Happy New Year, everyone.

We'll call this meeting of the Huntsville City Council to order.

We welcome you to the first meeting of Huntsville City Council of 2026.

All Council members are present, and we welcome everyone who has joined us in the chambers or is who is in joint or who is joining us virtually on our many streaming platforms.

We will begin our meeting tonight with an invitation offered by Chaplain Jeff Warren, followed by a Pledge of Allegiance offered by Councilmember Michelle Watkins.

All who would like to stand and are able for the invocation and pledge, please do so now.

Thank you, Ms.

Robinson.

Good evening, everyone.

Happy new year.

Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, we thank you.

Thank you, thank you for this night that we have our first council meeting of 2026.

And we just pray that tonight will be a springboard of an entire year of prosperity and favor over our city, over the citizens of our city, over the businesses and the small businesses and the larger businesses of our city.

And we thank you for our form of government that we can elect officials that can represent the interests of the citizens that elect them.

We thank you for each and every man and woman that makes up this council.

We thank you for mere battle.

We pray, Father, for protection and good health over them.

We pray favor over them, Father.

We pray for their families to be protected tonight while they're here.

And we thank you, Lord, that we have an opportunity now to come together and to for the first meeting of the year to conduct the business of the city.

We thank you for the prosperity and for the favor that our city has enjoyed and for the um expansion that our city has enjoyed.

So, Father, as we look to that, we also know that we need to consider um how to best manage that.

And we thank you for these council members of Mere Battle that are in the business of doing that starting tonight for this year.

So, Father, we just pray tonight that everything will be done according to your will, that every decision that's made will be done with discernment and wisdom, that when differences of opinion come up, that we'll remember to celebrate those because that it's in differences of opinion that through compromise we can come up with the best decisions for everyone concerned in our city and for our citizens.

And we thank you again.

Be with us tonight, and we pray we'll do your will in all things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Our Huntsville Police chaplains provide a unique service for us in offering invocation for our meetings, and we thank them for their time here.

Council members, you have an agenda in front of you.

Are there any changes or additions of which anyone is aware?

Seeing none, the agenda will be approved as presented.

You also have the uh minutes of the regular meeting of City Council held on December 18th, 2025.

Are there any additions or changes to those minutes?

Seeing none, the minutes will stand approved.

Um we have the mayor has no special recognition, but council does have two special recognitions.

6A is a resolution honoring Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan David Schultz in recognition of his remarkable life of service and sacrifice and the enduring legacy he leaves to his family and community.

The chair moves for approval.

Second.

Second by Mr.

Little.

All in favor, please indicate opposed motion carries.

Mr.

Little and I will now make that presentation.

We'd like to ask the family to come up with that way.

And whereas Lieutenant Colonel Schultz was born in Anderson, Indiana, where his early life was marked by academic excellence, musical talent, and a passion for aviation, earning his pilot's license before graduating from the United States Air Force Academy in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science in Astronautical Engineering, later attaining a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Alabama.

And whereas Lieutenant Colonel Schultz faithfully served his country for 21 years in the United States Air Force and Alabama Air National Guard, amassing more than 2400 hours, including 423 combat hours across 100 sorties, and served with honor and operations Northern Watch, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom.

And where, as during his distinguished career as a fighter pilot, instructor pilot, flight commander, and squadron leader, Lieutenant Colonel Schultz was recognized for his exceptional skill and valor, receiving the bronze star with Oakleaf Cluster, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal, Aerial Achievement Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Clusters, and numerous campaign of service medals.

And whereas following his service military service, Lieutenant Colonel Schultz continued his patriotic commitment through his work in the defense industry as co-founder of Resolution LLC, the company that grew under his leadership to provide advanced technical services to the U.S.

government while also contributing significantly to the X-37 space plane program and other national security efforts.

Now I get to tell you about the really important stuff.

Whereas Lieutenant, I'm going to try and do defy without crying.

Whereas Lieutenant Colonel Schultz was guided by his Christian faith and his core values of integrity, service, and excellence, living out those principles as a devoted husband and to his wife, Mary Scott Hunter, and as a proud and loving father to his three children, Jonathan Hunter Nathan Schultz, and Claire Hunter Schultz, and Caleb Scott Hunter Schultz.

And whereas even in his final months, Lieutenant Colonel Schultz demonstrated remarkable courage and selflessness by participating in a groundbreaking clinical trial for brain cancer treatment and by donating his brain to medical research, thereby extending his lifelong service to others beyond his death.

And whereas the City Council and the Mayor of Huntsville, Alabama wish to extend their deepest sympathy to his wife, children, parents, siblings, and extended family, and to honor the enduring legacy of Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan David Schultz, whose life was defined by faith, valor, excellence, and love.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the City Council and the Mayor of Huntsville, Alabama do hereby pay tribute to the life and service of Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan David Schultz, U.S.

Air Force retired, and that a copy of this resolution be presented to his family in lasting remembrance of his extraordinary life and legacy.

I attended Jonathan's funeral, and I don't while this resolution is a small token on our part, it will never compare to that 21-gun salute and the F-16 flyover.

But we hope it is meaningful to you nonetheless.

Um we appreciate it so much, and we just want you to know how much that prayer was very meaningful.

We are so grateful to our leadership of the city, the mayor, this council.

Um, you know, John, you provided a city for us and a governance for us where we could build a business.

Um we are always going to endeavor to give back just like he did.

So thank you very much for this.

Thank you for sharing them with us.

I think we want to pictures.

I think you've got a lot of supporters here.

One that's just the family, and then we'll get to the last year, we have marvelous people serving this community, and these resolutions are just one small way we honor them.

We have another resolution now, and that is Resolution Six B.

Resolution Six B is a resolution recognizing Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated, an organization built on a foundation of unity, awareness, and community impact with a steadfast commitment to serving the City of Huntsville.

Motion to approve.

Motion for Mr.

Meredith, second from Mr.

Little, all in favor, please indicate aye.

Any opposed.

Motion carries.

Mr.

Meredith, would you like to present the resolution?

I would love to do that, and I would love to invite the members of Five Beta Sigma Fraternity to come on up.

Thank you, sir.

Wonderful to meet you guys.

Wonderful, just fine.

Thank you.

Nice to meet you.

Good to see you.

Great to see you.

Thank you, sir.

Oh, yeah, come to meet me here.

Thank you so much.

Pleasure to see you.

Congratulations.

Pleasure.

Congrats and thank you for your service.

Come on in here.

You can get in front of me.

You won't knock me off.

Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

I guess I better step down.

Come on in.

You can go in here.

Fine, fine.

Come on in there.

Good to see you.

Good to see you.

Good to see you.

Thank you, sir.

Good to see you.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Good to see you as well.

All right.

Wonderful group of good-looking guys.

I didn't have a blazer to match color, but I knew stay away from the red, so I stayed away from red.

