2026-10-08 - City Council Regular Meeting

00:00:27We'll start the meeting in about 30 seconds if everybody wants to. Get situated Yeah I It's OK. I Oh, OK.

00:00:59Welcome everyone. It is October 8, 2026, 5:30 p.m. and we are met in the chambers of the Huntsville City Council in Huntsville, Alabama, and this meeting is called to order.

00:01:12We welcome everyone who has joined us in the chambers tonight or who is joining us virtually. As is our practice, we will begin with an invocation and a pledge of allegiance. The invocation will be offered by one of our Huntsville, Alabama public safety, uh, chaplains, Doctor Sonny Hatcher, to be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance given by David Little.

00:01:32All who wish to and are able to do so, please stand for the invocation and the pledge. Let us bow heads. Heavenly Father, we thank you God, as we pause to say thank you God for your grace and your mercy towards us.

00:01:47Thank you for this great city of Huntsville and the privilege of serving its people. Tonight grant our mayor, the city council members, and the city staff wisdom to lead, courage to do what's right, and humanity, uh, to listen.

00:02:06May every decision reflect integrity, compassion, and responsible stewardship. Help us to see the people behind every issue, the families, the neighborhoods, and those whose voices are often unheard.

00:02:23Where there is disagreement, grant us respect. Where there's challenges, grant us understanding and the willingness to work together.

00:02:33Protect our first responders and military personnel, strengthen our workforce and comfort those during hardship. Lord, remind us that true leadership is found not in power but in service.

00:02:47Give us hearts ready to lift others, hands willing to help, and a vision to build a community where every person can flourish. May the work begun in this room carry hope into every neighborhood.

00:03:03And leave Huntsville stronger, kinder, and more united in Jesus' name. 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.

00:03:28Thank you, Doctor Hatcher. Thank you, Mr. Little. For opening our meeting in such a meaningful way, we will move on to the approval of the agenda. Is anyone aware of any changes or additions that need to be made to the agenda?

00:03:42Is there a motion to approve the agenda? Motion from Mr. Little. Second from Ms. Watkins. All in favor, please indicate. I opposed. The motion carries. The agenda is approved. Uh, council members, uh, you have two sets of minutes before you.

00:03:564 A are the minutes of the regular meeting of the city council held on September 24, 2026. Are there changes or additions to be made to that meeting? Hearing none, they will be accepted.

00:04:084 B is minutes of the special session of the city council held on September 29, 2026. Are there any changes or additions to be made to those minutes? Seeing none, those are accepted as well.

00:04:20The mayor has a couple of, uh, special recognitions. Five A is the presentation of a life-saving medal. We don't do these very often, but they are probably some of the most important recognitions we do.

00:04:30Mayor Battle. Thank you, Madam President and Council. If I could ask Chief Giles and command staff to come forward, and, um, I think you have some guests who we want, we'd like to have come forward also.

00:04:55Good evening everyone. Allow me to introduce Officer Cameron Perlett and Mr. Michael Fowler. We're here to recognize Officer Perlett and Officer Joel Stevens, who couldn't be here tonight for the actions that saved Mr.

00:05:08Fowler's life. On August 8th, Officer Stevens and Perlet were responding to what appeared to be a traffic accident at Doctor Joseph E. Lowry Boulevard in Saint Clair.

00:05:19When Officer Perlett approached Mr. Fowler's vehicle, he found him unconscious and in serious medical distress. The officers could not get the door open. So Officer Stevens had to break the passenger window out in order to get access to Mr.

00:05:33Fowler. Officer Parrot got inside and found that Mr. uh, Fowler was barely breathing. Both officers worked to get him out of the vehicle and then Officer Stevens assessed Mr.

00:05:43Fowler and determined he was no longer breathing and did not have a pulse. So Officer Parrott immediately began CPR while Officer Stevens supported Mr.

00:05:52Fowler's head and neck and assisted until a hunt for Fire and Rescue could arrive. This all happened in just a matter of minutes. But in those minutes these officers recognized what was happening, acted quickly.

00:06:05And put their training to work when somebody was in critical need. And this evening, we have the privilege of seeing this person that they were fighting to save. Mr.

00:06:18Valer, we're so glad that you're here. We're grateful that our officers were able to, uh, be of assistance to you when you needed it. Officer Perry, your quick response, your training, your ability to remain calm in a critical situation certainly made a difference.

00:06:32This is exactly what we expect from our officers when the moment calls for to recognize what needs to be done and to do everything possible to protect and preserve lives.

00:06:44Mr. Fowler, I'll be honored if you would present this medal to Officer Perrole. Thank you Well Oh, I'm sorry.

00:07:44All right, we hope you get your back window fixed next. Mm Mhm Next 55B is a proclamation to declare the month of October as Community Planning Month, Mayor Battle.

00:08:22Lady, would you come forward? Lady Kisma, Dennis Madsen, Thomas Nunez, our full planning staff, uh, and Scott Irwin also.

00:08:33It takes a lot of people to plan a city. Uh, and in fact, I, I many times say that we have, uh, probably 200,000 planners and, but we have one good group that has, uh, has degrees at it, and they're the ones that make it happen on a daily basis.

00:08:49And This is Community Planning Month, uh, throughout, throughout the world, I guess, uh, and Community Planning Month is a month when we honor those who have, uh, taken our cities and our places and made them into something very, very special.

00:09:06If you look at the downtown Huntsville, if you look at. All sections of Huntsville, north, south, east, west, you're gonna see that, uh, they have been very busy making sure that it's a community that people want to live in, want to be a part of, uh, want to, uh, really make a difference in.

00:09:22And so we have a proclamation. And it says, whereas the city of Huntsville recognizes that thoughtful, data-driven, and community-centered planning is essential, and whereas community planning plays a vital role in guiding Huntsville's continued growth, and whereas Huntsville's commitment to smart growth is reflected in transformative initiatives across the city,

00:09:43whereas sustainability and environmental stewardship remains central to Huntsville's long-range planning efforts, and whereas housing accessibility. And neighborhood stability are foundation to a thriving community.

00:09:56And whereas Huntsville continues to expand diverse housing options through key multifamily and mixed-use developments such as Mill Creek, uh, Mill Creek Choice Neighborhood, Arbors of Moore's Mill and Grove at. Union Creek, and whereas partners across government, business, education, and community organizations,

00:10:15including resources like the Huntsville, Madison County Chambers, a Smart Place, will work collaboratively to ensure Huntsville remains an innovative and dynamic and well-planned city. Now, therefore, I, Tommy Battle, mayor of the City of Huntsville, is hereby proclaimed this month of October 2026 as Community Planning Month.

00:10:34Guys, thank you so much for all that you do in planning side. Mayor, uh, thank you as well as our council members for your leadership on behalf of all planning professionals throughout the country.

00:10:50Thank you very much for your leadership and making sure that here in Huntsville we do have sound planning to make sure that we stay resilient, uh, organized and ready for both challenges and opportunities, um, for the future of Huntsville.

00:11:06Thank you very much. Thank you. Uh, next on the agenda, we have one special recognition by the council.

00:11:436A is a resolution recognizing WLRH 89.3 FM, Alabama's first full, full service public radio station for 50 years of broadcasting service to the community.

00:11:54Is there a motion to approve? Motion from Mr. Little. Second from Mr. Kling. All in favor, please indicate. opposed. The motion carries. Mr. Kling, would you like to make that presentation? I would.

00:12:05Uh, I think we have some good folks from WLRH and I, um As some of y'all may know, I'm actually an alumnus of the organization, having been a former newsman.

00:12:17In fact, in those days, our, uh, finances were so challenged that, uh, we are. We are on, OK.

00:12:29Still having problems with these Mike. We had, we financially, we were so challenged that we had to get an appropriation of $650. You wanna come, come up here on the.

00:12:42In front of us a little bit so we can get a good shot. OK. Let me start all over again. I think we are, we now have the mic on, but, uh, I'm an alumnus.

00:12:52I was a former news director at WLRH many years ago and back in those days, uh, we had the idea of doing live radio broadcast of city council meetings and, uh, the TV and newspaper folks all thought that was a great idea because they would be pushing deadlines and they could listen live in their office

00:13:11and not have to come to the meeting and then run back to type something up. Uh, we, uh, had some challenges in those days financially and we actually had to get an appropriation of approximately $650 from the city council, uh, to cover the cost of a telephone line to run from the Times Building over to the, uh, uh, City Hall chambers, uh,

00:13:34across the street from where we're at. And, uh, certainly many great things have taken place at WLRH. You have moved on to a bigger and better. Better facility out at UAH and, uh, you don't have the leaky ceiling issues that we had in the, uh, Times Building and everything.

00:13:52But anyway, it's been 50 years of service to the community and, uh, there are a lot of whereass and how-tos about what the WLRH has meant. Uh, it was one of 3 public radio stations in the entire country that were run and operated.

00:14:09By, uh, a local library. And again, that was something that was a little bit unique. Obviously, WLRH was the first, uh, full-service public radio station in the state of Alabama.

00:14:21And, uh, many, uh, awards and honors have gone to people over in the, um, uh, production side at the radio station from, uh, CECA, which was the regional, uh, fine arts radio, um, Conglomerate.

00:14:38Uh, also, uh, the, uh, state AP, uh, awarded us, uh, Us, I'm coming back to you guys. Um, but anyway, we, we won an award for, uh, public service, which is good for public radio.

00:14:54And, um, anyway, after 50 years, a lot of things have taken place. So, uh, it's my pleasure on behalf of the mayor and the city council to make this presentation to y'all.

00:15:05And again, thank you all for what you mean. Uh, we, uh, are very grateful and as you can see it's signed by, uh, 1 mayor and 5 council members, and, uh, again, you mean a lot to the community, uh, and we're looking forward to seeing what the next 50 years are gonna be like.

00:15:22So thank all of you and if you like that you have a few words. Thank you. We wanted to say thank you to the mayor and to the city council and to Bill Kling, a former, uh, news director at WLRH for a few years there, and, um, you're always welcome to come back, but we have been so privileged to serve this community for 50 years,

00:15:41bringing people together with music and ideas and storytelling, and we look forward to what the next 50 years is gonna have for our community. So thank you so much for this recognition.

00:15:53What I think one thing I need, I need to mention, I'm sorry I didn't think about it earlier, Microwave Dave used to come down on many Friday evenings and would do live concerts in the, uh, studio and of course we all know what Microwave Day has meant to the community and, uh.

00:16:13Uh, that was one of the unique things that, that you had offered. Uh, I think, uh, many, uh, great people have come through the station over the years and have gone on to, uh, great things. But again, uh, y'all have meant so much to the community and thank you.

00:16:26And would you like to. OK, you did say we or or or or us. It's OK. Once you have worked at WLRH once you always work at WLRH. Thank you.

00:16:39Thank all of you for coming. I And thank you all for the service you have provided to the community.

00:17:07We have no presentations tonight, but we do have one announcement. With the holidays coming up, the council meeting dates will change. Normally we meet on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays at 5:30. Because of the holidays, we will be meeting on the 1st and 3rd Thursday.

00:17:23So those dates just for. For the public's information and for the, again, as a reminder to the staff and the council members, um, our meeting dates will be November 5th and 19th, 5th, 5 and 19 in November, and in December, December 3rd and 2017.

00:17:39So please make a note of that. We have no matters with outside legal representation. We do have two public hearings to be held. 9A is a public hearing in order to here consider and act upon all objections or protests, if any, for removal of a junk public nuisance at 3307 Butcher Drive Northwest, Huntsville, Alabama, and consideration of a resolution

00:18:00ordering abatement of a nuisance located at the same property. Um, Mr. Irwin, uh, yes, Mayor Battle, Council member Scott Irwin, Community Development Department. This public hearing is in reference to the property located at 3307 Buttree Drive Northwest.

00:18:15The property was in violation of the state Public Nuisance Act regarding junk. Community Development issued a notice to the property owner and interested parties, and the property remains in violation. Community Development is seeking your authorization to abate this junk public nuisance.

00:18:29The condition of the property before you is on the video screen, including photos of when the property was initially determined to be a nuisance. The owners and interested parties were notified to attend this city council meeting in the city council chambers where any objections could be heard regarding the abatement of this public nuisance.

00:18:45Thank you, Mr. Irwin. The public hearing on this matter is now open. Is there anyone who wishes to comment on item 9A? Anyone wishing to comment? Seeing none, the public hearing is now closed.

00:18:57Is there a motion to approve the resolution? Move to approve motion from Ms. Watkins. Second from Mr. Kling. Uh, discussion or questions for comments. Questions from Mr.

