City Council - Regular Meeting

this is a regular meeting of the mobile city council tuesday june the second please stand for our invocation led by patricia evans public safety chaplain and remain standing for the pledge of allegiance

Good morning. Let us bow our head for a word of prayer. Most gracious and loving Father, we do bless and praise your name, oh God, today. So thank you, God, for allowing us to assemble yet again. So God, we pray, Lord God, that this be a productive meeting. We pray for our council persons. And we pray, Lord God, for our first responders, Lord God, and for the mayor of this great city. And God, we ask that you continue to be with us and guide us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Amen.

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

Roll call president small here. Vice president Gregory here. Council member pin here. Council member Ingram here. Council member Reynolds there. Council member Fleming here. Council member Woods here.

Statement of rules and good morning everyone. Good morning. It's good to see your one this morning. Welcome to our June 2nd, 2026 meeting. At this meeting, we do have rules. At this time, I ask if anyone have any type of electronic device, including cell phones, please, at this time, put it on the off of the vibrate position, the off of the vibrate position. Any person that is designed to address the mobile city council must sign indicating the resolution, the ordinance, or public hearing agenda item before entering the meeting. When addressing this council, the speaker must give his or her name. Any person that desires to speak to the council on a non-agenda item must contact the city clerk's office no later than 2 o'clock p.m. on Thursday prior to the council meeting. The subject that he or she wishes to express to the Mobile City Council must be identified and pertained to the City of Mobile business. Anyone who has not given proper note to the city clerk's office and wishes to speak on a non-agenda item will not be allowed to address this council. Each speaker is allowed three minutes to address this council. A bell will sound to indicate the end of two minutes. One minute remaining for summarizing the second value in the case that your time has expired. When addressing the council, there will be no personal address to any individual council members. All statements are to be made to the chair who will recognize any council member who wishes to respond. To maintain the quorum, there will be no undue applause or public outcry allowed. Madam Clerk.

Communications from Mayor Chair Gattis.

good morning everyone morning i wanted to start off today talking about our lime scooters so the city is looking at a multi-year extension with the lime scooter brand and i call them lime scooters but they have a lot of other products and so as we're looking at this extension we did a few things one we listened to the public we listened to some of our friends who have newspapers and talk about lime scooters a lot and we wanted to address some concerns that we've heard. So under this new contract, our scooters will now max out at eight miles an hour. We had some concerns about scooters kind of flying by large crowds of people and that's something that we certainly want to reduce the risk on. So that's a new part of our franchise agreement. Lime has also agreed to rather than every couple of days, gather the scooters, put them in certain places. They're going to be doing that every single day. We're also going to be creating new virtual and physical parking corrals for the scooter, so they're not just kind of strewn around everywhere. The thing that I'm most excited about is we're extending their nexus outside of downtown to in the hopes of these scooters and specifically some new sit down scooters that they're talking about introducing to our area to provide that last mile. When you're using the public transportation system, you get dropped off at your stop and you still have some. ways to go. We're going to strategically locate these around the city so they can be a real transportation option for people using public transportation. I'm excited about those. Another thing that we've had some very good ideas coming out of many different directions, but I like bikes. I like riding bikes. I would like to see bikes being available for rental at our city parks, at our local parks so that families who might not own the bike or might not want to take their bike all the way to the park they can rent a bike right there spend some time with family have fun these are all part of this agreement and i think it will both increase the safety of what we have already increase the the beautification of our city by corralling these and keeping these things organized but and hopefully provide a real benefit to our citizens when it comes to public transportation uh i do also i want to talk about uh the mobile police department has put out their annual report stats um you know this is important to see the trends that are happening in our city statistics never tell the whole story but in the end i think the statistics we're looking at from 2025 do tell a story of continuing to decrease part one crimes in the city of mobile 2025 was yet another year, multiple years in a row, where we've experienced double-digit reduction in Part 1 crimes. Part 1 crimes are all the crimes you don't want to be involved in. You don't want them to happen around your neighborhood. Most of the very violent crimes are encompassed in Part 1 crimes. Last year, we saw an 11% reduction in all Part 1 crimes in Mobile. specifically 12.1% reduction in violent crimes in Mobile, and that includes an almost 16% decrease in homicides when compared year over year to 24. The good news is this morning I also got stats from 2026, and these trends that we are seeing are continuing, continuing downward almost at the same rate, and so I just have to commend the men and women of the Mobile Police Department for Chief Jackson, Public Safety Director Graves. We are doing so many things to not just address crime when it happens, but to address crime before it happens. We've got plans to fully staff the department by the end of year, and we're continuing to work with our Department of Public Safety and the Safer Communities Task Force to continue to improve these numbers. Our goal, of course, is to address the crime that occurs But our true goal is to prevent the crime from ever happening. And with the Public Safety Department and the Safer Communities Task Force, we are truly doing those things to prevent those crimes before they can ever occur. So I'd ask for a little round of applause for everybody in the police department. thank you director graves if you want to check out the full annual report you can find it at mobilepd.org feel free to go check out those numbers for yourself one last thing fun thing it's summer break i love it i don't have to get my kids dressed every morning and get them to school They were all asleep when I left today, but kids get restless in the summer and you want to have good fun things to do for them and with them. We want our kids to continue to develop and grow through the summer. And just in time, we have a couple of museum deals that are happening at the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf. Their admissions is going to be drastically reduced throughout the summer all the way through August to $5. So extremely reasonable. Take your kids out. Let them check out what's going on there. Of course, we have some big things happening in September at the Maritime Museum. Excited to see those. And at the Mobile Museum of Art, they have free admission every Thursday. So if you want to get your kids out of the house, write it down, put it in the phone, put it on the calendar. um make sure you get your kids out it's a the art museum is so wonderful so many great kid focused interactions that they can have there at the museum so take them out there completely free thursdays and i believe that's through throughout the summer as well all right and finally let's see i have one proclamation today so can i ask uh carrie coach to come on down come on down ms coates And I'll certainly give you a chance to say anything you want, but I want to read this proclamation from the Office of Mayor. Whereas Kingdom Covenant Connections Incorporated, founded by Carrie R. Coates, has dedicated the past 20 years to fostering unity, collaboration, and empowerment within the community. And whereas the organization has consistently provided faith-based initiatives, outreach programs, and service-driven partnerships that uplift families, youth, and individuals in need. And whereas Kingdom Covenant Connections Incorporated has been a pillar of strength and support, promoting community engagement, mentorship, and resources that enhance the well-being of those it serves. And whereas the city of mobile recognizes the impact and legacy of kingdom covenant connections, incorporated and bringing people together, strengthening relationships and inspiring positive change. Now, therefore, I spirit chair got us the one hundred and ninth mayor of the city of mobile to hear about honor and come in kingdom covenant connections. for 21 years of unwavering commitment to unity and service and declare the second weekend in September as Kingdom Covenant Connections Incorporated Weekend in recognition of its contributions to our community. Congratulations and thank you.

