Good evening, Huntsville.

It's 5 30 p.m.

on Thursday, October 9th, 2025, and I'd like to welcome you to this regular meeting of the Huntsville City Council.

For the record, all council members are present, and we will begin our meeting tonight with an invocation by Mr.

or Rever rather chaplain Ethan Ryan and the Pledge of Allegiance led by uh Councilmember Little.

If you'll please stand uh if you are willing and able.

Thank you.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven, thank you so much for the opportunity we have to gather as a city, Lord, to uh just come together uh as a unit as one uh to talk about our concerns, our issues, but also Lord, show our gratitude to those who serve our city.

Uh Lord, I do thank you for our council members.

I thank you for our mayor.

I thank you for all those who serve in positions of authority.

I do pray for them.

I do pray that your hand of blessing would be upon them.

I thank you for our our officers who place their uh lives at risk uh every day, but for those who are willing to go the extra mile to save those that are around them, Lord, we thank you so much for them, and we pray for your continued protection on them.

Uh Lord, we thank you for the organizations that are working, especially with our youth in our city.

Uh Lord, such a such an important group of people, Lord, you want uh all to come to you, but especially the children, especially the youth.

I just thank you for those that are willing to uh to go in there and to uh to offer comfort and love uh to those that perhaps have never seen it and never been shown it.

And Lord, I just thank you so much for their heart for our community as well.

Lord, I pray for the meeting, Lord.

I pray that all would be done to honor and glorify your name in Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Please face the flag.

And to the Republic for which you stand.

One nation under God and invisible with the liberty and justice.

Thank you, Chaplain Ryan, and thank you, Councilmember Little.

Um would like to acknowledge the fact that uh this council meeting is being broadcast live on Facebook live as well.

So welcome all Facebook uh live watchers.

At this point, we will approve the agenda.

Um all council members have a copy of it before them.

Item 22 will be taken out of order and immediately follow item number twenty uh number eleven.

Are there any additional changes uh to the agenda?

Hearing none, the agenda is approved.

Brings us to item 4a, which are the minutes of the work session of the city council held on September 19th, 2025.

All council members have copy of the minutes.

Are there any changes or additions?

Seeing none, those minutes are approved, brings us to 4B, which are the minutes of the regular meeting of the City Council held on September 25th, 2025.

All members have a copy of those minutes.

Are there any changes or additions?

Seeing none, uh those minutes are approved.

That brings us to special uh recognitions by our mayor.

Five A is the presentation of a life saving medal.

Mr.

Mayor.

If I could have Chief Giles and some of the our staff come up, uh we have a life-saving uh medal and a presentation uh for tonight.

Thank you, Mayor.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Officer Colligan.

And if you bear with me just a minute, on June the thirteenth of this year, officers responded to the Whitebird Bridge to a subject on top of the bridge who was threatening to jump off the bridge and commit suicide.

In this particular incident, Madison County Sheriff's Department, Huntsville Police and uh Morgan County Sheriff's Department all responded.

At this point in time, when they got there, the uh the gentleman was straddling the wall.

And Officer Garner, who is not here tonight, but has already received this award, and Officer Colligan approached this subject.

Officer Garner was talking to the uh gentleman, uh trying to keep his mind off of what he was doing while Officer Colligan was moving up on him.

And what is um what is the unique about this is the fact that they were doing this in such a in such a way without having to talk between themselves and alerting this individual is what was going on.

So they were doing this by what we call nonverbal cue by basing their movements based on the subject on this individual's demeanor in this position.

So while Officer Garner was talking to him, Officer Colligan was able to get up to the point that he was able to physically grab a hold of him and pull him off the wall and to prevent him from uh committing suicide.

So needless to say, their teamwork was uh was successful, and with the quick thinking and their selfless action was such a way to keep him from taking his life.

So it's my pleasure and my honor to present to him the life-saving awards.

Thank you.

And Mr.

President, if I could ask our our planning uh group with the City of Huntsville, uh Thomas Nunez, Scott Irwin, Dennis Madsen to come come forward.

This is October is community planning month.

Lady, come in, please.

Uh and as you can see, we take on planning as a team sport.

And it's a very good team sport.

They do a great job with it.

They are the ones who have made this city grow and make it grow in a fashion that um that is uh very workable for our population and workable for our people.

And uh we have a proclamation here that has whereas change is constant and affects all cities, towns, suburbs, and counties, whereas community planning and planners can help manage this change in a way that provides better choices, whereas community planning provides an opportunity for all residents to be equally involved in making choices that determine the shared vision of the neighborhoods.

And whereas the full benefits of planning requires public officials and citizens who understand support and demand excellence in planning and plan implementation, whereas the month of October is designated as National Community Planning Month, and whereas the American Planning Association and its professional institute um look at uh endorse National Community Planning Month as an opportunity to highlight the contributions around planning, and whereas the month of October is also history month, and history ties in very closely with planning.

Whereas on its fourth year under his theme, Huntsville on the Rise, restoration, inclusiveness, and sustainability and equity.

This year we highlight equity.

And whereas the celebration of the National Community Planning Month gives us an opportunity to publicly recognize the participation and dedication of members of the planning commissions and other city planners who have contributed their time and expertise to the improvement of the City of Huntsville.

Now, therefore, I Tommy Battle, Mayor of City of Huntsville, to hereby declare the month of October 2025 as community planning month.

And this is a lot of long verbiage that says thank you for the job that y'all do on a day-to-day basis, and thank you for making this uh making our city a very, very special place.

Thank you.

There you go.

So again, uh thank you, Mayor uh Battle.

Uh, thank you, Council members, for honoring this particular month.

Again, as we work through this process, again, it is not just us that's doing the work, it is all of our contributors, those that are doing uh financing and community efforts and uh sustainability, but also uh services in that action, that these actions are helping us become a better city collectively together.

Uh yes, we may sit here as the professionals, but there are 225 planners within our city limits, and we're thankful for all of you all and your input throughout the process.

So thank you again.

Just one brief thing.

Community planning begins with community.

It starts and ends with y'all.

We really appreciate you being a part of this month.

And if I could say something, uh last night at um uh councilwoman Watkins uh was with Northwest Huntsville and she was talking about how community development uh plans to take care of people and people who have um who who might might be having troubles, might be having uh problems, and and uh community uh development comes in and tries to rectify the problems, tries to make sure that those people know our community is working for them just as much as everybody else.

And Scott, thank you for what y'all do in community development, it's very, very important.

Uh, thank you for for all that y'all do, and let's give them a big round of applause.

Thank you, guys.

She wants to think about the children.

She wants to think of it.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor again.

Thank you very much.

And that was item 5B, which was a proclamation to declare the month of October as Community Planning Month.

Brings us to Council special resolutions and presentation 6A is a resolution recognizing Chill Huntsville, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing youth violence and promoting public safety in Huntsville with the vision of building safer schools, stronger families, and a more peaceful community.

Ms.

Watkins, would you like to make uh the motion on that?

And I will say can well, Mr.

President, I'll defer to you.

Thank you, sir.

Um all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say nay.

Motion carries.

Of Chill Huntsville to come up, please.

Rather the board and members.

So instead of reading reading the formal resolution, I wrote um something that's a little more personal because Pastor Carnell Martin, who is deceased, started Chill Huntsville, and I wanted to make sure I captured the essence of why he started this.

So Chill Huntsville was established on February 1st, 2018 by Pastor Carnell Martin, whose unwavering commitment to youth empowerment and community transformation led to the creation of this impactful initiative, guided by a deep passion for young people and a heartfelt concern about the rise of gun violence.

Pastor Martin sought to create a movement that would both uplift and protect the next generation.

From its inception, Chile Huntsville has served as a platform for awareness, mentorship, and meaningful engagement.

It was founded on the belief that real change begins with community when communities come together to listen, support, and inspire youth toward positive choices.

What started as a grassroots effort has now grew into a citywide movement focused on education, advocacy, and outreach.

Through partnerships with schools, community organizations, and local leaders, Chill Huntsville has continued to advance its mission of promoting peace, unity, and hope.

Its programs provide young people with opportunities to lead, serve, and find purpose beyond the challenges that surround them.

Today, Chill Huntsville stands as a beacon of hope and resilience, a testament to what can be achieved when vision meets compassion.

Its mission remains steadfast to equip youth with the tools to succeed, to raise awareness about the impact of gun violence, and to build a stronger, safer, and more connected Housefield for generations to come.

Now, standing to the right of me is Pastor Carnell Martin's widow, Miss Norma Martin.

And standing to the left of me is the current president of the organization.

And I'm going to defer to give him an opportunity to speak.

Thank you very much.

Good evening.

Thank you all for coming.

My name is Emmanuel Egoin.

I am the present president of Chile Huntsville and Stop the Violence.

On behalf of Chile Huntsville and Stop the Violence, I wish to express our profound gratitude to the Huntsville City Council, and in particular to Councilwoman Michelle Watkins for sponsoring and passing a resolution recognizing as organization ongoing commitment to fostering peace, unity, and community empowerment within the City of Huntsville.

This represents more than a recognition of our efforts.

It is a testament to what can be achieved when civic leaders and community advocates work hand in hand towards a shared vision of a safer, more compassionate city.

Through initiatives such as community dialogue, youth engagement, and neighborhood outreach, we have sought to bridge divides, promote understanding, and prevent the spread of violence in all forms.

The Council action today reaffirms the work of building peace, that the building peace is a collective responsibility.

Your recognition not only strengthens strengthens our resolve, but also shines a light on the power of collaboration and community spirit.

We are especially grateful to Councilwoman Watkins for our leadership, advocacy, and unwavering support for initiatives that uplift and unify our citizens.

As we accept this honor, we do with renewed determination to continue serving our city with integrity, purpose, and compassion.

Together, with the support of our leaders, partners, and neighbors, we can ensure that Hongvie remains a place where every resident feels valued, safe, and empowered to thrive with deepest appreciation.

My name is Emanuele Boyne and I'm the President.

Brings us to item 9A, which is a public hearing authorizing community development to assess the cost for the demolition and cleanup of a structural public nuisances located at certain properties in Huntsville, Alabama, and consideration of a resolution pertaining to the same.

Mr.

Irwin.

Yes, Mayor Battle, Councilmember Scott Irwin, Community Development Department.

This is a public hearing authorizing community development to assess the cost for the demolition and clean up of structural public nuisances in the City of Huntsville.

The resolution authorizes lien assessments for three properties that this council declared a public nuisance and authorize the demolition.

The total amount of the three property assessments is 48,597 and 35 cents.

Thank you, sir.

At this time I would like to open the public hearing.

Is there anyone that wishes to speak to this issue?

Seeing none, the public hearing is now closed.

Move to approve the resolution.

Second.

Motion by Dr.

Robinson, second by Mr.

Little.

Any discussion on this one?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say nay.

Motion carries.

Thank you, Councilmembers.

Thank you, Mr.

Irwin.

Brings us to uh item 10A, which is a resolution to declare uh the under hearings to be set.

10 A is a resolution to declare a public nuisance located at 2605 Lehman Ferry Road, Southwest Huntsville, Alabama, and to set a date for objections to be heard.

Move to set the hearing for the October 23rd, 2025 regular council meeting.

Second by the Chair.

All those in favor say aye.

All those opposed say nay.

Motion carries brings us to 10B, which is a resolution to set a public uh hearing on the zoning of 14.62 acres of land lying on the east of Greenbriar Road and north of I-565 to Highway Business C4 District and Commercial Industrial Park District and the introduction of an ordinance pertaining to the same.

We've just set the hearing for November 20, 2025 regular council.

Motion by Dr.

Robinson, second by Mr.

Kling.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed say nay.

Motion carries brings us to 10 C, which is a resolution to set a public hearing on the rezoning of 25.14 acres of land lying on the west of North Memorial Parkway and south of Hollow Road from residents 1B and Highway Business C4 districts to residents 2 and highway business C4 districts, and the introduction of an ordinance pertaining to the same.

We've moved to approve it at the November 20th, 2025 meeting.

Motion by Ms.

Watkins, second by Dr.

Robinson.

All in favor say aye.

All opposed say nay.

Motion carries.

That brings us to agenda-related public comments.

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 agenda.

You may sign up to speak on the public comments roster prior to the meeting when called, approach the microphone and state your name, home address, and city of residence.

Each speaker may address the council for three 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.

Our first speaker will be Miss Leanne Wilson.

Okay.

Okay.

That that's fine.

If you change your mind, let me know.

We'll let you speak.

That brings us actually to item 22, which is the second roster of agenda-related public comments.

Same rules apply.

Let's uh begin with Ms.

Anna Moore.

Good evening.

My name is Anna Moore.