00:19:07Irwin. Seeing none, we'll go on then. Um, all in favor, please indicate. All opposed. Motion carries. 9B is a public hearing in order to hear consider and act upon all objections or protests, if any, for removal of a junk public notice at 2610 Pendelope Drive, Southeast, Huntsville, Alabama, and consideration of a resolution

00:19:27ordering abatement of a nuisance located at the same property. Mr. Yes, council members, this public hearing is in reference to the property located at 2610 Pentelope Drive Southeast. The property is in violation of the State Public Nuisance Act regarding junk.

00:19:41Community Development issued a notice to the property owner and interested parties, and the property remains in violation. Community Development is seeking your authorization to abate this junk public nuisance.

00:19:51The condition of the property is before you on the video screen, including photos when the property was initially determined to be a nuisance. The owners and interested parties were notified to attend the city council meeting.

00:20:01In the council chambers where any objections could be heard regarding the abatement of this public nuisance. Thank you, Mr. Irwin. The hearing, the public hearing on this item, item 9B, is now open.

00:20:11Is there anyone wishing to comment on this item? Anyone wishing to comment? The pub seeing none, the public hearing is now closed. Is there a motion to approve the resolution?

00:20:22Motion from Mr. Little, second from Mr. Kling. Any comments? All in favor please indicate and opposed. The motion carries. Thank you, council members.

00:20:32Thank you. We have several public hearings to be set. 10A is a resolution to declare a junk public nuisance located at 3527 Bermuda Road, Southwest Huntsville, Alabama to set the date for when objections will be heard.

00:20:44Is there a motion to set the hearing for the October 22, 2026 regular counsel motion from Mr. Little, second from the chair. All in favor, please indicate. I opposed.

00:20:54The motion carries. 10B is a resolution to declare a junk public nuisance located at 3202 Harvey Street, Northwest Huntsville, Alabama, and to set the date for when objections will be heard.

00:21:03Is there a motion to set the hearing for the October 22, 2026 meeting? Motion from Ms. Watkins. Second from Mr. Little. All in favor, please indicate. I opposed.

00:21:13The motion carries. Uh, 10C is a resolution to declare grass and weed public nuisance located at 610 O'Fallon Road, Northwest Huntsville, Alabama, and to set the date for when objections will be heard.

00:21:24Is there a motion to set the hearing for the November 5, 2026 regular council meeting? Move to motion for Ms. Watkins. Second for Mr. Little. All in favor, please indicate. Uh, the opposed.

00:21:34Motion carries. 10 is a resolution is set up. Public hearing on the rezoning of 126.70 acres of land lying on the south of Huntsville-Brown Ferry Road west of Dogwood Flat Road from Highway Business C4 district to commercial industrial park district and introduction of an ordinance pertaining to the same.

00:21:50Is there a motion to set the hearing for November 19, 2026 regular council meeting? Motion from Mr. Little, second from the chair. All in favor, please indicate. Any opposed.

00:21:59The motion carries. 10E is a resolution to set a public hearing on a vacation of a right of way between Lots 1 and 2 Arrowhead Drive and the introduction of resolution consenting to and the introduction of an ordinance vacating the right of way pertaining thereto.

00:22:15Um, this motion was originally, um, Uh, there was a motion was made originally to set the hearing for the September 24, 20, uh, I'm sorry, to set it for the November 5, 2026 regular council meeting, and a motion was made at the last meeting on September 24, 2026 to postpone to the meeting today,

00:22:38the October 8th meeting. However, Mr. um, Uh, Nunez, could you bring us up to date on where we are with this? Absolutely, thank you, council members, uh, and, uh, Mayor Battle Thomas Nunez, manager of planning and zoning services.

00:22:53At this particular time, the petitioners would like to withdraw this this request, uh, and then possibly hear it at a later date. They don't want to continue to postpone. There's some particular actions that are happening between the parties, and they want to withdraw the request at this time.

00:23:06So Mr. Riley, we have, uh, postponed this. There is a motion on the floor to set the hearing for, um, November 5th. Would the, since the sponsor has withdrawn it, would the proper action now be for us to simply vote it down and then bring it back at another date?

00:23:23I think that would accomplish the purpose satisfactorily. All right. Does anybody have any questions? I would suggest the proper way to do it is to object, to consider it.

00:23:35And then you get a 4/5 majority and then it is done. That's the way Roberts would dictate. You handle it. Any other comments?

00:23:47All in, uh, so we, we would just take, take the vote on setting the hearing for November 5th since that is the motion that's on the floor. All in favor of setting the hearing for November 5th.

00:23:59Please indicate by saying aye. You said they were wanting to do it indefinitely. How does November 5th factor into that? That was, that was the original motion.

00:24:10The original motion was to set it for November 5th. If the council votes. Not to set for November 5th, then it's done because it was to set it here. At this meeting, not November 5th, if, if, if it was delayed till September 5th, I mean November 5th,

00:24:30we wouldn't be dealing with this tonight. So the original motion was to set for November 5th. That is the motion that was postponed for final approval to the October 8th.

00:24:41So why is it on tonight's agenda? Because it was postponed to the October 8th meeting. This is October 8th. Say that one more time.

00:24:53If I may interject for quite a quick moment, um, this item came before the council on September 24th. It was then postponed to today's date, and once it's postponed, the public hearing has yet to be set.

00:25:06So you're taking action on setting a public hearing for November 5th. But if that, if you vote to decline that particular action, then this hearing would not be heard on November 5th.

00:25:18It would, it would not take an action. If you vote no, then there's no action taken. There's no public hearing. The hearing is not set. Correct.

00:25:27You are only setting a public hearing for November 5th, but if you decline to set the public hearing, this item will be removed and then possibly entertained later at a later date for another date for a hearing.

00:25:38That would be correct. We will reintroduce the item to set another public hearing at a later date. I'm sorry if that was not clear. Again, it's not the way. It you're violating the rules again that's not the way it should be handled.

00:25:53I mean, I, I totally get that the people involved have the right to, to, you know, to not vacate. I get that my issue is not with us taking the action that you want.

00:26:07I just feel it should be done the correct way. And the the action we're taking is not to permit them to vacate or not. It is simply to set a hearing, the date for the hearing. The date that has that we we postponed to set a hearing for November 5th, that is the motion that's before us.

00:26:25All in favor of setting the hearing for November 5th still not the proper way to do it. If you know this council has got to start. Abiding by the rules.

00:26:41I know that you're saying no, no, stop interrupting. I've got the floor. You can I can do that because as president you are not entitled to interrupt other members.

00:26:53That's not your job. Your job is to be a Department head and run the meeting actually actually sir in accord with the rules the president speaks in preference to all of the council but she does not have the right to interrupt other members that have the floor the period you you cannot justify that because that.

00:27:15That privilege, that privilege does not exist. Once the floor, a member has the floor, they have the floor. She cannot interrupt.

00:27:25She does it all the time, only to Ms. Watkins and myself, but she does it all the time. So let me finish my thought, then she can carry on. But I'm I'm done being interrupted when I've got the floor.

00:27:41Thank you. I yield the floor. All in favor of voting. To set the hearing for November 5th, 2026, please indicate by saying aye.

00:27:56Can we ask a question because I'm confused. I, I'm just trying to be clear. I thought the Petitioner wanted it withdrawn indefinitely. So if they want it withdrawn, it definitely wouldn't the motion be to withdraw it altogether instead of uh voting on doing it on November 5th.

00:28:19So Councilor John Hamilton, city administrator, Mr. Hamilton, you have the floor. So there's been some dialogue about this, uh, this week in just terms of what's the best way to deal with this. The challenge is that the resolution and the, the, the, the resolution is on the floor right now is to set public hearing at a future date just like the, the, the last 4 or 5 you just voted on,

00:28:39it's exactly the same. The difference is it was on a prior agenda and at that time the petitioner asked that will counsel please postpone this when you get to that point in the agenda.

00:28:49So when he got to that point in the agenda during that meeting, it was motioned and seconded, so it was on the floor and then a motion was made to postpone consideration of setting the meeting, not, not don't postpone the hearing, postpone the resolution that sets the hearing is what y'all postponed to this meeting.

00:29:07So what's on the floor right now and, and the issue is this council has had this debate previously around how you handle something that needs to be withdrawn but has already been put onto the floor previously by counsel and obviously I've, you know, watched and, and y'all have some disagreement over the right way to handle that.

00:29:23Our recommendation is since you already have it on the floor and we do not want the hearing set, the way to not set the hearing is to just vote no on the resolution.

00:29:33The resolution that's on the floor right now is to set the hearing. And if you vote no, then the hearing won't be set, which is what everybody desires. That is the, the desired outcome is that you not set the hearing.

00:29:46And so a way to do that is vote no and then the hearing won't be set. And so that's the recommendation before you is because a resolution that's on the floor right now that you've got to deal with that's what's on the floor is a resolution to set the public hearing, OK?

00:30:01And so. We just vote no and the hearing won't be set and then we move on. Madam President. Watkins, do you have any other questions?

00:30:11Thank you. Does that answer your question, Madam President? That is incorrect that the. There are two ways to handle it. One is you object to consideration, which is a 4/5 vote here kills it, or you postpone it indefinitely, which only takes a minority vote, and it's indefinite.

00:30:32If and when it ever comes up again, it's new and it's fresh. Thank you. Does that finish your comments? Finishes my comments. And a third way to handle it would be to simply vote no, no, not according to the rules that we abide by.

00:30:48And before Mr. Riley is called upon to say that the rules, Robert's rules are not binding to us, that we have flexibility, we don't.

00:30:58We have said that we are going to run these meetings by state law, our bylaws, and Robert's rules. You cannot just willy-nilly decide you're not going to abide by a rule. Again, I'm not disagreeing with the action that needs to be taken.

00:31:14I'm telling you what the only two legal binding options are regardless as to what the lawyer says because he's wrong. Well, I, I appreciate first of all, I have just a moment.

00:31:30I appreciate you making my argument for me and taking over both ends of the situation. There is a third way that I think is successful as in accord with the rules of our body here and that says that an item on the published agenda may be removed or postponed by the sponsor without approval of counsel prior

00:31:51to the meeting or prior to the agenda being adopted. It was our understanding that you objected to that in order to keep the peace and to conduct the beating peacefully we simply acquiesced on that.

00:32:06So that is the reason that we did this. This was not my preferred method to do it, but I thought that needed to be a it's wrong. You could have done it at the agenda.

00:32:17There are many different ways to do it. You're just choosing wrong ways. The ways you're wanting to do it, don't follow the rules. You said.

00:32:28In the beginning of your thing that I forgot exactly what repeat what you said that an item established on the public agenda may be removed or postponed by the sponsor without approval of the city council prior to the meeting or prior to the agenda being adopted, which is at 3 on the agenda.

00:32:53None of that applies because it was technically already on the floor tonight. So all of what you said is is moot and you do that all the time. That's moot.

00:33:04It it doesn't have any bearing on the situation at hand. I appreciate your opinion and I did my very best to honor your opinion and to do it.

00:33:13I happen to disagree with you about that particular interpretation. OK, can we call it a question we can do that. Are there any other comments?

00:33:26My only comment is do it the right way. I know you're not going to, but try to do it the right way. I've given you your options of what the rules say, how to handle it.

00:33:37If you don't want to follow that, that's fine, but I'm going on record as not being a part of your breaking the rules. I know you got a habit of it, but I'm not gonna.

00:33:49I'm not gonna be a part of your breaking the rules. We have a motion on the floor. We can vote it up. We can vote it down, or you can do it the right way. And voting it up or voting it down is not the right way.

00:34:02The third option that it's not a third option. Call the question. Thank you. All in favor, please indicate by saying the question. There are motion to call the question.

00:34:12Is there any objection to calling the question? I object. A motion has been made to call the question seconded by Mr. Little.

00:34:23Roll call vote, Ms. Watkins. No, Mr. Little. Mr. Kling, Mr. Meredith, no chair votes.

00:34:34I, we do not have 4/5. We will continue discussion. Thank you. The, um, motion is on the floor. The motion was postponed from the last meeting.

00:34:45We now will consider it. I, I guess I, I, I, I wanna address Mr. Mr. Riley. I understand and appreciate your attempt at trying to Respect the fact that I want that I had mentioned earlier that I wanted this withdrawn properly.

00:35:10I do appreciate that. But there is no 3rd way. The 3rd way was to have handled it at the point of the agenda where it could have been uh a unanimous consent to do away with it and we wouldn't even be here now.

00:35:27That was #1. That was your 3rd way. The 2nd way is to object to the consideration and the 3rd way was to postpone indefinitely.

00:35:36Now if you do it, handle it in any other way. You're breaking the rules that this council has said it would abide by and it would operate by. And with that, I will yield the floor and you can.

00:35:50Move on. All in favor. All in favor of setting a hearing for November 5th. Please indicate by saying aye. Any applause, please say nay nay.

00:36:03There are 3 votes. Against setting the hearing, so the hearing, and please note that Mr. Meredith has abstained.

