City Council - Regular Meeting

Bro, no.

Have your attention, please. It's now 515, the time for our July 7th work session to begin. And tonight, we'll be having a presentation on the update of our current and future Opelika City School projects from Scout Program Management. I think we have four of them here. Just take over at this time. Thank you very much.

Thank you guys for letting us come here tonight. And I just want to introduce myself. I'm Lamar Ziderhook with Scout Program Management. We have Sloan Walker, we have Jay Grubbs, and we have Trent Glenn. And we'd just like to present ourselves, let you know what we're doing and what we're doing here to help Opelika City Schools. Opelika, we have found out, has got a lot between the city and the schools with a lot going on. And so Scouts is very glad to be a part of that. And so we're very appreciative to to be able to come in here to give you a kind of a little background with Scout. We're program management, as you know. And so we were here to help Dr. Davis over there. And he's got a lot. And so I am a scout. I'm kind of getting ahead of myself. So Sloan and Jay are the principals with the company. And they are hands-on with every project that we do. I am local here. And my office is right outside of Dr. Davis's office. And so with that being said, I see the amount of effort that that man puts in with this school system here. And he's the first one there in the office every morning and usually last one to leave. And so in seeing that, Scout is very appreciative and glad to take some of that heavy off of them with all the headaches and the heartaches of construction. And so just very glad to be a part of it and take that construction and just the design. So I'm kind of fumbling around here. But anyway, the projects that we're focusing on right now with Opelika City Schools is Fox Run. Y'all are all aware of it. And we had the groundbreaking back in May. And the team there is Turner Batson, uh we have bailey harris we have scout and we have opelika city schools that project is fully underway right now and is scheduled to complete after the summer of next year so july of 2027. um It's going to be a success. I can go ahead and tell you right now, because we've got a great team. Bailey Harris, as y'all are all aware, is a great company. Turner Batson is the architect. And their design team was who did the original design of the school. And so that's why they're the architect of the record for this addition. We also have, the main reason we were here, I know there's a lot of interest in the middle school. And so that's what we were here to kind of get everybody up to speed with what all is happening. And so the middle school, once again, the architect on that is Turner Batson, along with the Opelika City Schools middle school leadership team. and Scout. So we're all meeting about every two weeks to go over the programming stages of the design. And it's coming along. We're making revisions. We're getting their input and revising the design as needed. Trent, if you want to pull up the next slide. I've jumped all around. So go on over to the middle school. So right there, what you're looking at, that is the current elevation, the front elevation of what Opelika's new middle school is going to look like. And go ahead and flip to the next one. So that's a couple of different elevations there, renderings of where we're at currently. The top one is just the front and the side showing the bus drop off. And then the lower picture shows the site plan for just the campus layout. And so it's a large campus. A large school. It's three stories so that you'll have one class per story, sixth, seventh, and eighth. there is 37 acres out there. And there's a potential, as you can see, there's a lot of sports activities that's gonna be taking place there. And so the concern right off the bat was how much traffic was gonna be coming at this area because right across the street is a sportplex and so when this school gets built with by the time you have car traffic bus traffic pedestrian traffic along with the sportplex we had a great meeting with the mayor and his team last week just to go over what we have done and then found out what they have been doing. So there's a lot of coordination that is taking place now just to pull it all together. The current building and the design stage right now, we're looking at a little over 250,000 square feet. I have gone so fast. I know I've skipped over a bunch of stuff. Dr. Davis, am I leaving out some major?

I think for the most part, Fox runs the first progression, middle schools the next progression. So we'll have transitions of schools over the next few years that will rotate in a couple of different ways by the end of when the middle school is done in 2029. allows us for future growth. We're building this school, not just for the current amount of students that we have now, but we're building it for the future and the growth here in Opelika as well.

