Is the applicant? Okay. The applicant is here? No, not you yet.

Jay Welburn, 913 Monmouth Road, Tuscaloosa. This is our fifth Tuscaloosa location for our Piggly Wiggly group. Just looking to continue to do what we do.

All right, any questions for our petitioner?

No, we're good.

I'm a shopper at the pig, thank you for what you said.

Excited to have you out there.

All right. This is a public hearing, is there anyone here? So would anyone who would like to speak for or against this application? Okay, and if not, can I get a vote?

I make a motion.

A motion. Motion and a second, and can I get a vote starting with Mr. Lanier? Starting with Mr. Lanier?

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes, motion passes. Resolutions and ordinances not of a general nature are permanent orientation.

This approves a less than seven days special events retail license for Party Down, LLC.

So moved. Second.

Okay, I have ABC application in District 4 for Party Down LLC applying for special events retail less than seven days. They will have August events for Raise the Flag at 1202 Coliseum Drive on August 21st from 3 to 11. And then Alumni Memorial Service at 946 University Boulevard on August 22nd from 11 to 6. They will also have events in September and October at DKE Alumni Tailgates 2026 at 946 University Boulevard, and that is September 5th, 19th, 26th, October 10th, and the 24th. Here's my aerial view of the Coliseum Drive. Here's my aerial view for 946 University Boulevard. All my reports have been filed with the city clerk. TPD will give their report, and then the applicant.

CPD.

The police department has no objections to Ms. Lauren's applications.

All right. Mayor?

Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Ms. Howard. Unless there's any questions, I see none. Voting, Ms. Howard?

Yes.

Yes.

It's a public hearing. Do we need that?

This is not a public hearing.

Oh, sorry.

Unless you'd like to hear from Ms. Shoemaker. You're a freshman, man. The petitioner is here.

I'm going to ask you. Would you like to hear from Ms. Shoemaker? You're a freshman. Ms. Shoemaker, you have been called forward. Almost.

What's Raise the Flag?

Raise the Flag, it's, I think this is the third, yeah, third year we've done it. It's with, yeah, Alabama. It's for NIL. It's just a pre-season dinner that they've been doing for the past couple of years.

Any other questions for Ms. Schumacher? Nope.

Can Mr. Busby get a table for about $1,000?

I'm sure we can arrange that.

Thank you, Mr. Baker. We'll continue to vote on Mr. Busby. I think the vote was with you.

Yes. I was on Richard.

We vote.

Oh, no, we didn't.

Yes.

Yes.

Here, I'm going to go ahead and call a unanimous vote on that. We fall apart when you're not here. I think I led to this. Clerk.

This accepts a donation from the Tuscaloosa Tourism and Sports Commission. So moved.

Second. It's been moved and seconded by Mr. Lanier. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Resolutions adopted. Clerk.

This authorizes a minor public works contract with K&A Builders Incorporated.

So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded by Ms. Howard.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Resolutions adopted. Clerk.

This authorizes a professional architectural services contract with Ward Scott Morris Architecture.

So moved. Second.

Second. Been moved and seconded by Mr. Lanier. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Resolutions adopted, clerk.

This tentatively awards a public works contract to Premier Services Company Incorporated. So moved. Second.

Moved and seconded by Ms. Howard.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Resolutions adopted, clerk.

This authorizes execution of contract amendment number one with Thornton, Musso, and Bellarmine. So moved.

Second. Been moved and seconded by Mr. Lanier. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Resolutions adopted. Clerk.

This authorizes the CFO to draw a draft for the Skyland Park Drainage Project.

So move. Second. Moved and seconded by Ms. Howard.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Resolutions adopted. Clerk.

This authorizes Amendment Number 14 to the 2026 Journal Fund Reserve for Future Improvements Fund Budget.

Motion.

Second.

Moved and seconded by Mr. Lanier. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Resolutions adopted. Ordinance and resolutions of general nature of permanent operation for introduction. Clerk.

This introduces zoning amendment number 46. So moved. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Voting Ms. Howard.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. Clerk.

