City Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to our regularly scheduled commission meeting. July 22, 2026. The time is now six or seven. Madam clerk roll call.

Here. As we stand for our invocation, followed by a pledge of relief application led by our sister city manager, followed by our pledge of allegiance and we'll say that again. It's not released here today.

Amen. Our pleasure, leader. Our pleasure, leader. Through the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. So we're going into awards proclamations and acknowledgments, but we'll do that at another part of the meeting. I do want to say I am happy to announce that every single school in the city of Opelika is an A school this year. Every single school, Opelika, I was going to say Opelika Elementary, but Robert B. Ingram, Nathan B. Young, and Beacon Prep. So all of our two public sch

Mr. May? Go ahead. Yeah, she pulled it out, but there's going to be a comment about that too. Five and eight.

All right, and I would like to pull number nine. All right, any other pools, referrals or deletions at this time?

Commissioner Bass, can you reiterate what was called please?

Okay, so what was pulled was item number five by Commissioner Irvin item number eight by Commissioner Irvin and item number nine by myself.

Got it. All right, so I'll go over it again. So I have item 5 and 8 pulled by a commission urban item. Number 9 was pulled by mayor Taylor and item 16 B. 1 was deferred to the next. To the to the September 9th, September 9th. All right.

All right, so can I have a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda? Move it. Moved by Vice Mayor Kelly. Second. Second by Commissioner Santiago. Madam Clerk?

All right, and we do have an add-on item. Madam clerk, can you please stay for the record? I'm sorry, Madam Attorney, can you read it in the record?

And I'll state the reason for this this item. I sponsored it. We know that August is our. I break mom. I see you. I see you. It's supposed to be our month of break, but normally we only have 1 schedule commission meeting and we were supposed to do this last week, but we forgot to have it on. So that's why this is here today and the only schedule commission meeting will be the emergency. I'm sorry. The. The special commission meeting for the benefit benefits, health and benefits for the benefits. So, can I have a motion to add this to the agenda on tonight? Moved by commissioner urban 2nd, 2nd,

Motion passes 5-0. So can I get a motion to approve tonight's agenda? Move it. Moved by Commissioner Santiago. Second. Second by Commissioner Irvin. Madam Clerk.

Yes. Motion passes 5-0. All right, so we're moving on to the approval of minutes, which is I need a motion to approve the regular commission moving minutes July 8, 2020. Second. Y'all ain't going to let me get out. It was moved by Vice Mayor Kelly and seconded by Commissioner Santiago. Madam Clerk?

Yes. Motion passes 5-0. Do we have any District 1, District 2 state reports? I see none. All right, so we're going to move to public presentations and I will yield to Dr. Bass. Dr. Bass, you have the floor.

Thank you so much. And I'm going to make it quick. I'm going to make it quick. I'm going to ask IT to run a PowerPoint presentation for me. It is a synopsis of our Turning Pages with Art initiative in the park. We had six sessions. We utilize three of our parks we had a total of um some recurrent um about 200 250 participants along with guest readers and artists and i would like to honor those readers and artists tonight uh immediately after the quick slideshow of uh what occurred Turning pages through art. We're not going to read all of it. This is at Shabandi. Our guest reader was Ms. Dorset

Yes. He was one of our readers just highlights again of our children showing off their artwork. Next. One of our teachers, Ms. Davis, I believe. Yeah, I spoke to her earlier. She's a teacher as well. She was very, very good. Next. Highlights again of our students. And there you go. One of our baby readers. He's an artist. He's a writer. He wrote his own book, his first book. He's with us today. And I believe he's 10 years old. He was reading to some of our children. Is that the last one? No, there we go. Children at work. Keep going. Reading and painting sessions, just different sessions that

So this is basically what all of them says. But if you are a reader, instead of saying artist, it would say reader. But these are all the readers. It says, Deceitful Palaka Building a Brighter Future Certificate of Appreciation presented to Ms. Dixon. and sincere appreciation for your partnering as a reader in the pages in the park through our event. Thank you for inspiring our young minds encouraging a love of reading and helping it to cultivate creative community through the power of books and art. Miss Dixon.