So let me back up a little bit. And Trent, if you want to go back to Scout's employees. Let me slow down a little bit and just talk about our actual team for Scout. So I've mentioned Sloan and Jay. And then You have myself. Just moved here to Opelika. Glad to be a part of you guys. We also have Jim Cunningham, who is a wealth of knowledge for our company. He's been in the K through 12 world his whole career, superintendent, principal, and then the president of the superintendents. We also have Dave Roberson. And Dave's come on board with Scout. He's a great add to our team because he was DCM, which is the Department of Construction Management with the state. He was one of their state inspectors. And then we have Carrie McWhorter, and she handles all of our data, social media, marketing, all of that good stuff. And that's the direct team. Then we have the behind the scenes teams with all of our specialty guys. That's in the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and all that. scouts here and you know construction like i said can have lots of headaches and heartaches and what we want to do and our goal is to take as much of that off of opelika city schools as possible and the city of opelika and let y'all do what y'all are here to do uh and concentrate on what y'all need to do so with that said shameless plug Oh, here we go. All right. So to show you a little bit of what Scout has done in the past, the large I would say a large majority of what we do, almost everything that we do is K through 12 schoolwork. And so what you're about to see is a quick little minute and a half presentation of just some testimonies with some different schools that we've done in North Alabama, like Guntersville, Fort Payne, Marshall County. So I will push now and let y'all watch this.

As a superintendent, anytime you're designing and building new facilities, they're thinking about how do we make sure that that school can function not only for today, but in 25 years to 50 years. I do know about running a school system, but I do not know a whole lot about construction. So Scout, just having them on board is just tremendous.

Jay and Sloan both make you feel like you're part of the project and you're not an outsider. There would be no way that I would go into a project without them.

Their role is to connect the school system as the owner, the architects, and the construction teams, and to provide making sure that everyone is doing what contractually they're supposed to do, but also to try to keep us on sequence.

It is vitally important to have someone that is on your side. We have a lot of voices and a lot of people that are wanting to get in your ear. To have somebody like Scout that's an advocate for you from conception to completion has been really beneficial.

Words just can't express how valuable it is to have someone like Scout to be able to come in and give me the gift of time. With a group like Scout to come in and be the building experts for me, it's invaluable.

I don't know of any superintendent that can sit there and say they can build a school by themselves. It's just not out there. So it's very important to make sure you align yourself with a good, trustworthy company that you know has got your back through and through.

Thank you to Scout Program Management for your assistance with construction projects in our system. I honestly don't know what we would do without you.

All right. So with that said, any questions?

Yes, I have a question. I think that's great and great work. But I was looking at, because we approved the Fox Run School um, project. So I guess I was just a little confused or did we miss some steps or were we unaware of certain things as it led to these? I know it came up, but we never discussed it. So I'm just wondering, is this the original presentation of it? And then will it come back before the middle school?

The last thing we approved here, or the city council approved, was the ability to go to the bond market, and that's where we're at right now is working with people that will, the city and Opa-locka City Schools will take our bond out.

Okay. That's what I was trying to figure out about the bond. I knew that there was an ask for the bond, but I knew we approved Fox Run Construction, and then I was unsure about the bond.

so the bond will come to the council for approval as well once it's finished right so so we'll approve the bond but the the board of education will approve the the building and the i mean the the bid the bill all that right but the one right goes through the council right so all we'll really decide on is it's actually not a bond it's a general obligation warrant in the state of alabama it's what it'll come to you as it won't be a bond it'll be a geo warrant

One of the reasons that we, the city, will be the borrower as opposed to the school system being the borrower is debt service coverage. If you do debt service coverage as a school borrower, it can only be one-to-one. If you do debt service coverage as a city borrower, it can be 1.2 times to one. So you get to borrow, you can borrow more dollars for the project, uh, at a better rate rather than having to come out of pocket with them. So, but yes, the, what we approved was the ability to go and find the company to help us with the borrowing, but we'll come back to the council before the, the deal is the borrowing deal.

That was Raymond James is who we hired.