Okay, thank you. I just want to say to all of you, you know, that we need you to be a part of this. And we thank you all for being a great city that love unity. Because if it wasn't for you all, we wouldn't be out here this long. Amen. Thank you. 21 years. Thank you.

Sounds like I might get a present. My lawyer's here, so I can make sure I can accept it. We are a gumbo, and we are a city that we always want to see be one mobile, truly unified, and I just thank Kingdom Covenant Connections for making that true. Thank you.

On behalf of Kingdom Covenant Connections, we would like to thank you and the entire staff for being a part.

And Kerry, you've got a whole team of folks here. If you all would stand up so that we can recognize you as well. You're part of a team. Good to have you here.

Thank you. And that concludes my comments. Thank you.

Vice President.

It is my honor this morning to introduce you all to a young man who I met several months ago. And what makes it even sweeter for me, this is kind of on the personal side, is because he lives in my district. So it's always great to be able to brag a little bit, right? This young man is the Youth of the Year for the Boys and Girls Clubs here in South Alabama. I would like to invite Austin English, if you would come up. And then with you, if I could get Jermaine West, the CEO of the Boys and Girls Club to join us up here at the podium. I don't know why Austin is being shy because he is not shy normally. I think it takes him a little time to warm up, but I was so excited to meet him and to learn more about what his future plans are and what makes him the kind of young man that is awarded this honor. You know, the Youth of the Year program is very prestigious, initiated by the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Alabama, and it's aimed at fostering leadership skills among our youth. established back in 1947 so this has been going on since 1947 even before I was born and it's developed into a real comprehensive leadership development program and it emphasizes the importance of communication of goal setting and teamwork which Austin certainly has Austin is a rising senior at Baker High School and I think he deserves a big round of applause Austin everybody I asked Austin if he would say a few words, you know, about what Youth of the Year means to him and what his future plans are, and he kind of looked at me. I said, yes, you are. You're Youth of the Year. Come on. The podium is yours, young man.

Hello, everyone. My name is Austin and I'm Youth of the Year. I'm really grateful for this opportunity and I'm still so shocked that I'm here because as many of you can tell, I'm not used to talking to big crowds like this. But if the panel will allow, I would like to say a few words about what it means to be Youth of the Year and how the process works. So Youth of the Year is a Boys and Girls Club known process about honoring teens that have made exponential growth throughout the program. And apparently, I am the best possible example of this. I have been a member of my Boys and Girls Club for over nine years. And through those numerous years of experience, I've been able to further my leadership skills, further my network, meet new people, and become the person I fought so hard to be. THE PROCESS, IT'S PRETTY MUCH, I WOULD SAY, A SELECTION. A PANEL OF JUDGES EVERY FEW MONTHS. YOU WRITE A FEW SPEECHES. YOU PRESENT IN FRONT OF AN AUDIENCE. YOU WIN AWARDS. AND I SOMEHOW ROSE THROUGH THE RANKS AND MADE IT UP TO THE TOP. I'M JUST REALLY THANKFUL FOR ALL THAT. I WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL TO BE AN ARCHITECT AND I'M REALLY HOPING WITH ALL THE LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE I'M GETTING, I CAN MAKE IT TO THE TOP AND HOPEFULLY make it to college. It's my senior year, so I'm hoping I get out of this one piece. I'm just, I'm really thankful for this opportunity. Thank you so much. Congratulations.

And he's very modest. Jermaine, if you would say a few words too. I know Austin doesn't really want to sing his praises, but how about you doing it?

I definitely will sing his praises. Yes, Austin, you know, for those nine years as being a member of the Boys and Girls Club, he strived. Very shy, at times not willing to speak. But as we thought of some of the things that could help him advance, giving him a job was the best thing that we could do for him. Because it gave him the opportunity to see everyone that walked through the club and had to speak to them. Not only hello, but how are you doing? So it gave him the opportunity to now become not only a vocal leader, but a leader that is singing. So that gives the other kids that are around him that same opportunity to look at him and say that hopefully I can be that one day. So Austin, keep on striving, keep on doing your best, and never be shy because everything that comes to you is definitely you earned it.