I reside at 1103 Sharps Cove Road, Gurley, Alabama, and I'm from Huntsville, Alabama.

I've been a part of the Madison County Public School system for most of my life.

And in ninth grade, I made the difficult decision to switch to online school.

Partly because I started feeling uneasy about safety in classrooms and in our around our community.

No student or teacher should ever have to worry about that.

Yet many of us do.

Each lockdown drill and each news story about another tragedy is a reminder that school doesn't always feel as safe as it should.

And this isn't just my personal worries.

It's something students all across Alabama and the country are thinking about.

In 2023, Alabama lost 1,292 people to gun-related deaths.

That includes both homicides and suicides.

Behind those numbers are families, neighbors, and classmates.

And as Huntsville continues to grow beyond 200,000 residents, our focus on safety should grow too.

Progress isn't just about new buildings or businesses.

It's also about how we take care of the people who live here.

I think one of the best things we can do is invest in our communities by building stronger relationships between schools, families, and our local organizations.

Things like mentorship programs, after school activities, and open communication can go a long way.

When students feel supported and connected, it strengthens our entire community.

I'm not here to point fingers.

I'm here to ask for awareness and leadership.

What are we doing right now to make Huntsville safer?

How will we ensure that students can go to school without fear?

We have the information.

Now we just need to use it to move forward.

Thank you for your time.

And thank you, ma'am.

Our next speaker is Emmanuel Igbo.

Oh, okay.

If you like to speak, you can, but if you're gonna just say something about what you said.

Yes, sir.

You know, this just really ties.

If I get your name, oh my address is Manuel E.

Boyne from I live in 99 South Rockhampton Drive in Madison, Alabama.

Thank you, sir.

Go ahead.

Uh I'm the president of Chile Hans Top developers.

I'm very proud of that organization.

Like she was saying, how do we, as a community, guarantee safety of our children?

That's your weekend.

We call me.

That's what uh Reverend Martin, the vision he had was safety in our uh communities.

What do we do?

As the President, I have taken it upon myself that no matter what I do the little I can or the best I can with my organization to secure peace in our communities, to secure peace in our schools.

Yesterday we had uh panel discussion at the library on Spockman.

We brought community leaders together, and we had an audience.

I thought the whole room would be really full, but it wasn't full, but the people were there, they listened and they understood.

All we're trying to do was bring peace to our communities.

A lot of people say it can be done.

Yes, it can be done.

It can be done.

I'm I'm standing here and telling you I am going to tell you a story.

I c I came from Nigeria.

I went to Alabama EM, got my two degrees, the um BS and an MBA.

When I came here, my first wife I got married to, she had three kids, right?

The environment wasn't conducive enough for them to really have a bright future.

I took it upon myself, and today I am proud to say that my daughter is a PhD holder, just retired from the Army, a captain.

She was in Iraq.

My son is a civic engineer.

And my daughter has our eldest daughter, Shannon, has our own business.

Because I bridge the gap.

It can be done.

So we just need volunteers.

We need sponsorship and we can make a difference.

Thank you all for listening.

And thank you.

Our next speaker is Mr.

David Snyder.

Hello, my name is David Snyder.

I live in Huntsville.

My information is written on the sheet.

I wanted to talk a little bit about Derek Street and some of the things that have been going on.

I know Bill Kling uh messaged me at one point talking about $5,000 getting appropriated to be used there.

I would like to see that for right now we have built a ramp that is kind of narrow.

It's about four feet.

Scott and I were just talking about maybe creating a lip or a handrail or widening it so that people uh in a wheelchair wouldn't, you know, maybe have a wheel fall off.

That would be terrible.

And for the rest of those funds, the same things that I have been coming here and advocating for uh a canopy for, especially when it's summer.

Um it's not as important right now, but it will be come next summer.

Um for a water line, a fountain, a fountain to be ran from where that water spout is out to closer to where the camp is, would be excellent.

Um I also want to talk a little bit about transparency with the city.

I'm still um looking to have so I went to an HPCAC, uh, the Huntsville Police uh community accountability uh uh meeting.

And um I don't think that our boards have a lot of teeth.

I don't think they have a lot of bite, and I think that we need to be sharing a lot more data with the police and our arrest records.

Um I also put in a foyer request not too long ago, and I have a very concerning return on that regarding uh agreements that I believe the city has with uh uh HSI and uh ICE.

Um so there will be more to come on that uh next council meeting.

Um I would like to also bring up City Detect.

Um I know that that has kind of blown over.

There's not a whole lot of people still talking about that, but we still need assurances that when that does come back up, as it's been stated it will, that it will not get pushed through or snuck through and come up on an agenda and have 48 hours for everybody to realize what is happening and then get pushed through.

Um I also uh I want to talk a little bit about um what happened last City Council meeting regarding 708 and something that I brought up then, which is and that uh uh Gopher, the co-owner of uh uh 708 uh brought up, which is double standards within our city, right?

I think that uh uh one of the statements I made last time is we need to not allow for there to be an apartheid in our city and not be applying double standards to certain areas.

That's something that we've talked about nonviolence, those type of double double standards in society is a form of violence when you do not invest in communities across the board.

So I'm really glad to hear that type of messaging here, and I would like for us to definitely double down on that.

Um last but not least, I would like to again advocate for a black history museum in our town.

I think that it's something that we deserve.

I think that it's something that uh would really show that that's a commitment that we're making to that uh uh progressive kind of uh you know establishment of you know treating everybody with respect and dignity and recognizing uh uh people in our communities and what we need, right?

So yeah, thanks.

Thank you, Mr.

Snyder.

Next is Jeff Engel.

Hello, folks.

Uh my name is Chef Engel.

I am with the North Alabama Democratic Socialists of America.

I live in uh Sherwood Park.

My address is on the page.

Uh I'm here to uh talk uh about uh a few things.

Uh first off, I want to uh thank uh the Council President uh Meredith uh for standing up for our First Amendment rights uh in the previous meetings, uh, for allowing the people's voices uh to be heard and moving uh this uh item uh further up into the agenda.

I know that uh this is your guys' job uh to be here.

This is not our job to be here.

Uh so if we have to wait three and a half hours uh to give our uh our words uh to you, uh that is a huge hamper on the public's access uh to this council.

Uh so I do want to extend uh gratitude uh to uh President Meredith.

Um for those uh toying with uh reducing the public's access to this council, I would like you to please refer uh to President Meredith's example uh that he has uh set forth.

Um I do want to address uh City Detect, uh echoing uh Mr.

Snyder's comments.

Uh we do want reassurances of when uh that will be brought back up.

Uh it has been said six to eight months.

Uh we don't trust you, honestly.

Um so we would like to have assurances of when that would be renegotiated and when we can know when to come back to the table and have those discussions with you.

We've had many discussions with counselors here.

I would like to continue that partnership and continue that transparency and open dialogue uh between the counselors and the community.

And that must start with you guys being transparent about when we need to start talking about things.

Um moving on uh to uh indivisibles ICE non-cooperation proposal uh with some uh conversations with uh council members.

It has been said that it is a solution looking for a problem.

Uh the community disagrees.

The problem is here.

ICE is here.

ICE is in our neighborhoods, ICE is in our communities, ISIS is in our country, uh plants, uh major manufacturing plants in Georgia, uh the Hyundai plant and a poultry plant in Russellville, Alabama have been shut down uh due to ice raids.

Uh that uh that influence is coming to our communities, and we want to stop it preemptively.

Uh so I urge you to reconsider uh the ICE uh non-cooperation proposal.

Uh, there are many examples of uh this throughout the country, uh, most assuredly uh Chicago.

Uh we can lead by example as Chicago is leading in the North, we can lead in the South.

Um so again, I do urge you uh to strike all uh cooperation agreements uh with DAHS and ICE that are targeting our uh our immigrant communities and making this and making our city less safe.

Thank you very much.

And thank you, Mr.

Engel.

Uh, our next speaker is Mr.

James Jones.

Council.

Mr.

Meredith, Ms.

Watkins, glad to see you again.

My name is James Jones, and I live at 3804 Maston Lake Road here in Huntsville.

I have been a resident of North Huntsville almost all my life.

I am a transplant of Trent New Jersey.

One thing I will say is last council meeting was a absolute horrible experience that I've ever seen.

At a this whole entire council, including the city attorney, only saw two leaders.

That is terrible.

Absolutely horrible.

The fact that I can walk around the city, I drove around the city, and I can see the disparities between the north, the east, the south, and west side of Huntsville is absolutely insane.

I see a development on the aware over there on Jordan Lane and University and everywhere else, and I was supposed to see it on the South Side of Huntsville.

I can remember as a kid seeing North Huntsville um parkway um construction being stopped.

It saw South Parkway being done.

And then the city gives some crazy excuse some years ago about they couldn't buy the land.

We know that's a lie, because you go through millions of dollars every year.

My main thing is is this.

When it comes to the North Side of Huntsville, we need development.

We need a fair shape.

I've seen what's going on.

I saw what this council is about, and only to see two leaders.

That's crazy.

What happened with 708, I get it.

But right now, I've been through there plenty of times that I've seen the development of it, and it's way better than what it was.

I've seen what the police have done.

They've done it to me and my brother.

My brother passed earlier this year, and before he died, we talked about the police experiences we had on the north side of Huntsville.

The fact that Michelle Watkins is here right now, I applaud her for the simple fact that new Councilman showers growing up, and Dr.

Eddie Green.

And she's carried on a good legacy.

But can we get a fair shake on the north side of Huntsville?

Can we stop being terrorized?

Can we get some investment?

Where is our entertainment venues and our shopping venus?

The fact that I saw three people vote against the people in North Side of Huntsville is crazy.

That he was they were silenced by a city attorney who did not care.

That's absolutely abhorrent.

It needs to change.

It needs to stop.

Give Mr.

Gophers and every other business owner and resident on the north side of Huntsville a fair shake and a chance.

Because I came from violence, coming from New Jersey, seeing it going as a kid, and now I'm sitting on north side of Huntsville.

Because my wrath towards the police is for them another time.

But right now, this council needs to get it together.

Put the money where it needs to be.

And it's not all on one side of town.

It's throughout.

Stop the discrimination.

Get it together.

Especially the city attorney.

Because the way you try to silence us, it's not going to happen.

I promise you, it's not going to happen.

We will speak loud and proud.

And whatever sounds we have to do, we will do so.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mr.

Jones.

Our next speaker is Ms.

Sarah Colletti.

My name is Sarah Colletti.

My address is listed correctly on the sheet.

I am a resident of Hartzel for now.

I'm here to talk to the people of Huntsville.

After seeing what y'all did last week, with the exception of two of you, I just don't understand how more people aren't up here.

We had such a great turnout last week, but to see y'all do what you did to those people and not like not having more support this week is disappointing.

But um it's okay because there will be plenty of support at the next meeting.

I hope y'all are prepared for it.

Um I know there's nothing tyrants hate more than scrutiny and the truth.

Um I do want to thank you, Mr.

Meredith and Ms.

Watkins.

Um I want to warn you.

Uh we have had uh our disagreements in the past, but that does not change the fact that I do support what you do.

I respect what you do, and I appreciate what you do.

But with my respect and support is gonna come scrutiny.

So you will never see me not questioning the decisions that you make if they aren't the right ones for the city of Huntsville for every person in the city of Huntsville.

Every district in the city of Huntsville deserves equal representation because we damn sure don't pay less in taxes in one district than another.

In fact, the districts that receive the most support are the ones that pay the least in taxes.

The ones of y'all that get these positions where you make so much money that you get taxed at a lower tax bracket.

We're the ones in the neglected districts, the neglected parts of maybe less neglected districts that are the ones responsible for all of this.

And we're tired of it.

You will see next time, and you will see on the 18th.

Just like you saw at the last No Kings event in Huntsville, the people are tired.

The people are tired of your lies, your gaslighting, your manipulation, and allowing these jackbooted thugs to murder us in the street.

We're sick of it.

They killed Sterling Arnold in front of his entire family and entire in front of his entire neighborhood in broad daylight.

Y'all close that case like immediately.

He was walking away from them.

I don't know how many eyewitness accounts we need to hear that Sterling Arnold was walking away when he was murdered.

And the police just lie and say, no, he was he was being hostile and aggressive.

It's a lie.

Justice for Sterling Arnold and justice for Huntsville.

Thank you, Ms.

Kolletti.

Our next speaker is Mr.

Malcolm Gopher.

Malcolm Gopher, uh 1410, Macquarie Street, Huntsville, Alabama.

Yes, sir.

Um good evening.

I'm here to talk about a growing city.

And with the growing city, we do understand that it brings crime.

I used to have a business here, two different shooters, one from South Carolina, one from Atlanta that moved here for school, has bankrupted my business.

I need to know if there's anything in place to be proactive instead of reactive in these situations.

