City Commission - Special Meeting

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to our special commission meeting, August 25th, 2026. The time is now 3.02. Madam Clerk, roll call.

Here. As we stand for our Pledge of Allegiance. An invocation on our Pledge of Allegiance.

No. Okay. Public input and those of you that are speaking under public input, we ask that you stay remain to the topics at hand, which is the resolutions on the agenda only. So public input is open. Hearing none, seeing none, public input is closed. All right.

All right. Move by Commissioner Santiago. Second. Second by Commissioner Irvin, Madam Manager.

Okay. All right. Do we have any questions to the manager on this item? Mr. Mayor. Vice Mayor Kelly. Thank you.

We can get whomever to come up and give us a general synopsis of the impact that this will be on employees in terms of their insurance and all of those impacts.

Any specific questions, Mr. I can't hear you. I'm sorry. Yeah. Okay. Well, you want to go that route? Yeah, sure. The health plan has a 13%. assumed 14 increase in health costs etc so what was that attributed to and with the plans what what's the bottom line for employees what's going to cost them more including deductibles well um initially the renewal came in at 34 so i was able to get it down to uh 14 which is a 20 percent hold on a sec can y'all turn this mic up because i can't i can't hear

Okay, I thank you for the answer. I understand the HIPAA law and all that. It's not one of your reverse details. What normally occurs is when we pass this and employees start going to the doctor, taking the kids to the doctor or themselves or to the dentist, they realize that they're copay and all those things are shot up. And they always say they didn't realize it was going to be that high. And I know you all have a period where they go and sign and all of that. So as a part of that, that's why I bring it up now, because I always hear that every year where the copay went up, you know, and the

Okay, so co-pays will not go up, but deductibles possibly, they're going to go up. Okay, so if I just take my son, my daughter to the dentist, that copay is not going to go up.

Okay. So for the most part, the city's absorbed a lot of costs, particularly because we pay a hundred percent on the employee, but on this, but for the budget purposes, it's a 14.5 increase in health costs. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Samir. Thank you.

I just want to commend you. Thank you for getting it down to from 34 to where you got it because that is significant decrease. So I do applaud you for that because it could have been a lot, a lot worse. I'm not happy, but it's better than what it could have been. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. I was going to say what he said, but thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for fighting for us. Madam Manager, any other questions for the manager? All right, Madam Clerk, we're ready.

Thank you, sir. All right, moving on to 6-2.

Can I get a motion? Move it. Moved by Commissioner Santiago. Second by Vice Mayor Kelly. So simply put, this item came to be with Dr. Bass in her other capacity. She reached out to the 5,000 role models when her students could not afford ties and shirts and pants and belts and shoes and stuff. So she reached out to all of the men here in the city of Opelika, some of us donated, we support it. But then we wanted to take it a little further and see what the government can do in order to help students who were in need get the resources that they need in order to be in the program and also to sust

Okay, thank you. That's how this came to be years ago. Years in the making.

Yes, I think all of us probably want to co-sponsor. Thank you for taking the lead on it, Dr. Bass, as well. The question I have is we're going to be the fiscal agent. I know that the role model is going to do the day-to-day management. So, Madam Manager, from your standpoint, I know you probably met with the mayor on it, but how are we going to do that? How does it fit in with whatever? Who's going to be assigned? Because it's quite a bit of... We want to make sure we get it right because it's a federal type of thing or the funding, I'm assuming, so congressional. So how are we handling that o

Okay, maybe I misunderstood. I thought the mayor just said that the... responsibility for day-to-day and implementation is really going to be the role model. I mean, the 5,000 role models, correct?

Yeah, but I can explain that part. But we don't want to take away from our day-to-day to do this. So they're going to assign somebody through this program to run this program.

Okay. I got the responsibility day to day. I see that here. They're going to be doing that, but from the fiscal agent, because that's where the money and reporting side comes. So your intent is to hire someone to do that? Yes. Okay. Okay, would that come out at a million? Yes. That's coming out at a million? Yes. So that's going to just go through the, what, regular process of advertising for somebody to come in, or are there folks that do this already that are just going to advertise it?

Okay. I'm only asking, you know, anytime I see federal dollars and things, I think of time constraints or timelines. So that's why I'm asking the question, if it's going to be on us to make sure reports or something is done. And I know, but if you're going to hire someone and that's going to be their own, their primary role of doing that. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Samira.

I mean, you had the exact same concerns because I told Madam Manager, it's a lot of money and it's very rare that a program would ask another municipality to stand as a fiscal agent. And I just didn't want to, in all intents and purposes, mess up.

Well, I'm saying the same thing because, you know, when you talk about federal stuff and somebody who knows about it, that could just that's their focus. And check off all the boxes. Yes.

Okay. So that's all that they'll be hired to do. Okay. And you just said you're in the initial stages. So I'm assuming you already have timelines.

Well, I just got the packet. I just got the packet. We just have to acknowledge the drawdown. If the commissioner accepts it, then we're going to move forward. All right. Madam, Madam. Clerk, oh, I'm sorry, any other questions? No, next question. Madam Clerk, so this is everybody's sponsor. If you can make the edit, co-sponsoring it, and then we can go ahead and call the question.

All right, moving on to the third item, 6-3.

Can I get a motion? Move it. Moved by Commissioner Santiago. Second. Second by Commissioner Irvin. Dr. Bass.

Okay. Any questions for the sponsor? All right, Dr. Bass, I have one question. So the benches that you're ordering, are they attached to the mini libraries or just benches around the park? That's what I was confused about.

