Council - Regular Meeting

Our regular city council meeting and it is now officially called to order. And if everyone would please stand, we'll have an invocation by Miss King followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here tonight. Thank you for allowing us to serve you, the city, and the people. Please continue to be with us and lead us in the right direction. We thank you for all that you've done. In your name we pray. Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Thank you. Mr. Williams, if you will call the roll, please.

Thank you very much. As for the agendas concerned, we did add one to the general business. And that's for a liquor license for Johnny Panthers doing business as Johnny Panthers LLC. That will be added to the agenda. So can I get an approval?

Motion by Mr. Bowling, second by Mr. Hendricks. All in favor of the motion? Thank you. At this time, we will have a message from Mayor Tyler.

Thank you, Ms. Simmons. It's an honor and a privilege of mine to ask the Erbo family if they would to come up and stand beside me. I first had an opportunity to meet the Urbos probably in the summer of 2025 at a Swampers 5K over in Muscle Shoals when this little guy right here wearing a diaper ran the one mile fun run And I thought, what kind of family comes out, most of them were running in it, not everybody. And this one's in his diaper completing a one-mile front run. And I thought, that's a little special, a little different there. Little did I know how talented this family actually was. Y

Thank you, Mayor. Do we have any reports from any department heads? Any standing committees?

yes we had a utilities committee meeting on um august 5th at four o'clock in attendance were mayor tyler myself president um simmons council member bowling mr tad cole and mr will haddock Mr. Cole presented the information regarding two properties that have been discussed as a potential purchase by the city. The properties are located on Marion Avenue and Rickwood. Both have the same owner. The city did not pay for a formal appraisal of these properties. The city attorney suggested to Mr. Cole, having an appraiser review these assessed values available online, provide an option as to whether t

Thank you, Ms. King. Are there any other standing committee reports? Yes. Mr. Hendricks?

Thank you, Mr. Hendricks. Are there any other standing committees? If not, we do have a public hearing tonight. Mr. Mason?

Okay, the public hearing is now open. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Is the property owner here?

Did you? That's our city attorney, Mr Musgrove. Did you understand what he said? Okay. So there'll be none. We do close the hearing at this time. Okay. The public hearing is now closed at this time. We will. At this time, we'll have business from the floor pertaining to the items on the consent and the regular agenda with a five-minute time limit. You come to the podium, state your name and address, and we'll start with someone on my left.

Thank you. Anyone else to my left? In the middle?

Thank you. Anyone else in the middle? To my right? All right. Mr. Williams, go ahead and read the consent form.

I have a question, please. Is this one I can ask a question? I'd like to know on the consent agenda 12, resolution to approve travel vouchers. I think we had received an email from Mayor Tyler on July 14 regarding expenditures being immediate expenditure restrictions. So I'm wondering why this is appearing on the consent agenda.

Mr. Musgrove, are you able to answer that? His question is, repeat your question.

We have J on the consent agenda resolution to approve travel vouchers. And on December 14th, I'm sorry, July 14th of this year, we received immediate expenditure restrictions from Mayor Tyler. So we've got this appearing for approval or resolution. And I think we need to look at that.

I would maybe suggest we hold on it then and check the dates on those travel vouchers to see if they came in before or after the mayor's email. I mean, just a suggestion.

Can we do that, Mr. Musgrove? This is unprecedented, this part right here. So I'm having to check legal counsel on this one.

What's your request? To remove it to the regular or remove it altogether?

I mean, I think if we've established this and we can't get a clear picture that we can tell people, I think we need to either move it. I'm good with either one of them, honestly. Let's vote against it. Or move it to the next agenda, like Elisa said. Ms. Dixon.

OK. OK. Mr. Williams. This is all different, so I do apologize. I don't know how to handle this one.

I make a motion to remove Jay on the consent agenda resolution to approve travel vouchers.

Second. Second. It's been motioned by Mr. Spence, seconded by Ms. Dixon to remove the regular voucher. The resolution to approve the travel vouchers. All in favor? 6-0. Does that clear that part of it up? Yes, thank you. Okay. I do apologize. This was something totally new. That's never happened before.

We did. We did. Thank you, Mr. Musgrove. We don't know what we would have done without you here. That's why we've got our legal counsel here. Thank you. All right. Now the real agenda.

A motion for a consent agenda. Approval.

Can I get a second? Second. Motion by Mr. Bowling, second by Ms. King. All in favor of the motion?

Just a simple vote? Yes. OK. Do I hear a motion? Motion.

Motion by Ms. King, second by Mr. Spence. All in favor of the motion? Discussion. Oh, I'm sorry. Any discussion?

Yes, I would like to discuss this topic. I have always said since I started on this path to run for District 6 that safety would be my first priority. Seeing approximately 3,000 to 5,000 cars a day on Grisham Road, it's become extremely difficult at the intersection of Grisham and Seville Street. Since taking office, I have witnessed several wrecks there myself. Several I've been notified and actually gone out there right after the wreck. One wreck involved a car that ended up upside down. Those people were very fortunate to walk away from the accident. With approximately 24 new homes being pr

Thank you. Any other discussion? No? All in favor of the motion?

Second. Motion by Mr. Spence, second by Ms. Dixon. Any discussion? All in favor of the motion?

Motion by Mr. Hendricks, second by Mr. Bolling. Any discussion? All in favor of the motion?

Do I hear a motion for immediate consideration? Second. Motion by Mr. Boland, second by Ms. Dixon. All in favor of the motion?

Motion by Mr. Hendricks, second by Mr. Bolling. Any discussion? No, I'm sorry. All in favor of the motion?