Now his proud parents are here and other family members.

Hey dad, why don't you come on down here?

Yes, y'all come on down.

Mayor, you want to join us? Come join. Yes, please. Yeah, we'll just make the whole group. Yes, that's great. Okay, we'll get you to hold that. Thank you and congratulations again. Good to have you here. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Madam Clerk.

ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA.

SO MOVED. SECOND. MOVED AND SECOND. ANY DISCUSSION? ALL IN FAVOR? AYE. ALL OPPOSED? AGENDA'S ADOPTED.

APPEALS, WE HAVE REQUESTS FOR A WAVE OF THE NOISE ORDINANCE ON JULY 10TH, MOBILE SKATE PLAZA, JUNE 20TH, MAMCA DRIVE, JULY 12TH, GOLFIN STREET, MARCH 20TH, 2027, CATHEDRAL SQUARE, AND JUNE 6TH, ON SOUTH SCOTT STREET.

SO MOVED. Second.

I'll have to move and second any discussion. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Appeal passes.

Public hearings. Today is the public hearing to amend Appendix A, Downtown Development District, the City of Mobile Unified Development Code Chapter 64.

This open up the public hearing for this particular said item. Is there anyone present that would like to address the council on this particular said public hearing? And so you may come down here to talk about this particular public hearing. Is there one president would like to talk about this particular public here?

If not, this public hearings close presentation of petitions and other communications to the council. Denise Martin.

First, I say good morning to the mayor and the councilman. I'm coming here before y'all today. Your full name? Denise Martin. I'm coming here on the behalf of the citizen and we who depend on the way bus this new business called second chance. I have been to the meetings and a lot of way the buses are going now they are planning to cut and make it where we is harder for us to get to our destination because number four It's Spring Hill. It's going to go straight up Spring Hill. It's not going to go to the camp. Number seven is Dolphin Street. And Dolphin Street go up and go to Spring Hill Memorial Hospital. And I asked in the meeting, I said, what if I have a family member or dear friend in Spring Hill Memorial Hospital? How can I get over to see them if I don't have a car? and some of the riders that i spoke to that wasn't at the meeting and i told nathan to stop dolphin street uh one one of the riders said i go there to see my doctor i said well that's why you should attend the meeting that was just one me but when we had a meeting at the library on government street i counted about 30 of us who depend on the bus showed up And I and the one who was at the first meeting, we hold our peace and listen, let them answer the new rider about getting here and getting there. And when they found out they weren't working to their best ability, a lot of them left before the meeting was over with because they were displeased with how they were going to do it. And they was telling us they'll take us to a point. They won't take us where we need to go. And I say, well, would you come to my house if I call you? Say no. And I told him, I said, well, at least a map will come pick you up at your door and take you to the doctor wherever you want to go. we don't have no no don't see no good in this new business called second chance and i've been getting particular name on my petition so if we don't get good service at helping us get around a new service ought to be there to help us get do better at getting around not make it harder and cutting the route and won't take We need to be able to get around, and like I told them, at the two hospitals, Spring Hill Memorial, I mean, Mobile Infirmary in USA, they gonna stop the toll bill from going past USA Hospital. They cutting out what we depending on, so they're not helping us. They hindering us. so we don't need them and a lot of more if they was here there are three we don't need their service and didn't have to pay the ride three buses to get to one location we don't need that we are po folks and we trying to make it

Yes, it's break in, but this is Martin. I certainly appreciate your concerns. And, you know, what I can tell you is that under our previous system, the bus was the only way to get anywhere. If you were going to go with public transportation, it was going to be a bus. That was really your only option. What is completely different about this system as we move forward is going to be the microtransit network. So I'm not sure who said they wouldn't come to your door, but I don't believe that to be true.

I asked them in the meeting, I said, would you come to my door? They told me no.

Um, well, I'm not sure who that was and I wasn't there that meeting and I'm not going to disagree with you and what you heard. But what I can tell you is they will, they might come to the end of your street. It might not be directly to your doorstep. I can't swear that they will do that every time. but with this micro transit system they've taken systems all across the country with empty buses with complicated routes that people are not using and through this micro transit network they'll take you straight to the hospital from your home in most cases if there's not a bus within a certain amount of time from your certain amount of distance from your home they'll also take you for one price not three bus tickets for one price you can either call in or use an app to get transportation all the way from your home whether all the way on a micro transit bus if you will or potentially using that bus and the bus line which I expect to be a trolley line ultimately and potentially even helping you with that last step again with this micro transit network. It's going to be different. It's going to be complicated in the eyes of some, but I promise you if you will give it a chance, whether using your smartphone and if you don't use your smartphone, we have a call center that they will dial up a ride specifically for you to generally any location in town. Uh, at this point, we don't have 100% coverage on the micro transit. It is my goal to get us to where we have 100%, but all the locations you mentioned, I know 100% are covered by the micro transit. Network, we're actually going to be providing services to 60,000 more residents under this new system and this is the 1st iteration. We are going to continuously use data to know where people are using the bus, where they're going to make sure that we are constantly evolving it to make sure we're serving the citizens best. So I appreciate you coming down here and sharing your concerns. I'll find out exactly what was communicated at this last meeting to make sure that people know that they can. You won't have to walk any further than you would to the bus stop in order to get onto micro transit. In many cases, much less walking to get to a bus stop. When you look at our bus routes that we are changing, we have to change them in order to support this microtransit network that costs money. 80% of the people that are within a half mile of a bus stop today will still be within a half mile of a bus stop. 100% of those people will be covered by the microtransit network and an additional 60,000 plus residents will be covered by the microtransit network.