00:36:14I'm abstaining and Ms. Watkins has abstained, but there are 3 votes against. Setting the hearing. The hearing is not set and we'll come back. To us at a later date to set the hearing.

00:36:28That concludes Our public hearing section and we will now proceed to a gender-related public comment. This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the council on matters relating to the specific content of items on the meeting

00:36:47agenda. You may sign up to speak on the public comments roster prior to the meeting, and 3 individuals have done so. When called, approach the microphone, state your name, home address, and city of residence.

00:36:58Each speaker speaker may address the council for 3 minutes. Speakers shall refrain from entering into a dialogue with council members or city staff and from making comments regarding the good name and character of any individual.

00:37:11The first person to sign up is Molly Ann Cluck. Her agenda item is item 14A, expenditures. She will be followed by Jeff Engle.

00:37:22Again, item is 14A expenditures. Ms. Cluck. My name is Molly Cluck. My address is correct on the form and my postal code is Huntsville. Thank you.

00:37:32So I'm gonna start by recognizing Councilor Meredith and Councilor Watkins for doing what the public should expect from this council, putting transparency ahead of convenience. At the September 24th budget meeting, Meredith moved to extract extract ALPR expenditures from the police budget and to stop the automatic renewal of ALPR contracts, requiring these expenditures to come before the council

00:37:52for an actual vote. Both motions failed 3 to 2 with Watkins standing with Meredith. With these failed motions, the budget passed and ALPR spending remained buried inside the larger police budget.

00:38:04And now this finance report shows that on September 30th this city paid Flock another $24,000 and Motorola $91,000. That is exactly why Meredith's motion mattered. Residents should not have to dig through finance reports to discover that thousands of dollars have been spent on mass surveillance technology.

00:38:22Mass surveillance technology that creates searchable records of where vehicles are and have been. HPD has acknowledged that it has more than 200 ALPRs that approximately 70 calls for service every day involve an ALPR search.

00:38:35The department maintains audit logs showing who accessed the system, when they accessed it, and why. And when residents asked to see those logs, the city refused. WAF 48 reported that the city's legal department invoked Alabama Code Section 12-21-3.1, arguing that these audit logs are exempt because they constitute law enforcement investigative files and related materials.

00:38:58Now, wait a moment here. The city is collecting the movements of ordinary people who have not been accused of anything. And when the public asked who was searching that information and why, the city's answer is to invoke the law protecting investigative files.

00:39:14If these are ordinary people going about their lives, why is their location data being treated as part of a law enforcement investigation? The city cannot say ALPRs are a routine public safety tool and then invoke investigative file protections to conceal how those records are being accessed.

00:39:30Either this is an ordinary surveillance of the public, in which case the public deserves a meaningful transparency, or these records are part of law enforcement investigations, in which case we need to have an entirely different conversation about the scope of surveillance being conducted on people who have done nothing wrong.

00:39:47You might be watching us, but we're watching you right back. So I want to be very clear about what should happen next. Councilors Meredith and Watkins should stay in the public's good graces and continue doing what they have already demonstrated they're willing to do.

00:40:01They should continue bringing forward motions to stop renewal of ALPR contracts and to bring these contracts back before the council for an actual public vote. Meredith has already raised the issue of bringing the city's flock contract back before the council when it comes up for renewal.

00:40:15So as the flock contract approaches its January expiration, do not quietly renew it. Put the question of whether Huntsville continues paying for mass surveillance to recorded vote so we can see who you really are. Thank you, Ms.

00:40:30Clark. We will now hear from Jeffrey Engle. Mr. Engle will be followed by Austin Jones. Good evening all.

00:40:39My name is Jeffrey Engle. My address is correct on the sheet and at city of residence. I'm a resident of, uh, Huntsville. Bill Kling's my counselor. Alright, um, so this is an act of satire.

00:40:51Uh, do not violate my rights, uh. So we collectively have raised a bunch of money to start a company called Heard.

00:41:01Um, we, uh, collectively here in Huntsville have paid about $100,000 this month just as you have for ALPRs. Heard is a uh investigative company.

00:41:13Uh, we are very concerned about, uh, public servants' safety. We're concerned about your safety. All right, so we've hired private investigators. We've, uh, taken.

00:41:23Uh, satellite data, um, and our private investigators, they know your license plates, your children's license plate, your spouse's license plates, they follow you, they know everywhere you go, and they collect all that data and they put it in a nice little handy database.

00:41:37We take that database and we, uh, track it, uh, with satellite data and we see who you're with. We see uh who you're you are uh meeting with and their license plates and we track all that data and write it all down.

00:41:51Uh, we've also gone down to the little spy store on uh Memorial and we bought our uh investigators handy dandy little. Uh, tools that track your Bluetooth signals on your headphones, your, uh, cards for, uh, your debit cards and your IDs and all of those other things and so we have all that data.

00:42:11So even if you're not in your car we can still know where you are, right? All of this is false. We have not started Heard, but you. Continued to invest in ALPRs and mass surveillance through Flock through Motorola, through Axion, through all of these other different companies.

00:42:29Right? If a flock camera was on your street pointed at your house. Would you cry foul about being watched all the time? If you had a private investigator following you everywhere you went, would you cry foul about about surveillance?

00:42:46This is why we are, we are upset about this. Flock has gone about, uh, saying that they can, uh, do it for because of public right of ways, but when it is mass and always it becomes a problem.

00:42:58It is a violation of our privacy. Please do not renew the contract in January. Also, everybody go, uh, register to vote. October 19th is the last day to register to vote.

00:43:11Thank you, Mr. Engel. We'll now hear from Austin Jones. Subject is, uh, 14A expenditures. I'm Austin Jones from Orange Crossroads.

00:43:29My address is out on the sheet. And uh yeah I'm a 21 year Army veteran member of DS, the Democratic Socialists of America for the last 6 years. I'm running for office for Madison County School Board District 3, and freedom starts with education.

00:43:48I think what is the law? What is moral? What is in line with human rights in the constitution? I think about this every day, do y'all? There's a rich history of unwarranted surveillance of the people in the US and abroad.

00:44:06The great American socialist Martin Luther King, a fighter for freedom, comes to mind. A man hounded by J. Edgar Hoover in the federal government to his murder by a racist. There is a direct line from him to now on that line there's a so-called Patriot Act which has accelerated the destruction of rights.

00:44:30And here we are These cameras are a project by fascist pedophile billionaires to ensure control of the people and destroy what little freedoms we have left.

00:44:47These cameras are cogs in their machine of tyranny that they have built slowly over the years. You must ask yourself what is the end game of this? It isn't safety, it isn't freedom.

00:45:02It is control It is part of a larger digital cage that wraps around our country. Don't we hear rhetoric about the authoritarianism found in China, the great firewall, the social credit score, the surveillance state.

00:45:20So what is it? I will leave you with this question, which you should carry in your heart till it stops beating. Are we moving towards freedom or away from freedom?

00:45:36I'm Austin Jones running for Madison County School Board District 3. Solidarity forever. Free Palestine. All the power to all the people.

00:45:46Liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Mr. Jones. That concludes the gender-related comments. We will now hear from Mayor Battle. Mayor's comments. Thank you, Madam President and council.

00:45:59Um, for tonight, we have the, uh, I'd like to inform the council of appointment of, uh, Natalia, uh, Infant, uh, to the Human Relations Commission for a term to expire October 1st, 2029.

00:46:13Uh, over the last week, we've had benchmarking trips from 12345 different cities who have come to our city to benchmark against us to see, uh, what, what, what our community looks like and to, uh, maybe get some tips on what they can take back.

00:46:31Each one of those, we got tips from them on what we can keep here. Uh, and it was very interesting, uh, having conversations and looking at some of the best practices that we could pull together.

00:46:43Uh, we had joint news conferences with Mayor Yimmy, uh, who is from Colorado Springs, and, um, the Colorado Springs, um, um, uh, delegation was 95 strong. Uh, they came to learn about Huntsville, and, and I think they enjoyed their trip to Huntsville,

00:47:00um, and we talked a lot about, um, what we saw when we went to Colorado Springs where we go to see the, uh, go to the space symposium each year, and, um, they have a great city also.

00:47:13Uh, Global Ties had their annual luncheon celebrating diplomacy and legacies. And, uh, we also, uh, I was able to attend, uh, Doctor Leo's address, uh, the new president, uh, UAH, he had a pre, uh, he had a, uh, he did a conference on, uh, the best practices for universities and where the,

00:47:36where UAH is going to go in the future. Uh, it was an interesting, uh, conversation to listen to someone lay out, uh, his plan for the future as he leads, uh, UAH into this next, uh, next decade.

00:47:49Uh, for everybody, please stay weather aware, um, over the weekend. Uh, I don't think you could be around without knowing that there's a hurricane coming in.

00:48:00Uh, Mobile Bay area or the, uh, South Alabama area, um, we'll probably be here Saturday, um, you know, uh, sometime during the day Saturday, so, uh, be sure to stay weather aware, make sure that you're, um, you're ready for, um, some, some weather as it comes through.

00:48:19Um, and, uh, we have thoughts and prayers for those in the Mobile area as that comes through. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Battle. We'll now go on to council member comments.

00:48:29We'll begin by hearing from Council Member John Meredith. I said at the last council meeting that I would continue to try to ensure that this council followed the rules that were mandated by the state and by our bylaws which state that when they are not overruled by a specific rule in our bylaws this council will follow Robert's rules once again already

00:48:56this early in the meeting we have failed to do that. And I would continue to point out the violations during the previous meeting, but at the last meeting they were just so numerous that we'd be here all night if I had to point out all of the different violations that we committed as a.

00:49:17Counsel However, I do understand why things are so chaotic at these meetings, as I fully understand what instructions the president is trying to follow.

00:49:32Because when I was president of the council, I was first told by the administration and later even by members of the then council. That I should stop Miss Francis Acreage and later Miss Michelle Watkins from saying things they did not want said to the public.

00:49:51I said then I say now And now that it appears to apply that they are trying to stop me from saying what I have to say. That that is not a privilege of the president of the council.

00:50:09A member has the right to say what they have to say without interruption by the chair. And certainly not with the chair trying to rule that the remarks are out of order because the chair does not agree with what is being said.

00:50:31I'll stop there. I have the violations of Robert's rules that I will supply uh the clerk's office for inclusion, uh, in the public record for tonight's meeting. I had the privilege of attending the Singing River Trail Master Plan Charette yesterday.

00:50:53Um, we were able to discuss District 5 priorities in both Madison and Limestone counties and because of the presence of North Alabama Land Trust, um, who was also there.

00:51:07We were able to discuss linking the projects that North Alabama Land Trust has in our district, along with those that the Singing River Trail is going to bring to the district.

00:51:20And linking them so that instead of miles of of Non-connective greenways, we will have a greenway system that connects and actually can take you from one neighborhood or one area within District 5 to another.

00:51:39I also had the privilege of attending the Global Ties annual luncheon and I want to thank them. So much given their current financial situation that frankly the city is somewhat to blame in their lack of funding,

00:51:57but I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart for bestowing upon me their 2026 Global Partnership Award. I had the privilege of touring Northrop Grummond, uh, the new, or relatively new District 5 facility out in Limestone County.

00:52:18Um, it is utterly amazing. The technology that is coming out of the city of Huntsville that serves our war fighters and ensures or ensures as much as possible of them being able to come home and come home alive, um,

00:52:41it is utterly amazing the technology. That is not only created out of the minds of folks that call Huntsville home, but the ability to also manufacture that and get it into the hands of our war fighters is a tremendous honor for this community, and I know our fighting forces are very happy with the products that we

00:53:05send to them to make sure they do make it home alive and well. I also had the honor of being a special guest of former astronaut Rick Chapel at a recent Space and Rocket Center event honoring my friend, former astronaut, and former NASA administrator Charlie Bolden.

00:53:27There is not a finer example of leadership. And as the prayer stated earlier, I hope I get it right, leadership is not born of power.

00:53:42That Those words ring. So loudly in my head right now. I also wanna Announce my next town hall will be on Tuesday, October 20th at 6 p.m.

00:54:00at the Hope Church located at 1661 Balch Road, Madison, Alabama, and I invite any and every District 5 resident. To come out and hear about some of the great development that is going to take place in that part of District 5, City of Huntsville.

00:54:20Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Beredith. We will now hear from council member Michelle Watkins. Good evening, everyone. Um, on Wednesday, November I mean October 14th at 6:30, I will be having a State of the District for District One at the Boys and Girls Club on Pulaski Pike.

00:54:37It starts at 6:30. The link to RSVP is on my Facebook page and it should be on my. Um, Huntsville City Council page as well. Um, the second meeting of Youth Violence has been scheduled November October.

00:54:52I don't know why I wanna go to November so quick. October 19th at 6 p.m. at the Fellowship of Faith. If you are interested in getting involved and you want to make a difference with our youth, please come.