During a motion for immediate consideration. Second. Motion by Mr. Spence, second by Ms. King. All in favor of the motion?

Motion by Ms. Dixon, second by Mr. Spence. Any discussion? Yes.

I recently toured the gas department and learned about their operations. The gas department must follow strict federal and state regulations to operate safely. They currently operate with a very small landlocked area, which limits their ability to expand. The city works from five different budgets and the gas department operates with its own. The gas department has no debt. the gas department has significant funds budgeted for land acquisition the property being considered is directly behind the gas department and would provide much needed space for future growth as our city continues to grow

Any additional discussion? If not, all in favor of the motion.

Do I hear a motion for immediate consideration? Second. Motion by Mr. Hendricks, second by Ms. Dixon. All in favor of the motion?

Motion by Mr. Hendricks, second by Ms. Dixon. Any discussion? No. Do I hear a motion? Motion by Mr. Hendricks, second by Ms. Dixon. Any discussion? No discussion. All in favor of the motion?

City Council meeting a vote for adoption is all that is in this time Your motion motion second motion by Miss King second by mr. Hendricks any discussion

Okay. Any additional discussion? No? Yes, sir.

This abatement, if I remember right, is from years 10 through 20, 11 through 20. There is no money coming away from the police department. This tax abatement does not affect this next year's upcoming budget. There are no police officer positions impacted by this tax abatement right now. There are no city services right now being impacted by this tax abatement. We're making decisions today that are 10 years out and beyond, and it all be performance-based. If this hotel is terrible and has a bad reputation, he generates nothing for us. There is no tax abatement. If it is a successful hotel, has

Thank you. No other discussions? All in favor of the motion?

Do you hear a motion for immediate consideration?

Second. Motion by Mr. Bowling, second by Ms. Simmons. All in favor of the motion?

Second. Motion by Mr. Bowling, second by Ms. Dixon. Any discussion? All in favor of the motion?

Do you hear a motion for immediate consideration? Motion by Mr. Hendrick, second by Mr. Bowling. All in favor of the motion?

Do we have a motion for the adoption? Motion. Motion by Ms. Dixon, second by Mr. Hendricks. Any discussion? All in favor of the motion?

Do you hear a motion for the immediate consideration? Second. Motion by Mr. Bowling, second by Ms. King. All in favor of the motion?

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

At this time, we'll have business from the public with a five minute time limit. You'll come to the podium, state your name and address. Starting to my right. In the middle.

We don't have dialogue back and forth from the podium.

You can speak with your council representative after the meeting.

Thank you. Anyone else in the middle? To my left. OK. At this time, we will have council members' reports with a five minute time limit, starting with you, Ms. Dixon.

I didn't realize I was first today. First of all, thank you to everyone who's come out today. I appreciate your interest in the city and the things that we do here. Let me first start off by saying thank you to the Industrial Development Board. I appreciate the role you play within our city and the work that you do. Thank you for sharing your expertise for the betterment of the city. You do work that most often goes unnoticed. and unseen, but we as a community benefit from. I especially appreciate those that reached out to me after the email I sent earlier this week. I want to be very clear, I

Thank you, Ms. Simmons. Thank you, everyone, for being here and everyone watching online. I'm not going to go into a deep discussion on my vote. I said at the last meeting when it failed to get a second, you know, my silence was not a yes or a no. Well, I wanted to get more information. I got my information, and I didn't agree. So that's basically where I sit. If anybody wants to reach out to me for more information to understand better where I sit, please reach out to me. I don't mind at all. I actually encourage it. So we can have a discussion. We'll go coffee, whatever you want to do. I wou

Hey, just want to thank everyone for being here tonight who's been present and those who are watching via YouTube. We appreciate you coming and making your comments. And Brandon, thank you for your comments tonight. I'm glad you got up in front of the city. That's what we want more of in making comments to the community. Thank you to our staff for what they do each and every day. Can't say enough about them. I actually saw the... the shelter today you know save a little phone on the on Cox Creek so I mean that was amazing just to see the action and how about innocent bystander just came up and

Thank you everyone that came out tonight, that took time to come up here and speak to us. And those watching from home, we really appreciate you. I don't have a lot to say tonight, but I am here. If you have questions, if you wanna reach out about anything, if you wanna talk, Vote about my vote or you're just concerned about something. My number is 2 5 6 9 5 6 9 6 2 1 Please reach out. I have had so many people over the past few weeks reach out. I want to hear from you I want to hear your thoughts. I want to hear what you have to say. I have a district 6 meeting September the 10th It's 6 o'clo

Thank you, Mr. Hendrix. Thank you for everyone that has been here tonight. And when I mess up, I will tell you I messed up. I got confused on my vote. I do, for the record. Make sure you get this, Mr. Williams. I do support the Sweet Home Alabama. So I am so glad that it did pass. I just messed up a little bit right there. But I do support that. And I truly hope that they are awarded the Sweet Home Alabama grant. I hope they get that. And with that being said, that's all I'm going to have to say. I've tried to right my wrong even though I didn't get the vote.

All right. If anything else, if everybody will stand and Ms. Dixon will close us out in prayer.

Our Father in heaven, we're thankful that we came together together as the city and that we were able to discuss and have open conversation and that we were able to accomplish some things for the city moving forward. We are thankful for those that we serve. We're thankful for you. We're thankful for the joys and the happiness that we receive through those blessings you send our way. Strive to reach out and help others in our communities and be mindful of others and do those things that you need us to do on your behalf to help and lift others. And we pray that we may return to our places of des