But what I told them when they said don't stop number 15 from going in front of USA, I told them, I said, at least it's about two buses go near hospitals because everybody might not be sick enough for ambulance. But if the buses are going in front of USA and Mobile and Furman, Mobile and Furman have number four, Spring Hill and Crousetown and USA. It is Tobinville and Crosstown come up to Side Street, which is Standing Road, and trying to get you there. But from what I have asked and seen, and they plan to stop number five from going through Trinity Guard, going to let Crosstown take over number four, I mean, 45. And that's making it difficult. We got to learn a new way of getting around. And they cutting the route that are making it better to get to where you're going.

They are cutting some of the bus routes.

And they're cutting some of the buses, period. And they're making less buses to help us getting around. And I don't agree with that. And a lot of them, because like I said, there was about 30 people at the lobby. And the majority of them left. And I just sit and look. Because they don't agree with the way they're doing it. They need to learn the way that the people are going and make it better, not make it harder.

I promise you that if you'll give this micro transit network a chance, it will make your rides using public transportation easier and not harder.

I pray it get better but I'm coming forth to let the councilman know who we put in office to help us that we need help with the way they say it because I wrote down what I heard face to face looking sitting right there face to face with them because I asked them I've been a ride of the buses for over

44 years and when they stop stop feeling stop this and stop that and that's what we depending on you need to work for us not make it harder on us yes ma'am all right thank you thank you yes ma'am miss uh ma'am we will be happy to set up a direct meeting with you as well to go deeper into your concerns and make sure that we can answer all your concerns We're having them throughout the city, but when we have particular citizens with particular concerns, we want to address those too. Madam Clerk. Mr. President.

Mr. Payne. Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you, Ms. Martin, for coming down and sharing your concerns. I think it's very important that we get the information that was shared at those particular meetings. And I want to thank our mayor. as well for stating that his goal is the same goal for you to make sure that we have those routes. My concern is some of the concerns that you mentioned are actually in the meeting as well. I think we need to talk to VIA and make sure that information is shared properly because when I was in a meeting, I was told that they weren't going to take them directly to the location. I think that We need to be able to share that information correctly. As you see, our mayor is forward. I don't know if that person in that particular meeting didn't have that information properly, but we need to make sure that we're spreading the right information to our community so they know all the guidelines. Because we're hearing that it's going to be better, and which I think the community wanted better. But at the same time, if the communication is being shared in different methods, then that's creating problems. So we can make sure to verify our request that we just kind of verify that and maybe even put it in a PDF. Um, so the community knows exactly what's going on. Thank you, Ms. President. All right. Thank you.

Madam clerk, Sabrina mass.

I'm not present.

It's still a Trotter. Morning.

The topic that I'm going to speak on today, I will revisit it again. And I'm speaking on the court system being used as a means to push people off of the properties and in this case is concerning public housing developments. Speaking on courts in Mobile needing to be investigated during the president passed in relations to the economic, what you call economic development revitalization. Lawyers and housing officials giving falsified information in court against residents in order to have them evicted. The evictions need to be investigated from the past and the present as far as the relocation. Many residents from public housing were evicted and they went through the court system without due process. adequate representation or adequate representation, even though HUD gives federal money, taxpayers' money, to the city of Mobile to contract with lawyers to enforce the rights of these citizens. The city of Mobile, the Mobile Housing Authority, Mobile Housing Board, Housing and Urban Development, which is HUD, fair housing, legal services, N. W. C. P. Etc have been for years directly aware and involved with the discriminating injustices of destroying historic black communities and neighborhoods. Unfortunately, the city of Mobile has so many conflict of interest. The sources of of help, the sources of justice will have to come from outside of Mobile, Alabama.

Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to ask our attorney, when it comes to Mobile Housing Authority, does this body has any authority? No. Anything that you have heard from Ms. Trotter, is there any authority that we can... Not with the council. Not with the council. The reason why I'm saying that, Miss Prada, you know, I think that this the wrong body. A lot of information you're requesting. We have no authority and reason why I'm asking attorney because he's legally he understands that and I and the public is. always watching and sometimes they're looking and they're seeing why we're not responding because we have we don't have any authority. It's like me trying to go to the schools and tell them what to do, even though they're in the city limits. I have no authority over the school board, so I can't go tell the school board or the housing authority how to do a particular thing that you're asking. What I'm requesting, I think it will be if you go to the housing authority, they have a board. you go to them because it's nothing that we could do as a council. And I know people are watching and sometimes wondering why we're not responding, but we're not responding because we don't have that authority. If we had that authority, then we could respond and say, like, what can we do? What could things can take place? But I appreciate your concerns about the things that are taking place. But I think it should be focused at talking to the housing authority. Thank you, Mr. President.

uh uh no not talking back to the council um this councilwoman ingram thank you mr president um i want to echo the same sentiments of councilman penn and i want to go a step further to just remind the public that even the appointments for the mobile housing authority that's made outside of the council that that's appointed by the mayor's office is not appointed by the council So I think it's just important that the public understands where the authority rests so that they're informed in terms of the comments. Thank you.