Whereas the City Council and Mayor of the City of Huntsville, Alabama, wished to formally recognize Five Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated, an organization built on a foundation of unity, awareness, and community impact, with a steadfast commitment to serving the city of Huntsville.

And whereas Five Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated was founded on January 9th, 1914, and is grounded in the enduring principles of brotherhood, scholarship, and service, guided by the motto, culture for service and service for humanity, reflecting the longstanding legacy of dedication to empowering communities around the world.

And whereas the Huntsville chapter of Five Beta Sigma Fraternity has maintained a meaningful presence within the City of Huntsville since its founding in 1948 by Dr.

Vivian Murray Chambers and Brother Homer McCraw.

And continues to uphold their legacy through sustained and impactful service.

And whereas the Huntsville chapter of Five Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated actively engages in numerous impactful innovations or initiatives that serve the community at large, including raising awareness and support for breast cancer research through their tw through the 12th annual Pink Ribbon Ball, assisting with Saturday grocery distributions and providing breakfast to 150 to 225 or more families in partnership with House of Harvest, supplying meals to families in need during the Thanksgiving season and through Project Gobble Gobble, speaking with the students about roles in workforce development for the for the New Century High School STEM Engagement Initiative and providing monetary support for student STEM projects in New Century High School.

And whereas the chapter further extends its community outreach through additional initiatives, including food donations to the Patricia Haley Charity, participation in the Salvation Army Angel Tree Program, support for coats and cans for kids, and the Belk National Fundraiser.

The chapter also maintains its Blue Santa initiative, which for more than 15 years now has provided holiday gifts to disadvantaged families, as well as the adoption of the James Dawson Elementary School, named in honor of Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity Incorporated member James I.

Dawson, through which the chapter delivers mentorship and leadership development to students.

Whereas on January 9th, 2026, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated will celebrate its 112th anniversary, marking more than a century of historic legacy, enduring presence, and meaningful contributions to communities nationwide and within the City of Huntsville, Alabama.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the City Council and Mayor of the City of Huntsville do hereby honor and congratulate Five Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated for many great years of service, dedication, and positive impact within our city.

Thank you so very much.

Dr.

Collie, if you'll stay for a second, I'll give you the actual uh resolution.

I'll have to say the first step.

And everyone squeezing is time to handle the.

Thank you, gentlemen, for your service to the community.

Brings us to uh item 7, announcements and presentations.

As some of you may be aware, we have more than 60 boards and commissions that serve our city, to which the council and the mayor make appointments, and we have a presentation tonight from one of those commissions.

7A is a presentation from the Human Relations Commission regarding community services and initiatives provided by the board.

And it's very appropriate that we have that presentation, having just honored that sort of community service.

So welcome.

Thank you.

My name is Mark Moore.

I am the chair of Huntsville's Human Relations Commission.

I want to introduce ourselves to the community and uh give you an update on the work we have done in 2025 and what we plan to do in 2026.

Joining me tonight are Tracy Harris, Barbara Hughes, Tammy Hammond's Figures, Christopher Smith, and Tanya Perry from our organization.

We have members made up from each of the districts as well as several mayoral appointees.

So for the community, I'd like to give you our mission so you can fully understand what we do here in Huntsville.

It is the mission of the Human Relations Commission to contribute to the promotion of the rights of every individual in Huntsville, Alabama to be free from all forms of discrimination.

The HRC accomplishes mission by advising the Huntsville City Council, mayor, city departments, and businesses and organizations operating in the city on matters of discrimination and discriminatory policies and practices, and through community-wide educational programs and events.

The first things we did after working on updating our charter for your approval and our bylaws for our activities was to hold a forum of community leaders and nonprofit leaders.

We also went to two of the five districts and spoke at their district meetings to let the community know who we are and to let them know that in the new year we would be holding public forums of our own in the community so that people can come and share their concerns and their ideas for how to make Huntsville a better place for all of those who live and visit here when it comes to matters of discrimination.

To be a forum for education, to build bridges, and just overall make uh Huntsville a better place to live.

As we move into the new year, we do plan to have again several of those meetings in each of the councils.

We will be announcing those and working with the city to promote those.

We're very excited for for that to happen.

Some of the things we um expect to do once we have uh um held all of those forums is to pull all the information together from those and discern from that the top um issues and concerns of our of our residents.

And once we have that determinated, we will work with the city, other nonprofits, individuals, uh to produce or support events, uh speakers to uh address those concerns.

Any questions?

Members, do you have any questions or comments?

Mr.

Meredith.

Comment of um keep up the good work.

Um you have things structured now, hopefully the way that you want, and is best for you to uh accomplish your mission moving forward.

Um good luck.

And if there's anything we uh as a body can do, or I as an individual can do to help you achieve that mission, uh please don't hesitate to let me know.

Well, thank you.

We do appreciate the support we received from several of you as well as from uh Randy Barber and his office has been exceptional uh in working with us to accomplish our goals, and we look forward to a grand 2026.

And I would add to that also thank you for taking the time to get clarity on your mission and to work through uh the work you are doing.

I uh that's a great example for all of our boards and commissions to follow.

Thank you.

Good way to start the year.

Thank you all very much for the work you do and for being here tonight.

We have no matters with outside legal representation.

We have no public hearings to be held.

We do have through three public hearings to set.

10 A is a resolution to set a public hearing on the zoning of 36.54 acres of land lying on the south side of Martin Road and east of electronics boulevard to residents two district and the introduction of an ordinance pertaining to the same.

Is there a motion to set the hearing?

Motion has been made to set the hearing for February 26, 2026 regular council meeting.

All in favor, please indicate.

Aye.

And oppose uh the hearing is set.

10 B is a resolution to set a public hearing on the rezoning of 73.44 acres of land lying on the east of Greenbrier Road and north of Ice 565 from residence two and highway business C4 District to Commercial Industrial Park District, and the introduction of an ordinance pertaining to the same.

Motion made by Mr.

Meredith, second made by Mr.

Little.

All in favor to set the hearing for February 26, 2026, please indicate.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The hearing is set.

Sorry.

10 C is a resolution to set a public hearing on the rezoning of 90.51 acres of land lying on the various exit various existing single-family neighborhoods within the city limits, from residents to residents 2A, residents to be in light industry districts to residents 1A and residents 2 districts, and the introduction of an ordinance pertaining to the same as the motion.

Motion to set the hearing for February 26, 2026 regular city council meeting.

Second.

Motion made by Mr.

Meredith, second by Mr.

Little.

All in favor, please indicate.

I oppose the motion carries.

We have no agenda-related public comments.

This brings us to the mayor's comments.

Mayor Battle.

Just very quickly, uh, Madam President and Council members.

Uh coming up uh not this Saturday, but next Saturday, uh 117 is uh Martin Luther King parade, which will be downtown uh starts at 11.