The benches that are coming in, is it in concert with what's already there? Because we have a certain style of bench.

But I just want to, if we're going to get this, if it's going to be scattered out and make sure that it's, or is it just next to the library, but.

They're going to pay for it. We put a strategic place in that.

That was a question I had because actually in doing Feeding South Florida, they actually looked like putting some of the old benches back in the And I was saying to myself, we need some new benches. So when I saw this, I was like, this is a great opportunity with some benches. The other question is because I noticed where the one is at Segal, where it's placed, kind of near the walking thing. So I'm trying to understand. So you just, I think, clarified. You're not sure exactly yet where they're going to put them or how many it's going to be. Right. because that was another concern where they d

And I'm just referring really specifically now to Segal, but I'm quite sure we got sprinklers in some of the other areas of the park as you progress it. But hopefully they will have some kind of, Uniformity. I know, like I said, the ones that they put back at Segal look like me need to be painted or touched up anyway. So as you, I guess, work with the manager, y'all can get that together. But don't put them somewhere people are going to get wet up while they're reading.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. All right. And if any other questions or concerns, I do want to say, Dr. Bass, this initiative is great, encouraging literacy throughout our community. I commend you for what you are doing. And please come get them books out of my office. We got like three boxes. You can have them from the books and burgers event that we had. So no other questions are concerned. Madam Clerk, we can go ahead and call the question.

And the last item for the day, item 6-4.

All right, can I get a motion? Move it. Moved by Commissioner Santiago. Second. Second by Commissioner Urban. Commission?

Yeah, let me go ahead and I went back to look at the YouTube minutes from the last meeting because when I saw this was coming up, I was trying to figure out why I came back because it was clear that it was going to be funded from outside. Now it's coming back. So Madam Manager, number one, tell me how much it's going to cost for staffing for that day. What is the cost? Do you have that exact cost for police?

Okay. Secondly, And to my colleague, I'm always appreciative of doing things in the community, but I have a challenge with this because two things. This is one of those that's what I call commission-oriented because it's one of the major ones. I challenge to see, and that's why I'm asking the question, when I looked at the flyer, it said it's going from 22nd Avenue all the way down to 17th, which is the whole... street, the whole area. And so my question became not just staff or police, but I'm thinking safety, I'm thinking, what do you call those things, porta-potties, I'm thinking all those

Okay. Mr. Mayor, and this is the last I'll say on this. I always look at documentation clarity. So, Madam Manager, you're saying culture arts. I'm looking at the flyer that says Alabama from 22nd down to Lowe's, which is 1731 Alabama. So tell me, which is it? the sponsor will have to provide. Okay. Well, the sponsor can ask because y'all get you, I'm hearing different things, but I'm looking at the flyer that exists. And that's to me is a long route that we're cutting off. Number one. And I don't, I don't know what's entailed in it in terms of, because I know you got cars and I know we've had

You want to answer? No, no, it's okay. No, no, it's fine.

All right. Was all questions answered? Initially, y'all know how I felt about this. But I spoke to the manager and she said it was for the payroll. Not payroll, overtime. Overtime. Because my concern was, it was a holiday. $12,000, is this going to be enough? Because I don't want you to have to come back for more. So if this is the ceiling... For overtime? And I think Commissioner Hess brought that up as well. I don't know. But then this needs to be the ceiling.

So there's a possibility there will be more. Even if we didn't pass it tonight, we still got to pass it.

Okay. Madam Manager, we can, Vice Mayor.

Yeah, let me just add this one point. I'm just going to say this, and I know it's not going to be popular. I think it's very challenging where we are. If we're going to start this, this is going to open up a Pandora's box where we're all going to be looking for money that's left from somewhere else to fund other projects. I'm just staying out on the record. I realize it's, you know, the dynamics of supportive, and I'm going to show up, but I'm not going to support it tonight because I think we're setting a bad precedent where we're going and finding dollars left from something, with this case,

We on the same page because I told the manager the same thing. Just because we have it, we don't need to spend it. But I understand it's overtime. But I want to make sure that if this does pass tonight, that that is the ceiling. Like we're going to have to budget this, that it doesn't go over the requested amount. And I know overtime is going to be a big deal because we have holiday events. So if this is to make sure that it stays, just because we have it, we don't need to always spend it.

Now, I got to have a petty moment. I'm sorry. And since you are going to change the flyer, can I put my picture on the flyer?

But the mayor got a picture too, but never mind. You can bring your time through that. Go ahead.

Yes. Motion passes 4-1. All right, we're getting ready to go, but I do want to make this quick announcement. I know the attorney's going to kill me because we're supposed to stay germane to the topics, but the Opelika newspaper is out and we rolled it out. Thank you, Commissioner Santiago. I believe it was last week. No, a week before that? Two weeks. Oh, so those of you that have not gotten your copy of this beautiful Opelika newsletter newspaper, please seek any member of this commission or come to, that's how they say it in church.

And the only thing I will say, Madam, I do want to take a picture with the newspaper afterwards, but I do want to, Madam Manager, maybe add something about the business community, what we have here to advertise.

All right, so I'm good. Thank you, Commissioner Santiago.

Even though one of these pictures made me look really fat, but that's another story for another day. Everybody can't walk like you do now. Here we have a motion to adjourn. Moved by Commissioner Ted DiAgo, seconded by Vice Mayor Kelly. This meeting is adjourned.