Yes. And we still, uh, the school system has not picked the construction company that will be building the middle school. That's why I'm more referring to Bailey Harris, which got the contract to do the middle school, which was good, because they built what was already there. And so building the addition, and there's a funny story about that. So Alan was talking to Dr. Davis, and he said, I want to bring the president of the company with me when I come. And Dr. Davis said, I'm a little concerned about that. I haven't met the president of the company. I said, Dr. Davis, it's his son. He said, oh. So Allen had promoted Russell to be the president of the company. So he wanted him to come in that role. And so that school should be I hesitate to say this, should be a relatively easy build because they know what they already there and what we're building is basically redoing part of what's already there, recreating it. The middle school as Lamar talked about, we had a long meeting and talked about a lot of different things. If you put that up there Lamar with it the picture of the cycling place And what you'll see is the two entrances there one on the top or on the right hand side is lined up with the sportsplex entrance the other is closer to Lake Condie Road. We're going to do a study to determine whether or not we need a red light there or how we're going to do that. Well, Mark, I thought that was flipped.

I thought that the left side lined up with Sportsplex entrance.

No, directly across the street from Sportplex Road is Sportplex.

Right, I'm saying when you're looking at the right or left entrance, I thought that the left entrance lined up with Sportsplex entrance.

Look at this picture over here.

Yeah, I see it now. It looks like the right one does.

That's what I thought, because it looks like the right one does. It looks like that's your alignment right there, the right one. Either way, as Lamar referred, we're going to need to do a traffic study just to determine whether or not it's going to require red light. We are planning to, where the left entrance is, right to the left of that, is Lake Condie Road. And we're going to do a roundabout that will be on Lake Condie Road. So we may

It's Anderson Road.

Is it Anderson?

Yeah, and that's the sports extension. We'll have a roundabout.

Yeah. And so hopefully we can keep traffic moving by doing that. And then the bus drop will go all the way around the building and then drop on the top side up there. You can get a better picture of it over here with the bus drop. Buses will stop.

Yeah and then resolution 14 is part of that sportsplex parkway extension so you know when we looked at this prop this property from the school board perspective you know finding finding 15 to 20 acre parcels in the city is very difficult um there were some other options but this one made the most sense but we did spend a lot of time talking about trying to keep looking at you you weren't here then but we we did spend a lot of time looking at traffic and it's going to be some challenges out there so i mean we definitely i'm glad we're moving forward with this um extension because it is going to get tight out there driving any more traffic through samford and two and 431 uh is going to be more and more of a challenge that's a busy busy intersection right there so

Russell, I'm not sure what's, I do know the site plan is correct. That's the latest and greatest on the school side. Something is going on with that, the other side, because I think you're correct.

Yeah, because I thought that when, in the meeting when you discussed it, that would be, if you're saying it's on the right side, that that means the school would be looking at the soccer fields. And I believe that What y'all had said originally was the other, the bus entrance that we talked about would be where the Sportsplex entrance is. I think you're correct. So there is there is some gap there between the entrance to the Sportsplex and the school. there's a bit a bit of gap there before you get to anderson road where there will be a roundabout yes so we had discussed maybe some kind of obviously the speed limit obviously is going to go way down on sportsplex parkway there as well being that it's a school and that's not a state highway that's a city highway so we can lower the speed limit down as far as we can um i would imagine it would be 20 miles an hour like the rest of them or 25, whatever it is, all the rest of the city. So there will be a decrease in speed that obviously comes with the school being there. But there's going to be need to be some kind of pedestrian crossings across the street because you're going to have kids probably going from the middle school to the sportsplex and vice versa during the day. So, yeah, there's going to have to be some kind of traffic, something going on right there for sure.

And the other thing that is of interest is you see the track around the football field and then to the right is a covered practice area and then there'll be a gymnasium. So the middle school will be able to accommodate all of the sports rather than have to put kids on a bus and drive them to the high school to be able to participate in sports. The one thing that Dr. Davis pointed out is that that track is a six lane track rather than an eight lane track. You thought I wasn't listening, but I was. And then you can see also a open quad area between the buildings there.

Well, and they also, Mayor, added on the back side of the building, you can't see it from this, but they put 2000 seats in on the back side so that they can actually have like middle school football games, track meets, soccer games. And you can actually have 2000 people in bleachers on the school side of the track so that you don't have to, again, you can have things there. Sportsplex can have things there.