Starts at 11.

I'll be there on our fire truck or 1928 Fox.

Anyone else who would like to come and join us on the fire truck, you are invited to come.

Couldn't get much help on the Christmas parade, but it was three degrees, but I think it will be a little bit better weather this time.

And also on Monday, the Martin Luther King Unity Breakfast will happen about 8 o'clock in the morning.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Mayor Battle.

We will now go on to Councilmember comments and we'll begin the new year with comments from Councilmember Bill Clean.

Thank you, Madam President.

I hate that the first thing that I bring up during the new year is to uh recognize but to put on the record the uh the passing of former State Representative Howard Sanderford.

Mr.

Sandiford uh passed away, I believe it was earlier today, earlier this morning.

Uh I think all of us up here have known him.

This community has benefited from him.

He is very likable, diligent, hardworking person, uh, served uh for over 20 years in the Madison County legislative delegation, and uh his passing is something that I think all of us uh here in the room are going to uh to really miss.

But we are very appreciative knowing Howard and again um he was an outstanding person uh and a great elected official.

And Madam President, that's all I have.

Thank you for letting us know about that.

Um our thoughts will certainly be with Howard's family.

I will go on then to uh uh Councilmember David Liddy.

Thank you, Madam President, and I hope everybody uh New Year is off to a good start.

Um I'll be brief.

I had an opportunity to attend the groundbreaking for the new uh Chapman Middle and STEM School, um, Magnet School, I believe, is going to be really nice.

Very jealous that I'm not a fifth grader or a middle schooler.

These kids got a great uh uh new facility on the way for them.

It's even gonna have a gaming lab and uh and a drone like course, the fly drones or something.

It's just wild.

But anyway, they're gonna it's great.

So I got a chance to do that and really enjoyed it.

And that's all I've got.

Thank you.

We'll now hear from Councilmember John Meredith.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um happy New Year to all of Huntsville.

Um we had a early Christmas present in District 5 on December 22nd.

We cut the ribbon at the new West Huntsville Recreational Center, and um it was long awaited, um, but it was a wonderful event and a very nice uh um early Christmas present for the folks that live in that area.

Also want to announce uh that I am going to be attending a Rock House Landing neighborhood uh um HOA meeting in the near future.

Um those folks that are part of that HOA know when the date is.

Um so I'm not gonna say it publicly because when I do, some of these neighborhood town halls get overrun by folks outside of it.

Um this one is so close to the annual district town, district wide town hall that I want to keep this one nice and simple for their uh HOA.

But the big annual district wide town hall is going to be on um uh January 20th at 6 p.m.

at the West Huntsville Recreation Center.

And I invite everyone, no matter where they live in the district, to come to this.

Uh one of the big highlights of this particular town hall is going to be an update to the citizens of the updated uh Western Master Plan and what that means for folks that live in District 5.

Um we will have the likes of Mr.

Shane Davis, uh Dennis Madsen, uh, and Kathy Martin there to explain um what the ultimate uh master plan is going to be and how that impacts the future of each community uh within District 5.

So you don't want to miss that one.

Um because it's in the Rec Center.

If you haven't already been there, it's a perfect opportunity to take a tour of the Rec Center and hopefully sign up for some of the programs that will take place there.

Um, I want to acknowledge all of the family birthdays I have in July.

Uh most importantly, uh my wife Tina, um, uh Chris Smith, Emily Smith, and Ashton Long, and work family birthdays are just as important.

And I want to give both Samantha Scannell and Sarah Powell um happy January birthdays this month.

I yield back my time, Madam President.

Thank you, sir.

We will now hear from Councilmember Michelle Watkins.

Happy New Year, everyone.

I want to give a special thanks to Chief Childs and a North House for Precinct Officers.

I had a situation occur that I had to get their assistance on.

And let me just say they were very professional, and I want to thank them so much for all of their support.

It really meant a lot.

I want to send condolences and prayers to the family of assistant city attorney, Joel Hawley, who passed.

And February 19th at 5 30, I will have my District 1 Town Hall.

It will be at the House of Hope and Respiration off of Aspen Drive, which runs off of Sparkman.

And everyone is invited to attend.

And just so you all will know.

I was going to ride on the fire truck with Mayor Battle.

He had too many time.

I didn't have a coat.

So this time I'm going to join him.

Thank you, Ms.

Watkins.

And I will add my happy new year to those that have already been expressed.

It's hard.

2025 was just such a stellar year.

It's hard to think we could top those successes.

But as I look ahead to 2026, I think of a lot of projects that are going to be finishing in 2026, a number of others that are going to be coming online and starting.

And then we have others that are yet to be announced.

So it is going to be another stellar year.

One of the things we are going to be finishing is the Sandra Moon Complex coming this summer.

And we will hold a town hall on February 17th to give an update on all the work that has been done there.

It is absolutely astonishing how much has been accomplished, particularly in these last few months when we have had some good weather.

So if you'd like to learn more about Santa Moon Complex, the work that's being done as we prepare to open it this year, please join us on February 17th.

And Ms.

Watkins mentioned Mr.

Hawley.

I remember when Joel Hawley came and interviewed for a position as a municipal judge when we had a vacancy.

I was so impressed with his record having served as a judge in other counties, as a prosecutor, a district attorney, and it was just such an impressive resume.

And Trey was smart enough to grab him up and put him on his staff eight years ago.

And I know he was a really, really important valued member of that staff, and not just well respected by the staff, but lots of other folks in who he would meet in the courtrooms around the county.

So I know I know he will be missed.

But we have a lot of really good people who work for the city.

And that it's just a good reminder when we when they are gone how much we value them.

So many thanks to everybody who is part of this team that is making really good things happen all across our city.

We will move on now to the Finance Committee report.

14A is a resolution authorizing expenditures for payment.

Is there a motion to approve?

Madam President, I would like to make a motion to approve total expenditures in the amount of 77,996 and 31 cents.

That's a mouthful.

That is a second for Mr.

Little.

All in favor, please indicate.

I oppose motion carries.

Is there a report from the Finance Committee?

Yes, ma'am.

I would like to invite uh Finance Director uh Penny Smith to come up and explain why that was such a mouthful of the big number.

It's a little bit more than we normally approve at any given council meeting.

Ms.

Smith.

Thank you.

Penny Smith, uh Director of Finance.

Um yes, indeed, uh Councilman Meredith, there is it is a very large amount.

Typically the amounts range range between 25 and 30 million per session.

Uh this was due to a number of different things going through this particular time period uh for transactions related to the city.

First off, due to the holidays, we compressed a couple of there was an extra payroll in there.

There was also an extra week of just regular checks flowing through because of the council sessions that were early in the in December, and now we have this one in at our regular time in January.

Besides that, though, that we also had the TIFF payouts, which was the closure of the TIFFs from from last year, all of that money finally went through on transactions.