00:55:03We welcome you to attend. I wanna thank Chief Giles and his staff Scott Irwin, his staff, Brian Walker, his staff, and Chris McNee for always answering my calls and addressing concerns from the residents.

00:55:18I appreciate how quickly you respond to the residents when they send emails, and, um, I just wanna thank you for that. I want to thank Captain Widner for your years of dedication and service. He was the North Huntsville precinct captain, but he has retired.

00:55:34But I wanted to give him my best wishes on his next chapter in life. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Watkins.

00:55:43We'll now hear from Bill Quaint. Thank you, Madam President. Uh, I regret to have to announce the passing of former Huntsville City School Board member Martha Miller.

00:55:53Martha served on the Huntsville City School Board for numerous terms, and she was elected back in the days when the elections were at large, so she had to run and take care of a district that was the size of the city of Huntsville.

00:56:11Uh, she was very gracious. She was very diligent, and she always put the child in the classroom as her top priority, and, uh, this community owes her a debt of gratitude, and, uh, she will certainly be missed in our community and was a great outstanding, uh, elected official.

00:56:30Also, I have been continuing my neighborhood walking as I do on a on an ongoing basis, walking through the different neighborhoods of the district, looking for things to call in that for maintenance reasons, uh, potholes, dangling cable TV wires, streets that need to be evaluated for being resurfaced, uh, drainage inlets that are clogged up,

00:56:56needed, uh, street sweeping, and the like, and uh. Uh, during the, uh, last, uh, several days, I have been over in Trina Village, uh, Piedmont, and in the Mayfair neighborhoods.

00:57:13One, little bit of, uh, business I'd like to get taken care of the public transit department, uh. There was an idea that a citizen had brought to me about a need for bus passes to be given to individuals who were being led out of jail, and we looked at this and it looked like because these individuals were

00:57:37homeless that there was certainly merit to do something to provide them some assistance so that they would not just be put out on the streets without any place to go or anyone.

00:57:48Uh, who could pick them up. Uh, I talked with Keisha Bryant and, uh, she was going to get a block of tickets provided to the, um, sheriffs and Um, unfortunately, somehow those tickets never did get to the sheriff, so I'd like to see if we could get that set up where during this new fiscal

00:58:10year we could give a block of tickets, let the see how it works and if it's providing assistance to those individuals, and, uh, I'd like to see if we could get her to kind of follow up on, on that and she had told me, I believe it was last spring that she would be doing that.

00:58:28And Madam President, that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Kling. We'll now hear from Council Member David Little. Thank you, Madam President. Just a quick reminder that on the 13th, uh, next week we'll be having a community planning town hall for the Cove area at Goldsmith Schiffman School at 5:30 and then over the last few weeks I'd like to thank, uh, the police department,

00:58:48traffic, public works, engineering, and planning for being responsive to, uh, citizen needs. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Little.

00:58:57Um, I would like to thank, uh, Chris McNee who met with Lyle Boyles, who is the president of the Council of Neighborhood Associations. Uh, we met regarding, uh, Mr.

00:59:09Boyle's concern that ordinances regarding our, uh, grass growing in the gutters, leaves in the gutters were not being enforced, and we learned that in fact they are.

00:59:19What we. Talked about what we, what we think is happening is that residents are not aware that it is their responsibility to keep those gutters clear. This is not an aesthetic.

00:59:28It's about drainage that it blocks the drains, and we're entering into a period right now, it's leaf season, where we're going to see more and more of those leaves in the gutters. So, uh, as you're cutting your grass and Taking care of, of leaves, please take a look at those gutters in front of the house, uh, and make sure that they are clear so that the rain,

00:59:48particularly now with the storm that's coming, will be able to get into the flow into the, the drains. We are going to have a, a cleanup day, South Huntsville cleanup day on October 17th starting at 8 a.m.

01:00:00We're going to meet at McGucken Park. Uh, we will do some cleanup at McGucken Park, mulch trees along the Aldridge Creek Greenway, but the most important and most popular thing we do at our cleanup days is that we will have hazardous waste there removal there.

01:00:14So please bring electronics, chemicals, prescriptions. Anything that would, um, not be suitable to go into a regular, uh, waste collection, bring that and we're going to have those hazardous waste collections there and we would, we'll be there until 12 o'clock.

01:00:31So 8 to 12 on October 17th, hazardous waste collection and also help come to clean up the park, to clean up the greenway, and to focus on cleaning up neighborhoods as well. And again, remain weather aware.

01:00:44That concludes comments. We will now move on to our financial section. 14A is a resolution authorizing expenditures for payment. Mr.

01:00:54um, the, the chair of the finance, uh, Committee, Mr. Meredith, would you please make that motion? I move for authorization and approval of expenditures in the amount of $41,988,331.04. Is there a 2nd 2nd for Mr.

01:01:10Little? All in favor, please indicate all opposed. The motion carries. Is there a report from the finance committee? No, ma'am. 14B.

01:01:19Thank you. 14B is an ordinance approving appropriations, goods and services for the District One Council improvement funds. Is there a motion? Motion motion from Ms. Watkins.

01:01:29Second from Mr. Little. Uh, Ms. Watkins, would you like to share with us your plans there? Absolutely. Um, the Johnson High School was torn down. Unfortunately it couldn't be salvaged like Sandra Moon Center, which is the former Grissom, couldn't be refurbished like the former Butler High School.

01:01:50So in memory of the Jaguars, which all we have left is the new gym, which was never a part of the original school, I am having a rendering done of the Jaguar that was in the original gym.

01:02:04And, uh, part of this money Arts Huntsville will commission an artist to do it as well as there'll be some art projects in the district for the District one members.

01:02:16Thank you. Uh, all in favor, please indicate. All opposed. Motion carries. 14C is an ordinance approving appropriations, goods or services for the district to council improvement funds. Is there a motion motion from Mr.

01:02:28Little. Second from the chair. Mr. Little, yes, ma'am. Thank you. This is a $5000 appropriation to the school's foundation. Support our principals, teachers, and students in our area city schools. Thank you.

01:02:39All in favor, please indicate all opposed. The motion carries 14D is an ordinance approving appropriation of goods or services for the District for council improvement funds. Is there a motion?

01:02:49Motion from Mr. Kling. Second from the chair, Mr. Kling. Madam President, we are going in partnership with the Piedmont Neighborhood Association.

01:02:59They have been working with a landscape architect who ironically is the same architect who is doing the Big Spring Park expansion project that we have going on across the street, and we are appropriating.

01:03:18The money will purchase two benches that will go into their neighborhood park that is being constructed adjacent to the neighborhood swimming pool. Thank you.

01:03:30All in favor, please indicate opposed. The motion carries. We have no board appointments to be voted on, but we do have in 16 board of appointment nominations. No action will be taken on these tonight.

01:03:41This is for nomination only. They will be read into the record, and then we will vote on them at our next meeting. October 22nd, 16A is a nomination to reappoint Alvi Garrett to the Huntsville Tennis Center Board of Control.

01:03:52Place 5 is current seat for a three-year term to expire November 28, 2029. 16B is a nomination to reappoint Garrett Coyne to the Huntsville Tennis Center Board of Control.

01:04:02Place 3 is current seat for a three-year term to expire November 28, 2029. 16C is a nomination to appoint Sasha Gillis to the Animal Services Advisory Committee Place 3 to the seat previously held by Joe Rich for the remainder of a three-year term to expire September 9, 2028.

01:04:20Are there any nominations from the floor? We'll move on then to item 17 Huntsville utilities items. We do not have any items, but we do have a report from Huntsville Utilities. Mr.

01:04:32Gerdes, thank you, Madam President. Joe Gerdes, Huntsville Utilities. Just wanted to piggyback on some of the concern expressed by Mayor Battle. We are watching the development of Hurricane Isaias very carefully. Uh, we are preparing by getting crews ready to be on standby should we have any problems.

01:04:51Challenge for a utility in a weather event is it's a reactive event. All we can do is be ready. So wanted council and the viewing public to know that we are getting ready. Of main concern to us now will be sustained winds, and as you all know, we've come through a hot,

01:05:08dry period. And then when we get inundated inundating rains, trees are far more susceptible to falling and falling into lines. So hopefully that won't happen, but we will prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

01:05:25You all know how to reach me if you have any questions. Please don't hesitate in doing so. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Gerdes. We'll move on to legal item department item transactions. 18A is an ordinance authorizing the vacation of a portion of utility drainage easement lots 113 and 114 heritage stats at Creekside Premiere Phase 3 subdivision.

01:05:46Is there a motion motion from Mr. Little second from. The chair, all in favor please indicate opposed. The motion carries 18B is an ordinance authorizing the vacation of utility and drainage easement Lot 15 McMullen Cove 3 McMullen Lane.

01:05:59Is there a motion motion for Mr. Little second from Ms. Watkins. All in favor, please. OK. Any opposed motion carries. 8, that concludes, um, vacation of easements and brings us to, uh, unfinished business items for action.

01:06:16We have one. 19A is an ordinance declaring certain equipment surplus to be sold at public auction. Is there a motion to approve? Motion from Mr. Little, seconded by the chair.

01:06:27All in favor, please indicate opposed. The motion carries. That brings us to 20 new business items for consideration or action. These items will be approved in one motion unless any member of the council wishes to remove an item for discussion.

01:06:38The reading of each item will be waived unless a council member requests otherwise. Are there any items anyone wishes to hold for separate consideration? I have some items. Watkins C D E F.

01:06:52I J Q R S A A. It's CDE. F I J Q R S A A.

01:07:13Item C, item D, item E. Item F item I. Item J QRS and double A.

01:07:40Chair moves for consolidation. I'm sorry, Mr. Meredith, um, L and N L and N. Are there any other items anyone wishes to hold for separate consideration?

01:07:56When the chair moves for consolidation and approval. Of items 20A and B, 20G and H, 20K, 20M, 20O and P, 20T to Z.

01:08:10Is there a 2nd, 2nd by Mr. Little. All in favor, please indicate I opposed. The motion carries. We'll move on starting with 20C. 20C is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement with Kavanaugh McDonald Consulting LLC for actual services on the city's post-retirement medical plan.

01:08:26Is there a motion to approve? Motion from Mr. Little, second from Ms. Watkins. Um, Ms. Watkins, I believe you held this. Do you have a question? Can you please tell us what this is?

01:08:37Yes, ma'am. Um, Penny Smith, director of finance, so this is for our other post-employment benefits, um, plan. It is required of us, um, every year and well really every other year to do a long study with we work with actuarials to, to, to conduct that study against our plan and make sure that the numbers

01:09:01are correct that we are using within our financials. And, um, every other year you can do, you do a long plan, which we did last year, a long study, I guess I should say, and then this year is the short year.

01:09:13So, um, so the cost to us this year, which is just reviewing the numbers that they. Together last year is $2500. Thank you.

01:09:23Any other questions? All in favor, please indicate. All opposed. The motion carries. 20 is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter it into an independent audit agreement between the city of Huntsville and Malden and Jenkins CPAs and advisors.

01:09:34Is there a motion? Motion from Ms. Watkins. Second from Mr. Little. Ms. Watkins, do you have questions? Yes, please explain this. Certainly each year the city is required by law to conduct an independent audit of all financial services, um, as we put together our annual report and so, um, Malden and Jenkins is the is the independent audit firm that

01:09:57is selected and, um, and their contract is for 126,000 this year. That will, that will be for the FY 26 audit. Any questions?

01:10:09Yes, will they be coming and presenting to the council the findings of their audit? That we have never requested that that is not something that the council has requested if they would like that, that is something that we can put in that now, OK, um, that may cost extra because as that's an additional cost to that, but I will, I'll bring that back people that do the audit

01:10:29for Huntsville City Schools, and they always came and presented after their audit. So I would like for them to come and present. OK, yes, we can request that. Any other comments I, I too would like to hear from them, um.

01:10:44And would also like to have um a copy of the audit when it is completed. um, and frankly, I'd like to have an audit of last school, the last audit that they had as well.

01:10:59Thank you. It's all the audits are always published on our website. OK. Any other comments? All in favor please indicate I opposed motion carries. 20 is a resolution to appoint department heads to certain positions to serve with the mayor's term of office.

01:11:17Is there a motion to approve? Move to approve motion from Mr. Little second from the chair. Any discussion? Ms.

01:11:27Watkins, who's coming up to present this? I can present it. OK. They're my appointments. This is, um, this is part of our reorganization as we went through a reorganization that we looked at, uh, at last council session and approved the reorganization,

01:11:47um, we're moving, uh, two people into, um, uh, two of our, um, employees into a positions that there, there's more supervision, uh, of the departments there, uh, we will be moving, um, um.

01:12:05Jim McGuffy into a position, uh, where he will be working with 3 different, um, uh, departments and over 3 different departments, plus he'll be in charge of retail and residential, um, development.