There's all kinds of opportunity there. Of course, the gym here, we're We're building this gym with a 1,500 seat capacity, which is about 500 to 600 more than our high school can currently sit. That way, if we need to host a large game from our high school, we can host it at the middle school at BP.

And then I don't know if this was mentioned or not, but to the right of the football field and the track, covered practice field.

Dr. Davis, on the growth part, what you mentioned to them about, did you say it was 600 per class?

so that's 1800 total and then how will that shift down when you pull six over two so once we finish fox run next year we'll have grades uh five and six in fox run once this middle school is finished we'll move six up move fox run to grades four and five and then our primary need immediate schools realign as well so we'll go pre-k k and one at our primary schools intermediate schools will go with grades two and three. And then that way we have expansion for all of our other programs. We can pull the pre-K out of the high school, put them in community schools. That way everybody is zoned appropriately. And, you know, we've got some growth in our schools as well. Right now, you know, I think I mentioned this at our meeting, Jeter and Morris Avenue are exploding. Those areas are just, we're out of room. We're having to put a class on the stage next year. You know, we've got a partition, a slottable partition that year to where we can make and accommodate them. That's the only classroom I have available to put them in.

Yeah, and so we talked the other day, you've pulled art out of a classroom, so on a cart. So they're actually doing the class from a cart.

resource I've got resource in certain in some of our schools it's in hallways at the end of hallways you know when you know I've got some resource classes it's three to a room we'll just Morris Morris and Jeter are out of room West Forest has got I think we've used our last classroom this year but these other classrooms are upwards of 25 to 26 kids per class next year us room to grow especially with a pre-k you know I guess our high school grows and that population grows as well that's six available classrooms that we could regenerate at the high school once we pulled them out and so the what about the so do you think at Jeter and Morris Avenue we're gonna be able to make it without having to bring portals in this year That's my hope. We've started our new enrollment center, which has went really well this year. So we want to make sure that we serve all the children that live here in Opelika, but we also want to make certain that students that are trying to get in from other parts of the county, that we're making sure we're taking their residents. We thought last year, and we probably could at this point, And that's a cost of about $400,000 a piece once you put them out there and set them up, have them ADA compliant. And I just feel like you're throwing away a million to a million and a half dollars Lamar, do you want to talk about just the other things that

Scouts' intentions were to come here for starting with Fox Run. We knew that was going to be a large project. So when we got here, it had not quite been yet. So we had the opportunity to help out with Opelika City Schools' other projects that were ongoing. One of those was the greenhouse project that's going on over at the high school. They had existing greenhouses that had seen its better day. And so they are now getting a new pre-engineered metal building and a brand new greenhouse. And that is scheduled to be finished at the end of this summer in time for school year. Great looking project. And then we also have Jeter and Morris that you just talked about. They're getting complete interior renovations. And it's been a challenge to get both of those projects Completely demoed interior wise and refinished and have it ready. We've got four weeks left, so it's going to be sliding across the finish line. We are going to make it and they're turning great. There were two other projects. last summer and those renovations and so this is converting it over to get it more into the Opelika City Schools finishes and getting the facilities they're in great shape structurally they just needed some updating to them so that is underway as well so just

Yeah, the ones we did last summer look completely brand new inside, and they look fabulous.

The plan would be to do Carver next year, and we're looking at the current middle school and north side to exactly what we want to do, but Carver's on our list to do next year.

All right. Thank you, Lamar.

Okay.

Any other questions? If not, we appreciate it. You have anything you want to say, Dr. Davis? Okay. Appreciate you all. Thank you. Well, we do have a few minutes, and Matt, I don't want to put you on the spot, but if you can come and give us an update on our moratorium, not for a question and answer period, but just an update, because later on, I think next month, you'll give us a detailed report.