Uh the TIP 5 borrowing that we had last month, we paid to COPT.

And um and then we had capital improvements on various ones all across the city, including um mid-city property exchange, the Northern Bypass, payments on the VBC capital projects, the um we had other projects including the new project at um at WPC that's going on.

That's going on.

So we had various things going across the city, which was over 20 million dollars in an amount.

So when you pull all of those numbers kind of out that were special, including all of the, including the extra week that was thrown in there.

That's how you get 77 million dollars.

Thank you for that explanation.

Council members, do you have any questions for Ms.

Smith?

No, but thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms.

Smith.

Thank you, Mr.

Meredith.

14B is an ordinance approving appropriations, goods or services for District 2 Council Improvement Funds.

The Chair moves to approve.

Second.

Second from Mr.

Little.

Mr.

Little, would you like to share with us the disposition of these funds?

Yes, ma'am.

This couple of appropriations.

One is $5,000 going to the Huntsville City Schools, but for to be directed $2,500 to Lee High School's wrestling program for supplies and participation fees, and then $2,500 to their basketball program for the same fees and supplies.

And then $5,000 for shower up Huntsville, which provides mobile shower and laundry service to some of our homeless residents.

Thank you.

Any questions from Mr.

Little?

No questions.

But I do want to give kudos and additional thanks to your appropriation to shower up.

I know they are kind of new on that the scene of homeless advocacy.

And I think they are a very important new piece to that.

So thank you for seeing fit to fund them.

I plan on doing it as well later, but thank you for being the first to do that.

Sure.

You are welcome.

It's one of those things where you can truly see the work happening.

Amen.

You know.

And uh hearing the stories of people getting a shower before a job interview or any other number of things and having clean clothes, uh, they're really doing good work.

You mentioned the clean clothes.

It's not just showering.

They do offer the laundry services as well, but I digress a little bit.

But thank you, sir.

You're welcome.

Any other comments?

All in favor, please indicate.

Aye.

Opposed motion carries.

14C is a resolution authorizing travel for Councilmember Bill Kling to Washington, D.C., April 18 to 21, 2026.

For the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville, Madison County 2026, Washington, D.C.

Chamber trip.

The Chair moves for approval.

Second.

Second from Mr.

Little.

Mr.

Kling, you have any comments.

I am booking this thing early.

I am trying to get a brown group ticket from Huntsville to Washington, D.C.

for less than 210 dollars.

My goodness.

All right.

Well, we'll have to find out how you did that.

I'm planning to also attend.

I hope other council members will attend.

This is a very it's been years since I have been able to go, but this uh thank you for for planting the seat and getting us started.

Any other comments, questions for Mr.

Kling?

All in favor, please.

Oh, Mr.

Meredith.

No, I was just getting ready to say aye.

All in favor, please indicate.

I oppose motion carries.

Thank you.

We have no board appointments to be voted on.

We have one board appointment nomination that is nomination only and will be considered at the January 22nd meeting.

16A is a nomination to reappoint Bradley Garland to the Huntsville Public Library Board to his current seat for a four-year term to expire February 3, 2030.

Are there any nominations from the floor?

Then we will move on.

We have no Huntsville utility items.

We have several legal department items.

18A is an ordinance authorizing the vacation of utility and drainage easements 20 lakehold 120 electronics boulevard.

Is there a motion to approve the ordinance?

Move to approve.

Motion from Mr.

Little, second from Mr.

Meredith.

All in favor, please indicate.

18B is a resolution authorizing the acceptance of a 0.064 acre tract of land from Dear Horton Inc.

Birmingham for a stormwater drainage easement for Highland Hills Phase 1 subdivision.

Is there a motion to approve the resolution?

Move to approve.

Motion from Mr.

Little, second from Mr.

Meredith.

All in favor, please indicate.

I impose motion carries.

18 C is a resolution authorizing the acceptance of a 0.084 acre tract of land from 120 electronics owner LLC for a drainage easement in 20 lake hold subdivision.

Is the motion to approve the resolution?

Motion from Mr.

Little, second from Mr.

Meredith.

All in favor, please indicate.

I oppose the motion carries.

19, these are unfinished item business items for action.

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

Is there a motion to approve the ordinance?

Motion to approve.

Motion from Mr.

Meredith, second from Mr.

Kling.

Any discussion?

All in favor, please indicate.

Any opposed, the motion carries.

19B is an ordinance declaring a certain railroad car identified as the cattle car surplus and authorizing its removal and disposal.

Motion to approve.

Motion from Mr.

Meredith, second from Mr.

Little.

Any comments or questions about this?

Questions.

Yes.

Who Mr.

Hamilton?

I know we had some discussions about the rail cars, but can you, for the public, can you explain what is going on, please?

Sure.

Councilmember John Hamilton, City Administrator.

This particular car actually was damaged severely by fire.

And so it is going to go to scrap.

It is not in a repairable condition.

There is a second one on the agenda that we will get to here in a minute that has a different story attached to it.

Any questions or comments?

All in favor, please indicate.

Opposed.

Motion carries.

19C is an ordinance declaring a certain railroad car identified as the AAR boxcar surplus and to be donated to the Scottsboro Boys Museum.

Is there a motion to approve the ordinary?

Motion to approve it.

Motion from Mr.

Merrith, second from Mr.

Little.

Mr.

Hamilton, can you tell with tell us what we are doing here?

Yes.

Council members, in this particular car, we have been engaging with the Foundation that supports the Scottsboro Boys Museum and the Executive Director there.

There's two aspects of the story.

And I think most people are probably at least somewhat from there.

I would certainly encourage people to go visit the museum and do a much deeper dive into what happened and why that museum exists.

But kind of why we are recommending the donation of this car is twofold.

One is there's railroad travel and a car of this style is actually kind of central to that story, and so they want to use it as part of the museum to help tell the story.

And then secondly, uh something I only learned recently is there is a a young lady who is actually very important to uh to that story who grew up here in Huntsville within a stone's throw of the historic uh depot and where that real car is located.

Uh and based on that aspect and the in the way in which they want to make sure that they are fully and accurately telling the story, they are not using them.

They asked uh for this donation.

Questions?

Comments?

All in favor, please indicate.

I think that's the motion carries.

Brings us to 19D.

19D is an ordinance amending Chapter 3, Article 2, subsection C of Section 3-27, Arts and Entertainment District ordinance of the City's Code of Ordinances to modify the Quigley Arts Entertainment District.

Is there a motion to approve the ordinance?

Motion to approve.

Motion for Mr.

Meredith, second from Mr.

Little.

Mr.

Nunez.

Good evening, Council Members.

Thomas Nunez, manager of planning and zoning services.

This item has been for you to expand the Arts and Entertainment District due to some additions of restaurants that would like to participate, uh, particularly in the uh hashed area.