The next one is being presented to Ms. Davis. I just love this name because it's a strong name. Mr. Glinton Samuels III. Our reader. Ms. Dorsett.

And the next one is going to be presenting to one of the most famous colleagues that we have here in the great city of Opelika, Vice Mayor Joseph L. Kelly. And certainly an appreciation for you, finally, and reader.

One of our business owners, one of our local business owners here in the great city of Opelika. Thank you so much. Stay here. We need to get a photo.

Mr. Hippolyte. FIU. Oh, from FIU. Thank you for the partnership. And last but not least, Ms. Tiana Williams. also from print house y'all show a lot of print house

So Dr. Bass, we thank you for this great initiative and how you are pushing education in the city of Opelika. And before you got here, we announced, you were aware of this already, that every single school in the city of Opelika is an A school this year.

Every single school. So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Yes. And I'm a little biased because I love young people that are doing great things. So all y'all, we know y'all can read and we're so happy for you. But Glenton Samuels III was the youngest reader. And not only was he a reader, but he's also an author. So shout out to young King Glenton Samuels III. So thank you for that. All right, so we're moving on in our agenda. Item number 11, which is our Citizens Forum. Madam Clerk, can you please state for the record how to participate in Citizens Forum?

Madam Clerk, do we have any virtual participants?

So citizens forum is open for those of you that are in the chamber.

So my comment, I know the city celebrated 100 years. Can you state your name and address for the record?

Thank you, Mr. Sosa. Citizens Forum is still open. Citizens form is closed. So, um, commissioner Dominguez, you talked about the military. We we're here on that. Um, and the, but what stood out is the public records request from July 9th. I don't know where that is. You want to speak to a matter manager?

Well, that's the one I'm aware of. Can you get Ms. Walker to get exactly what she needs so that you all can respond accordingly? And we had the resident, I said you sent the social services director to get his number because for the financial planning guy and Ms. Sosa on the water lanes. Can you all set up a meeting?

okay so can you all set up a meeting with um mr sosa um the chief of staff is here miss ashley so that you all can mitigate that issue so that we can close that out um miss ashley to mr sauce as well and that'll it yeah i'm sorry mr mary what i understand though what our managers uh say now is everything is be you know done that has been restored

Exactly. That's what I wanted. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Manager. And I told you about the item that Commissioner Audrey was talking about. It's number four. But if we don't want to pull it out to saving time, I can say to the public, what did I think about or you want me to pull it out for?

So we have to reopen the agenda, the consent agenda.

Are you going to? vote against it or something are you no no sir no no no sir so that comes to give you time now to go ahead and put it on the record okay i want to put it in the record the concern is that we already be talking in the um uh agenda brady on monday and for the commissioner address she's outside right now i make it loud and clear that i'm going to supporting okay that item but okay that morning it had to be returned to the city because we are not the one broken that pipe That's what I believe that we'll be discussing in that meeting. The money is going to be refunding for the com

I think we're all on the same page with that. So, Madam Manager, you can have an offline conversation with Commissioner Santiago. Vice Mayor?

All right. Can I get a motion? Move it. Moved by Commissioner Santiago. All right, no motion on this item this item does for lack of a second moving on to item number 13. 13, 8.

All right, can I get a motion? Move it. Move by Vice Mayor Kelly. Can I get a second on this item? Hearing none, this item dies for lack of a second. All right, moving on to the last item on the consent, which is 13-9.

move it move by commissioner santiago and i'll put this item so i'll go ahead and second the item um for a discussion commissioner santiago uh thank you mr mayor i be uh talking uh through my manager uh for the last seven months i think about that morning they be assigning to me for uh the opalaka community newspaper That's, you know, one of the things that we've been talking. Nowhere and anywhere we can get through, okay, with that project because a lot of things happen. We don't found, as they say, no company that want to take over. Another thing is, you know, we be having, you know, trouble

All right. I pulled this item for simply what you're talking about. We. Last meeting, we had a 45 minute conversation about spending $7000 on paper in that same meeting. We talked about we debated about giving our employees a 2% raise. So this event is already budgeted for. So just because we're not using it, we shouldn't reallocate it to something else. It should go in the general fund to help with what we need it for. So I don't feel comfortable spending 12 plus three, which is already allocated. That's $15,000 on a Labor Day event. Now, if you need more, then we can sign a meeting in the mi