And just to follow up that there is a mobile housing board, so therefore they are government body. And also you can go there and request all records from that particular board. They are a government body and Pretty much, if there's any wrong doing, we have a district attorney. You got to go across the street and apply for anything that you think that is going wrong. They can investigate and do anything that you would desire for them to do, just as well as you're asking us to do. Again, there is a DA, district attorney. If anything that's going wrong, go over there and, you know, apply for whatever. All right. Madam Clerk.

Crystal Frieson.

Crystal Friesen, Theodore, Alabama. I'm here today to speak about a lot of things, but we're gonna focus on the thing that I signed up to speak about, which is the shootings that have been taking place in this community. And we're gonna keep it real. We're not gonna blow smoke up each other's behinds and pretend that crime is decreasing. We're gonna tell the truth. And so at the end of the day, We see shootings that have been taking place in all of your districts that are some ending in death and then also prison. And so, you know, when I see my brothers and sisters killing each other, going to prison, that bothers me. And apparently, it doesn't seem like it's a big deal to you guys, and so I need a solution. And I need to know what direction I need to go to and who I need to speak with about law enforcement in each district and so who has authority and who do i need to speak with that has the authority to get some type of solutions i'm not going to pretend i know a lot of people like to pretend that things are not the way they are but i don't like to pretend and so we need a solution so who can i speak with who do i need to talk to that's going to get some solutions in this town so that we can see young people live to be the best they can be. We don't want to fill prison cells. We don't want to fill graves. We want to see young men, no matter the color, live great lives and be great men and do great things in this earth and great things in this town. I'm not going to pretend. So can you tell me who I need to speak with to get some real solutions? Because I don't know. So I need to know. Can you help me?

Yeah, the city has a public safety director.

Okay, can I have your car, please? I appreciate it.

Thank you. Have a great day.

Mr. President.

Mr. Penn.

Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Ms. Crystal for coming down and I want to thank Ms. Crystal for coming down to share her concerns. I know that sometimes it's challenging when you see all these things take place and you feel like there's no solutions, but what I can tell you personally, we have a public safety director that truly cares. Every week, most people, I don't even take pictures, and he can tell you, I don't even take pictures, but once a week on Fridays, they have a program called Bridge the Gap. And they bring high school students to this facility. You have the chief of police there. You have the FBI there. They have all different types of leaders. I'm talking about in high positions talking to these students on a regular basis. They also put a person in the schools He's trying to, and he was a part of, you know, creating these programs. And I go and speak. I don't take no pictures. I ain't, so you don't even know I probably was doing it because it's not for me to take pictures to be there, but I'm there because I care about what you care about. And what I believe, what ways and I can hear the past and I understand sometimes when you don't see it, you feel like nothing is getting done. But I'm telling you, we're working and we need people like you as well saying, what can I bring to the table? What solutions can I bring? So I'm glad that you received that record grades car because he truly cares and our mayor cares and his council cares and we're trying to figure it out. But sometimes, like you say, I get mad in time. I turn on the news and I see something. We have to do more. All of us have to do more and so hopefully you have some ideas that we can help to manifest and let's move together. Let's work together to create change. Thank you, Miss Chris, Mr President. Yes, Councilwoman, thank you.

I want to again agree with Councilman Pam, but I want to go step further in terms of giving you some specific actions you can take again. I want to commend. public safety for acting on the data. As a result of some of the data, we now have what's called Harm and Cares based off of what we were seeing in the community. And that summer youth mentorship initiative is in partnership with Parks and Recreation along with public safety. And they're going to have initiatives where students are receiving mentorship on entrepreneurship, talents such as AI. Whatever their interest is, we're asking for volunteers to come out and be a part of that. So this is an opportunity where if you have a talent that you can come 60 minutes of your time, out of your schedule, to come and invest back in our youth. It takes all of us. It takes a village. And the more we invest in our youth, that's how we build a better Mobile. So thank you for your interest and your commitment, but that's definitely one of the opportunities you can take advantage of. Thank you.

Madam Clerk.

Bridget Hill.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam City Clerk. To the citizens and stakeholders of Mobile, greetings. Reggie Hill is my name. A child is born with a heart of gold, the way of the world. makes his heart so cold, earth, wind, and fire. I rise today to continue these pertinent conversations pertaining to our city's business in that same spirit. I would like to address rules, economic development, and public safety. I'm going to skip around a bit today because there's been a lot of stuff going on at this podium. I think we need to get some things corrected. There's a necessity for our committee hearings, and this is what I signed up for as well, so that while an administration may appoint someone, this body approves them. And so you are supposed to have oversight over things that go on within the city. When we have these boards and commissions and various bodies that represent the entire collective of Mobilians, you all have the oversight. And so that's why we need to, again, as I mentioned months before, have the public hearing so then they can come down here and have maybe that proper vetting so we can know what's going on. Let's look at this economic development component, please. I still cannot understand for the life of me how we're going to be charging Again, charging individuals to use public facilities that we already pay for, somewhat times over the $50 per week. I imagine that if we can put millions of dollars per quarter into public safety vehicles, we could at least sponsor all of that that's going on. Maybe we should see an ordinance that says we're not going to allow individuals who are charging people to utilize these facilities to prevent others from utilizing them. Some of these young men who were with us last year during the summer we went to recreation centers but because they weren't signed up they couldn't participate as well let's look at the idea we would fill this room up with individuals to come and learn about the city but transportation is an issue we can put again millions of dollars into things that's going towards materialistic stuff in these departments maybe let's put a tenth of that into some vans that go towards the parks and recreation department or something that people can check out within the city yes they need to have their insurance just need to check all these boxes but we need an opportunity to actually move forward and help the people that need the most assistance Now, I want to look, if you don't mind, please, lastly, at this public safety component. Now, please don't get mad at me, Mr. Payne. Happy birthday to you. Now, you and then Mr. Woods, when I asked about the inventory list, I was the last individual to bring something to me. But my neighbor has asked about this evaluation contract for, excuse me, evaluation metric for performance contract for weeks. And I'm just asking if we can get some type of follow-up on that, because if we're continuously investing these resources into materialistic things, external things, but we're forgetting the programmatic pieces of data-proven initiatives that actually work, we're never going to reach the full potential of what it is that we want to see for the quality of life in the city of Mobile. So we know that 180 seconds is another rules piece that I want to come back to. But I'm hoping that if we're going to have everybody at the table, we will really see something done. And I think you all have the ability to do that. So please, let's see how we can actually work. together.