01:12:19Uh, which I think, you know, is very important at this point because, uh, we have a lot of retail, uh, development that comes in and retail development is what brings in the dollars to us. Um, Cathy Martin, uh, will be moving to the director of city engineering, uh, and she will be senior, senior director of engineering.

01:12:38Uh, she will move into that spot. Uh, and it will probably be a short stay because she's, um, she is gonna be leaving us at the end of the year, but during this time we will go out, uh, throughout and do a nationwide search for, uh, someone to fill that spot.

01:12:53Um, Jim McGuffy, of course, we've talked about him. John Lane will move into the city engineer spot. Uh, John has been with us for, oh gosh, uh, 78 years now, John, I think, uh, and.

01:13:08Uh, he's, um, he's got a law degree and plus he's an engineer, uh, and he, uh, was, uh, uh, county engineer at Coleman, and so, um, very, uh, and has been working, uh, in general services for the past, uh, past 6 years.

01:13:25Somebody that we know and we know well, uh, Zach McGovern, Zachary McGovern, uh, will move to the external relations and industrial recruitment officer, um. External relations means that he will be working, uh, working with the legislature.

01:13:41He will work with the state legislature and the, um, and the federal legislature. Uh, he's always had some, already had some great successes working with those, uh, bringing dollars back into the city, uh, so that we can do roadways and we can do infrastructure.

01:13:56Uh, he will also be working on the industrial recruitment side. Uh, he worked the last. Uh, the last, uh, last 3 months with Shane Davis, uh, working on industrial recruitment, he is our lead person on the, um, Space Command, um, uh, Space Command Academy right now and is working with, uh, numerous, uh, universities throughout the area and,

01:14:19uh, and numerous other, uh, uh, groups who are working, uh, in conjunction with the city of Huntsville to put in a, a, um, a, a bid for the Space Academy. Thank you.

01:14:34Thank you, Mayor Battle. I still have the floor. OK. Um This is where heartburn comes in because um. I have to hold to my convictions, things that bother my conscience, and I have to go home at night and I have to be able to lay down and sleep

01:14:55thinking I made the best decision and I was fair. It's always important to me to be fair. I have been in positions where things have not been fair, where I have been overlooked.

01:15:06I've been the most qualified. I've been the most educated, and I've been overlooked, and I know what that tastes like. So I don't want anybody to take it personal. But Can we vote on these separately, Trey?

01:15:25If they are amended, you can vote. I need to amend it. Because I wanna vote separately. What is your amendment, Ms. Watkins? I'm gonna let the attorney advise me.

01:15:37Well, there's a couple of ways you can do if you want to vote on them separately you would have to move either move to amend uh by deleting them from the main motion or you could move to divide.

01:15:54Which is the easiest? Well, I, I don't know if ease is. Uh, you know, I think they're both. Division.

01:16:03Division. OK. So I um moved to put an amendment out that we divide these and vote on them. And I don't want anybody to take it personal, but.

01:16:21In the past I supported you, Mayor Battle, on some of your appointments that I felt people were not the best qualified, but because I was new on the council, everyone said I would come in fighting, so I came in trying to compromise, but that compromise that I did at that time still sits heavy on my chest, and I don't want any more of your appointments

01:16:43to sit heavy on my chest. And it's not personal. So just, just to, just to clarify, your amendment is to divide for separate consideration, um, each of for each position, and I believe the second was from Mr.

01:16:59Mayor. That would require a second, and that has been received, and then it has to be voted upon by the members and, and has to be approved by a majority of members. All in favor of, uh, separate consideration for each position.

01:17:15Um, please indicate by saying aye, aye. Any, any opposed? I'll, uh, I'll vote aye as a courtesy to my fellow council members. I really appreciate that because I, I don't understand why anybody would vote against us having an opportunity as a council member to vote individually.

01:17:33If one of my council members asked me right now, Michelle, can we vote separately? Absolutely. Can we finish the vote, please? So we have, uh, uh. All any opposed?

01:17:46No. The record shows Mr. Little has voted in opposition, so the amendment is approved. So now we will proceed. Can we continue discussion? Um, well, yes, but we're going to be, uh, taking each position separately for consideration.

01:18:07So Let me pull it up where it is, or do you have them here? May I use that? Thank you.

01:18:17Then Mr. Riley, you're going to have to guide us through this. We will then consider each. We will vote. Is this correct?

01:18:27We will vote to approve each position. We would vote to approve each individual, each position individually since the motion to divide has been made and approved, uh, as to each individual candidate.

01:18:42OK. We'll begin with Kathy Martin. Current job title is Director of City Engineering. Move to approve. Second motion from Mr.

01:18:52Little to approve. Second from Mr. Kling. Is there any discussion? Yes, Mr. Meredith. I definitely, uh, Respect Ms.

01:19:06Martin. I think she has done an absolutely phenomenal job, um, as chief engineer, um, or city engineer, um, I think that, um, she actually is qualified, uh, to make this jump.

01:19:24However, I think the jump's completely unnecessary. Frankly, I think this whole reorganization is unnecessary. Um, I think it smacks of cronyism. And in an era where we've been told time and time again, budget's tight, budget's tight.

01:19:42Well, this is not something that's done in the middle of a tight budget. You So many good organizations. have come to this city and asked for appropriations to help them carry out their work, their service work.

01:20:00Again, leadership's not born of power. It's born of service. And to thumb your nose at service organizations to provide Huge salary increases to a handful of people.

01:20:20is not what's done at a time of a very tight budget. Again Has nothing to do with Miss Martin. She is absolutely qualified for this new position.

01:20:37However, I think the new position. Should not have been created. And I have, like Ms. Watkins, heartburn. Over the fact that it was created at a time when there's a tight budget.

01:20:54No, um, I'm sorry. Um, again, Ms. Martin is qualified. That's not an issue. That's not.

01:21:05An argument for this. This position is irrelevant, should not be created at all. That's, that's all.

01:21:16Any further comments, Mr. Meredith? No, ma'am. Are there any other comments regarding, uh, Ms. Martin, Cathy Martin, uh, being appointed as senior director of engineering? As far as the position and the necessity of it, Mayor Battle, we have had the same, uh, the same, same government, same, same form of government that,

01:21:35uh, we had in the 1980s is the same form that we had until last meeting when we voted to reorganize. We voted to reorganize and the council voted to reorganize after the council vote to reorganize.

01:21:48It's my job to put the best people I can in the positions that are that are there and, um, I could not think of anybody any better than Ms. Martin.

01:21:57Uh, to kind of fill the space, uh, that Shane Davis was in, uh, for years and years, and she's working on roads every day. She's working on Bob Wade Lane. She's working on, uh, the road systems coming in, the resolute Way, all those road systems that are coming in.

01:22:14It's gonna take someone who is a senior engineer who will work with our engineering department and work with our planning department, work with other departments to make sure that we can continue to grow, uh.

01:22:25You know, as, as we grow, we have to also grow our infrastructure, and these are the people that make it happen. I think they're, uh, they're the people that we need to have. And again, it, it's not.

01:22:38An issue of her qualification. You are taking the time of a tight budget and you're doubling shame. I mean, It's not like Shane worked for $50,000 a year.

01:22:51You worked for over $200,000 a year and you just, poof, made another $200,000 a year job materialize out of nowhere. And as you said, it's short lived, so let's not reap all of these benefits of Ms.

01:23:11Martin's leadership when she's not gonna be around. It's the next person. That's problematic. It's not Ms. Martin.

01:23:20I said that to begin with. She is more than qualified. Absolutely. It's the person that's gonna replace her on January 1, 2027.

01:23:30Who's gonna be unqualified. And the person who replaced her on January 1st, who we don't know who that is, that will be a person that council will have to approve coming into space, coming into working in that space.

01:23:43Um, council approved the, uh, reorganization at last meeting. And after the after the reorganization we were gonna put people in place who can do the job and do a great job of it.

01:23:55I have no qualms at putting Cathy Martin in that spot. Neither do I, but that's not the point. The point is good governance. This is not good governance.

01:24:06You said we've had the same government since whenever. Well, it's worked since forever. There's no need to change it now. There just isn't, and Again, we started with Ms.

01:24:19Martin, who is probably arguably the best qualified person. So it's not a matter of her not being qualified. It's a matter of where's all this money coming from when you said we had a tight budget and we couldn't give.

01:24:34Deserving organizations that are providing services to the least among us. But yet you miraculously find money for this. And yes, this council approved your reorganization, but it was not unanimous.

01:24:52At all. So yeah, you got 3 votes, but you didn't get 5. Are there any other comments?

01:25:02All in favor of, uh, the appointment of Cathy Martin to the senior director of engineering. Please indicate by saying aye, aye, aye. Any opposed?

01:25:14Is there anyone opposed? And, uh, the motion carries. Thank you all for your vote on that. We will move to, uh, the appointment of, uh, Jim McGuffy to the position of director of Economic and Urban Development.

01:25:29Is there a motion to approve motion from Mr. Kling. Second from Mr. Little. Is there any discussion? Yes, Ms. Watkins, um. I too did not vote for the reorg.

01:25:42And the reason why I did not vote for the reorg because I did not agree with a lot of elements of the reorg. I do understand some of them. Cathy's one of the exception. Jim, you're one of the exceptions as well, Scott, um.

01:25:56And it's, and I wanna make this clear, it's not personal, but. I know UCP got written out of the budget $0 but we gave money to Ability Plus for them to buy a heating unit, but we didn't care about kids who were in wheelchairs.

01:26:16And we gave more money to Wellstone, who's monopolizing on all of the mental health care like they're the only mental health care facility in Huntsville that can service anyone, and yet they played games because last time when I was able to get 37,000 moved from them to UCP,

01:26:39which I know this was really a game. And I really come in here and try to be respectful, but the disrespect be so loud sometimes in my face because the 37,000 that was taken last year from Wellstone and given to UCP, and one of the things I said was Wellstone did not have a facility in District

01:27:00One. So miraculously Wellstone now has a facility in District One. In which the CEO had the audacity to email me and try to be very curt. He tried to be very nasty and I still wanted funds to go to UCP not so much because of him because at the end of the day if you really care about individuals

01:27:23it's not personal. You would come in and do your mental health job that you should do, but instead of us giving UCP some money, we turned around and increased the amount of money for Wellstone in which they didn't deserve it.

01:27:40All the complaints that I hear from their employees, their employees call me and tell me that they left because of the way they're treated at Wellstone. They left because Wellstone's not doing the job that they're supposed to do.

01:27:52These are the phone calls I get. And when I try to get my council members to vote to give UCP $37,000 you wrote them out of the budget for $0.

01:28:04But like Mr. Meredith said, you come in here and you got money now. And you want me to vote for it. I voted for Cathy Martin because I understand the importance of what needs to be done.

01:28:16And I don't want to be that a hindrance, but it's some things I'm not gonna vote for anymore, and I'm not gonna keep trying to go along to get along because I'll be trying to get along and at the same time on the other side you just be trying to show me that you don't care.

01:28:33So when you show me you don't care and the disrespect is loud when you want to hire individuals and get them an increased salary who have less experience than people in the department and then you try to play in my face and tell me that they got experience when I know they don't.

01:28:51That right there infuriates me. So, um. This council needs to start looking at itself, and I'm talking about everybody. Because some of you don't have a heartbeat, you could care less.

01:29:05You're told the way to vote and you vote that way every time, and it's obvious. I came to each one of my council members individually and asked you to support UCP getting $37,000.

01:29:18Nope, nope, not gonna change the budget. It's already done. What? But you got money for increases in salary. We, we wanted a 4% raise for the employees that work for the city council.

01:29:32Nope, we don't have it. It's like when budget time come, we don't have money for the things that matter, but the things that don't matter, we have money for debt. And it's disheartening and people can say whatever they want about me.

01:29:49I don't care. I'm not here to be friends with anyone. I'm here to serve a district. I'm here to serve the city and sometimes we're not serving the people that we're voted to serve.

01:29:59We're serving individuals and companies instead of serving people where it really matters. For you to take money away from kids that are in wheelchairs that don't have.

01:30:13Support that the families really need and you felt $37,000 you were that petty that you kept it away from them and then I wanna know who is on this board that makes these decisions because from what I hear it's it's a committee put together but at the end of the day one person makes the decisions.

01:30:32And I don't understand why no council member is appointed to that committee. So they can see how it's, what's the rubric, how you determine who gets this money, all of a sudden this, uh, Wellstone gets almost a million dollars.

01:30:49I don't understand I don't understand a lot of things that I said last week last council meeting, so it's not a surprise. I said it then you just didn't expect me to go in depth, but when I got in here and I see that you just really don't care, you put these agendas together and you don't care.

01:31:06And I, I, another thing that bothers me, I sat here before the meeting started and I heard you, Ms. Robinson, telling the mayor about a meeting with Limestone and how great it went.