Yes. Mr. Mayor, hey, it sounds beautiful what you're bringing to us. Sounds perfect. Okay. Yeah. Is any complaint. But the other day we have a workshop and we'll be talking about to spend half a million dollars next year. Money that we already don't have. But we're talking about something that is there. And for some reason, and I want to find the reason. I want to find the reason why the newspaper not started in January. Why the newspaper don't started in February. There's a lot of things going on. And you're talking about the $7,200 that we've been talking about the other day to ending, endin

Item has been deferred. Moving on to the next item, which is item number 14-1. Madam, that's the hat on it, yeah.

All right, can I get a motion on this item? Move by Commissioner Irvin, second by Vice Mayor. Simply put, you know, August is our vacation month, and we, except for that one year, Irvin, we have like six years. But we want to make sure that we give our employees and our manager time to recoup and get ready for the new year. So the only meeting I'm suggesting that we have is that special meeting, which we usually do, I believe, in the daytime, like around 9 o'clock, to go over the benefits package. Okay, sure.

Um, I'm going to defer the item to, uh, to, uh, next, uh, commissioner meeting in September, because I'm going to make a story, uh, you know, and found out, you know, uh, more history of Opelika.

Got it. So this item is deferred, um, moving on to the last item of the night, which is 16 B two.

All right, this is a public hearing item. I get to let you, I'm sorry, can I get a motion? I'm sorry. Moved by Vice McKinley. Second. Second by Commissioner Irvin. This is a public hearing item. Madam Manager, go ahead and present, and then we'll open up a public hearing.

All right, this is a public hearing item. Public hearing is open. Hearing non, seeing non, public hearing is closed. All right. I'm at a manager. You want to go ahead and highlight those changes between 1st and 2nd reading.

Okay, Madam manager briefly. Can you explain the roofing on Ingram Park?

All right. I didn't get that part. And I got excited because I thought she was going to talk about the team.

No, he's aware of that. And then the other one was, okay, I'm glad you're doing that because we just, it was over. Thank you for that one. All right. And so those are the only highlights. yes those are only changes sorry any questions to the manager or the um our budget administration budget administrator mr floyd yes sir thank you uh that's um the one that we had to send into tallahassee to be approved no this is the um this is from last week yeah the moment yeah no no we already voted on the one to go to tallahassee for approval all right all right um madam clerk

All right. So we're moving on to the city manager's report.

All right. So any questions for the manager? We'll start from left to right. Dr. Bass, any questions for the manager? No questions. Commissioner Santiago, any questions for the manager on our report?

Yes. Go ahead. Madam Manager, I come into you something regarded about owner They have a situation out there by the site, okay, about something that is belong to the city that in his property. We already take care of that situation where we are, that we're going to respond to them?

Okay, yeah, that's what I heard that is not going to affecting the property owner to have any operation right now. We're not going to do anything. I have to, you know, we decide what to do with that.

Okay. When the time coming, you know, the city going to let him know him, you know, to give him the space to working on and the property. Okay.

thank you and mother manager now that she is here i want to make also something clear okay regarded about uh what we're talking about before for that item number four okay yes be sure Like the way that we talk, that the people that they're responsible to do any damage anywhere, alleyways, any part of the city, you know, people that they destroy a fence for our public property, you know, to make them to pay. to the city. That's the only reason that I say, yeah, let's go through because we had to fix that section there. You say that's very important to doing it. If not, we're going to destroy th

And what's the estimated? What did they just say? Yes, I'm excited. That's my time. Did they give you a time? Okay. Yes. I was looking down in here. All right. The only thing I have for you, Madam Manager, is the the TPO item. The Miami-Dade Transport Planning Organization. What's the scope of work? Is that how we're still funding freebies with that program? Because that's our scope of work.