Thank you for yielding the floor.

Yes.

Thank you, Mr. President. I guess I'm going to answer every person today. But thank you, Mr. Hill, for coming down. I agree with you with the performance contracts. So we are already in the process. So I know that it's not complete yet, but that's something that we have been working on that I support. I think we need to have that evaluation. So I totally agree with you. From the standpoint of the paying for facilities and all these different things, I think you got to understand how any budget works. We have a program partnership. So program partnerships, you can sign up. I've been to many, and we have some. When I say amazing program partnerships, I don't even think a lot of people know all the things that take place. We have special needs programs in my district at DOTS for free. People come, hundreds of adults are coming to DOTS. They feed them. They there four hours a day is no pro where you get this type of program. It's amazing program work that we're doing. Everything in the end still costs. So anytime you do after hours things, if you want to utilize facility, you gotta have more people to work. So it's a budget thing. But to your point, the people who need us the most, we still should be there to support them. And so from what I understand and I could, I want to make sure any person who signed up for summer camp that has a hardship and they can show that then they will allow them to participate in the program. So even in that moment we're still allowing it, but at the same time we still got to meet the need as a budget. Now my goal, I agree with you Mr. Hill. I wish we could offer free summer programs, everything free and have that, but we also have to be able to make sure that if it fits in the budget so we have to look at that route but i totally agree from the performance review um and we have to move forward as a city the only way for us to do that is to start working towards and everybody do need to be at the table i agree with you um and so hopefully that's what we're doing we try to provide opportunities uh for that to happen so again thank you for coming down um and um no you didn't make me mad either so appreciate for the birthday wish ronald clerk

CIP resolutions held over 09575, transfer funds from capital project CIP citywide parks and trail signage to capital project TIF wayfinding analysis.

Mr. President. Yes. I believe we have Robert Collins with the home builders. I believe he was going to speak. Okay, you're going to speak at the end. Sorry about that. It's hard to be disruptive.

So moved. Second. Properly moved and seconded in discussion. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? I don't pass.

Resolutions held over 01576, authorize Amendment 1 to agreement with ground design for professional services for development of the City of Mobile Alabama Wayfinding Program. 01577, authorize Amendment 1 to franchise agreement with Neutron Holdings to extend the term of the franchise, reaffirm the annual franchise fee, and incorporate Additional provisions, 01578, authorized agreement with Robert J. Baggett for Mobile River Fender System Replacement, 08580, approved item, award bid for used guns, 21592, authorized contract with Mobile Convention and Visitors Corporation for promotional and advertising services for Mobile Alabama Cruise Terminal, 6594, authorized settlement agreement and release of claims. So moved.

Second. Pop the move and second any discussion? All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Item passes.

Ordinances being introduced, 11-024 through 64-025. By council rules, 11-024 will be laid over by council rules.

And on the second one, 64-025, moved away the rules in order to consider it. it's going to be laid over okay because i still had table written down uh so we'll need to i'm sorry that's right we're going to lay these both over per council rules never mind yeah sorry

Consent resolution is being introduced. 03595 through 6599. Okay.

On these, I move to waive the rules for immediate consideration as read.

Second. Dr. Milken, second in discussion. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Rules waived. Madam Clerk?

03595, appoint Tavares Wills Young to the Mobile City County Youth Council. 37596, recommend approval to the ABC Board for issuance of a special retail more than 30 days license to AMC Mobile 16 on Schillinger Road South. 58597 and 598, assessing cost removal of weeds. Repeat, Weedling Group 99 and Weedling Group 1675. 60, 599, determine that an appropriation to 100 black men of greater mobile serves a public purpose and approve payment.

So moved. Second. Properly moved and seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Item passes.

Resolution is being introduced, 01-600 through 21-612.

Move to waive the rules for immediate consideration of resolutions 01-601, 602, 603, 604, 605, 606, 607, and 08611, with the rest being laid over for one week.

Second. Properly move and second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Rules waived. Madam Clerk?