01:31:15I didn't even know y'all met with Limestone. I didn't even know. Y'all had a meeting just the other day, press conference with Colorado about Space Command.

01:31:26Found out on news like everybody else. How am I a council member and I find things out on the news? Like the other citizens do. That's ridiculous.

01:31:38I'm gonna get off my soapbox. Are there any other comments regarding the appointment of Mr. McGuffy as director of economic and urban development? Yes.

01:31:48Directly related to Ms. Watkins. I asked. To be The council liaison to the committee that put together the outside appropriations.

01:32:06Said it several times from the dais. Never allowed To participate So even when a council member asks to be a part of it.

01:32:21We were excluded from it. And that is something that this council used to do. It was not an administration function. It was a council function.

01:32:32One of the many functions we no longer control, that we have given over to the administration. The first and foremost being our own darn agenda. We don't control our agenda.

01:32:45Let's not even pretend to fool ourselves. We don't control this agenda. Until my last term as president, we didn't even get to see the agendas until Tuesday before Thursday meeting.

01:32:58How do we control an agenda if we don't even get to see the agenda? So, again, Like Miss Watkins says. This council is a conduit for the people.

01:33:16And we've been cut out of everything. And it's not right and it's not leadership. I agree with Ms.

01:33:27Watkins that Mr. McGuffy. Is qualified I wish it hadn't come to it. But he is qualified.

01:33:39Um But again, Splitting Shane's job at that price point. Again, flies in the face of we don't have any money.

01:33:53We also cut Thrive out. Thrive serves. The least among us, folks that don't have health insurance, folks that need healthcare.

01:34:06We didn't give them anything. Global ties. The mayor was just at an annual meeting, gave a proclamation. And then zeroed out their budget.

01:34:19Because we didn't have money. All of a sudden We've got If I do my math and I'm not good with math in my head, over half a million dollars in salaries right here.

01:34:32We couldn't give folks decent cost of living. But a handful of folks are getting anywhere from what, $20,000 to $50,000 more. How do you justify that?

01:34:46To the guy that works in public works. That's got a 2% increase. It's unfair. And like Ms.

01:34:55Watkins says, it shows this council doesn't have a heart. I, I I can't look these people in the face. A city of Huntsville employees and say I did, I mean I can because I offered amendments and things to try to help them

01:35:15out. But how do you look folks in the face and say, we did all we could do, because we have not done all that we could do. And it's just a shame.

01:35:27It's just a shame. And we should be embarrassed by what we are doing. That's all. Mr. Hamilton, um, some questions have been asked regarding the net increase or the impact on the budget of, uh, while we are considering these by division separately, what is the net impact of what we're looking at here?

01:35:54Give me just a moment to So there are I, I'm gonna kinda talk in the aggregate. I understand that you're considering and voting on each one individually, and I can go through individual numbers by position, but start which is kind of the aggregate of the.

01:36:11Full scope of what is before you so there's 5 positions that are affected by this action, OK? And, uh, so comparing how much those positions cost today versus what they would cost as a result of it I'm, I'm for the purpose of these numbers I'm assuming that they're approved as as proposed,

01:36:32right, so that's the comparison is the. The, the, the step that the mayor has proposed for each of these positions, uh, is the numbers that I'm sharing here. So, um, the, the quick answer to your question is the net increase of the, the cost of those positions.

01:36:50Let me also kind of explain so we're clear on what, what I mean by the cost of those positions. Uh, for an appointed official, there's, there's two components to their pay.

01:36:59There's the, the, the gross base pay. And then every appointed position gets uh what we what we refer to as appointed pay. It's an additional stipend.

01:37:08Uh, that additional stipend is is common across all appointed positions regardless of grade that's $3900 per year. And then that's added to what their what their base pay is. Um, then there's also obviously the FICA contribution that the, the city has to make, uh, for the employee as well as the contribution to RSA.

01:37:26So the numbers I'm sharing here are basically those four cost components of each individual position. When you compare what is the current annual cost of those five positions today versus what the mayor has proposed in the aggregate, it's an increase of $100,000 for one year, all of them combined, because in some cases the,

01:37:48the, the, uh, the replacement that mayor has appointed or is is nominated for this, uh, is actually going in less than what the incumbent was prior to them.

01:37:59So for example, you know, the, the step that the mayor has, has appointed for Jim McGuffy is less than what Shane Davis was. So in terms of the position, the way it's organized, Jim McGuffy is Shane Davis' replacement and comes in at a lower salary.

01:38:13So that's true of a couple others. So in the aggregate, the total cost. Uh, for the five positions together, and this is an annual number, is an increase of $100,000 to the budget. We did when, when Ms.

01:38:24Smith and her staff put together the mayor's budget, he had indicated to her, uh, what his intent was on the appointment so that she could, uh, do budget estimates. And so that estimated cost was included in the budget that y'all approved at the last meeting.

01:38:37Thank you and I have, you know, I have position by position numbers here if you wanna drill into the individual ones. So I just gave you the aggregate number. Thank you. I appreciate that. Uh, thank you for giving us some, some facts to work with.

01:38:49Uh, so we'll move on then. Um, all in favor of approving, uh, Jim McGuffy to the, uh, as director of economic and urban development. Please indicate by saying aye, aye, aye, and he opposed.

01:39:03The motion carries. Mr. Guffy. Mr. McGuffy is appointed. Next we will consider John Lang. John Lang's appointment to the city engineer position, uh, is there a motion to move to approve to appoint Mr.

01:39:19Lang as city engineer? Second motion from Mr. Little. Second from, uh, Mr. Kling. Is there any discussion? Yes, ma'am. Yes sir.

01:39:29Um, what department is, uh, Mr. Lang currently in? General Services, and has he been there for 7 years? 6 years?

01:39:40Is that right, John? So. So his last engineering responsibilities were for the city of Coleman. Mhm Coleman County Coleman County.

01:39:54OK. Um. This is one I have to say isn't qualified. Um Your GSA, you haven't spent 7 years in engineering, knowing what this city's specific engineering issues are.

01:40:12How can you become the chief engineer? Of the department you're not in and haven't been in for 7 years or 6 years. Again, smacks of cronyism.

01:40:26And I You, you, you can't, you can't justify that. I'm sorry, you just can't.

01:40:37Like Miss Watkins said, I too have been guilty of going along with some of your appointments and have regretted it. And I can't do it anymore.

01:40:51I just can't And this is one where. I, I, I don't see it. Thank you, Mr.

01:41:02Murdoch. Any other comments? All in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye opposed? Abstain. Uh We have 3 votes in favor. Uh, Ms.

01:41:13Watkins has abstained. Mr. Meredith has voted in the negative, and the motion carries. Mr. Lang is appointed. The next motion is Zachary McGovern appointed to as external relations and industrial recruitment officers their motion to approve.

01:41:30Motion to approve motion for Mr. Little. Second from the chair. Is there any discussion? Yes, Mr. Meredith, again. I tried to amend this um during the budget process. Cronyism Hopefully unqualified for what you want him to do.

01:41:54Um What's his experience? His experience is in media. How does that position him to do the job that you want to give him? $150,000 to do.

01:42:11No Frankly You can make the argument he shouldn't be where he is now. And you want to Elevate him and give him An over $50,000 a year raise.

01:42:30Make it make sense. And I have to point out it's a it's a different job. It's not the same job that he's doing today. He's less qualified for that than he is for the job he currently has. I think that you're gonna have to look at it.

01:42:46It's a different job. It's a job that, uh, carries bigger responsibility. If you were gonna carry that big responsibility, if you're gonna do the, the city's lobbying, if you were gonna actually do the city's urban development, uh, you would have, you know, you, you have to find somebody who you can trust and you know that will be good in that position.

01:43:05He will be very good in that position. He's totally unqualified for that position. This city has lobbyists. We've got, uh, forget his name. God help and help me.

01:43:17Well, yeah, Steve Raby, but I'm thinking of the gentleman that started the children's, uh, uh, yeah, Bud Kramer. You got Bud Kramer.

01:43:29And you're telling me that Zack McGovern. is of that ilk? No, no, he's not. I spent 22 years in DC lobbied Kramer.

01:43:44No Kramer. You can't, there's no way in God's green earth Zack McGovern is of the quality of Bud Kramer. You just can't do that.

01:43:55No, sir. No way. Call the question. Thank you. Are there any other comments? I have Ms.

01:44:06Watkins, I do not want the individual to think this is personal. It's not personal. It's about experience. It's about education. You just can't go and do industrial relations just off the rip.

01:44:19You gotta have training. You gotta have education. You gotta be formally educated and trained for this position. And what does this say to our city employees who have already some have reached out to me.

01:44:31And said, how come I didn't get to apply for the job? I'm just qualified as him. When they call you and tell you things like that, and, and the reason they don't call some of you because they already know your mind is closed.

01:44:45They called and that's what they're concerned and it's my concern and it's not personal. It's definitely not personal, but I cannot see. Uh, pointing to this position when you don't have the qualifications.

01:45:01And can I say, say this, you know, when you look at positions, you have to look at the people and the people and their capabilities and the qualities that they have. Shane Davis, when he came to us 20 years ago, Shane was probably the best industrial recruiter we have ever had.

01:45:17He came from water pollution control from the potty plant, from the sewer plant, and he came in and he learned and he did a fantastic job.

01:45:27Dallas Fanning, when he came in, Dallas was a, was a lead for us for years and years and years. Dallas came with a planning background and he was, and.

01:45:36He did a marvelous job. We have to take the people that we know will do a good job, move them forward and move them up as we move them forward, move them up for years we've had an older crew in our, um, in our department heads.

01:45:52This is one of the first times that we're putting in, um, some new faces who can actually who, who will, uh, work just as hard as the others. And I think we've got a great crew.

01:46:03We have a, uh, fantastic bench sitting there of people who do a great job day in and day out as department heads. And, you know, I'm, I'm proud to serve with every one of them, and I, I would not back up on any of them.

01:46:16With all due respect, Mr. Mayor, 20 years ago Huntsville didn't have the tremendous growth that it has now. We have tremendous growth. We have to have an experienced person in that position.

01:46:29It's not no learn as you go at this point. It's you got to be on the ground and you got to know what you're doing. And the question is who closed Home Depot today so that you could have a who did it who did it.

01:46:44He did not do that. Shane did that before he left. Shane, it closed today, but Shane already had it worked out last week before he left.

01:46:54Come on, Mr. Mayor, don't do that. I would never insult your intelligence like that. Don't insult mine. And they have a number of other retailers that Shane had lined up. They're lining up that they're bringing in, um, Mr.

01:47:07Mayor, stop. Shane just left last week. Don't, don't, don't do that to Shane. Miss Miss Watkins, can you be quiet? Watkins, do you have any, any other comments?

01:47:18I do have comments. When you telling me that somebody did something that I know they did not do last week, Shane was so excited at the last council meeting when he came up and said we're getting ready to sign the agreement with Home Depot.

01:47:30I know you're gonna be excited about that. But now you're gonna say all this work that Shane did. Zach did it today. I'm gonna say it was a team. It was a it was a wand bewitched.

01:47:42Any, any other comments? All in favor, please indicate by of, of, of appointing Zachary McGovern to the position of external relations and industrial recruitment officer. Please say aye, aye.

01:47:53Any opposed. Let the record show Ms. Watkins and Mr. Meredith have voted in the negative, and Mr. McGovern is appointed. Congratulations to Ms. Martin, Mr.

01:48:04McGuffy, Mr. Lang, another one to a point. Who's the other one? Scott Irwin. Oh, thank you.

01:48:14That wasn't on this list. To the director of community director of community development, is that correct?

01:48:26Move for approval. The motion on the floor is to approve Scott Irwin as director of community development. Um, Mr.

01:48:35Kling made the motion. Mr. Little has seconded. Are there any comments regarding? Uh The appointment of Scott Irwin to director of community development. I would like Mr.

01:48:47Hamilton to come up and explain what's going on here because it's actually a different scenario than the others. Uh, so this particular one is, is different, uh, as we discussed, uh, last week when, uh, we went through the ordinance component of this, uh, it is a position that has previously existed.

01:49:09Uh, what y'all did in your action last week was to one convert the title of that position that previously was manager of community development. Manager is not the terminology we use for a department head in this case, uh, there was a time when community development was actually a division of another department.

01:49:24Subsequently, uh, it was split out in his function as a department, but we had not taken the action necessary to update the title and, and get it written into the code of ordinances. So the action that y'all took last week was really to get the documentation, the ordinance caught up to the way we're actually functioning.

01:49:41And so it is, uh, for quite some time, I think probably your entire tenure on city council, it has functioned as a department, but we just never got the paperwork caught up. So y'all, uh, in your action last week corrected that. So it is now an established department in the code of ordinances and it then corrects his title to director.