Yes, sir. Thank you, President Allen. Even council members wanted to just get kind of give you a brief update. We'll have some information that will be going out through the community relations office later this week or next week. Basically, it will be our first kind of baseline report regarding the moratorium kind of where we're at right now. It talks about, you know, just general information about like a demographics, all that type stuff. And then it talks about, you know, how we've grown historically. what kind of growth we're seeing right now from a population standpoint, what type of growth we're seeing from a housing type standpoint and where those are, what stages a lot of those are in, and then about what we're starting to work on as far as the process goes. And just to kind of give you some updates, we have, of course, you allowed us to hire a consultant to work through the zoning ordinance and subdivision regulations, public works manual. We're kind of nearing the completion of the public works manual and subdivision regulations zoning ordinance. We've had about five or six meetings with a consultant working through starting with residential because that seems to be quite the topic of what we're dealing with and kind of looking at. Different types that aren't currently covered, looking at standards that we may not already encompass because we have an over ordinance and then how those should be allowed in certain residential zones, commercial zones, whatnot. I will tell you we are planning right now, and I think we will have something going out fairly quickly on this, but kind of a. uh open house community drop in for uh jane excuse me july 28th the same day as the plan commission meeting so that's three weeks from today that will allow anyone who's interested to come in and and provide kind of feedback to the uh the review staff and the consultant on what issues they see, whether it be about residential or if it's another use or just something in the zoning ordinance or how we develop in Opelika in general. And so that will be able to help us through that process. Right now, we feel confident that we're on track with moratorium. Don't foresee the need to extend it at this point. We have still continue to get calls from people who are interested in doing things in Opelika and have explain to them that currently that's that's not an option that uh as you know right now we are also and i think the building report uh We'll come later, but I believe it's 657 single family homes through July 1st of this year or June 30th of this year. That exceeds the highest total year for single family by, I believe it's over 60. And we've still got four months left to go for the year. So we are still continuing to see record growth. And I think that will continue for a while. But I'm happy to answer any questions you may have or if you want to talk later, I'm happy to do that as well. But we are, like I said, continue to work on lots of different aspects and we'll have quite a bit of information going out to the entire community very shortly.

Yes, sir. And just add on that and Lee have done a great job. And you'll see a publication coming out called Smart Growth, which is what we're going to try to use to keep us informed and our community informed. And it's it talks about the different the growth and then the different subdivisions, the different HUDs. And it explains all the difference in a traditional subdivision and a planned unit development. For instance, Grand National or National Village is a planned unit development. And when it was approved, it had 600 plus houses approved?

Actually the original plan is I believe over 1,100 units. We've been dealing with about 600 in this last 10-year period.

And so they they're as you hear they're only about 50 percent complete with that subdivision. And so you there's a lot of things that are already approved that would allow this growth to continue. So there's no reason for us to think that that we're not gonna need it, which is, of course, a great lead way into Dr. Davis and the conversation earlier about the school system. As a former mayor would say that people will move here for two reasons, good jobs and good schools, not necessarily in that order. And so it's our job and our positions to make sure that those things exist. Matt and his group have done a great job. The consultants have done a great job of helping them get words down on paper that I think you all will be pleased with, and the message will be delivered. So thank you, Matt, for what you've all done. We had a meeting with the consultant, and he made the mistake of opening it up for questions, and about three hours later, He closed. He has no more questions. So Matt, been meeting with him one-on-one. Bless your heart. But anyway, things have come a long way, and we still have a ways to go, but we are going to get where we need to be.

Thank you. Thank you, Matt. Now, Council Members, are there any other concerns on our agenda for tonight that Someone here present might be able to enlighten you on.

Mr. President, we have two tax abatements from economic development, and I see John Swetman in the back of the room. John, can you come up here and.

Allow me to call him up, if you will. OK, John, will you come out there, Gator?

You made an entrance.

Mayor, council, good evening.

Good evening.

Well, you didn't let me finish. So, John, if you can explain the reason for these tax abatements and some of the stuff that's included for it.