We have a spot 2605 universities of Wavahoe.

A lot of y'all might know my story.

I came, I just did 14 years in federal prison.

I changed my life.

I was rehabilitated when I was there.

I've been home for seven years.

It's 2605 Wi-Bahoe.

It's an open drug market 24 hours a day.

Public nuisance.

Who owns it?

I want to know.

Because if you could put the hammer down on me, I need you to put the hammer down on everybody.

It ain't one hammer for me and another hammer for somebody else.

It don't work like that.

I thought we were in America, or as we spelling it with the KK and the K.

Because we're gonna have to get real serious.

I'm fighting for my family, and I ain't gonna stop.

I'll be here every two weeks to let you know how I feel about this situation.

Because you skipped this process and put me in another process, and I feel slighted.

Like most of you would if you was black.

Because I feel like it's a racist thing.

Should I not feel that away?

How should I feel?

Because as I said, a couple of the uh council people came out and talked to me.

But my my fish, the best fish in the city, and I ain't never seen the mayor in my place from what I hear.

I extend the olive branch, like I said.

But I got NayMac cameras on the poll.

Are those namac cameras really for crime or to watch the business?

We got drones flying.

Who they watching.

I want to know why you taking aerial pictures of businesses.

Because I thought it was for crime.

Because surely being on a patio ain't a crime.

Thank you.

And thank you, Mr.

Gopher.

Our next speaker is Mr.

Joe Winston.

Well, good evening, Council.

Members, I'm Joe Winston.

I reside at 105 Greymount Drive, Madison, Alabama.

And I just want to uh re-engage uh presentation I made back in uh April, May time frame of this year regarding the Black Art Black History Museum.

And uh Mr.

Snyder, thank you for mentioning that.

I did not ask him to do that, but I do appreciate uh someone else stepping up to realize that we need a black art black history museum here in Huntsville.

Huntsville, as you know, is a major city.

And why not have a black art black history museum?

I bring this up again at this point in time because it's October.

And I know you all are putting together your budget to help put together a budget.

And uh would like not to see that would come into next year and say, well, Mr.

West, you did not bring it to us in time to include that in the budget.

So I'm bringing it to you now again, so that it will be included in the budget, whatever that may be.

And I also want to uh uh bring up a a point I made, and I spoke to Mr.

Barber back on the 28th of August.

Mr.

Barber, I think you may remember that, and he asked if I would provide him a list of uh churches, businesses, organizations of which you all could begin the process of contacting those organizations, and uh kind of talking to them about Black History Museum.

Well, I sent Mr.

Barber a uh an email back on the 4th of September 225, uh providing him that information.

And Mr.

Merritt, I think he also provides you a copy of that uh email as well.

And I listed uh uh a lot of uh churches, organizations, and I just reached some of these.

I won't read all of them, but one came to mind the church that I uh attend, have been attending for the last 20-something years, is the first missionary Baptist Church.

Uh another is uh Progressive Union, and Mr.

Bob, I think you remember that particular church.

Uh West Master Lake, Union Hill, Primitive Baptist Church, Union Chapel, Union Hill, St.

Luke, St.

John, AME, St.

James, Pymate Baptist Church, Indian Creek, Little Indian Creek, Douglas Tabernacle, Mask uh Lake Chapel, uh, Lakeside United Methodists, and some others.

And also the Divine Nine, and some of you that may not know the what Divine Nine is, it's the returnities and organizations that reside right here in Huntsville.

Uh so I bring it up again to to re re-engage and to ask you, the council, to uh look toward having a black art black history museum established here in Huntsville, and hopefully I know you have a lot on your agenda, but uh Huntsville being a major city, surely we can get a black art black history museum established here so that everybody can enjoy it.

It's not just black history, but it's history that that entails everybody.

Uh we all meet the history, so let's not wait until next year or the next year and say, well, uh, we didn't have the money to do it.

Yes, you didn't.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

And I have a copy of our next and final speaker is Mr.

Dean Sharp.

Yeah, my name is Dean Sharp, and uh a lifelong resident of Huntsville.

And uh I'll just tip to hear the question the uh sky bridge.

I know I think you're gonna talk about that later about the budgeting and that's over budget.

Uh I think that money could be spent a lot better.

We need it need a couple more high schools in Huntsville.

We need some more resource officers, as the lady up here said earlier in our schools.

Don't have money for it.

I just think that the money could be spent better elsewhere.

I can't see really what the use of it is.

You've got to drive to one end of it or drive to the other and walk across to whatever destination you're going to.

And uh I think we've got another issue with uh with the homeless in Huntsville, and I think we can spend some of that money toward the homeless.

And as they're talking about the art museum.

Take that money and spend it on the art museum.

But I just think the Sky Bridge is not wanted by most of the people in Huntsville.

If you look at social media, every time Channel 48, 31, or 10 light team posts something on social media about it, it gets overwhelmingly bad comments.

And I know thousands of people in Huntsville, I don't know anybody that really wants it.

So I would just like to see if you can reconsider building it.

Thank you.

And thank you, sir.

Brings us to comments from our mayor, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um this uh last night we had the opportunity to go to Invest North Northwest.

Uh there's uh featured speaker was uh councilwoman Michelle Watkins.

Uh she did a wonderful job.

It was a good good get together for the group and uh good way of starting to uh work on investing in in North Huntsville.

Um that's that's their goal.

Uh that's been kind of a topic here tonight.

Uh is a goal of invest in uh Invest Northwest uh and uh if you go on council sites or go to Invest Northwest, um you can find out about officers and who who is there.

They've got a full slate of officers, and just like uh South Huntsville uh Civic Association works on on their area.

This is uh this is a group dedicated to working on uh the North Huntsville area.

Um also uh we had in last week uh 300 strong, the American Auto Manufacturing group was in town.

Uh many people don't realize that we are a um we we are an auto manufacturing hub here with Toyota Motor Manufacturing with uh the Mazda plant, the Toyota plant with Navastar uh with Polaris uh sitting here.

We have probably more uh dollars invested into uh plants that um actually make things go than uh many people uh than anybody else in the in the state of Alabama and the thing about that is it offers opportunity, it offers jobs to people.

Uh you know, the idea that we can have advanced manufacturing jobs gives um gives a place for those who are in entry-level jobs to move up.

Gives a place for those who uh maybe came out of school and decided they didn't want to be a rocket scientist or a degree professional, want to go into the workplace and uh gave them an opportunity to do that.

So uh we welcome uh them here and we're glad to see them uh see them as they came and glad for the jobs that they provide for our area.

Um we also uh this uh this this uh past couple of weeks has been make new friends.

We have uh one, two, three, four, five, six, probably we probably have about eight or ten uh new mayors in the area.

And so um yesterday we met with Renee Bartlett, who is the mayor elect of Madison.

Uh uh two weeks ago we met with the new mayor in Florence.

Um tomorrow we have the opportunity to meet with the new mayor elect of uh Decatur.

And um they're all neighbors with us.

We're all in the same uh workshed, and we're all striving for the same thing to make sure that our areas uh grow and become better and also provide opportunity for everybody.

Uh and then finally, um this is uh homecoming week for Alabama AM.

Uh tomorrow we'll be uh rooting on the Bulldogs and uh enjoying the festivities of uh of the Saturday we'll be enjoying the festivities of uh Bulldog Football.

So uh come out and enjoy and uh and we'll all say go bulldogs together.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um brings us to Councilmember comments.

We will begin with Dr.

Robinson.

Well, as you heard earlier with the mayor's um resolution, we are celebrating National Planning Month.

And so in recognition of that, I want to uh send special thanks to some of our planners, Dennis Madson, James Moore, and Tanika Lindsay from Engineering, who met with representatives of the Heritage Estates Neighborhood Association.

The residents had put together data and maps demonstrating the need for a sidewalk along Chickamauga.

And it was a a good meeting.

Um the residents were particularly complimentary of how thoughtful and collaborative the representatives from the city staff were.

So many thanks to Mr.

Madsen and his team, and we look forward to seeing that sidewalk project move forward.

We're going to continue our celebration of planning week at an update on October 14th at 6 o'clock in the Sandra Moon Annex.

We will have representatives from the planning department there to talk about the work that planning has been doing uh in uh District 3 and uh other areas of of the city.

And we thank them for the work that they're doing.

I also have a town hall coming up on October 3rd at 6 o'clock in the Sandra Moon Complex.

Uh our speaker that night is going to be uh Mr.

John Hamilton, who will be talking about the 1990 Capital Plan, which kind of has everything everybody's interested in.

It's roads, ditches, parks, quality of life projects, including the Sandra Moon Complex.

So we look forward to having Mr.

Hamilton join us as well as some other folks who will be giving updates.

I want to extend a special welcome to Captain Ricky Stevens, who is the new commander at the South Precinct.

Uh, we look forward to working with him.

It has also been a tremendous pleasure to work with Captain Chris Riley, who has been a great partner, and we wish him well as he goes on to his next assignment.

We're fortunate to have a really fine command staff here in our city.

Finally, uh this weekend, we will be hosting Bluegrass and Barbecue on October 11th from 1 to 7 p.m.

at South Site Park on Cheney Thompson Road.

This is uh presented by Commissioner Phil Riddick in collaboration with South Huntsville, Maine Business Association.

It's always a great time, food trucks, but most importantly, really great bluegrass uh that's going to be coming from um all areas of the region.

So please join us for Bluegrass and Barbecue on Saturday from one to seven p.m.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

And thank you, Dr.

Robinson.

Next is uh Councilwoman Watkins.

Good evening.

Uh on last Friday I had the pleasure of bringing greetings to the Blue Ambassadors at Drake State Technical College.

Um a lot of young minds that are very smart, doing some great things, and I was just honored to be in attendance.

On Monday night, Invest Northwest had a meeting with the business owners in District One.

It was a great turnout.

I want to thank Travis Cummings and cannot think of the gentleman's name that was with him, but they came out and told the um the entrepreneurs about zoning, how things are zoned, why they're zoned this way, answered questions, and it was just interesting to see how many people turned out.

State of the district was last night, and during my state of the district, one of the things I did talked about the growth and development that's happening right now in District 1.

There's a lot of things going on in District One.

Um have been announced, some have not been announced, but will be announced probably in 30 days.

And I think District One is going to be very excited when you hear about the developments that are coming to our district.

It's long awaited, it's long needed, and I'm very happy about it.

And uh Shane Davis could tell you I call him all the time.

I call him so much sometime I think he doesn't answer phone.

He just probably look at the phone and say, what does she want now?

But he always calls me back.

I'm just joking, Shane.

But uh Shane and I have been really talking and working together.

Um met last week with a developer that's coming to do a development.

He wanted to tell me about it, and uh I think I almost broke his neck.

I'm sorry because I grabbed him so quick and hugged him with the good news he gave me.

Um Alabama and M University Homecoming 2025.

If you have not been to an Alabama EM University homecoming and you live in Huntsville, shame on you, because we have the best food, the best tailgate, the best time.

So if you don't have anything to do this weekend, you should come join us.

Um District One Town Hall will be October 13th this Monday at 6 o'clock at the Rich Shower Center.

Um please come out.

We'll have a new North Huntsville precinct captain there.

Uh we'll have Shane.

Are you still coming?

Uh-huh.

And uh Chris McNeese be there from Public Works.

Um we have um we are now Facebook Live with our City Council meetings, and I want to thank my uh council members for um supporting this initiative.

I think it's very important that we have every platform available to the community for them to have access to watch it whenever they want to.

Um I thought a couple of meetings ago that I I asked the questions and I thought we made it very clear.

We do not have any agreements with ICE.

The City of Huntsville doesn't.

There was a presentation.

That's one of the things we talked about.

We do not have any agreements with ICE.

So I want to make that clear.

Um want to encourage the community to come out to meetings, to come to town halls, to come to engagements.

It's so important that you are in these spaces and places because you learn about what's going on in the city as well as you're informed about what's going on.

Um have office hours every Friday.

I meet with the public if you schedule an appointment, as well as I have a monthly district drop-in.

District drop-ins are where you come.

It's not a formal platform.

You talk to me one-on-one about your issues and concerns within the district.

Now my next um drop-in is November 3rd.

I'm not sure where it's at, but I'll get the information out.

If you follow me on Facebook, it's um already out on Facebook.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Watkins.

Uh, next is Mr.

Bill Kling.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um I um certainly am looking forward to going to the uh the football game, and uh I'm certainly open to give all those good people tailgating a chance to show off their uh their good cooking to me, just to be polite.

Uh all seriousness though, uh I graduated from Alabama AM with a masters and uh had uh a great experience out there, wonderful teachers, great fellow students, and uh it is a gym in this community.