01:49:57That's the title we use for a department head. Uh, manager is the is the title we use for somebody at a division level. Uh, so because that is now kind of established as a new title, the mayor has to go through the action of actually appointing him to it.

01:50:11There's no change to any of his duties. There's no change to in the grade and Steph is exactly the same as it was previously. Uh, this just gets basically the paperwork caught up to the reality on the ground.

01:50:22Thank you for that explanation because, um, in, in reality is not really part of this. Reorganization we're just codifying his position and that was also that was also true of the, the city engineer department and the city engineer position that was not a reorg that was getting the that existing department into the code of ordinances, but there was obviously a vacancy so the appointment

01:50:43was a little bit different. You're moving a new person into a vacancy in this case he already fills the position, uh, so both of those were ones that we talked about weren't really reorgs. They were just really getting the code of ordinances, uh, corrected to, uh, to the current structure.

01:50:55Thank you and um I will say he's obviously more than qualified uh to be in that position. So um Mr. Irwin.

01:51:06Um Glad we were finally able to codify your position. Thank you. Or, or about to. Any other comments?

01:51:16All in favor, please indicate by aye. Any opposed the motion, uh, the motion carries. And again, congratulations to all of those who have been appointed. You have served the city well in your previous positions.

01:51:29We know you will serve the city well in the future, and we thank you for your service. Mm. We will now move on to item 2020 is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract between the city of Huntsville and Grayson Carter and Sun Inc.

01:51:47for intersection improvements along Huntsville North bypass and Memorial Parkway base bid and option number 1. Is there a motion to approve? Motion from Mr.

01:51:56Little, second from Mr. Kling. Uh, any questions for Ms. Martin? Yes, Ms. Martin, can you explain what this is, please? Yes, ma'am.

01:52:06So in the past couple of weeks we have taken agreements with LDOT to the city council, and so what this resolution is doing is awarding the actual construction contract to our low bidder, which was Grayson Carter for the construction of the roadway and intersection improvements along the bypass and North Parkway.

01:52:21So it does consist of two signalized intersections, 6 different access points, and drainage improvements, turn lanes, utility extensions, and street lighting throughout the North Village development.

01:52:32And that is a total contract amount of $9,896,339. Thank you. Any other questions? All in favor, please indicate.

01:52:42Uh, any opposed. The motion carries 20. I is a resolution authorizing there to execute change order number 4 to the agreement between the City of Huntsville and Wiregrass Construction Company Inc. for Huntsville Northern bypass Project number 65-10-RD08 and L dot project number CRSA S T P H V P E 10917.

01:53:02Is there a motion? Motion from Mr. Logan, second from Mr. um, Kling. Ms. Martin Yes, ma'am. This is a modification number 4 to the existing construction contract with Wiregrass for the Northern Bypass.

01:53:15It's associated specifically with installing a temporary traffic signal at the intersection of Mount Lebanon Road to divert to the new lanes while we reconstruct the existing travel lanes. Any other questions?

01:53:27What kind of notification would the residents receive so they'll know that this is being changed because you know a lot of times, you know, when you do these traffic changes, people really don't pay attention.

01:53:38Are we gonna have some big electronic signs out or something to help them out? Yes ma'am, we'll do a public press release. We will also do the electronic message boards, but then we will also flash those signals for 3 days before we switch them over.

01:53:51Thank you. What, what question for Mr. Clinton, uh, is there a ballpark estimate as far as when the actual project will be completed?

01:54:01Yes sir, we're anticipating a middle of next year for the entire project. Thank you. All in favor please indicate. Any opposed.

01:54:09The motion carries. 20 J is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into agreement between the city of Huntsville and Barge Design Solutions Inc. for engineering design services for North Huntsville Greenway segment C, project number 71-26-SP 65.

01:54:25Is there a motion motion from Mr. Little. Second from the chair. Did we miss I? We, I thought we just did I. Yeah, we did.

01:54:35I. Uh, Is, uh, uh, questions for Ms. Martin.

01:54:46If you could explain what this is, please. Yes, ma'am. This is a design contract with Barge Design Solutions for the next section of the North Huntsville Greenway, which is we're calling segment C. It's about 4500 ft of new greenway.

01:54:59It goes from Holmes Avenue to Pratt Avenue, which actually connects the park project to the transit center. So this design does consist of two new pedestrian bridges, one over Dallas Branch and the other over Penhook Creek, as well as a trailhead.

01:55:12And the permitting requirements associated with this segment, uh, would involve ALOT, Norfolk Railroad, as well as the Corps of Engineers. And so this, uh, is a design contract amount of $910,375. Thank you.

01:55:26Any other comments, Mr. Meredith? Is this gonna, um, link up with the Opal Meeks, or is there a section in between these two? There is a section in between. So this is segment C.

01:55:37So we're hoping to link it up directly with the Park Project Greenways, uh, to the transit center first. OK. Do we have an idea of when Opal Meeks will get linked into that entire system so you can navigate the whole thing.

01:55:50Yes sir, there's 2 more segments that need to be completed, so we will be working closely with our planning department in order to get that next section underway. Thank you.

01:56:00All in favor, please indicate I opposed. The motion carries 20L. Is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into agreement with the City of Huntsville and Milton A. George the Second for professional medical director services. Is there a motion?

01:56:13I move to motion for Mr. Little second from the chair. Any questions for Mr. Hamilton? Yes, um, Mr. Meredith. I'll let you speak since and then I'll ask my question.

01:56:26Sure, uh, so customers, what's before you is, uh, an agreement with, uh, with Doctor George for to be the professional medical director, uh, service or service provider to our fire department. So, uh, they have to have, uh, a medical doctor who serves in that, uh, in that role.

01:56:44The, the biggest, most important thing he does is provide the prescriptions for the medications they carry on the fire truck. So when they go respond to a medical emergency. Which is the most common call that our fire department responds to.

01:56:55We're fortunate that we actually don't have to respond to as many fires as we did back in the day. There still are some obviously, but they respond and are generally the first responders to a medical emergency within our community.

01:57:06And so they do need to carry medications with them and they have to have a prescription for those things. So the doctor is who has the authority to provide that. Uh, they can also provide, uh, assistance in some of the EMT certifications of things because obviously all of our firefighters are highly trained in those EMT skills and certifications and things.

01:57:24Um, so the, the gentleman who's been doing it for quite some time now is retiring this month and so we need to go ahead and get one in place so that we don't have a lapse in that coverage. We would, we would fall out of compliance with, uh, with a number of certification requirements and laws and things if we did that.

01:57:37So it's important that we do this. I do wanna note you and I had discussed, uh, what maybe some alternatives were. So we do have a, a clinic that that serves our employees and there's doctors assigned there and so I've discussed with the chief, uh, to consider in the future can we look to add that to the contract so the.

01:57:54Uh, and, and we don't know the answer to that yet. We, we need to go ahead and get this one in place, but there could be some point in the future where it makes more sense to transition to one of the doctors in the clinic. The important thing for us to remember is that those doctors are actually contractors for a private company who we contract with, and so we'll really need to look to see if does it make sense to add that

01:58:12to that company's contract or not. Uh, the other piece is, uh, while it's not an absolute requirement, it is much more preferable that we have a doctor who is very experienced in emergency medicine and, and in this case Doctor George is and is an emergency room doctor and so there's obviously certain, you know, doc doctors have different specialties and things.

01:58:32The skill sets that comes with a doctor that works in emergency medicine is particularly important for the kind of work that the fire department does. So we need to kind of take the totality. Of all that into consideration as we consider the future, but your question is absolutely on the, on the chief's plate, and we will, uh, we'll look at that.

01:58:47Does that make sense in the future? Thank you very much, Mr. Hamilton. Any other questions? All in favor, please indicate, uh, motion, uh, any, any opposed? Motion carries. 20 N is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a lease agreement renewal between the City of Huntsville and Rocket City Credit Union.

01:59:02Is there a motion, motion from Mr. Little, second from the chair. Hey John Lang, General Services administrator, um. You have questions for Mr. Lane.

01:59:12Yes, um. I know the answer, but for the public, go ahead and tell us what this is all about. This is a 5 year lease for the Rocket City Federal Credit Union. They have a warehouse out back for fire and rescue.

01:59:22It's where they keep their, uh, supply house. My question is, Almost half a million dollars uh for over 5 years, um, seems like a lot of money.

01:59:35Is there not storage space at a more reasonable cost, uh, that the city could utilize rather than spending this kind of money? The terms that were negotiated in this lease were negotiated 10 years ago, and this is a continuity of the, the ones that were put in place back then.

01:59:50I believe the rate is, um. Around $7 a square feet for the warehouse space, which I think is pretty, pretty low, um. So I, I don't think it's out of line and we were happy to get a five-year term to maintain the existing terms.

02:00:05Looks like Mr. Hamilton has something to add. Could add a couple of things. One is we do believe that that is a competitive rate, but also, uh, it's geography matters in this case. It is immediately adjacent to Station One where the fire headquarters is located, a number of the other functions and things, and so it's advantageous to have it there in the center of the city and particularly located next to Station One.

02:00:26Well, but we also know long term we'd really prefer not to be in lease spaces if we, if we don't have to. There, there are some examples where a lease space makes more sense, uh, and we, we work through those and make those decisions, uh, but ultimately this is something I, I kind of step in because of, of managing the capital plan.

02:00:40One of the things that I wanna work towards in the capital plan is finding a permanent solution where we construct and own our own warehouse. This one is serving us well. Uh, it's not perfect, but it serves.

02:00:51Well, uh, but ultimately I need to find a good location hopefully in the center part of the city, uh, to locate that and ultimately build one. So, uh, we do think that's ultimate long term the better outcome and so we'll work towards that as we have with other, other facilities, you know, we, we are still have city functions in some leased facilities and working towards, uh,

02:01:09getting out of those over time and this is one of those that's on that to do list as we have the capacity and the capital plan to address it. So I'll work with the chief on that. Uh, and really kind of identify the right place. I appreciate that and certainly encourage you to make that happen as soon as possible.

02:01:23Thank you, sir. Any other questions? All in favor, please indicate all opposed. The motion carries. 20Q is a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute modification number 2 to the contract between the city of Huntsville and HDR Engineering Inc.

02:01:36for the university Medical Transit. Oriented developmental planning study, is there a motion motion for Mr. Little second from the chair. Do we have questions for Mr.

02:01:47Dennis or for Mr. Mr. Matson? Good, Ms. Matson, if you don't mind, would you explain what this is, please, for the listening audience? Absolutely, thank you for holding it. So, um, this is, uh, for the TOD study that I think.

02:01:59Uh, Council member Watkins was aware of, we had a substantial public outreach session this past summer. Um, all this is an extension of the time window to complete the product. There's no change in scope or fee, um, but we had such robust feedback in the last few sessions that the consultants actually asked for extra time to incorporate all comments, um, into the final product.

02:02:22Thank you. Any other questions? All in favor, please indicate opposed. Motion carries 20 R. Is the resolution authorizing the mayor to execute modification number 1 to the agreement between the city of Huntsville, Alabama and the Huntsville Housing Authority for the provision of alternate police services.

02:02:36Is the motion from Mr. Little, second from the chair. Is there a question for the chief? Good evening, Chief. If you don't mind, would you just explain what this is for the listening audience?

02:02:46Yes, ma'am. What this is is a contract to be extended for an additional year. Um, Huntville Housing Authority will, um, pay overtime for officers and supervisors to work in the different public housing areas in addition to our regular patrols.

02:03:02OK, thank you, Chief. Other questions? All in favor please indicate opposed. Motion carries 20s. Is a resolution authorizing there to enter an agreement renewal by and between the city of Huntsville, Alabama and the Huntsville City Board of Education?

02:03:15Is there a motion? Motion from Mr. Little, second from the chair. Um, are there any questions for Captain McKelly? Good evening.

02:03:25Good evening. Would you just briefly explain what this is for the listening audience? Yeah, absolutely. So this is an agreement with the, uh, city of Huntsville Board of Education in the city of Huntsville, uh, to, uh, to enter into an agreement or renew an agreement, um, with one of our most important and most impactful programs that Huntsville Police Department has the pleasure of,

02:03:44of being a part of and participating in, and that's most specifically our school resource officer program. Thank you. Any questions or comments? What's the cost?

02:03:55So the costing crew is it's a 10 year agreement and the cost of this goes up from time to time throughout the course of that 10 years. So the initial cost for this year would be $1.8 million and then it goes up incrementally for about 22 to 23% over that 10 year period.

02:04:17Thank you. Good. Any other questions? All in favor, please indicate. Any opposed. The motion carries, and that brings us finally to 20AA. 20AA is a resolution for TI 8 certifications in accordance with the Alabama code.

02:04:31Is there a motion to for Mr. Little second from the chair. And question, Mr. Yes, I'm like Ms. Watkins, um.