The two tax abatements. One is for Young Song Automotive. They're an existing automotive manufacturer that located in Oval I.K. in 2019. As a matter of fact, the first project I've got to work on. So we're excited that they're expanding and adding some jobs. And then the other one is for B.S. Logistics, which is a new company. And they're leasing a facility but putting new equipment in there.

Can you explain, Young-Sung, is there a reason behind the tax abatement expansion, what they're doing?

Their businesses are growing, so they're making new investments. So we're supporting that with tax abatements. Okay.

So is this going to bring in new jobs?

Yes. On Young-Sung, the amount of the tax abatement is $4.4 million. Are they going to invest $4.4 million, which will create 68 new jobs? And in the BS Logistics, investment is $1.2 million. It creates 20 new jobs. And so the total of seven is 88 new jobs to be created.

I appreciate that, Mr. Mayor. Keep in mind, statutory tax abatements do not have the requirement for job creation. But it's always nice when we do get new jobs with an added investment.

Can you explain what type of company BS Logistics America LLC is and what they plan on doing here in Opelika?

Automotive parts logistics supporting supply chain for Hyundai and Kia mostly.

I'd just like to say I appreciate all the work you guys do and you're doing a great job. And I'm just glad we've got businesses that want to continue to grow and expand here. So keep up the good work.

We're a good place to locate to you, sir. Thank you.

And others. Mr. President, resolution number 14, approving the right away acquisition agreement. for Sports Flex Parkway Extension projects.

Lee, can you come up and answer questions on this project?

Yes. Resolution afternoon, Council, Mayor. So Resolution 14 is the acquisition. So we've got several moving parts. This company that owns the property currently has got a expansion they're planning on doing. And while they were in their design process, we had this road extension that will tie into the future sportsplex extension that will be at the roundabout at the new school, which also created new access up to 431 for traffic flow and use. So this is just one of the several steps that we've got to kind of step through to create these connections.

And Lee, acquisition may be a misnomer because they're actually giving it to us. Correct.

So, Lee, kind of what we talked about before earlier, this is in support of the new middle school and everything around that area.

It's just new growth. We're looking to create new connections. That sportsplex area needs an additional in and out as well. So this is just continued growth.

Yeah. As you all know, the part of the connector road, if you will, that would come across 431 with the railroad track is this Sharp Street extension will go into that new road extension. And so it will allow them to be able to access 431 either down by the Southern Union or through this new road.

And this will also create a an access all four thirty one potentially for the log trucks for West pressure as well. Greatly appreciate that. Thank you.

And others. We have five minutes. If not, I'll call this work session. Can I mention something? Of course you can.

I would just like to say that speaking with city administration and then with President Allen earlier um the ordinance number two to approve the annexation petition these um petitioners are trying to enroll their kids in school and I asked them or they asked me to ask you if you didn't have any problems with the annexation into the city limits As it currently sits, if you would suspend the rules and consider that for adoption at tonight's meeting so that they can get enrollment situated.

And it came to us with the unanimous consent.

Yeah, so the Planning Commission approved. Yeah, it was a unanimous. I think it was an 8-0 vote or something that they approved the annexation.

No other will call this session to an end and begin our regular meeting at six o'clock. Thank you so very, very much.

Keep up the good work.

It is now 6 o'clock p.m. and I will call out July 7, 2026 council meeting to order. Roll call, Mr. Jones. Ms. Holmes.

Here.

Ms. Watley.

Here.

Mr.

Beans. Here.

Mr. Routt.

Here.

Mr. Allen.

Here.

I don't see Tom. He emailed me today. Would you like to do it?

I'll do it. It doesn't matter. You want to? Oh, I don't mind. OK. For our invocation, we'll please have our mayor. If you all would stand, please. Hold on, hold on. And for our invocation, I mean, for our pledge, we also have Boy Scout Troop number 858 to lead us in our pledge. So let us all stand, please.

Thank you, Mr. President. Father God, we just thank you for the opportunity to be here. We thank you for the opportunity to have the freedom to meet and make decisions about things that are so important to our city. As we have been through the last weekend of the 250th celebration, Lord, we just thank you for the blessings that you've bestowed upon each one of us individually and us all collectively. We ask that you would lead, guide, and direct us as we do the business that you have set in front of us, that we would make decisions that would be honorable to you and that the things would be what the city of Opelika needs and what the people deserve. So we ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.