I uh was very upset when I heard about threats that have been made uh at a against AM that were reported in the news media.

Safety is certainly paramount importance, and I appreciate everything that was done to protect the safety of the students and the faculty, but it is inexcusable that stuff like that would happen.

This is a wonderful gym in our community, and I think all of us need to come together and and support Alabama AM University at this time.

Also, uh I want to express appreciation to good work done by two uh city departments, especially.

Uh one has to do with uh urban planning and engineering.

Uh Shane Davis, Kathy Martin have been working uh with helping the uh residents who live on Governor's Drive east of California Street who are going to be going through a new lane, acceleration lane expansion that's going to be taking place in their front yard.

It's going to have a very tough impact on them, garbage collection, being able to get out of their driveway, mail service, and appreciate them looking at different options, possibly uh alley, driveway or whatever.

But again, uh the time and care that our employees put into taking care of these uh residents is uh very much appreciated by myself and also by the citizens.

Also, uh the police department.

Uh challenges at Benford Court.

Again, Benford Court is a part of this community.

Uh I am looking forward to walking through the neighborhood.

Uh people who live there are entitled to have a safe place to live.

The Housing Authority, the police department have all been taking great steps to deal with the problems to make sure that those residents in those neighborhoods have uh a safe, good, quiet place to live, and I support and appreciate uh the efforts that have taken place uh concerning that.

Something else I wanted to mention.

Uh it seems like the last couple of meetings, everyone seems to kind of come out of these meetings with a sour taste in their stomach, and it shouldn't be there.

City council meetings are a positive force in this community.

This is a positive chance for democracy to be seen in action, both live by those in the audience and by those who are watching under over the media that we have.

We've got six elected officials up here that have all gone through the election process from their fellow citizens, and we are charged with administering a $340 million budget to provide services and capital improvements to the people of our community.

We have a lot of great things that are taking place, and I find that by staying away from City Hall and looking at perspective, this is a great city.

Uh perhaps indicative is the fact that some of the national ratings that have come out from different media.

Space Command going through a very thorough double-rated process can come to Huntsville of all the cities in the state of Alabama and also in the United States.

Again, we have good things.

We have greenways, we have uh parks, we have entertainment taking place, we have new jobs coming into the community, uh, we have a lot of festivals, we have uh uh new housing options being made available.

Again, uh take a look at Huntsville, Alabama.

There are a lot of good things.

Now we're here not to talk overly on the good things, but to talk about the challenges, and that's what we're here for.

You got six elected officials that listen to you, the public.

And we take under advisement what you say, and uh in some cases we've been able to help make some progress take place.

Uh concerns were raised about Derrick Street.

There have been issues that have been brought to the attention of the community development department, and they have worked to improve the quality of life for those uh residents who live at Derrick Street.

We had concerns about certain types of books at the library, both those who said leave them alone and others who said they should be removed.

A reasonable compromise, I think have been brought out to take the books, relocate them to the adult area where uh only adults who wanted to get them or wanted to get them would be able to reach the books and make them available.

Again, these are things we're doing.

We're grown-ups, uh, we're doing our democracy in action, and again, you know, we have warts.

That's that's part of the process.

But take a moment and take a look.

There's a lot of good in this community.

There's a lot of good that takes place in city government.

Um during this past week, I have walked through numerous neighborhoods in West Huntsville, Holiday Homes, Triana Village, Bailey Patton Estates, uh, Triana Village, uh, College Park, Merrimack, Low Mill, and problems come up, cable TV wires that uh uh need to be cleaned up, potholes that need to be repaired, uh, people who are scared, and they literally come up to me and ask if I can get them assistance from the police department, but to please keep their name and identity out of it.

These are the types of things that we can work to solve problems.

I do these types of things.

Councilmember Watkins does these types of problems.

Councilmember Little does these types of problems.

Councilmember Meredith President does these types of problems.

Mayor Battle is out all over the place.

Councilmember Robinson is out dealing with these types of problems.

So again, we're here because we want to be here and we care about this community.

And I think all of us together, we can talk about the problems, but take a moment to look at all the good things that are taking place and the efforts that's being made by over 2,000 great city employees working with us to help solve and make things a little bit better in this community.

So just wanted to kind of get my little two cents worth in.

We can agree to disagree up here, and we're real good about doing that, but at least you know we're being spontaneous.

We don't have everything orchestrated.

So again, we're all we're all Huntsville, Alabama, and we're all on the same side.

Thank you.

And thank you, Mr.

Klain.

Next is Mr.

Little.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

I had the pleasure of uh spending time with the McMullen Cove Homeowners Association last weekend at their annual meeting and uh talking to city business and updates for their area.

Um as was mentioned earlier, this is planning month, and we'll be hosting a town hall, a planning center town hall meeting over at Optimus Rec Center at 5 o'clock on the 22nd.

And uh let's like to thank engineering and traffic uh departments for being uh responsive to citizens' needs recently.

So thank you, Mr.

President.

Thank you, Mr.

Little.

I would like to thank uh my council presidents forum guests from earlier this week who discussed the city's commitment to sustainable development.

Uh they included uh Huntsville Tree Commission members, uh Jesse Orton, who serves as the Chair, and Mr.

Troy Bowman, also the uh Huntsville City Arborist, Mr.

Mark Byers, as well as uh Dennis Madsen, who uh serves on the Mayor's Sustainability Commission, and also is the manager of urban and long-range planning for the City of Huntsville.

Um also want to thank all those who attended the Lanier Lakes HOA meeting uh last week at the Good Shepherd uh Methodist Church.

Uh as always, it was a pleasure meeting with everyone and uh hearing about the many ways our local government can better serve your needs.

Finally, it was a pleasure uh to be uh invited to give greetings at the Global Ties Alabama 60th anniversary celebration on Tuesday.

Congratulations to Ms.

Jackie Scheipe and all those associated with the organization for their courage in advancing international diplomacy here and abroad.

Um at this point, we are now at Item 14A, which is a resolution authorizing expenditures for payment.

Mr.

President, I move that we approve expenditures and the amount of 36,222,431 and 68 cents.

Chair will second that motion.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed saying nay.

Motion passes, brings us to 14B, which is an ordinance approving appropriations, goods, or services for District 4 Council Improvement Funds.

Move for approval.

Motion by Mr.

Kling, second by Dr.

Robinson.

Mr.

Kling, would you like to tell us what this is about?

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Uh what I have here is $60,000 of the uh of the fund to be used in $5,000 increments for the Legacy Center for the great work that they do in providing social services uh throughout the community to the Von Braun Civic Center for uh tourism development, uh community development for uh Scott Irwin to use to provide extra homeless assistance uh programs and I mean capital and operating needs uh for Derrick Street and other homeless areas.

Uh the American Legion Post 237 for homeless veterans assistance.

Uh Huntsville Ballet for the third year in a row has had a wonderful community outreach, and I'm proud to support them for their efforts in that.

Also, uh 5,000 for a senior center to be used for additional exercise equipment that the seniors need and applying also $5,000 for Operation Green Team to use in conjunction with the Friends of Trees to find locations for planning additional trees.

$5,000 for the Schools Foundation.

5,000 for Wheedon House Museum Tourism Development.

5,000 Arts Council for Sculpture to be included in West Lawn Park.

5,000 for the Botanical Garden for their greenhouse fund that they're creating.

And $5,000 to the fraternal Order of Eagles charitable foundation to be used for Hudson Alpha Research Initiatives.

Thank you, Mr.

Klang.

That's a rather impressive list.

Would anybody like to comment?

All right.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say nay.

Motion carries.

Brings us to board appointment nominations.

16A is a nomination to reappoint Kelsey Smith to the Huntsville Ice Skating Complex Board of Control.

Position 5.

Actually, I think, yeah, his current seat for a three-year term to expire November 21st, 2028.

16B is the nomination to reappoint Kristen Wilson to the Huntsville Tennis Center Board of Control, place 4, her current seat for a three-year term to expire November 28, 2028.

16C is the nomination to reappoint Harold Weatherly to the Huntsville Tennis Center Board of Control, place 1, his current seat for a three-year term to expire November 28, 2028.

Are there any nominations from the floor?

Yes, Mr.

President.

I would like to nominate Thomas Holiday to the Iceplex Board of Control, Position 1.

That's his current seat.

That term would be a three-year term, expires November 21st, 2028.

Thank you, sir.

I will need that in writing, though.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, sir.

Always prepare.

I've got a couple I would like to make from the floor.

The first is a nomination to reappoint Lloyd H.

Buddy Little to the Special Care Facilities Financing Authority, Redstone Village to his current seat for a six-year term to expire November 10th, 2031.

And then finally, a nomination to reappoint Cindy Griner to the Burrett Memorial Committee place 10, her current seat for a three-year term to expire October 1st, 2025.

With that brings us to legal uh legal department items and transactions.

18A is the ordinance uh authorizing the vacation of an ingress egress easement, tracked one, the lakes at the meadows phase two subdivision.

Move to approve the ordinance.

Second.

Motion by Dr.

Robinson, second by Mr.

Little.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say nay.

Motion carries brings us to 18B, which is an ordinance authorizing the vacation of a utility and drainage easement between lots three and four.

Little Mountain Subdivision Phase 2.

Move to approve the ordinance.

Motion by Dr.

Robinson, second by Mr.

Little.

All those in favor say aye.

All those opposed say nay.

Motion carries brings us to unfinished business items for action.

19A is an ordinance to declare certain equipment surplus and to be sold at public auction.

Move to approve the ordinance.

Motion by Dr.

Robinson, second by Mr.

Little.

And any discussion on this.

Okay.

We're good.

All those in favor say aye.

All those opposed say nay.

Motion carries.

That brings us to 19B, which is an ordinance amending ordinance number 89-79.

Classification and salary plan ordinance.

Move to approve the ordinance.

Motion by Dr.

Robinson, second.

I think Mr.

Little gotcha.

Mr.

Kling.

Okay, we'll give it to Mr.

Clang.

We're good.

We're good.

Well, then I'll take it.

No, I'm just kidding.

Is there any discussion needed on this one?

Yes.

Okay, Ms.

Watkins.

So this was a study done to adjust their salaries.

Is that what happened?

So Byron Thomas, Director of Human Resources.

So what this is is an amendment to our classification plan based upon requested job audits.

So in accordance to our policies, employees are department head can request that certain positions be audited if the duties of those positions have changed.

And so this is a result of a job audit request.

Okay.

Thank you, Ms.

Thomas.

This question is not for you.

Yes, Mr.

Okay.

Maybe it is for Mr.

Hamilton.

I think a couple of probably three meetings ago, I asked, could we do an audit of positions within the City of Huntsville?

Not just particular, but job audit.

Like we did job audit when I was at Hunt City schools of oppositions.

Did anyone look into that?

So Mr.

Thomas has started doing some research on that.

That is a significant undertaking.

It would be a contract with an outside entity.

Here in the city, we have uh a little bit short of 700 unique positions.

So it's a significant uh uh undertaking to do that.

Uh so he's kind of begun that process in identifying companies that could potentially do it.

But I think it is also something when you sit down and kind of go through what that means because it's uh more extensive than what we probably wanted to dialogue about here and just kind of lay out what uh what would be the intent of council ultimately is something that we would need, you know, obviously a plurality of council to ask us to do.

Uh and some but also is getting at you know the associated cost and how do we how would we fund that?

Uh so that's not something that is currently funded, but you know, if we uh if it's the will of the council, then we would have to to kind of work through how we do that and decide you know what we don't do instead.

So I do know it is the cost associated with it to contract it, but the reason why I am asking is because it seems like we keep getting them every meeting, we get an adjustment to a salary.

So I feel like if we can go ahead and do a job audit, some of these positions might be doing duplicate jobs, and some might not, some might be doing more, some might be doing less, but we need to know.

So all of our employees would be confident that they are being compensated at the correct level.

So we can talk about it.

Uh just wanted to make sure that I would say that you know what uh what you there's a couple of different things that you see that we're doing inside the existing process.

I should really say more than a couple things.

So one is you know, every quarter uh what Mr.

Thomas brings you is whatever audits were formally requested, either by the employee or by the department head, because there were substantial changes to that particular position.

Uh and so they do that kind of batching together.

So you all see that uh you see that once a quarter.

Now you every quarter you see it twice because we have to introduce it and then you vote on the next time.

So it it you know, you really kind of see it on the agenda six times or you know uh eight times.

The other thing that happens that's much, much more frequent is every time a position is going to get advertised.

So anytime we have a vacancy uh department, part of that process is they have to go through and validate that the duty description is still accurate.

Now, the vast majority of the time it is, or there is very very minor changes that would not have effect on a grade.

So sometimes there might be, you know, one software package is gone or a new one comes in, those kinds of things.