Brick and 10 is a new uh uh facility and restaurant that is opened at the uh looters hard old Luders hardware site.

So that would be added, and additionally, we found it appropriate to add in uh the future expansion of Big Spring Park East to this.

So as that project moves forward, we never have to we don't have to come back and make the amendment to that at that time.

It would be added to this as well.

Thank you, sir.

Any questions for Mr.

Nunez?

All in favor, please indicate.

I motion carries.

Okay.

So now we are going to come to 19E, which is going to be a little challenging, so I am going to ask for some grace as we move into this.

19E is an ordinance amending Chapter 3, Article 2, Subsection C of Section 3-28 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Huntsville, Alabama to amend the Providence Arts and Entertainment District.

Motion to approve.

Motion from Mr.

Meredith, second from second from Mr.

Little.

Um the motion has been made, seconded.

The item is on the floor.

We have uh some errors that have been discovered in the ordinance itself as it has been presented to us and as has been publicly stated.

So uh the Chair will make a motion to amend uh the ordinance.

And you all should have a red line copy with uh with those changes on it.

We are going to have Mr.

Riley explain them in just a moment, but I will make the motion to amend.

Is there a second?

Second.

All right.

Now, Mr.

Mr.

Riley, would you like to share with us why we need to amend the ordinance as it has been presented to us?

All right.

It needs to be amended as to to take some incorrect uh uh provisions within it.

It is nothing about the uh actual need of the substance, just some, I guess you could call them scrivener's error type thing.

Uh number one basically is at the beginning, it was a misnaming of the district.

It is the Providence Entertainment District.

So we are changing that and also changing that in what is paragraph C one.

So those are the two basic things that are there.

Also, there was a misnaming of the actual name of the district in the body.

It was listed as Quigley Arts, which is actually Providence Entertainment District.

It is very clear when you read it that that is what we are talking about, but we wanted to correct and make sure all these things are correct on it.

Does anyone have any questions for Mr.

Riley regarding the changes that are going to be made here?

No, I would just also correct me if I am wrong, Mr.

Riley.

These are just really technical corrections.

It doesn't really affect the meat of what is going to happen.

Correct.

That's what this is exactly what the situation is, just some clerical errors.

Thank you, sir.

So now what we need to do is approve this amendment, and then we will have Mr.

Nunez give us a presentation on what it is we are actually doing here with this amended ordinance.

So all in favor of approve of approving the this uh amendment, this ordinance as amended.

Or no, I'm sorry.

All in favor of approving the amendment.

Yes, ma'am.

Please indicate.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right.

So now we have the correct ordinance in front of us.

Mr.

Nunez, would you please tell us what this ordinance is going to do now that it has been corrected?

Thank you, Councilmembers, for the uh option and correction.

Uh this item is to add uh what is now the new uh newest facility to the Providence Umistrict.

This is the 2020 Providence Building.

There are uh several restaurants that are included in that mixed use building that would like to participate, essentially on the north and the east side of Main Street.

Uh those this structure was not participating.

Those businesses made uh contact with our plant with planning staff and informed that they would like to participate in the district.

So uh we have this uh expansion of the uh the district overall.

Any questions or comments for Mr.

Nunez?

Then all in favor of approving the ordinance as amended, please indicate.

All right.

Any opposed?

The ordinance as amended is approved.

Thank you all for your work.

Thank you, Councilmembers.

That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

19F is an ordinance to declare property as surplus and authorizing the mayor to enter into a purchase and sale agreement between the City of Huntsville and Hank Holdings LLC for conveyance of the same.

Is there a motion to approve the ordinance?

Motion to approve it.

Second from Mr.

Little.

Um, good evening, Councilmembers.

Shane Davis, Director of Urban Economic Development.

So uh Councilmembers, this is exactly what we have been doing up in this area of our new North Punchville retail district.

So the area that you see in blue is is a very similar process that you made uh just before the holidays to declare that property surplus and be for sale, and we announced the target and home depot anchored North Village Town Center uh project that will uh get started later this year.

So what you are voting on tonight is is a piece of property the city acquired that you gave the uh mayor and the administration to acquire back in I think it was May of last year.

And allowed us to work on zoning and and master planning this overall development of this area at the intersection of uh the northern bypass, uh State Route 255 and U.S.

231.

So the area that you see in yellow is 15.23 acres.

So what I want to walk you through is when we actually purchase this property, the city purchased about uh just under 17 acres of property, and for the purchase price of 3,286,200.

We retained tonight, should you move forward, we retained about an acre and a half of that too combined to the south side of that to put with the Home Depot and Target area to go with that, because this property crossed, had a remnant track on the south side of the Northern Bypass under single ownership.

So we need to acquire that for the Home Depot and Target project to build to move forward.

So we have been marketing the part that you see in yellow, and we have Hank Holdings LLC.

Uh, should you approve this tonight, uh, has secured uh additional restaurants and retail that would occupy uh this 15.23 acres.

Uh upon approval of this surplus and property sale, they will be able to enter those contracts, and as we get into the year, those known uses will become public.

They can't execute those contracts till they actually have the right to purchase this.

So we bought uh 16.7 acres for $3,286,200.

We kept an acre and a half.

So what you are approving tonight is to sell 15.2 acres at the same price we purchased it for.

So if in addition, we're selling this piece of property and retaining in addition the acre and a half to go with the project across the street, the North uh village project.

So that's what you would be approving tonight is the sale.

So essentially we are being reimbursed the proceeds of what we did to secure and get this property ready to be marketed and bring retail and restaurants to this area of the city.

So we're getting retaining our get our money back, so we are not losing any money, taxpayers, and we are actually retaining just under two acres of land in addition to recouping our funds.

Thank you, Mr.

Davis.

Are there questions for Mr.

Davis or comments?

Comments.

I was very excited, Shane, when you called me today and told me you had this good news.

Yes.

We're going to get a lot of things in District 1.

And I'm very excited about the new restaurants, the new shopping areas.

So I want to thank you so much for working hard on this, Shane.

Thank you.

So I wanted to show this.

We've not shown this before publicly.

So phase one is what you already approved.

We're working on phase two.

We will be bringing that to you later this year.

We're also working on phase three, just south there.

You see on the screen, we'll bring that to you later this year.

And then in addition to what we are doing with our developers and bringing this retail master plan district of about 600,000 square feet of retail, Huntsville Hospital has went under contract with a piece of property to the south.

And we'll be doing about a $40 million project to expand medical services to this area, much needed.

And then you in front of Food City there that you see in the red area, you approved the sale when we did that project with Food City.

We sold that land.

We retained the outparcels because we wanted to control the use.

Probably bring those to you in the next 30 days.

And when we bring those to you, we will also disclose the users.

They are all food and beverage users there.

So this project continues to expand as we move forward.

From what I hear your phone rings off the hook every day, someone new.