01601, authorized service contract agreement with professional fire protection services for fire suppression systems, inspections, maintenance, and repair at various locations. 08602, approved purchase order to AutoNation for mobile for engine replacement for pumper fire truck. 08603, approved purchase order to Axon Enterprise for vehicle signage modules and cable assemblies. 08604, 605, and 606. Approve and purchase orders to Butler Complete Services, JJ Quality Homes, and Scott Allen Construction for storm drainage, vegetation, and debris removal. 08607, approve purchase orders to CDW Government for Apple iPad Air tablets with cases. 0860... 08611, approved purchase order to Walters Controls for installation of building system controller for cruise terminal.

So moved.

Second.

I've been moved and seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. All opposed? I don't pass.

Call for public hearings. 41613, call for public hearing to consider the application with Anytime Mobility LLC for certificate of public convenience and necessity to operate a shuttle service scheduled June 16th.

Second. Properly move and second any discussion. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Club of hearings call.

Announcements.

Addition one, Councilman Penn. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm asking District 1 family and the Cinemobile to keep the Millsap family in your prayers. Mother Millsap transitioned this week. She was a lone resident of the Trenton Gardens community. So I'm just asking you all to keep the Millsap family in your prayers. Also, can I have, I see students in here, if you're in college or in high school, can you stand up real quick? If you're college student, high school student. You going to kind of stand up? What grade, y'all in middle school? All right, middle school, stand up. Can we get these young people a big hand? I mean, it's amazing to see them want to learn about their civic government. And so y'all can take a seat. I just want to acknowledge you all. That's important for y'all to be here, being present today, participating in all different ways. But thank y'all so much for being here. And we're planning on, I'm working with my intern, Maya. Maya, raise your hand. She's going to be helping me host a youth town hall. We're going to do a virtual youth town hall, which I think is very vital and important. We have to pour back into our young people. And so I just want to thank Maya for help me come up with that idea. And because we have to allow our youth to lead and that's our goal to give them the opportunity. So again, I just want to commend you all for being here. District one, we will have our June 16th Kiwanis Boys and June 16th community meeting at Kiwanis Boys and Girls Club, located on 712 Rice Street at 6 p.m. So just want to invite everyone out on that day to come out. If you have any questions, any concerns, and ways that we can work together to help create a stronger and better District 1. I also want to highlight some great events. I have to ask Ms. Hall. Thank you, Ms. Hall. She's executive director at the Mobile Public Library. I had an opportunity to attend the summer kickoff, and when I say it was amazing, It was amazing. It was so many great things they had. The fire department was there, the prizes, the bookmobile, Matt Clean, the truck was there, the electric truck. So it was just a really great time of fellowship. And I just want to thank you for all the hard work that you provide our city. So I had a great time there as well. That's all the announcements I have. Thank you, Mr. President.

Again, happy birthday Councilman Penn. District 2 Councilwoman Ingram.

Thank you Mr. President. Greetings District 2. It is summer break and great things are happening in District 2. This past Saturday we had the free concert in the park. It was a beautiful day. Thanks for all those that came out. Thanks to Parks and Recreation for the event. And we look forward to many more other things that are happening. We have Harmon Cares. Again, it's a summer youth mentorship initiative. And we need volunteers. We need adults to come out, invest back into our youth. And the way you can do that is with your talent and your time. If you have any type of skill you're willing to share with our youth, we need you. The program is June 8th through July 24th, and so please sign up and be a part of that. Also, we had Crawford Park Splash Pad to open, so please take advantage of that. As I said, there are many other great events that are happening throughout District 2. I encourage you to look at the newsletter for this week. It will give you some of those events. In addition to that, I also want to announce that on Thursday, June 4th and Friday of the 5th, Franklin Premier Health Care, located in District 2, will be providing a free men's health screening. That's this Thursday and Friday. I encourage you to tell folks about it, encourage them to come out. It's a great opportunity. Also, we're going to have another committee meeting, and that's the Economic, Culture, and Civic Development Committee meeting. That's on Tuesday, June 9th at 1 p.m. And lastly, if you'll go to my website, look at the newsletter. We're asking district to residents to sign up for community cleanup. We need to clean up our community. We need to be a part of the solution. So I encourage you to sign up. We will do all of the coordination in terms of gathering the materials. We just need you to sign up and serve as a captain. Uh, and that is it for district to thank you, Mr President.

Thank you, Councilwoman Ingram. District 4, Councilman Reynolds.

Thank you, Mr. President. I've got a guest here today that's going to do my announcements for me, but I'd ask that the clerk start the timer for three minutes. Robert, if you could tell us about South Alabama Home Builders Academy and your successes.

Mayor, council, Mr. Chair, thank you for letting us come today. My name is Robert Collins. I'm the owner of Superior Construction Restoration Services, also past president of HBA last year. And I come today wearing the hat of the president of the South Alabama Home Builders Academy, address 7310 Southern Way, Baymanette, Alabama. We're very grateful for the opportunity to come and work alongside with the mayor's office and with the support of the city council. We've started South Alabama Homebuilding Academy this last year in January. We've had two successful cohorts. We're now in the middle of our third cohort. We've graduated almost 50 students in the two cohorts so far. And we're looking forward to moving on. program has gained a lot of traction and we're steadily gaining more and more traction as the weeks and months go on. We currently have a backlog of students into the hundreds right now and the way that we're set up with five cohorts per year can handle 125 students per year and all of our classes through the end of the year are completely full so we are actively moving to add more classes uh currently the classes are on tuesday and thursday evenings about 30 to 8 30. so we're looking at adding classes on monday and wednesday same times in the evenings monday and wednesday at 5 30 to 8 30. in addition to also looking at you doing some advanced classes for our students that come through that want to further their skills in joining the workforce. So I know that we have a lot of need in Mobile for building our workforce development. From what I've been told, it's the most job growth we've had since World War II with all the boom in Brookly Field. So we're very thankful and we want to really help and give back to the community. with this academy. The academy is free to students that want to join. There's only three requirements. They have to meet to be able to qualify. They have to be 17 years of age and older. They have to be able to pass the drug screen, and they have to be legal to work in the United States. With that, I yield any questions you might have for me.