And at this time, we move to the adoption of the agenda. Are there any items that need to be added to remove from a change in the order of our presented agenda? Having none, is there a motion to approve the agenda as presented? So moved.

Second.

Any discussion? Having uncalled a role, Mr. Jones, Ms. Holmes, Ms. Watley, Ms. Bean, Mr. Routt, Ms. Allen. Aye. All voted aye. Next, we had approval of the minutes. Councilmember, you received a copy of the minutes from our last regular meeting on June 16, 2026. Are there any correction, additions, or deletions? If not, I'll entertain a motion and a second to accept the minutes as presented.

So moved.

Second. Mayor comments who have all quite public here. Mr. Jones.

Mr. President, there's one public hearing tonight for a weed abatement assessment at six or six dogwood.

I declare this public hearing open. If anyone wants to speak for or against this item, please come to the podium to my left and state your name and address. And remember, you have three minutes to speak. Having none, I declare this public hearing closed. Agenda-related public comments, Mr. Jones.

OK, if you'd like to speak to the mayor and council about anything that's currently on tonight's agenda for approval, please come to the podium to my left. If you have not, please sign the sign-in sheet with your contact information. If you do speak, please state your name and your address. Please keep it at three minutes or less. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Jones. Next, with the adoption of consent agenda, does any council member wish to remove an item from the consent agenda and add it as part of our regular agenda?

Mr. President, I'd like to remove item 11.

OK, we will renew rebu item 11 and list it as resolution number two on the resolutions and others. If not, I entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda with the remove item 11. So moved. Is that second?

Second.

Any discussion? Having none, call the roll, Mr. Jones.

Holmes. Aye.

Swatley.

Aye.

Beams. Aye. Mr. Routt. Aye. Mr. Allen. Aye.

All voted aye to approve the consent agenda.

We have no general business that's not in the considered agenda. No bids, that's not part of the consent agenda. So we move to our resolutions. And we do have Mr. Jones to present our resolutions. So we'll begin resolution number one.

Mr. President, first resolution is the weed abatement assessment for 606 Dogwood Avenue.

Is there a motion for approval? So moved. Is there a second?

Second.

Any discussion? Having none, call the roll, Mr. Jones.

Ms. Holm. Aye. Ms. Walton.

Aye. Mr. Bean.

Aye.

Mr. Raut. Aye. Mr. Allen.

Aye.

All voted aye to approve. Second and final resolution is to approve the emergency response rescue and ambulance services agreement with, this is with East Alabama Health Care Authority, and this is coming from the fire department.

Is there a motion for approval? So moved. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Having none, call the roll, Mr. Jones. Mr. Holmes? Aye. Ms. Watley? Aye. Mr. Beans?

Abstain.

Mr. Routt? Aye. Mr. Allen?

Aye.

Motion carries, four ayes, one abstain.

Ordinance, Mr. Jones. All right.

Throwing me off here. I'm used to robbing. I'm sorry. OK, no problem. Mr. President, there's one or two items under ordinances. The first ordinance is for second reading. This is to amend the zoning ordinance and map and rezone 3400 block of Birmingham Highway, 18.34 acres from R4 to a C2 GCP.

Is there a motion for approval?

So moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

Any discussion? Having none, call the roll, Mr. Jones. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Now, based on what we've heard in our work session, I will now ask a member of the council to motion for this to suspend the rules on orders number two.

So moved.

Second. Any discussion? There's no discussion on suspending the rules.

Ms. Holmes? Aye. Ms. Watley?

Aye.

Mr. Bean? Aye. Mr. Raut? Aye. Mr. Allen? Aye. All voted aye to suspend the rules and have a second reading.

Now, entertain a motion to approve the second amendment. I mean the second ordinance.

Second reading. Second. So moved. So moved.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion?

Mr. Raut. Yeah.