It has been very popular, yes.

Any other comments or questions?

Again, this is an example of what we can look forward to in 2026.

Lots of new things are going to be announced.

Lots of projects are going to get started, and it is going to be all across the city in every district.

We can be very proud of that.

Thank you for your work.

All in favor, please indicate.

This brings us to 20 new business items for consideration or action.

These items will be approved in one motion unless any council member wishes to remove an item for discussion.

The reading of each item will be waived.

Unless a council member requests otherwise.

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

Madam President, I like to hold G, I and K.

G.

I.

Okay.

Any others?

Then we will move forward.

The Chair moves for consolidation and approval of items 20A to 20 F.

20H.

20J, 20 L to S.

Second.

Second from Mr.

Meredith.

All in favor, please indicate any aye.

Motion carries.

We will come now to 20 G.

20G is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement between the City of Huntsville, Alabama, and Shoal Engineering Company, Inc.

for Engineering Design and Construction Administration Services for Huntsville North North Village.

Project number 71-26-SP02.

Is there a motion to approve?

Motion from Mr.

Meredith, second, second by Ms.

Watkins.

Mr.

Davis, I suspect this has something to do with what we just talked about.

Thank you, Madam President Shane Davis, Director of Urban Economic Development.

So yes, you are correct.

So as we start to move forward and kick this project off that we just discussed, uh North uh Huntsville Village Town Center, uh we will be installing new traffic signals and some turn lanes and utilities to accommodate the the development of of this retail project in Huntsville Hospitals Investments.

So this is start the design of those public infrastructure improvements.

Uh contract amount is 215,400.

Any questions or comments?

All in favor, please indicate.

Aye.

Opposed.

Motion carries.

20i is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement between the City of Huntsville, Alabama, and the Arts Council, Inc.

doing business as Arts Huntsville.

Motion to approve.

Motion from Mr.

Meredith.

Second from Mr.

Kling.

Mr.

Davis.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you.

So this is in partnership with Arts Huntsville.

And it's been a project that was budgeted, gosh, probably getting close to two and a half years ago when we did the front row and the Von Braun Center doing Mars Music Hall and Rhythm on Monroe and that streetscape project that will start next year along Clinton Avenue, that gateway into downtown.

We made the commitment as part of that Greenway and Streetscape project from the park project into downtown for Arts Huntsville to do an RFP in a national site selection.

So what this would do would be to approve the design, the construction of and the installation of three pieces of public art along Clinton Avenue plus the design of an artistic paver of the intersection of Monroe and Clinton.

So that whole intersection would be a paver piece of art in the asphalt.

So it would be all four of those pieces, and that would cover all the installation, the artist uh to create those pieces.

And should you approve this, I would think in the next couple of months as the artist starts to move forward.

Uh it will play.

I do know that the intent of the artist is to play into to a couple of aspects of that area.

One, the nature of the Von Braun Center and its entertainment features that it provides our community, but also uh pay some historic remembrance to the front row area that was the Coca-Cola bottling, a big spring bottling that we have known for decades in this community.

So they will intertwine both of those into those three pieces of art and also into the pavement art uh that will go along Clinton Avenue.

So the contract amount that we would be paying to the Arts Council to manage and to see this art installation, as I said, get created and get installed into our community is 1,555,000.

Again, this was budgeted in the streetscape project a couple of years ago when we made that commitment to kind of redesign Clinton Avenue in front of the Von Braun Center.

So it's been setting in those those funds for that infrastructure improvements.

Any questions or comments?

Yes.

Do you have a ballpark estimate as far as how much the capital investment is going to be for the complete front row project, all the extra buildings still to come?

Yes.

So there's four phases.

That project phases one and two are under construction.

You can see how far along those are.

That's about $400 million of private investment going on on the site today.

The future two projects that will front Homes Avenue and the future total investment of that is about $850 million.

So just under a billion dollar investment there.

Do you have a ballpark idea of how much uh tax revenue has come just from the building materials?

What was our estimate of that?

I can do that in my head quickly.

I think uh $400 to probably about $800,000 just in the phase that just right at a million dollars just of what's undergoing.

By the time we're done, just the tax revenue that has come just off of the just today.

There's more coming as they continue to finish up.

Pays for this project.

Oh, yes, absolutely.

Thank you.

Uh and the first building, building number one is shooting for a CO, which is uh the first building will be at the corner of Clinton and Monroe late May, early June of this year.

And then the second building that is closest to the River Walk project, if you will, it is about six months behind that.

So there will be more tax revenue generated as they finish up those buildings.

Thank you.

Any other comments?

Well, one other thing, I guess, as we're talking about dollars like that.

Uh it's going to be a lot of property tax for our schools.

Yes, sir.

Yeah.

A lot of property tax money will come in for them.

A lot of construction citywide that's really helping the tax base for sure across the city.

Thank you very much.

Mr.

Davis.

All in favor, please indicate I opposed.

Motion carries 20K is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement between the City of Huntsville and Fight Construction Company and LFC for construction services for the big print Big Spring Park East Expansion.

Is there a motion to approve the motion from Mr.

Kling, second from Mr.

Meredith?

Mr.

Wilkinson.

Good evening.

Uh Ricky Wilkinson, Director of General Services.

So this is a construction services contract with Fight construction company for the Big Spring Park East Expansion Project.

We have a few slides here that will uh walk you through the scope just quickly.

So the project site is across the street.

This is the former site of the pre prior City Hall building.

You'll see here current city halls in the upper right-hand corner.

The project consists of obviously being an expansion of the park, additional landscaping irrigation and hardscapes throughout the site.

Does include public restrooms.

So the new pavilion does have doors around the perimeter.

Again, I'll have renderings to show that.

Or just enjoyed if it's open, no events going on, just enjoyed by the public throughout the day.

Very important to note, we do have two uh ADA accessible paths that will be added through this project that will allow easy easy traveling from uh church street up to Fountain Circle onto the Courthouse Square up to City Hall, whatever the case may be there.

And you'll notice too uh church street, which is kind of bisected there on the left-hand side of the page.

Uh we are uh adding streetscape along Church Street Street, the median there, uh, and improving pedestrian uh crossings across Church Street there also.

So this is a um uh this is a rendering here if you were looking from the northeast back down.

So imagine if you are on top of the the county courthouse looking back towards the project.

Uh the green roof uh you see there is the pavilion, so it will actually have uh vegetative roof on it.

Um we have various uh terraces, uh again you got the Plaza Fountain Circle.

Um you'll see a rendering here in just a moment that shows some stairs coming down from that upper plaza down to uh we actually have three different terraces uh that can be uh enjoyed uh as part of the park project.

Uh you will notice there the brown um kind of at the lower right hand corner, that's a small rustic playground uh that will be added.

Uh no, Councilwoman Robinson and prior uh previously mentioned that was a consideration for Hayes.