02:04:42Shocked and disappointed that You were part of a meeting on a TIFF with Limestone County that we had no knowledge of. The entirety of TIFFA is in my district, and why I wasn't invited.

02:05:01I don't know. I would like the briefing that you get. It's in my district, the entirety of it. I should know what is going to be comprised in TFA.

02:05:16So there are a number of meetings that are required by state law, and this was one of those meetings with the commission simply to inform them of the boundaries. It's the very same information we have received as a council, Mr.

02:05:29Hamilton. I just thought it important to clarify, obviously establishing a TIFF, as y'all seen, you know, obviously. This council did it for TIF 9 just a couple months ago and now you're part of the way through the process on TIF 8 and there's a number of kind of different votes that you have to take and resolutions that you have to pass, uh, uh, one of those resolutions that you did for TIF 9,

02:05:47you've also done it for TIF 8 is appointing the council president to represent the council in that meeting. So that resolution was passed by this council for that to occur. The, the, the basic content of that meeting was a repeat of the prior presentations you'd received on what is the project list.

02:06:05And the maps and things. What Mr. McGuffy is here to do is now update you on those, which is the, the content of that meeting. This is just another one of the milestones. So be clear tonight you're not approving the TIFF.

02:06:15This is just another one of the milestones in the process, uh, then here soon that the county commission will need to vote on it and then you will do the final vote after the county commission, uh, has done that before he gets into it, um, I fully understand, uh, the council appointing the president to represent.

02:06:36My being invited would not have violated a quorum and should have been a courtesy that was granted given again the entirety of the 5th district is in my district.

02:06:46That would have been what I would have considered a courtesy, but go ahead Mr. McGuffin. Mr. McGuffie, you have the floor. Technology is great when it works.

02:07:19Hey, Mayor, council members, Jim McGuffy, Economic Development Office. Again, as John mentioned, this is just another step. uh, tonight is gonna be what we call the project plan, which is a map you saw last month when Shane went through the proposal.

02:07:33um, it's not popped, there it is. OK. So this is the project plan. Nothing's changed since the last meeting, but what this shows is the boundaries of the TIFF. It shows the planned road network and it shows the locations of the Eli Lilly site.

02:07:49And the smaller red box is the school site. Uh, these red lines on the map are the proposed road projects. And that's the list of things that we've come up with is this project plan. So tonight is just a certification of this map.

02:08:01And again, we're gonna come back with the full tiff plan, uh, as we, as we close it out. So happy to answer any questions. Questions for Mr. McGuffy. Again, I, you can't tell me this was the entire briefing that was held with Limestone County.

02:08:18Yeah, we showed them this map and we showed them one other, uh, we showed them another page, which was this right here, which was the descriptions, Mr. Meredith, of the, of each of those, uh, red lines on that map. We discussed, we discussed these numbers and they don't ask for much, do they?

02:08:35Um, turn back to the map. Yes sir. Now It's my understanding that the relocation of County Line Road is not set in stone, so this coming down by what I believe has it intersecting or continuing through uh Bilo is probably not gonna happen.

02:09:02Is that correct? Yes, we mentioned that not at your town hall. We, we haven't gotten into the engineering phases of the design of these. And so these are ideas of what they're gonna look like. We're fairly confident in their general locations, but as we get into engineered drawings, we'll get a full understanding of precise locations.

02:09:20And of course working with homeowners and property owners, we will, we will want to make sure we get it right and, and, and please everybody that we can, OK, um.

02:09:30And the Limestone County folks are aware that that could change. Yes sir, they know this is just a general plan. OK. And the plan for the other roads are pretty much static.

02:09:43I mean that's where they're going to be. The Swancott Road is, is currently there and it's, in it's, you know, current condition except for near Bowling Boulevard, so we'll expand it.

02:09:53Yes, sir, we'll expand I guess what I'm really asking is because Swancott is also still there, uh, already there. The new roads that are going to be. Um, built to support the school.

02:10:05Those, that, that's what I mean when I say those roads are, are pretty much, that's where they're going to be. Yes, sir, based on the school's plan for their campus, we've worked around their campus.

02:10:17We've also worked with that property owner. Uh, who wants to help us with the donation of the right of ways and, and the school master plan, of course. And we feel that these locations are, are good for future growth and then also support for circulation for the school and future, future traffic too for houses and retail.

02:10:35OK, and finally, um, it was one of our earlier items, um, but the exit 3 work is also inside of the TIF, the notch up, OK, as well as The notch up by 9, that's a fire station if I'm not correct.

02:10:58The small, small red square is the fire station, and there will be additional work done there to. Uh, renovate that facility and expand it. Yes, sir.

02:11:10Thank you, sir. OK. Any other questions? All in favor, please indicate. I opposed. The motion carries and the, uh, the resolution is approved. Uh, we'll now read into the record.

02:11:2721 new business items for introduction. These are for introduction only, will be considered at the council meeting on October 22nd. 21A is the introduction of an ordinance amending Chapter 2, Article 4, Division One of the Code of Ordinances to amend sections 2-181 and 2-1.

02:11:4384 to add language and guidance addressing the processing of federally funded procurements. 21B is the introduction of an ordinance approving the adoption of a new base map, base map sheets, 10-17 and 12-02 to be made part of the City of Huntsville, Alabama official zoning maps.

02:12:0221C is introduction of an ordinance annexing 2.26 acres of land lying on the north side of Winchester Road east of Bradford Lane. 21D introduction of an ordinance to declare certain property as surplus and authorizing the mayor to enter into a purchase sale agreement between the city of Huntsville and Bregg Huntsville 2 LLC.

02:12:20And again, these will be, uh, brought to us for consideration at the October 22nd meeting. Um, I believe that concludes all the, uh, the business items, uh, for the meeting.

02:12:32Thank you to all the staff who stuck around to help us work through those issues. And again, congratulations to those who are appointed to new positions. We will finish the meeting with second roster public comments.

02:12:43This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the council on matters relating to city business. Whether or not such items are on the agenda, we have 4 people who have signed up, um, to speak. Uh, as your name is called, please approach the microphone and state your home address and city of residence.

02:13:02Each speaker may address the council for 3 minutes. Speakers shall refrain from entering into dialogue with council members or city staff and for making comments regarding good name and character of any individual.

02:13:12The first person we will hear from is Casey Rice, who will be followed by Attorney Gaskin. Casey Rice Then we will move on to Tony Gaskin, who will be followed by Taylor Gautry.

02:13:32Attorney Gaskin, OK. Tay Taylor, Tyler Gautry. Who will be followed by Michael Jennings. Hi, my name is Tyler Gotney.

02:13:48Um, I, my address is correct on the sheet and city of residence. I live in Huntsville, Alabama. Thank you. Welcome.

02:13:59Um, so, you know. Y'all know why I'm here because I've been here. Uh, ever since my first district hall town hall with council member Meredith.

02:14:14Um, and There are a lot of problems that are political problems in the city that uh. I would like to address, but right now the main problem is with ALPRs.

02:14:30I think the city council also. Feels that it will just die out that you can just stonewall the public that you can just um.

02:14:45Basically. Fatigue people, people have lives outside. It's a lot.

02:14:56To Come here after work. I know some of you have work outside of city council, but. For the public, you know, speak 3 minutes. Uh, it doesn't really do much.

02:15:11But um I don't know, the, the biggest problem I feel is just that. I started with coming to these meetings with the assumption that I would find corruption because it is something that I feel has plagued our political system from every level.

02:15:32Of the country and especially locally where it is much easier to hide. Um, and You know, I think that it's still that it exists. Um So I don't know Uh It's a democracy It's not supposed to work to where.

02:16:04As council member Meredith has said, you are born with power. You were granted power by the public. That is I don't know.

02:16:17I'm just I don't know. Thank you. We'll now hear from Michael Jennings, who is our last speaker. Madam President, I know Ms.

02:16:28Pender, um. The list was taken up before she could sign up, if you would be so kind as to allow her to speak. Ms.

02:16:38Painter, are you here to speak? But he, the gentleman could go OK. Yeah. Just so we, just, just so we can have it on the record. Uh, Mr.

02:16:50Jennings, please come to the microphone, then we'll hear from Ms. Painter. Mike January 30. Uh, Mr.

02:17:04Jennings, that microphone is on. You'll go to that one. And your name and address for the record.

02:17:18Yeah, 3815 Millbrook Drive, Huntsville. Thank you, Mr. Jennings. It's a blessing and a miracle that I'm here tonight to Uh, even address you all.

02:17:303 weeks ago I was in ICU in Florida. And uh I came back on uh Wednesday. Uh And I was in Madison.

02:17:47I just got from the airport and got home and got in my car and I was in Madison, Alabama and I was Taking my following my daughter and my grandchild who's 13, uh, straight A student.

02:18:03To lunch. And we stopped at a red light and she, she got through the light before I did. So when the light changed, I made a left and I was going, uh, it's I think it's like a 25 mile an hour, uh, speed limit, but I was trying to look over as I was traveling to see

02:18:25if they pull off the weight on me. Nobody's behind me. Madison police came, got behind me, came, got behind me, put his lights on, pulled me over. So when he came to him, I asked him, I said, What you put me over for?

02:18:42With no reason. What you profiling me for? OK, so he said, uh, let me get your license. I gave him my license, you know. And uh at that time my daughter came up, she, she saw me, she come up and she said, Daddy, just be cool.

02:18:59Just please be cool. Uh I said, Well, he had no reason to stop me. But uh he finally called, he said, You got a warrant? I said, I don't have a warrant.

02:19:10He said, Yes, you got a warrant for a noncompliance building. I said, I don't know nothing about that. He said, uh, so Uh, I called. He said, Well, it's, uh, 2814 Holmes Avenue, a building.

02:19:26I put a $40,000 roof on and nothing. It's got bars on it. It's a brick building. You can't get in there. Nobody has access to it. So, uh, it's not something that Community Development didn't know about.

02:19:41We've been working with it. I had done everything they asked me to do except for they said I gotta get a, a CO for the building. I ain't got no problem with it, but I can't do something. I'm in the hospital, and they know they may not have known that, but they know that I worked with them.

02:19:56They, so in order for them to issue a warrant, the guy at, at, uh, one of the officers who was at court that day when I wasn't there had to agree for the judge to do that because Judge Grime is a very good judge.

02:20:09He very pleasant to work with. He's not a person that's hard like that, but he had to agree to that. And uh but anyway, the guy told me, he said, well we call Huntsville Police Department and they say we gonna we we gonna they gonna come get you.

02:20:26Mr. Jennings, your, I'm sorry, your 3 minutes is up, but this sounds like something that maybe we could have you meet with Mr. Irwin to talk about. I called Scott's office and you know it's, it's not the first time, but you know you don't, I mean, you know, you don't talk to Mr.

02:20:42Irwin's right here. So Mr. Irwin, if you could go with Mr. Jennings out in the foyer and the lobby and maybe conclude the conversation with him there. That would be helpful.

02:20:55I can't imagine them and we're glad that you are well enough to be here tonight. Thank you, sir. And we'll conclude with Liliana Painter.

02:21:13Good evening. Good evening. My name is Liliana Painter and my address is correct on the sheet. I live in Huntsville. Welcome. Thank you.

02:21:24Um, I wanna talk about a concern that I have about the ethical standards guiding the city, the city's decisions, whose interests this council serves, and how people are chosen for positions of public responsibility.

02:21:39Residents deserve to know that decisions are made for the public's benefit. When personal relationships or political connections appear to carry more weight than qualifications, that undermines trust.

02:21:55Huntsville is growing. The responsibilities are growing with it. We need people with the experience, judgment, and skills to do the work before making appointments. This council should explain the qualifications required, how candidates were evaluated, and why the person selected is prepared to

02:22:17serve. Knowing the right people should never be the qualification that matters most. Residents deserve clear disclosure of potential conflicts of interest and an explanation of how those conflicts are handled.

02:22:34We should not have to piece together relationships to understand who benefits from a public decision. And while we're asking these questions, families are still waiting for basic services.

02:22:48We deserve sidewalks where children can walk safely. We deserve maintained roads, working drainage, accessible public spaces, and responsive city departments. These are basic responsibilities of local government.

02:23:05Every appointment, every spending decision should help the city meet those responsibilities, and I'm asking this council to make qualifications public, address potential conflicts of interest openly.

02:23:19And put residents' needs ahead of personal or political loyalty. Public servants are supposed to work for the public, not the other way around. A growing city deserves capable leadership, ethical decisions, and public services that people can trust.

02:23:38I still believe that Huntsville is underrepresented. The council is representing more than our state representatives. Please act responsibly as Huntsville grows.

02:23:52Thank you. Thank you. That concludes, um, our business for the evening. Is there a motion to motion for Mr. Kling.

02:24:01Thank you. We are adjourned. We'll see everybody October 22nd.