Having none, call the roll, Mr. Jones.

Well, is there any discussion?

No.

Okay. Ms. Holmes. Aye. Ms. Whatland. Aye. Mr. Beams. Aye. Mr. Raut. Aye. Mr. Allen.

Aye.

All those to approve the annexation petition.

OK, we had one appointment, which was part of the consent agenda. And now we'll have the second roster of public comments.

Mr. Jones. Now if you'd like to speak to the mayor or the council about anything else, come to the podium to my left, sign in the sign-in sheet, contact information. If you do speak, take your name and your address. Please keep the three minutes or less. Thanks.

Good evening, Mayor Smith, City Council members. As you know, my name is, oh, first, my name in it. Tiffany Ho, you're now live at 1305 Morris Avenue. Okay, as you know, that's my name. I'm with the Lee County Cemetery Preservation Commission, in which I'm also the president of. Exactly one year ago, I stood before you and asked for a municipal ordinance establishing a physical buffer zone around our city's rural cemeteries. Our goal was simple, protect our ancestors early settlers, veterans from being encroached upon by developers. Mayor Smith, you wisely directed staff to draft such an ordinance. A little over one year later, we are at a complete standstill. We have been told that the city attorney is currently blocking the ordinance. The reason given is that supposedly a protective cemetery buffer is redundant because a state law or regulation already provides this protection. Respectfully, this claim is entirely incorrect. We directly contacted the Alabama Historical Commission, the state's highest authority on historic preservation and cemetery regulations. Leanne True explicitly confirmed to us that no state law, regulation, or mandatory buffer exists in Alabama. While state law does make it a felony to physically desecrate a grave, it contains zero provisions regarding setbacks, grading lines, buffers, Right now, a developer can legally operate a multi-ton bulldozer six inches from a historic headstone, and the severe vibrations can shatter the markers. Earth-moving altars water runoff, causing heavy erosion later on, and unmarked graves that are often outside of historic fence lines due to outdated deeds and surveys are accidentally obliterated. State law only punishes for the damage after it happens. There's nothing to prevent it. Because of this contradiction, I'm here tonight to ask two direct public questions to the city council and the mayor. One is that the city attorney provide to our commission and this council the exact title, chapter, and section number of the Code of Alabama that he said establishes a mandatory physical development buffer or land setback around existing cemeteries in writing. Two, if such a law can be produced that does create a buffer or a setback, and does make the proposed ordinance redundant, then why is it not currently being enforced or monitored? If no state law can be provided that makes the proposed ordinance redundant nor creates any such type of buffer or setback that the proposed ordinance Mr. Mosley put together, be moved for introduction and sponsorship by the council. Opelika prides itself on its rich heritage, but heritage requires active preservation, not administrative delays. We have waited over a year We ask that this legal contradiction be resolved immediately and that the mayor and council direct the planning department to out the buffer ordinance on the next meeting agenda for vote. And in front of you is the two laws that we have in Alabama First Cemetery. That's the only two that exist. And on the second page, I ask you to sponsor this.

Good afternoon. My name is Maddie Clark. I live at 706 Orchard Avenue, Black, Alabama. The Mayor called me and I thank him for calling me to tell me about the houses that were boarded up. My question is, some of the boards have fallen down. But my question is, if houses was boarded up in your community, would you just say we can't do nothing about it? We just keep boarded up? What would you do about it? Some of the boys are falling off. Rats and big animals come in these houses. And you can see them coming. And that's a danger to our kids. Actually, it's a danger to us for them to be coming in there. So nothing can be done about that. But we can get the grass cut. So I don't understand that. So if somebody can explain that to me, I would very much appreciate it. Thank you for your time.

And others. Well, the character trait of the month courage, mental or moral strength to venture, persevere and withstand danger, fear or difficulty. And just before we do adjourn, let us know that we do have Monty Newport with us, who's one of the new appointees to the Board of Zoning Adjustments. Thank you very much. At this time, we will entertain a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Second. Call to roll, Mr. Jones.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Meeting adjourned.