We couldn't make make way for it there, but we do uh do have it implemented here.

All right, so I'll quickly walk through this.

So the upper left hand uh photo that you see there rendering uh that is of uh of course the plaza looking back to uh the pavilion there uh from Fountain Circle.

Uh you'll notice if you pay close attention there, it's kind of hard to see.

Uh there is some public art uh in the middle of that plaza.

Uh that element there looks kind of like an egg, uh is actually called the greeter.

Uh but we have various um installations of public art.

We partnered with Arts Huntsville uh on this project uh to add some some public art uh to the park expansion as well.

Uh if you pay close attention at the V, uh the lower V portion of the roof, we actually have a water feature uh where water will pour from the roof down to uh small basin there uh to provide uh kind of a unique aspect there uh as well.

Uh the right hand upper right hand picture, again, that's from that second terrace looking up to the plaza along Fountain Circle, uh, and then you can see the pavilion there, uh some great seat walls and areas to go out and enjoy lunch, um, and uh again just a great, great environment there.

Um the lower left-hand corner, again, that's looking actually from if you were to look out the six-floor windows of City Hall out to the park, uh that's what you would see.

Um the bottom right hand corner uh is at the bottom of one of those ADA accessible paths looking back up to the pavilion and on to, of course, City Hall would be in the background there.

Uh so just real quickly, the construction contract amount is 12,481,000.

Uh the duration is 400 days with your approval tonight.

Construction will begin in February, and we would anticipate uh completion in March of 27.

Uh the goals to be done before Panoply.

I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

Questions from Mr.

Wilkinson?

Mr.

Meredith.

Yes, thank you, Madam President.

Um slide.

The upper right corner, that seating, um, is that going to be made of concrete or some other kind of composite material?

It will be concrete.

Yes, sir.

And the little playground that you um showed us earlier.

Um I know it's small, but is it um ADA compliant?

Uh there will be ADA compliant aspects of it.

Uh much of that is natural, um, so like some balance means and things like that, uh, but the surfacing will be ADA compliant around around that.

So individuals that have that are small and young but have issues, they can be accommodated and find something to entertain themselves with in this area.

Awesome.

Thank you, sir.

Any other questions?

I I will say that one of my favorite activities here in the building is to do tours for groups.

In fact, I'm doing one tomorrow.

Uh and whenever we do the tour, they always ask what's going to happen to the old site.

And when I share these renderings with them, they are very, very excited.

This will be such a great addition to the park.

And there is and there is a lot of appreciation for the fact that we are returning that site to the park to expand it.

So uh thank you for the work that everybody is doing on this.

All in favor, please indicate.

I think opposed motion carries.

Thank you.

Brings us to new items for introduction.

These item, no action will be taken on these items tonight.

They will be considered at the January 22nd meeting, but they will be read for introduction.

21A is the introduction of an ordinance to amend ordinance number 89-79, classification and salary plan ordinance.

21B is the introduction of an ordinance granting a cable franchise to knowledge of Huntsville, Inc.

and authorizing the mayor to enter into an executive and enter into and execute a cable franchise agreement between the City of Huntsville, Alabama and Knowledge of Alabama Inc.

20C is the introduction of an ordinance annexing 2.80 acres of land lying on the south side of Capshaw Road and east of Balch Road, and 21D is the introduction of an ordinance annexing 648.44 acres of land lying on the south side of I-565 and east and west of Swancott Road.

Again, those items will be considered at the January 22nd meeting.

That brings us now to the second roster of public comments.

We have a number of people signed up.

Let me read my little prologue here, although most of you could probably repeat it for me.

This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the council on matters relating to city business, whether or not such items are on the agenda.

When called, please approach the microphone and state your name, home address, and city of residence for the record.

I will also call the name of the next person signed up to speak so they can prepare to come up and we can move the process along.

And that's particularly important tonight when we do have a lot of people signed up.

So pay attention to uh when your name is called to come up and also when you will be the second person to come up.

Each speaker may address the council for three minutes.

While this is not an appropriate time to engage in dialogue with council members or city staff, council members may direct the administration to research answers to questions and address concerns at future meetings.

The sign-up sheet also provides an opportunity for individuals to include their phone number and email, so follow-up may be made by council members or administration if they desire.

Finally, please refrain from making comments regarding the good name and character of any individual.

We will begin with Mr.

Jeffrey Engel and Mr.

Engel will be followed by Susan Stewart.

Mr.

Ankel.

Hello, Council.

My name is Jeffrey Engel.

I am a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

My address is correct on the forum, and I am here to talk to you about ICE.

And city of residence.

Thank you.

A tragedy happened yesterday.

A woman very much like myself, an organizer, someone standing up to keep a tyrannical government held accountable, was murdered.

I would like to hold a moment of silence for her and for the 35 confirmed killings of ICE and the several thousand missing detainees from detention.

Her name was Renee Nicole Good.

Two days ago.

January 6th is the anniversary.

January 6th is the anniversary of a seditious traitorous insurrection that was orchestrated by Donald Trade Trump on our Capitol.

I would like to hold a moment of silence for the six Capitol Police that lost their lives defending our democracy.

The Tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

We remember their sacrifice.

We are in unprecedented times.

We are asking the bare minimum of you.

We are asking simply that you do not cooperate with state-sponsored terrorists that have masked and are terrorizing our neighborhoods.

They are unaccountable to anyone.

We are asking the bare minimum of you.

On September 11th, we put forth a proposal.

We want to see that before the Council.

We want to see that before the Council immediately.

I don't care how many back-in things you have to do to get it on the agenda two weeks from now.

We'll come to you and we'll get it done.

But we want to see it on the agenda immediately.

We want to see your votes.

We want to see our police officers detect protected from cooperating with the crimes of ICE.

We are asking the bare minimum.

There are so many other things you could do to protect this community.

All we are asking you is you to say no.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr.

Angle.

We will now hear from Susan Stewart.

Following Ms.

Stewart, we will hear from Vera Vergara.

Hello, I'm Susan Stewart, 2027 Cameron Road, Huntsville.

I am here today on behalf of Indivisible District 5, asking again that Huntsville resist getting swept up in the tide of racist anti-immigrant hysteria.

Huntsville is my home.

We are a vibrant, creative, innovative, and hard-working people.

This is in no small way due to the diversity of our population.

Huntsville depends on immigrants.

Regional economic factors created in large part by the United States and the inadequate legal opportunities for immigration have created a situation where our workforce is propped up by people who are compelled to come here without documentation.

Instead of creating adequate legal systems of immigration, our Federal government's response is to demonize and terrorize the people we depend on.

Alabama is jumping on board, but Huntsville doesn't have to.

Already many U.S.

citizens and Huntsville are for the first time carrying proof of citizenship because they are afraid and are being questioned because of the color of their skin.