This annex is approximately 5.82 acres located at 704 Patriot Parkway to the corporate limits of the city. So moved.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Voting Mr. Lanier. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Do I hear a call for unanimous consent? Call for unanimous consent.

Second.

Moved and second. Voting Ms. Howard.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. For adoption, clerk.

This set September 1st, 2026 is the date for a public hearing to consider adoption of zoning amendment number 46.

Motion.

Second.

Moved and second. Voting Mr. Lanier. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Date is set. Auditing accounts.

This authorizes the payment of bills. Payment of bills.

Moved and seconded. Voting. Ms. Howard.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Bills are paid. Citizens' comments and other communications. Any citizens wish to address their city council tonight? Okay. Yes, ma'am. If you would, please come forward and give your name and address.

She's been sitting so long. I understand. I'm Mary Ellen Cole. My address is 5624 Morning Glory Lane. Council, Mayor, I'm here today to make the council aware and hopefully resolve a safety issue we have in our subdivision. There's a pod container on the street in front of 5655 Morning Glory Lane. This pod poses a safety issue to homeowners, children, and visitors to our neighborhood. The pod actually blocks the view of someone driving down Morning Glory Lane. It also takes up needed space on a narrow street, making this area even more congested. This is a busy street. We have a lot of school buses, UPS trucks, homeowners, trucks and trailers traveling the street. The PO, the POT also makes it difficult for those homeowners backing out of their driveway on the opposite side of the street as well. We also have a lot of children in our neighborhood and surrounding that come to our subdivision. And the children ride scooters, bicycles down the street. The pod can block a view when a driver's coming one way and the child's coming another. If they veer out in the street, you know, because they can't see them because of the pod. And so the motorist may not be able to react quick enough. So children can be injured, men worse, could die from an accident if that were to occur, hopefully not. We also have a lot of elderly drivers in our neighborhood who their reaction time is a little bit slow, and maybe slow and unable to react to another driver or to a child. The City of Tuscaloosa Engineering Department issued a temporary right of way use permit to an Anna Catherine Gresham, who's at this residence for this pod. It was issued on May the 18th, 2026 for 120 days. And I have the permit here. Carol Williams, the president of our HOA and myself, and I am the secretary of the HOA. We met with Mr. Gardner at the office of the city engineer on July the 22nd. and we made him aware of this safety concern for our neighborhood. He stated he was not aware, after I showed him pictures on my phone, he was not aware that there was a second pod container in the driveway in front of this house, in addition to the one that's on the street. He told us that as of September the 18th, He would make the decision either to remove the pod on the street since the 120 days would be over, or to extend it. I requested at that time that he have the pod removed. There's really been no activity at this residence where the pod is parked in several months. I have a copy of the permit issued by the Engineering Department, and I also have pictures that I can give you, the Council, of the pod on the street for the Council to review. The Winsong HOA Board of Directors, and we're all here today, representing the homeowners, are requesting the City Council to review this issue. the safety issue to our neighborhood and take action to have the pottery moved before there's a serious accident that could have been prevented. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. I do want you to know I thought our city engineer was going to be here tonight. I'm not certain. Must be a miscommunication on my part. I saw pictures earlier today. I do want to speak with Mr. Gardner. Based off the pictures, I think there's a very legitimate concern. So if you can give me until tomorrow by noon, I think we can begin piecing together some answers for you. I'd hate to say I can solve this right now because I need to know the extent of the issue, the extent of my authority in this matter. But let me see what I can do because based off the pictures that were shown to me by our team members, I think there's legitimate concerns, and let's see what we can do.

Thank you.

Do you need me to give this to anybody?

Yes, let's go ahead and take it. And you will hear from us tomorrow by noon. I promise you. Anyone else wish to address their city council tonight? If you would, please come forward and give your name and address.