But but they worked, each of those department heads have to work closely with HR to make sure that those are accurate.

Part of what HR looks at when they do that is if the department has suggested changes that are more substantial, then they will say, nope, stop time out.

We have got to audit this and make sure it is correct.

So every time we have a vacancy, every hiring action generates that kind of review.

And so while I can't guarantee that's 100% of the positions every year or two, it's obviously a very substantial percentage.

Uh something, you know, so that's happening, you know, pretty routinely.

Uh what you also see sometimes actually we have created a new position which generates an audit.

And so that's not necessarily changing existing employees when we have created a new position.

So uh there is kind of another level to it.

The other thing that we have is our employees' salary is determined not only by their grade, but also by their step.

Uh and there are have been some kind of one, you know, onesie choose these kind of situations where there is something about our hiring process where they are, you know, the where the step process has not gotten them the appropriate salary.

When we discover that and need to fix it, in fact at the next council meeting, we are going to bring you some that we discovered an error uh within the fire department.

And so Mr.

Thomas is going to bring you a resolution because only City Council has the authority to do that.

Uh they've done their due diligence to make sure that we are getting it right.

We need to correct it so we come to you and say, please allow us to correct these these salaries.

That's not a grade issue.

That's not a duty description issue.

That's more related to their steps and where they exist relative to other employees.

Uh so that's also kind of another unique.

So there's there's a lot of different moving pieces within that that human resource system.

Uh, but uh to do a full citywide audit would obviously be something we will have to, you know, to to go through a bit of contract or something pretty substantific there.

So I would like to you know find the time here in the near future we can sit down and kind of talk through that more too.

Yes, definitely.

Let's sit down and talk because I I think if we if we get an audit done, we wouldn't have to keep coming back every council meeting if someone requests an audit because we'll have an updated audit that we can show them.

So yeah, let's definitely sit down and talk about that.

And uh thank you so much, and Mr.

Thomas, I appreciate your hard work in the human resource department.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Watkins.

Any further discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say nay.

Motion carries brings us to 19C, which is an ordinance to declare certain property as surplus and to authorize the mayor to enter into an exchange agreement between UMH Mid-City LLC and the City of Huntsville for conveyance of the same.

Move to approve the ordinary.

Motion by Dr.

Robinson, second by the Chair.

Um, if you wouldn't mind giving us a little breakdown on this one, sir.

Good evening, Councilmember Shane Davis, Director of Urban Economic Development.

So, Councilmembers, uh, there is no uh cost or money exchange with this.

So the city is is currently in design with a surface parking lot, uh, some public parking out near the Rhine Amphitheater at the corner of Amphitheater Drive and Corporate Drive across the street from our existing surface parking lot.

In that design process, um we have found it to be more cost-effective for us and more efficient for the parking situation for this proposed public parking area to be parallel to corporate drive.

Now, the only problem with that is the property that the city owns is parallel to amphitheater drive.

So what we really want to do is rotate our parking lot 90 degrees.

So our adjacent uh property owner to the city is this entity.

So we approach them to do a 1.09 uh property lock property exchange.

So we will be taking an acre of our property and swapping it for an acre of their property just so that we can rotate our public parking.

There is no cost adjustment, there is no exchange of funds.

It is simply a acre-for-acre swap of of land so that we can be more efficient uh for our future parking.

Will this shifting of the layout of our garage uh result in any increased capacity?

So we we have designed the garage or our facilities working on the design.

Uh so it doesn't change what we are wanting.

It is going to be just under a thousand parking spaces.

Uh but what we want to do is get it to a point we can load in or load out during a large event on the corporate, which would allow more pedestrian safety coming in and out of the amphitheater, plus as a show loads in or after a show, and you have got thousands of people trying to leave, we can disperse that traffic in multiple directions.

Otherwise, we would just have to put it on that traffic on the amphitheater drive, and they have got to go on to nonessay or corporate, and you've got pedestrians trying to move back and forth, so that rotation really provides a lot of safety and efficiency.

Thank you, sir.

Any further discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say nay.

Motion carries.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Thank you, uh Mr.

Davis.

That brings us to new business items for consideration or action.

Are there any items that any uh council member wishes to hold for separate consideration?

Yes, I have E H O P S.

E H O P.

P and Yes.

Before I forget to add mine, I would like uh item 20i held.

Any others?

What was yours, Mr.

President?

Mine was 20i.

Yes, sir.

Mr.

Kling, I have none for you.

Okay.

That's yours.

Mr.

Little, is that okay?

Yeah, I'll just just make my notes.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

Um so uh the chair moves for consolidation, bless you.

And approval of items 20A through D, 20 F and G, 20J through N 20 P and R, 20 T through X.

I'm sorry?

Uh I I thought I said T.

It would be 20 T through X.

Yes.

Yeah.

That's okay.

You want me to do it again from the top?

Okay.

All righty.

Well, um there's a second.

So all those approved say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say nay.

Motion carries, and those items are approved.

That brings us to consideration of item 20E, which is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement between the City of Huntsville and Capital Edge Strategies LLC for consulting services.

Move to approve the resolution.

Second.

Motion by Dr.

Robinson, second by Mr.

Kling.

Mr.

McGovern.

Thank you.

Council Mayor Zach McGovern, External Relations Officer for the City of Huntsville.

What do you have before you as a consulting agreement between the City of Huntsville and Capital Edge Strategies?

This is for uh federal policy, legislative, um, a little bit of everything.

Happy to entertain any questions.

Thank you, Mr.

McGovern.

Um, Ms.

Watkins.

Do we currently have any other um consulting services in D.C.

other than this one?

Yes, ma'am.

We have 535 um uh another consulting group.

So respectfully.

Why do we need another consulting service?

Yes, ma'am.

So the way we operate our consulting agreements is from my experiences from two different two different sectors.

So Capitol Edge uh really services multiple departments in uh in the City of Huntsville.

Not only does it uh service my department external affairs through administration, it also services our planning folks when it comes to grant opportunities and our finance office office when it comes to uh those grants.

They're also um very helpful when it comes to um highlighting highlighting um uh priorities of the City of Huntsville, advocating for us, and additionally keeping us making us aware of any changes that are going on in DC.

On the 535 uh with former Congressman um Bud Kramer, he handles more of the organizational types meetings, um, helps keep our priorities set meetings with our Federal delegation, helps keep our priorities to top of mind and um our Federal delegation.

Um we have visited numerous of times uh that um through BUD to help um secure those meetings and uh just keep our priorities uh in the top of our delegation's mind.

If I might uh you know one of the prime examples was the Federal Courthouse when the Federal Courthouse came through.

Um Capitol Edge was one who who helped us get through how the language needed to be done and and how it had been done previously with other communities and and how to put it together.

Um 535, which was Bud Kramer's group, uh was very helpful in making sure that you know we had the votes that we needed that we followed it through the legislative process and the legislative process finally uh came through and we ended uh we we were able to obtain that that federal building.

They they both worked two different sides.

Um Capitol Edge primarily in the early days worked uh HUD issues and worked with uh a lot of the HUD HUD programs that we were using, and they still do today.

Um but they're they're nuts and bolts type people.

Um 535 is more uh talking to the legislative offices and um and quite frankly has a broad realm of legislative office he talks to, both Democrat and Republican, uh to try to get uh try to help us with with our grant process and get that through the legislative system.

If I might add one more thing, um as we all know, being a federal having the federal presence we do in the city of Huntsville, having the most eyes we can in Washington has been tremendously helpful for my department and and others as well.

The bottom line, Ms.

Watkins, is you got wonks, and you've got former members and all the access and rights that former members have, and together they make a perfect pair.

That's your own two.

I will definitely understand it, but for the listening audience, they need to understand why we are doing these things, because they just look at the writing and they don't understand why because they are not given an explanation.

So thank you, Zach.

I appreciate that.

Yes, ma'am.

Mr.

President, yes, I uh kind of echo a little bit of what's already been said.

Um we uh certainly are very much dependent on the Federal dollar, the Federal presence, and uh as we have lost the seniority and clout uh of Senator Shelby, it's gonna take a long time before we get that type of presence built again.

But you know, we dealt with uh you know going through the process.

We've got Space Command coming to Huntsville.

Um now we're here and talk.

Golden Dome may be much bigger, and that may be coming.

Uh tens of millions of dollars of road projects, which all of us uh know we need very much for the community.

Uh approximately, I guess 175 to 200 people uh from Huntsville, North Alabama, all you know come together and we go up uh with the Chamber of Commerce uh to Washington, D.C.

in the spring just to get that presence out.

So anything we can do, it's money, things that we can get, resources we can get back to this community.

I think uh all these things uh combined together, I think are very, very important uh for our future well-being.

Thank you, Mr.

Kling.

Any further discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say nay.

Motion carries.

Thank you, Council McGovern.

Uh brings us to 20H, which is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a grant agreement by and among the United States Department of Transportation, the Alabama Department of Transportation, and the City of Huntsville, Alabama, for the pedestrian access and redevelopment corridor park project.

Project number 71-25-SP24.

Move to approve the resolution.

Motion by Dr.

Robinson, second by Mr.

Little.

Um, Mr.

Davis, why don't you take us through this?

Thank you, Council President.

Again, Shane Davis, Director of Urban Economic Development.

So, Council members, uh, this is a project that uh has been part of the city for uh I think since about 2006.

Um we have come before you uh notifying you of a successful grant application.

So, what you are doing tonight, that grant was for construction only.

So we could not formally accept the funds, even though they were awarded to us in late 22 and in filling that paperwork out to all permitting was in place, all uh any easements that were needed for the project, all the plans, and it was actually ready to bid an award to a contractor.

We are at that stage.

So tonight, should you uh wish to move forward, we would accept those grant funds.

So, what I thought I would do for your benefit and certainly the public is it's kind of a recap of how we got to where we're at tonight, okay.

So the Federal RAISE Grant Program uh really focuses on four key aspects.

It is a point system type grant application when communities submit.

There's a scoring platform that and criteria used by Federal Highway Administration to determine uh candidates to receive funding.

These are the four top-tier uh items that they look at.

Increase safety, create jobs, connect communities, and encourage investment as a result of a Federal grant helping accelerate or complete a project.

Uh certainly our project uh scored really, really high to make the Secretary's desk and get the maximum award amount available from FHWA.

So we certainly scored high in all four of those categories.

Uh just a little history.

The City of Huntsville Park Project initially began in 2006 as solely a flood mitigation project with the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers, uh, which you see at the bottom of the screen was that very limited uh portion of that original project.

As we continue to uh do the flood mitigation project and doing study analysis and seeing this connectivity uh that could occur in our downtown of green open space uh became evident uh that this project could yield other opportunities to our citizens as for a linear park improved pedestrian safety.

I'll get into that momentarily and provide connectivity uh to other parts of our city into and out of the downtown district.

So what that created as we continue to move forward is the park project.

Uh you can see the different components to the right on the map.

Uh I'll go through everything that it should you approve tonight that this project will do.

Uh certainly the the sky bridges seem to get uh the most attention every time I stand for this council or make a public uh at one of your town halls.

Uh I keep reminding people it's a very, very small portion of the project.

Uh so flood mitigation improvements, uh almost 9,000 feet of channel improvements, uh, just under two miles of channel improvements along Pinhook Creek on both sides.

Uh over a mile of stream restoration to recreate vegetation and habitat along Pinhook Creek that's currently pretty much just a mud drainage ditch.

So we we want to bring back habitat in into that stream.

1.3 miles of new greenways, and I'll show you the importance of that is as I get into uh some slides.

Eleven acres of new linear public park space downtown as we continue to grow and our population continues to grow and we continue to have these public activities downtown.

We want to continue that open space that's free for our public to enjoy and do and program in the way that they do Big Spring Park, right?

Uh so that was very important to us.

And then this is a big piece of of what check the box is three pre-cast pedestrian bridges.

These will be more concrete, they're they're not the sky bridge type, but it provides that connectivity.

It provides connectivity along Pinhook Creek on the west side of the Von Braun Center, certainly back into Big Spring Park.

It provides connectivity into the medical district, and I'll show some importance to that also provides direct connectivity to our Mill Creek project in partnership with the Huntsville Housing Authority and what's happening there from affordability and into the low mill district.

All comes through this area, and this is a choke point that uh actually helps or shouldn't help, but it causes flooding up in this area.

The result of this project will help reach uh flooding improvements all the way up into that Oakwood Andrew Jackson area.

Uh so it's far reaching, other than what you will see visually in and around uh what you see on the map here.

Uh a new concrete railroad bridge is a big piece of that.

So there's a wooden trestle bridge there at heart of Huntsville, uh, just behind the VBC, kind of the embassy suites.

It's uh extremely outdated and will have to be replaced at some point.