All right and it's the bicycle lanes and yes, and for all right. Okay. All right. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't. But I thought this was also no. Got it. All right. I think that's all. And the only thing I will say this, Madam Manager, so I had the opportunity to hang out with the people that were cleaning the canals on the other day. Of course, they didn't let me ride the boat, but it's all right because that show was out there. But it looks good. The only critique that I do have is I know that it's a one-man operation and he drives the boat, but can you ask them what borders the s

Thank you, Mr mayor. I just want to say, first of all, to Commissioner Santiago, thank you for making Dummy Nails and Chess a success. With your efforts, it's becoming more lively, so thank you for that. I also want to plug the initiative, another initiative that I was working on over the summer with, again, with Nova. I'm driving her crazy every day, but thank you for not being upset because I know I get on her a lot because I'm always calling, asking for something. But anyways, I mentioned it before. It's a little libraries in the city of Opelika. I don't know if you all seen it, the little

Is it possible that you can maybe put one in the lobby of City Hall, right in the corner by the elevator?

Yeah. But what time? I see that it's my calendar.

Oh, this is going to be about 34 or 5 minutes tops and we're done.

You can ride the bikes right over to the Segal Park and join us at the library. Right. We can do a two-for-one event. Amen. Not the best, as you already know. We still have the donation from the book that I am on. Yes.

Of course. Thank you so much. Thank you. Commissioner Santiago. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, in my report, And that too, you know, made two points to the manager in my college. And I have a note here that they are putting here in my folder and say, do not forget to mention it. The first edition of the community newspaper in August 26, that I don't know anything about it. I don't know what's going on. I don't have any information. But Madam Mayor, if it is nothing in place, don't worry about it. Let it go. let him go and put the money back to the general fund okay because i don't have anything y

Because that's not right. Because they called each and every one of us to ask us what we want in that newspaper. So we can't do that to the manager. Could you ask for this newspaper? The newspaper is here. We ask for your editorials. And everybody has submitted, I believe. Everybody has submitted. So we're going to cut the next ribbon for the inaugural newspaper on what is it? August 28th. That was sponsored by Commissioner Santiago. Thank you, Madam Manager, for all your hard work and bringing this forth. Commissioner Santiago, you want to finish your report?

That's not right. No, it's me that knows that I receive. Okay. But I receive everything, you know, by the last minute. Okay. And we'll be discussing that for a long time now. Okay. Let's keep it going. Um, I'm going to keep celebrating, uh, the block Patty, um, in 22nd Avenue by the low, uh, grocery store is going to be, um, uh, uh, the 7th of the next month. That's the first Friday of the month. And I'm going to celebrate it in big out there. We're going to make that community to look better and better every day. And I also have my event for September 7th, Labor Day. And it's going to be, it'

I'll go next. I don't have a long report. I know we have financial oversight under my report. Anything from the efficiency audit? I don't see the, I see the supplier, but I don't see the...

Got it. All right. Which we all, we've cured already. So I'm excited about that. All right. So the other thing on my thing is our book bag, annual book bag giveaway and health fair that we have every year is August 8th. That's a Saturday from 11 to 3. book bags, school supplies, free health screenings. We're going to have an advocacy workshop. We have free food and family fun and more. Between myself and Commissioner Irver, we're trying to get the people to come back to do the haircuts and the braids. And so we're waiting on a response from them. So we're inviting everybody out to that. That w

You can make a video and we'll show it out there.

All right, I do apologize. We got one more thing we need to do. So the Florida League of Cities is having most of the week we go every year, their annual meeting, which takes place on August 13 through the 15th. But we need to select one designated elected official to be a voting delegate, which is that Saturday, August 15.

Does anybody anybody you're going? Yes. All right. So you want to be what? Can I submit your name as a voting delegate?

So, Madam Clerk, there's your answer on that. And I'm sorry, two other things. We want to shout out Mrs. Javaris Brownlee. Thank you, Kari. They called yesterday and said that they wanted to do something nice for the city of Opelika's football team. So they came in today. They brought footballs and posters and book bags for our football players and our cheerleaders. He stayed out there and played ball with the kids and ran. And so it was a good, good vibe at Shibandi Village. And he's homegrown from the city of Opelika. He plays for the Jets now as a cornerback. So he came back to the city of