Good evening, Derek Collins. I'm here tonight because yesterday confirmed exactly why I have continued coming to these meetings and asking for accountability within the Tuscaloosa Police Department. This isn't about one officer. This isn't about one bad day. This is about a culture that many people in this community believe has gone unchecked for far too long. Yesterday evening around 6.30, I was driving home near 19th Street and 10th Avenue. An undercover narcotics officer stared at me continuously while we were stopped at an intersection. I looked back because he would not stop looking at me. That should have been the end of it. Instead, the officer rolled his window down and began yelling profanity. I continued driving home because I wasn't looking for a confrontation, but the interaction didn't end there. It followed me to my home. Outside my home, I asked a simple question. Do we have a problem? I didn't know this officer. I hadn't committed a crime. I hadn't threatened anyone. I had simply looked back at someone who had been staring at me. The officer identified himself as Officer Beasley or Agent Beasley. During that conversation, he made comments about a previous officer-involved shooting that I found deeply disturbing. I told him I didn't want any problems and asked him to leave. My brother also asked him to leave. Instead, he became more confrontational and insisted he could remain because he was on a public road. Thankfully, I have security cameras that record video and audio 24 hours a day. I installed those cameras because I believe documentation protects everyone. Cameras don't have opinions. Cameras don't take sides. Cameras simply record what happened. Portions of that interaction were captured. But tonight isn't about asking you to investigate one encounter. It's about asking... Why so many residents have similar stories. After this incident, I spoke with someone who worked for the county jail. She doesn't work for TBD, but she shared her own negative opinion on the department. I cannot speak for her experience, and I won't present her opinion as facts. What concerns me is that I continue hearing similar perceptions from different people in this community. Whether every story is accurate isn't the point. When enough people begin expressing the same concerns, leadership has a responsibility to ask why. I'm not standing here saying every officer is bad. I'm not saying every officer abuses their authority. I know there are officers who serve this city with professionalism and integrity. but one officer who abuses their authority damages public confidence in the entire department. A badge gives someone extraordinary powers, the power to stop you, the power to detain you, the power to arrest you, the power to write a report that can affect your freedom, your employment, your reputation, and your future. Because that power is so great, the standards should be greater too. The city should continually exam its hiring practices, training, supervision, and accountability systems. It should make sure officers have the temperament, professionalism, and judgment necessary to carry that authority responsibly. It should identify patterns of unnecessary escalation before they become tragedies. Every meaningful interaction between officers and the public should be documented whenever practically. Body-worn cameras protect citizens, but they also protect goods officers from false accusations. Since I became more active in attendance in city council meetings, filing public records requests, and speaking publicly about issues like surveillance and public police accountability, I have noticed what appears to be an increased law enforcement presence around my neighborhood. I cannot tell you the reason for every vehicle I have seen, and I won't speculate. Beyond what I have personally observed, but I can tell you this, no resident should feel uncomfortable because they choose to exercise their constitutional rights. No resident should worry that speaking at a council meeting, criticizing government policies, or asking difficult questions will result in intimidation or unnecessary confrontations. The First Amendment means very little if people fear exercising it. The city deserves a police department that is respected because of its professionalism, not feared because of its attitude. It deserves officers who de-escalate instead of escalate. It deserves transparency instead of defensiveness. It deserves accountability instead of excuses. I will continue attending these meetings. I will continue documenting my interactions. And I will continue asking questions. I will continue exercising my constitutional rights because accountability is not anti-police. Transparency is not anti-police. Professionalism is not anti-police. They are the foundation of public trust. I ask this council to continue examining the policies, training, supervision, and accountability systems that govern the officers who represent this city, because every resident, regardless of race, neighborhood, or background, deserves to be treated with dignity, professionalism, and respect. Thank you, guys.

Thank you, Mr. Collins. You have my email address. Will you send me the video you referenced?

say with everyone that has concerns with the police. I'm very big. I've always been a big advocate since 2017 for community policing. So I look forward to working with Chief Clark, our director of public safety, to see what we can do or what happened, just to get more details and facts about the situation. Because I also believe in transparency, especially when it comes to our police department.

Thank you. Anyone else wish to address their city council tonight? Seeing none, subject to the exercise of mayoral veto and ordinance of the general nature of permanent operation, all departments give an order to otherwise implement council policy that stay enacted. Do I have a motion to adjourn? Second. It's been moved and seconded to adjourn. Voting Mr. Lanier.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Meeting stands adjourned.