But but the design of that has very close timber piles in the channel that creates essentially a a weir type scenario that allows water to back up into downtown and further north.

Uh the new bridge clear spans a large portion of that, allowing more water flow to go through that during heavy and flood type conditions.

Um and then the last piece uh as you can see is the two pedestrian bridges, uh, one crossing over uh US 231 and the one the other spanning over US 431 Alabama Highway 53.

Before you leave that, yes.

Oh, yeah.

Could you go back and explain what the various colors mean?

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

So the the orange that you see, oranges red is the actual channel improvements.

Uh so if you were to drive to Clinton Avenue, get to the bridge, and you look both directions there, just the west side, and you see what that channel looks like today.

We're adding almost 90 feet of width of that channel.

So very significant widening.

Uh but what we're doing with that is what we call a high water bench.

So you know, during a day like today, the stream restoration would be uh putting in uh some uh natural stone and aquatic life of plants to create what you see today to be that channel restoration to allow aquatic life, both vegetation and and birds and feet uh fish type aquatic species.

The channel widening that you will see under a non-flood type condition will be dry.

So you will see meandering greenways.

That is the linear park, and you see that in Memphis.

You see it in a part of the Riverwalk area of Nashville and so on and so forth, to where it's a dual purpose.

That's what you kind of see in the orange area.

The green that you see is the greenway network that will be added within the project.

So you see it uh connecting to to Thrasher Fountain that goes between the embassy suites and the Von Braun Center.

So if you're in Big Spring Park and want to go to Low Mill, you would take that uh seamlessly.

Um there's a connection that goes uh between the Huntsville Utility substation that everybody's aware of downtown and the medical mall there that you see pointing to the right about midway the screen.

Uh that goes directly into the Davis Circle area, the Twicki Helm area into the medical district.

Um the importance of that is Huntsville Hospitals, you're well aware, is a partner with our Mill Creek Redevelopment Project to where Huntsville Hospital is building affordable housing for Huntsville Hospital home that they will put employees to give them opportunity for advancement at Huntsville Hospital.

The completion of this project will allow someone wanting to take advantage of that opportunity and work at Huntsville Hospital and be in a position to where they would qualify to participate in Huntsville hospitals on affordable housing program.

They could go from home to work at Huntsville Hospital and not have a car, not be car dependent.

Electric bikes are one of the fastest growing modes of transportation in America right now.

They are now getting to the point of 23 miles an hour and over 100 miles on single chart.

So we we as a society is going to continue to see that advance and use that daily.

This is part of our plan to allow our citizens that want to traverse that way.

And in one of my last slides, you'll see think of this as our transit hub for multimodal.

And I'll show you the linkage and projects that we are working on that will connect to this.

And then there where you see the sign of 431 that's going up in the Broglam branch, that's right in the heart of the Mill Creek project.

So that public park would have connectivity back into downtown, then finally to the southern piece, as you see, connecting back into the low mill neighborhood.

And uh public housing that Huntsville Housing Authority manages.

So what we believe that it does is provide a lot of linkage uh not only in and around this area, but as we continue to build out this network, you'll see how far reaching that it will be.

So this is the one piece that is worth, in my opinion, the sky bridge, two sky bridges, and that's why they're in here.

Uh it was one of the pieces that actually qualified us for the 20 million dollars.

Uh so between 2018 and 2022, there were 35 automotive uh crashes or accidents involving a pedestrian or someone on a bicycle within this project uh limits.

Uh six accidents unfortunately resulted in pedestrian fatalities.

Twenty-four of those 35 were serious injuries requiring an overnight or longer hospital stay.

Okay.

And what you have in this area is our two most critical arterials for the whole, not just Huntsville, but Madison County and North Alabama, being I-565, US 231, U.S.

431 intersection, right in the heart of downtown, like you have in most large urban cities.

Your your networks come into the city and go out.

Um this is something that is very alarming, and we really uh applaud planning and engineering team uh for you know just really seeing how serious this was.

Since 1988, this same area has uh had 46 pedestrian fatalities.

People trying to get from these connected neighborhoods into downtown or working downtown and trying to get back to their neighborhood.

This area has accounted since 1988 for 37 percent of all pedestrian fatalities in the city.

It's a major issue in our city.

We don't want any pedestrian fatalities regardless of where they're at, uh, but this is definitely a hot spot for that.

Uh through our modeling uh and just the connectivity, we know that this project will complete in this single phase.

It will get better as we continue the greenways further into other parts of the community.

Uh modeling shows we will decrease pedestrian bicycle crashes, those interactions by almost 60 percent.

So the the last two things that uh is really checking the box for this federal grant is encourage investments and create jobs.

So the area in red is the park project, uh, all the components that we just went through.

And then the yellow boxes that you see are the new investments that are occurring in and around this project.

Uh certainly you see front row uh new investments with multifamily and small business ownership in the low mill district, uh Mill Creek, the reinvestments you're seeing along Davis Circle and the Medical District, uh the constellation redevelopment.

So I think the part that we have seen so far, and we've not even delivered it to the community yet.

But securing the grant provided confidence in private investment.

Uh, I will can tell you our grant and us moving forward this was one of HUD's primary decisions on our choice neighborhood grant is being able to provide that ladder of opportunity for those who will future live there who most likely will not have an automobile, and being able to be independent to get into the Central Business District for a job and get back to the Mill Creek community.

So to date, active or completed, that's open, is $800 million of private investment that's occurred due to us pushing this project forward.

That's $7 million of new property tax being produced, half of that going to our school system.

So this type of thing matters in a several different ways.

I know that it's an expensive project.

So you start to see the network that you start to build out in multimodal, either from pedestrian using a traditional bicycle or the e-box that I spoke of, the downtown green circle is within the project limits of today.

The UAH project that's in design, I mean the home, excuse me, the homes avenue multimodal complete street project that's in design will connect to this and will terminate in research park.

That is funded and is moving forward.

The North Huntsville Beltline Greenway that we are working on, that we've been having public involvement meetings, and uh we are currently with that consultant getting a uh scope and fee we'll be bringing to City Council for the design of the first phase of that up near Alabama AM and working south.

So when that is finished, it connects to this.

The greenway around Brahm Springs and some that's around John Hunt Park, there's a small missing link, and this being one little piece of that that when we're complete, you would be able to go from very soon UAH research park, Alabama AM or downtown, to a soccer game or South Star Music Festival without an auto.

And then as we continue to go under airport road and get into rails to trails and things, you'll be able to go to Ditto.

Uh and then certainly the Blossomwood, the medical district getting into the Blossomwood neighborhood and then picking up them on a St.

Oak Trail and getting up to there.

So it's more than just a sky bridge, it's more than just a flood mitigation.

That's what we're working on today.

But as we look 10 years from now, this will be the network that this project will link everyone together.

Thank you, Mr.

Davis.

The overarching question a lot of folks want to know is can we use this money another way?

If we take this money, is it locked into this?

Does it have to go to this, or can we redistribute it elsewhere?

It's a great question.

Um for the federal grant, no.

Uh as I said, it's it's a park uh or it's a raised grant program fund application.

So that federal fund program is to help cities and communities implement projects like ours.

So it's very specific in what those federal dollars can go fund.

Uh and then uh what about our local match funds?

So we have been very slowly putting back flood mitigation funds and some FEMA uh dollars we have to go do the Pinhook Creek.

I don't think anyone would argue, you know in 2007 was probably the worst one.

Uh those three feet of water in Huntsville ER.

We're not going to move the emergency room.

But those flood conditions and to we go make improvements are not going to change.

Umstellation, where Constellation was at, where the old uh heart of Huntsville Mall was in 2007, had six feet of water in the parking lot.

I remember it was on the front page of the Huntsville Times and it was over the front windshield of cars.

Um we've had flooding in Oakwood and Andrew Jackson, to we go widen this area, which that's the majority of the funding.

That's the majority of the project cost.

Um we have been very quietly or slowly, if you will, not trying to put a burden on either capital plan and defer a road project or defer other needs in the community.

So we've been saving, you know, since uh um really about 2015-2016.

So in hopes of being able to uh secure grant funding.

This project will be constructed over three years.

Uh I can tell you that both planning and engineering have active other federal grant project uh applications in that we qualify to get more funding for for the other phases.

So we'll see how that goes.

Um our lobbyists in DC is helping us with some of that right now.

Uh so this first phase that we're doing is the channel widening.

Should you approve this tonight?

The very first thing we will do is start uh the most critical piece for you know public safety, which is flood mitigation.

And then at that as we roll into that pro that piece, that piece will probably take about 14 or 15 months.

We will still be seeking other possible Federal funds.

So that that funding that we have in this grant funding, diverting it to the school system or that you know, a road project, we would just have to forego accepting the funds instead of being able to ask to transfer it to a different use.

And please explain to folks the ramifications of a no vote on this and what that would signal to our Federal Government in terms of future funding.

You know, that's a that's a great question.

Um that I would not have thought to explain to Council.

So thanks for asking.

Um, as while I can't 100 percent say this is guaranteed what will happen, um jobs before coming to the city was an engineer plan from which we wrote grant proposals for people.

Uh when you submit a Federal or State grant, you as a community are saying, we really want to do this.

And if you see our project to add value to our community so much that you're willing to select us as a winner, we will carry forward.

Um the the issue on the Federal side is these awards have been booked, if you will.

They've been booked, they're publicly announced on the Federal level.

So to turn those back in, you have the right to do that.

I'm not trying to put you in a corner to say you you don't have the right to say no.

Uh but what we have to do is we go send a message to the Federal Government saying we've changed our mind.

What happens is when we say, yeah, but we really like this other project, you know, it's almost like crying wolf a little bit.

It's like you send this message of, well, will they really fall through next time?

You know, so you create doubt.

And Federal grants, it's probably one of the most competitive things that you can do as a community.

They are so competitive.

Um, I see the list that you know when you see the all the applications, you see the winners and losers.

There's some projects that you know, we'll read Dennis Madison, Kathy Martin, and I'm like, how in the world that community and that project made it to the floor?

It's a fantastic project.

That just tells you how competitive it is.

So certainly you want to stay in good light and in good company, uh, but it at the end of the day it's this city council's decision.

Thank you, sir.

Any further discussion, Ms.

Watkins?

I do.

So, Mr.

Davis, this was approved in 2022?

Yes, ma'am.

That's when we were notified of the award.

So it really, it was like November.

So before we really got official letters to start being able to move forward was early 23.

So the park approved this before now.

The park was approved.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

Yes, ma'am.

So what we you've had to wait on uh to elaborate is it's for construction only.

So once we were notified we were going to be able to receive 20 million dollars to help with our project, then we went ahead, because we've been slowly working on this without Federal funds, you know, it's a hard project to do, because there's a lot of stuff that I went through.

So once we knew where he was getting that, we hurried and been working to finish plans, get permits from Aldoc, get permits from the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers so we could go to Federal Highway and say, we are ready to construct.

And that's what you've proven tonight is they have sent us our grant agreement saying you are now ready to receive this funding from us.

Thank you, Ms.

Watkins.

Thank you, Ms.

Watkins, Mr.

Klain.

Mr.

Davis, I'm kind of piggybacking off of uh President Meredith.

Just so I understand the sky bridge itself, that's federal, not city money, is that correct?

Yes.

So that that's that's where the majority of those funds are going.

That's right.

Okay.

And uh in answer kind of in response to a concern a gentleman in the audience had raised, uh, if we don't decide to scrap this, we don't do the sky bridge.

We don't get to take the money and reallocate it elsewhere.

It it goes back to D.C., is that correct?

So let me it's sort of like is it uh using your question?

So let me let me let me answer that a different way.

So I walked you through the whole scope of work.

This is the project that was submitted to the Federal Government saying this is our application, this is our project.

If you choose us, this is what we'll deliver to our community.

The connectivity, the greenway, the flood mitigation, the linear part, the list goes on.

Let's say that you accept this 20 million dollars.

And then you come back afterwards as a city council as we get into construction of this.

You say we decided that we're not going to do the sky bridges over the two U.S.

highways and reduce the fatalities.

It was one of the things that scored the highest, gave us the most points for this project.

You have the right to do that.

You direct us, you know, what to do.

And you ask us to move forward.

We would have to send those funds back.

They would be severe penalty, possibly with interest in that.

So I just want to be clear in that direction.

Use it or lose it, pretty much.

That's right.

Yes, sir.

Well, and once you use it, you must complete the project.

Okay.

Just looking at the history, I think it's kind of unique to notice that this project, I think was awarded to us under the Biden administration, and it's still continuing under the Trump administration.

So it seems to have a little bipartisan support up there.

Well, and it does.

And one of the things that I believe we've had some uh communities in Alabama recently have this same program, their resources pulled.