Robert, you failed to mention this, this big price tag it is for these folks to come be a part of this learning experience. Can you tell us how much it costs?

I said the average cost right now is $3,500 per student. It's free to the student, but there is a cost to us.

I meant to the student. How much does the student have to pay?

It's free to the students.

Thank you for what you're doing.

Thank you. Thank you, Robert. I have been over there and saw the work, and this is amazing. I mean, we need this. This is what the city needs to provide opportunity and free opportunity for students. But the truth of the matter is, it's just investing back into our city because they're going into the workforce. And they're able to buy homes and pay taxes and everything. So it's an investment. Thank you for your service. Thank you very much. And when we do support, let us know. Thank you. All right. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Ramos? All right. District 5, Councilman Fleming. No announcements. District 6, Councilman Woods. Thank you, Mr. President.

I want to stay in that vein with Robert and the work they're doing. 1 of the things that talked about, I guess, a Pre council was a ordinance is being introduced 11 dash 24. what that does is that for 20 dollars for every building permit goes towards funding. This program is something that the legislature did, I guess, 2 years ago, I believe. big success in Huntsville and Birmingham area. And the fact that, you know, that our local HBA through you guys want to do it. I mean, that just, to me, that just, you know, just shows where we're at. I think between the job growth, I mean, we're probably behind, we're looking at anticipation of 3,500 to 5,000 new jobs in the next five years. Well, all those people need a place to live. And instead of sending them across the bay, we'd love to employ them and house them here. So I think what you're doing, Robert, not only provides for, you know, the construction industry. I think the last thing I saw was something like. For every 1 person, or for every 1 person being produced to go and do into into the industry, there's something like 20 going out of industry just because of their age and retirement. So I definitely know that definitely see that there's that that segment of the population that we, we have to get, we have to facilitate the trades, whether it's through craft training, what they're doing over there, what you guys are doing. um with the hba so i just wanted to kind of stay in that vein and say i'm excited about this ordinance i know we're going to talk about it over the next week and there's some stuff that we need to we need to kind of sort through but i'm looking forward to passing this ordinance and and ensuring you guys have fun because what you're doing is amazing so that's it for me thank you all all right thank you councilman woods district 7 vice president gregory thank you mr president

Over the weekend, I had received a call. A couple of people had reported that the splash pad at McCants Chavers Park was not working, that the water wasn't working. I'm happy to report that it is working. I don't know if it was because they weren't pushing the buttons just so, but the splash pad is working. It's summertime. It's hot. Go out there and get in uh that splash pad cool off it's a great park and a good part of the neighborhood and i know they will be happy to be you know to hear that the splash pad is open for business for everybody to go out and enjoy also just want to let everybody know in case they haven't seen it those who live and work or use the golf course along Magnolia Grove Parkway. The parkway is closed. A portion of it is closed because we are repairing what has been come to be known as the dip. It's actually a spot in the road where the pipes have failed. So we had to close the road in order to dig up the old pipes, put in the new pipes, and the crews are out there working diligently. The detour for anyone who is trying to get around is through the golf course normally the golf course has a gate they close the gate around six o'clock we are keeping it open during this construction phase so everybody should be able to make it through but the the dip in the road on magnolia grove parkway something i have heard about for i can't even tell you how many years is being repaired and i know everybody is happy to see that Also, the mayor has already spoken a little bit about this at the museum, at the Museum of Art. It is the Maker's Market. It's their semi-annual arts and crafts food show at the museum. It's a great way for a lot of the local artisans to come and show and sell their arts and crafts. They also bring a lot of food, plenty of sweets out there, I can assure you of that, inside and outside, along with food trucks. I went to the food truck festival this past weekend. Great success. This is one of the best things I think that the museum does. They have the annual food truck festival. They had 15 food trucks out there. It's also free Thursday. So people were coming all day long to the museum and then they were able to get dinner either on the grounds or take it home with them. So it's a really good opportunity for people to come and visit the museum and who might not otherwise go to the Museum of Art. So this Saturday from 1 until 5 is the Maker's Market. Come on out and take a look at things and take home some really great arts and crafts. That's it. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, Vice President. And greetings to the citizens of District 3. On June the 13th from 7.30 to 11 a.m., the Odell Community Action Group is having a community cleanup. I invite all the residents in the Odell community, Baltimore Street, Ann Street area to please come out and meet up at the Rock of Faith Baptist Church at 7.30 a.m. on the 13th. Again, we're inviting all the residents to come out and help spruce up the community. Again, this would take place on June the 13th from 7.30 until 11 o'clock a.m. Is there anything from the administration?

Motion to adjourn.

Second. Properly move and second in the discussion. Mr. Penn. Mr. Penn.

Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to remind this council, and I know a lot of people are talking about the splash pads, but... in District 1. We had the first flash panel, and it's working. So you're welcome to come. Thank you, Mr. President.

Any other discussion? All in favor? Aye. All opposed? This meeting is adjourned.