Um I think the uniqueness with our project is under both administration, one was a raise grant, the other one was a bill grant.

They're both the same pot of money with uh strategies of of what the results should be.

Um our project has scored up from a point system very, very well from both strategies.

So that bipartisanship of, hey, this project qualifies under either vision.

Uh I think it says we have got a really good project that will add a ton of value to our community for decades to come.

Thank you, Mr.

Kling.

Mr.

Little?

Yeah, thanks, Mr.

President.

I just wanted to say thanks for that great presentation.

I've certainly heard from a few citizens about the bridge and once I explain it not as eloquently as you that this is of a small piece to really a big project, the flood mitigation, the greenways, the connectivity, other parts of town, Mill Creek, you know.

So let's just wait till you know 10 years, we'll be like, ah, now I know why we're doing this, you know.

I mean, it's a long, heavy lift, and y'all have been working on it probably since my kids were in diapers, it sounds like.

You know, so um I just curious, like with once the creeks uh cleaned out, can we shoot the hook?

Like they do over in Georgia, shoot the hoot hooch.

We'll create something.

Uh I think water and we float down it in our air tubes.

The the the one thing that I think will help with the community to be able to visualize what this project uh the sky bridges will be the last thing we build.

It's the last piece we will bid.

So as you see those channel improvements, you start to see that linear park and things, you really start to grasp this is more than just two bridges over two S U.

S.

highways.

Though those become pretty minimal in scale to the vast amount of the project scope.

Right.

There's a lot of dead area back there behind the BBC and along the creek that will now be, once this is all done, really nice, accessible, you know.

I think it will be one of the most active parks in this in the city.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Little.

Dr.

Robinson.

It's interesting to me as I look at this slide.

Um, you have a number of bullet points there of lots of good amenities and um renovations that will be done that will be opening up new public space and greenways.

The flood mitigation alone is just a really, really good project.

Replacing the railroad bridge, I've heard about that from the railroad authority for years.

That needs to be done.

Um but all the attention goes to that last 1,100 feet.

Um and I think we we need to, though, not discount that 1,100 feet.

Because I I've heard the South the parkway referred to in some areas as the Great Wall of China in Huntsville.

I we see it in South Huntsville, where on the eastern side you got all the residential, and then you got all the commercial on the west side.

And how do we safely get people to move across there?

One of the projects that South Huntsville Maine did a few years ago was a pedestrian study, and we worked with Dennis Madsen on it.

Um you just can't get there from here.

And so that the parkway then is functioning in a way that it blocks economic activity, it access to health care, access to employment, and particularly in this area where you have two State Roads crossing, it's no wonder we've had 46 fatalities there.

Over a third of our traffic accidents or our fatalities are happening here.

That alone demonstrates we need a safe way to cross.

And the only safe way to cross is with some kind of a suspension bridge.

But what this plan does is it not only creates that safe crossing, it then also creates safe connectivity to economic opportunities, employment opportunities, health care, housing, entertainment, all the things we want to have happen.

So this, I think it needs to be made very clear to the public that this was a really well thought, thought out project with some really significant justification for it.

And while it's going to be the last thing we do, I think it will be an important part of the rest of a really important project.

Yeah, and this is naturally our divide between our central business district, medical district, downtown, and some legacy neighborhoods west of the parkway that is seeing revitalization and new families coming in.

Mill Creek will add 900 new residents in the coming years.

But it's our version of what Birmingham dealt with between their downtown and the BJCC side.

And when Federal Highway went through to wide Knife 5920 through the downtown, that project just to do about four blocks underneath to open that new interstate was $60 million.

We're getting a large bang for the buck to solve a very similar solution.

I know it's a lot of money, but again, connectivity is huge, but the flood mitigation has a reach that's three miles north of here.

So thank you for your consideration.

Thank you, Dr.

Robinson.

Mr.

Kling.

Well, uh I like the whole concept of this.

Mayor, you, uh Mr.

Davis, all the planning, all the staff that came together on this.

Uh this is, you know, a type of investment that we're having in the center part of the city.

Huntsville is getting to be a nice area.

It is a nice area in the central part of the city.

And you look at other large metropolitan areas, uh, people are moving out to the suburbs.

We're moving outward, of course, but uh our inner areas, you know, are very desirable neighborhoods that we have.

And uh I remember uh in the past, Low Mill, Merrimack, uh, that whole area where the old radio station used to be uh, it was just a flooded area, wasn't very pretty to look at.

Uh and once uh a very good Mexican restaurant moved out, that whole little complex uh that it was in just kind of folded up.

And uh to have this type of investment in the center part of our city uh, I think uh is a great plan for our future for this city.

And I like the fact we can grow outward, but still we can take care of inward.

We can have neighborhoods.

We could have affordable housing, we could have nice amenities uh for people in this area.

And uh again, I think as you pointed out, uh I'm sure we will be repeating it a lot.

Um if we don't do that component, then we lose the Federal funding and uh it goes elsewhere.

It can't be used elsewhere.

So I think that's something to communicate to the public.

This council is approving infrastructure after infrastructure projects.

I mean, we are folk laser-focused on utilities and transportation and drainage and all the things, recreation and public safety, police and fire precincts.

Uh so I commend you for approving those.

But I would tell you one of the two most requested things we get is advancing our public transit, which we are working on.

The new transit station was the first step of that.

But independent mobility, multimodal.

Uh, Ms.

Watkins, uh, we held held just a month or so ago kind of public involvement on the North Huntsville Belt line.

And we're just getting public comment, right, of how we would develop in and around it as connectivity.

And nobody in that meeting, and a ton of people showed up.

They didn't care about that study piece.

All they kept asking is when will this be built?

When will this get constructed?

You know, because I want to go use this.

So that independence of mobility options is what to continue to grow the city, and but this is the grand central station of that to go north, south, east, and west.

Thank you.

Any further deliberation?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say nay.

Motion carries.

Thank you, Mr.

Davis.

Council members, thank you for the confidence in this.

We will as we move forward, we certainly will uh provide periodic updates both to you and to the public on how we're we're advancing with the project, okay?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Brings us to 20i, which is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement between the City of Huntsville, Alabama, and Skipper Consulting Incorporated for traffic study for I 65 Interchange Project No.

71-25-SP31.

Chair will make the motion.

Second.

Second by Dr.

Robinson.

Mr.

Davis.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council President.

So Council Members is I believe you are well aware.

We have been working uh quite probably 18 months now on the Limestone County Master Plan update that started from a 2008 update that's allowed significant growth in District 5 in the Western Corridor.

Um I think in the last 10 years, we put about 16,000 new jobs just at exit three.

Um but as we continue to grow a new school, we'll start construction out there next year, uh things are really starting to develop as a true fabric of this city.

You know, it is felt, and you have dealt with it, Council Mayor, that times it's felt a little bit disconnected because we've, you know, we've had to build things.

But now as you are starting to see density come in out there, um, we want to look at, and we've already had some preliminary conversation with Mark Bartley at Federal Highway Alabama, Director Cooper, Director of Aldot.

But if you really think about as we grow that way, there's primarily two corridors to get in and out of there, and that's U.S.

Highway 72 and I-565.

Those two exits at I-65 are seven miles apart.

So we uh threw the idea out to Federal Highway and OLDOT uh just to see if they would, you know, be supportive of not an immediately constructed, but for us to do a court horse study to determine a new exit that would allow an additional east-west thoroughfare almost through the heart of that city limits of the city as it develops.

And they said, absolutely, we see that as a need.

Doesn't mean we're going to build it.

It's a Federal highway.

Uh but what we like to do is help provide the plans and the forward thinking for them, and then go advocate for Federal Highway Now to receive Federal funds to go do that.

But the hardest thing for them is to do the planning and because they don't have a lot of funds for that.

So what this would be would be for skipper consulting to work with our engineering department, but also Federal Highway and OLDOT to determine an appropriate location between those two exits and what an east-west connector would be from I-65 back working to Greenbrier Parkway and then back to County Line Road.

I will tell you probably the most logical location between County Line Road and Greenbar Parkway or Mooresville Road, at least, is going to be old Highway 20.

You know, we've we five-lined it, but it terminates at Mooresville Road.

It doesn't go any further west.

So there's this missing link.

Uh and that is what we will really be focused on.

And as we get into that, uh certainly I'll have Skipper Consulting and Kathy Martin to give a presentation of this council well before we finish, and then a final update.

Um but the contract amount is 43,000, and that would come through, that would be our transportation planning funds, is how that would be paid for.

Are we talking about extending it out to roughly where Garrett is crosses over?

That's probably a a little too close to I-565.

So a little too south.

Yeah.

So essentially what this study will do, uh, Councilman Merritt would look somewhere between I-565 and the Huntsville Browns Ferry exit.

Okay.

Um it's probably more south, more closer to I-565 than it is Huntsville Browns Ferry.

Uh, but there's distances.

There's, you know, you've got the Garrett Road that goes over 65 from a site distance issue.

You're probably a little north of that.

Uh but we will most likely have at least three alternatives of locations, and then pass that off to Federal Highway.

What Federal Highway would do is pick what is referred to as a preferred location or the primary locations.

So this study will evaluate the three various ones, and then they'll pick up the from an engineering perspective will actually work, and then we would take those locations and how do we get that back into Huntsville to serve our citizens in our industry.

Thank you, sir.

Any further uh discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say nay.

Motion carries.

Thank you, Mr.

Davis.

Thank you, Councilman.

Brings us to 20, which is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement between the City of Huntsville and Caroline Swoop doing business as King's King's Tree Studios for national registration of historic places nominations of the Magnolia Terrace and Brothers Heights neighborhoods.

Chair will make the motion.

Second.

Second by Mr.

Kling.

Mr.

Davis, I think I'm almost done.

Council members, again, Shane Davis, Director of Urban Economic Development.

So we at times of time our planning and historic uh office of the planning department bring you these type of studies.

They typically come at the request of residents in these neighborhoods, and that is what we have before you.

So this would be using King Street studios, who we have used in the State Alabama Historic Commission routinely uses to do some historical documentation and study of these four areas to determine if they would qualify.

And we we wouldn't bring this before you if we didn't think that we had a really good chance for that to occur to be placed on the National Registration of Historic Places and be recognized, these neighborhoods be recognized for their influence and significant to the history of Huntsville.

So should you approve this, we will uh let them go in.

They will be interviewing, taking history uh of maps and just artifacts and just being able to develop a story of how this is part of the fabric of Huntsville.

We certainly will show that to the council when we are finished, but ultimately we will submit that to the National Register and hopefully receive that designation for these neighborhoods.

Thank you, sir.

Ms.

Watkins.

Thank you, Mr.

Davis.

Um I have a comment.

Yes, ma'am.

Not a question, but I'm just a little bit concerned when we label neighborhoods, historic places.

Sometimes that increases the property values significantly because people like to live in historic districts because they are maintained and they have the significant value of being historic.

But what I don't want to happen in that neighborhood is I don't want the property values to go up so high that they can't afford the property taxes.

We would agree with you.

So what I do want to clarify, you bring up a really good point that we get that question uh a lot.

So this would not put it in a historic district, as is portions of the downtown that has all these rules and regulations that causes property values and the cost of living to maintain escalate.

This would simply be a recognition of its historic significance, and then they would be the placards like you see on the street to memorialize that.

Uh but it would not go in, quote, a historic district to where there's some standard that property owners must maintain if not they get fined that would you know cause what your concern is.

But but thank you for pointing that out because I should have kind of pointed out the difference.

Yeah, we're we're simply wanting uh National Historic Registry to recognize what we believe the significance to our community such that we can publicly recognize that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Watkins.

Mr.

Klain.

Ms.

Watkins, I hadn't been on the receiving end with these uh national registry uh neighborhoods within the district I represent.

Uh overall, they have been awesome positive.

No one is going to tell anybody what color to paint their house.

Nobody is going to do anything further than what any other homeowner, any other neighborhood would have.

As uh Mr.

Davis said, it's recognition of the history.

It will be a source of pride.

Uh people from the old mill villages were in low-income areas, and now they're they're proud of where they come from, their heritage of themselves and their parents, and uh uh I'm uh I am going to be talking to you guys about seeing if we can uh if we could do something with Westlawn in the future.

But again, it's a very good positive, and and I applaud you for uh uh being able to have this come, this process coming into your district.

Thank you, Mr.

Kling.

Any further discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say nay.

Motion carries.

Thank you, Councilmembers.

Thank you, Mr.

Davis.

Um 20 P is a resolution to name the extension of State Route 255 to Bob Wade Lane.

Move to approve the resolution.

Second.

Motion by Dr.

Robinson, second by Mr.

Kling.

Um, Ms.

Watkins.

So um I held this item because I need to explain what is going on.

Yes, ma'am.

Uh in 2002, the Huntsville City Council passed a resolution to name the uh MLK to extend it from 53 to Pulaski to Pulaski to the Northern Bypass.

And that was sent to the State House, and they came back in June of 2003, but they didn't do their due diligence.

Somehow the ball was dropped, and they said from Pulaski, I mean from 53 to Pulaski.

It did not come over to the Northern Bypass.

So however that happened, it was not caught.

I don't know why.

I wasn't on the City Council then.

But once this was on the news, I received numerous phone calls from the residents that live on Bob Wade Lane, and it's 19 residents that live there.

And um on the September 11th, I had a meeting with all the residents here at City Council.

And we sat down and talked, found out that they didn't know anything about it.

They found out when the news reported it.

I met with members of the Bone family, and anybody that knows Bob Wade Lane knows that Bone family lived along Bob Wade Lane.

Some still live there, and several other families as well live there.

And they expressed that they wanted to keep the name because it was part of their heritage, it was part of their legacy.

And um, some of the members of the Bone family explained.

Two brothers of the Bone family established their farms there, their land there, and they left this legacy to their families.

And they did not want this name changed because they said they grew up there and they want to keep it.

Now, Huntsville has a history of changing history, and I don't like that.

I I especially knew how they felt when Johnson High School's name was changed, and Councilwoman Robinson was on the school board at that time, and I'll never forget at that meeting.

I felt like nothing I said was heard along with other people, because we said, why are you changing the name?

And they said, because Johnson is a failing school.

And I remember saying, well, why is Grisson getting the name changed?

And Councilwoman Robinson slammed her hand down on the counter and said, because Grisson is in a failing school and they're not getting the name change.

And I felt small because no one listened to the constituents.

And this is not to throw any shade or anything, it's to explain.

When you rip history away from people and you take their legacy away from them, you essentially say you don't matter, and we don't want to remember you.

Now, Huntsville is growing fast, and I appreciate that.

But for the people who have lived here all their lives, have been here since was born here, lived here, you cannot just keep taking things away from them and rewriting history.

And after I talked to those family members and residents that lived on the street, and I can I can send you all the emails I got, because I got numerous emails, and they were adamant about what they wanted.

And I had to go and stand in front of a group of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity to explain them why I was not supporting MLK name being changed.

So here we are.

So for those reasons, I um asked and got um support for it to stay Bobway Lane.

So I wanted to bring that before the council, let the public know why we're doing it.

It's because they deserve to keep their legacy.

Thank you, Ms.

Watkins.

Mr.

Kling.

I uh agree and uh I support your efforts.

And I know you had a lot of meetings and did good things, so I just want to say I'm glad to support it.

I do have one technical question as far as jurisdiction.

Do we are we in good form to pass this, or do we actually need a resolution that we need to send to the to the legislative delegation?

The bottom line is we want to do what what uh councilwoman Watkins is talking about, but do we have the authority because it's a State Road or uh does it have to go through the legislature?

Mr.

Davis.

We have to do whatever we need to do.

So, Councilman Kling, we are following uh as Ms.

Watkins stated what happened in 2002 before the legislature can enact to give it a local name designation.

Uh we as a body in here in Huntsville since the road is our city limits, need a resolution.

That's what you are voting on tonight to give the legislature to say this body, this council is requesting that.

Uh we're not we're not naming a state road.

We're just telling the legislature that we you know we want that to happen.

And what we're trying to do is to do that before the session will start next year.

Now, one of the things I do want to point out is um the official name localized, it um will not occur, you know, it will not become State Route 255 and locally Bob Wade Lane to the roads complete and open, uh which will which will be about summer of next year.

It will not occur, you know, it will not become State Route 255 and locally Bob Wade Lane to the roads complete and open, uh, which will which will be about summer of next year.

Uh we've we're maintaining the the two-lane section of Bob Wade, so everybody is getting mail and access to their homes.

Uh but you will I don't want you to think you will see signage go up if the legislature you know probably files this bill really early, should you move forward that you'll see a sign go up in February or March, you know, right after the session starts.

Okay.

Good job.

Thank you.

Any further discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say nay.

Motion carries.

I think we're done, Mr.

Davis.

No, not well, I mean up for him.

Yeah.

Um 20 S is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement between the City of Huntsville and Lambert contracting LLC for the City of Huntsville, City of Huntsville Streets Concrete and 88 upgrades fiscal year 25, phase four.

Chair will make the motion.

Second.

Second by Dr.

Robinson.

Mr.

Hamilton.

Councilman uh Councilmembers, what's uh John Hamilton, City Administrator?

The the item that's before you at 20S is really a companion contract that goes with the item you already consolidated approved at 20 R.

Uh, but uh it's useful to kind of talk about those together because they're they they go together to to technically we can't allow you to talk about R since it's already been been dealt with.

But I need to be able to explain exactly what S is.

And S is it isn't a thing without R.

And so I'm just explaining what S is accomplishing, okay.

It's it's two separate contracts that have to work together.

Neither of them can exist without the other.

Okay.

And so what S is repairing the concrete that surrounds the streets that we're repaving.

So what you approved at R was the repaving of certain streets in the City of Huntsville.

Part of our repaving program is fixing the curbs the gutters, the ADA ramps at the intersections, those crosswalks and things like that.

And so what you have seen in the past is a single contract that does all those things, all the assault and all the concrete associated with the repaving of a street.

What we have uh been able to develop here recently, and what we've uh seen is actually getting better pricing when we segregate those two things.

But it is not good to do one without the other.

You really have to do both, and that's why they are both on the agenda together.

So you have already approved R, which is the asphalt component of repaving 50 streets in the City of Huntsville.

What is now before you is the concrete work that goes along with that.

So two separate companies will be out there working on the same 50 streets to get them fully maintained.

Uh and so what you will typically see is this contract, is this contractor out ahead of the contractor that will perform the work that you already approved at 20R.

So you'll see somebody come to your street, they will begin fixing any broken sidewalks, they'll bring the ramps into ADA compliance, they will make sure the crosswalks and all the concrete stuff that surrounds the street is solved, and then normally pretty quickly a few days after they complete is then when you'll see the contractor come in for the contract you already approved.

Uh but those two things together equal the city's repaving program.

Uh and that is important because part of our our mandate under uh under Federal law is to work to bring all of our infrastructure into ADA compliance.

So when you look at the 1990 capital plan, you see a separate funding stream specifically for it says Pro Ag, which is kind of the Federal designation of that program.

It is an important way in which we bring ADA compliance to our infrastructure.

The most effective way to do that is to marry that with our repaving program.

Uh so that that money that you approved at the budget approval a few weeks ago, uh that one I think is 1.5 million dollars directly supports the overall repaving program for for city streets, and this contract that is before you at 20s is that component for for this phase four repaving uh project.

Thank you, Mr.

Hamilton.

Any further discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

All right.

All those opposed say nay.

Motion carries.

Brings us to new business items for introduction.

21A is the introduction of an ordinance annexing 4.65 acres of land lying on the east side of Hillcrest Avenue Northwest and north of U.S.

Highway 72 West.

21B is the introduction of an ordinance to declare property as surplus and authorizing and directing its conveyance to the land trust of North Alabama Incorporated.

At this particular time, I am going to vacate uh the seat of President, invite Ms.

Chandrika.

Chandrika Edwards uh to to come come sit here, or at least in the mayor's seat, and we will get elections for City Council officers taken care of.

Thank you, Councilman Meredith, to the Council, Mayor Battle, Chandrika Edwards, City Clerk.

Good evening.

At this time, I will open the floor for nominations for the Office of President of the City Council.

I nominate John Meredith for President.

Councilwoman Watkins, I think.

I nominate John Meredith for President.

I nominate Jenny Robinson for President.

Okay.

I move that nominations be closed.

Okay.

Can I get a motion?

And a second, please.

Councilman Kling made the motion.

And is the second?

Dr.

Robinson.

Thank you.

All right.

We will start with Councilman Meredith.

We'll do a roll call vote.

Councilman Kling, how do you vote?

Abstain.

Dr.

Robinson?

Abstain.

Councilman Meredith.

Yes.

Or aye.

Thank you.

Councilwoman Watkins?

Yes.

Councilman Little.

Abstain.

And it does not pass.

We will now take a roll call vote on Dr.

Robinson.

Councilman Kling, how do you vote?

Aye.

Dr.

Robinson?

Aye.

Councilman Meredith.

Abstain.

Councilwoman Watkins?

No.

And Councilman Little.

Aye.

And it does pass Councilwoman Watkins is now the President of the City Council.

No, no.

I'm sorry.

Excuse me.

You gotta be promoted.

Quickly.

I am so sorry.

Go ahead, Councilwoman Watkins.

I'm gonna let you speak.

I'm sorry.

You about to say that.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Excuse me.

Dr.

Robinson, thank you so much.

Thank you for the correction.

Is now the President of the City Council.

Congratulations, Dr.

Robinson.

I will yield the floor to you for the election of Pro Tem and third presiding officer.

Thank you, Ms.

Edwards, and thank you, fellow council members, for your support.

I look forward to serving you.

The floor is now open for nominations for President.

Michelle Watkins.

Michelle Watkins has been nominated, and I will nominate uh John Meredith.

Second.

Is there a motion to close?

Oh, motion to close.

Second.

All in favor of closing elections?

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed.

The elections are now the nominations are now closed.

We will move on to the election.

The first election will be for Councilmember.

Councilmember Watkins, thank you.

Mr.

Meredith, how do you vote?

Aye.

Mr.

Kling.

Abstain.

Mr.

Little.

Abstain.

Ms.

Watkins.

Definitely vote and I for myself.

And the chair abstains.

The motion does not, the nomination does not pass.

We will then move on to the nomination of John Meredith.

Mr.

Meredith, how do you vote?

Is it possible not to want the office?

If you now, Mr.

Meredith, I will I would just say that I I nominated you because of your years of experience to be able to conduct a meeting on short notice in absence of the president.

Take someone with that experience, and that's why I have nominated you.

I hope you would consider.

Mr.

Meredith, I want to take the position if you weren't good enough to be president.

You're not good enough to be pro-Tim.

Well, I I appreciate both sentiments.

I would like to step back from leadership.

Um I'm sorry I didn't mention that when my name was called, but I was kind of caught up in the whirlwind, to be honest.

But I would rather not be a part of leadership over this next year.

So I nominate Bill Kling.

Second on that.

I think Bill would be great.

Wait a second.

I want to vote.

I want to vote.

No, just a minute.

Hang on, just a minute.

So uh Ms.

Watkins, uh the vote on Ms.

Watkins did not pass.

Mr.

Meredith has declined.

Mr.

Kling has been nominated.

Are there any other nominations for Pro Tem?

In that case, I move that the nominations be closed.

We second it.

Yes.

All in favor, please indicate.

Aye.

Any opposed.

The nominations are now closed again.

Is it possible to draft a council member with a majority of the council, even if he votes against his own nomination?

Mr.

Kling, you don't get out of it that is.

No, no, no.

I'll call by Mr.

Meredith.

The nomination of Mr.

Bill Kling for President Pro Tem of the Huntsville City Council is on the floor, and we will proceed with that nomination.

Mr.

Meredith, how do you vote?

Aye.

Mr.

Kling, how do you vote?

Aye.

Ms.

Watkins?

Yes.

Mr.

Little?

Yes.

Aye.

And the Chair votes aye.

You are unanimously elected Pro Tim of the City Council.

We will now congratulate you.

Indeed.

And thank you for your willingness to serve.

And Mr.

Mayor to thank you for your consideration.

Yes.

We will now move on to nominate the floor is now open for nominations for a third presiding officer.

I nominate David.

David Little.

David Little.

I nominate John Meredith.

At this point, we will close the nomination.

I move that nominations be closed.

Second.

All in favor, please indicate.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any post.

We will move to first to the nomination of David Little for third presiding officer of the Huntsville City Council.

Mr.

Meredith, how do you vote?

Aye.

Mr.

Kling, how do you vote?

Aye.

Ms.

Watkins.

Yes.

Mr.

Little.

Aye.

The Chair votes aye.

Mr.

Little, you are unanimously declared the third presiding officer of the Huntsville City Council.

We hope your mom is watching too.

Congratulations.

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who was willing to offer themselves for service.

We will our rules state that appointment and assignments for council committees takes place at our next regular meeting.

So that will take place at our next meeting.

Current assignments will remain in place until that meeting, and I will meet with council members individually to discuss their preferences regarding assignments.

So thank you again, all for your service, and thank you to everybody who is here tonight.

Mr.

Kling, would you like to do the honors?

Move to adjourn.

Thank you.

We are adjourned.