We want our city leaders to state explicitly that Huntsville is a welcoming city.

We want you to sign the resolution we submitted last September.

Local law enforcement all over the state are making Alabama as inhospitable as possible for our immigrant residents.

For example, uh for example, Sheriff Phil Sims of Marshall County released a statement last month justifying going out of his way to seek out undocumented immigrants to hand over to ICE.

This is without a 287G program.

He explicitly cited the law SB 53.

This law requires local law enforcement to check the citizenship status of anyone they even just stop who they have reasonable suspicion might lock documentation.

He said, I have prayed and dived into the Bible on this issue.

God's word tells us that we should have empathy and compassion for foreigners in our land, and that foreigners in a land should obey the laws of that land and abide by those God has placed in charge.

I am embarrassed for Alabama.

ICE is increasingly unlawful, inhumane, and violent toward people with brown skin, including citizens and as so horribly demonstrated yesterday, nonviolent observers.

What law of God compels us to hand people over to an agency that is violating the Constitution and engaging in human rights abuses.

A few of us got together over the holidays, and we made each of you a card to celebrate the season.

We residents of Huntsville wish you a joyous holiday season during the season of light, love and community.

Our wish is for the Huntsville City Council to express its appreciation for the contributions of Huntsville's immigrant community and to affirm it will guide the Huntsville Police Department not to cooperate with Federal Immigration Authorities during community policing activities and to do everything in its power to protect immigrant residents from the unlawful and inhumane actions of federal immigration authorities.

Bring comfort and joy to all who believe in human rights.

Please sponsor and sign the resolution.

We look forward to working with you in the new year to make Huntsville a welcoming and safe city for everyone.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Stewart.

The next person to speak will be Vera Vergara.

Ms.

Vegara will be followed by Steve Church.

Hello.

My name is Vera Vergara.

Mr.

Mayor, City Council.

Your city of residence, please.

I live in Madison and my address is correct on the forum.

I live in Council Mayor in this district.

I'm here to implore you to not enter into any contracts or to work in any way with ICE.

I have to wear my earbud when I'm out in public.

In the off chance that I am stopped and questioned.

We have seen over and over again that those who are citizens are still being detained.

I've had to talk to my spouse and say, in order to protect myself a little better, I'm going to have to drop your last name.

So that if I'm stopped and they ask to see my papers, my last name will match that of my driver's license.

I cannot express to you at the very idea of ICE being here how uncomfortable and scared it makes me.

My son was stopped by HPD for having a Filipino flag on his car.

Yes.

That is exactly the reason that HPD told him he was being stopped because he has a Filipino flag on his car.

Now I'm okay with going back to Vergara because it is a strong name.

And it's a name that holds a lot of respect in this community because my mother Glory Fergara has been working very hard with this international community for many years.

I ask you to please do not enter into any contract to work with ICE, because as we have seen, they do not care who they detain.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Fergara.

We will now hear from Steve Church.

Mr.

Church will be followed by Terry Elliott.

Steve Church, is Mr.

Church here.

We'll go on then to Terry Elliott.

Following Terry Elliott, we will hear from Jerry Cox.

Hi, I'm Terry Elliott from Madison County.

Is that anything else they need to know about me?

I forgot.

I'm not used to speaking in this kind of a setting, and it's kind of hard to know where to start.

We know it's a little nerve-wracking.

Go ahead and begin.

I'm sorry?

It's a little nerve-wracking.

You go ahead and begin.

Okay.

Like I said, it's kind of hard to know where to start when you're looking at the news and looking at what is happening in our streets these days.

I know that the United States is space to be, supposed to be a democracy based on equal rights and rule of law.

And I don't know that we're seeing that anymore.

We've never been perfect, but I think we're in a unique moment now.

We're literally seeing people killed in our streets.

We're seeing people disappeared.

And while that may not be totally unique to this time period, it is a little bit different when you have people like our Vice President saying that the people that are doing this, the people that are doing these unlawful killings have absolute immunity.

It's different when the President of the United States talks about he could get away with murder on the streets of New York, and we now have ICE agents literally shooting people in the streets in front of their families, in front of all of us.

So I think this is a unique period in time.

And I don't think that we can just look at what they're doing without looking at the bigger picture.

If we wouldn't allow the kind of hateful rhetoric that's coming out of the system, if we would put a stop to that, if we would be more supportive of people, more supportive of the immigrant population that we need to function as a society, maybe we wouldn't be here.

So we're not acting now as a democracy.

We're not acting like the light on the shining hill.

If if you want to work on immigration, I think we should.

We can work on getting better judicial systems in place.

We can speed up the process.

There's a lot of things we can do that doesn't involve killing people.

There's a lot of things we can do that doesn't evolve harassing citizens unlawfully.

So I'm going to ask you to not side with the thugs that are out there just because they have a badge, they're wearing masks and completing unlawful acts.

I'm going to ask you to side with our citizens to show that we're a supportive community, that we are still a democracy, and that we are willing to work with the law system to institute laws that are helpful, not engage in murder.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Elliot.

We'll now hear from Jerry Cox following Mr.

Cox, we will hear from Sabrina Craney.

Thank you, Madam President, Jerry Cox, Tales Star Circle 35805.

Welcome.

Council, for some 30 years, I've been a member of and active in the Bailey Pet and Estates Community Watch.

Former Huntsville Police Chief once said, you cannot fight crime unless you fight fear and disorder.

I assume that I've been fighting crime for these 30-some years, but I've also been trying to fight disorder for 10 years.

There is a, I'm not going to call it a house.

There's a structure in my community, half a block from my house, that is a public nuisance, has been for 10 years, and Huntsville is not helping our community in any way with this problem.

Can you imagine living and every morning when you walk out of your house as one of my good neighbors does, and have to look at a structure that the roofing is fall, the roof is falling in, the eaves are all rotted out, the windows are open, and yet there's nothing done.

In fact, I think in January of 2025, I was here with the same plea.

How can the Huntsville City ordinances not help a community rid itself of such a structure that is a public nuisance on 4304 Baldwin Drive?

Also at 4100 Telstar, just outside my door, the resident built a lien to that goes uh up on the front of his house.

Community development long ago told me that the owner had been sided.

Here it is, January, first week in January, and the lien to is still just in the same shape as it was about two years ago.

Same if not worse.

As I have a few more minutes, I didn't think I could sign up for both uh rosters, but I guess I would uh for 82 years almost, I've had railroading in my blood.

So I was wondering why the city, as I understand it, is self-insured, why the city was not able to repair the train car that you all uh today declared uh uh surplus and to be scrapped.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Mr.

Cox.

And if you'd like to step over here, perhaps you could talk with Mr.

Irwin about those two properties and get an update on what what's going on there.

Um we'll now hear from Sabrina Crane.

Ms.

Craney will be followed by Carl Landers.

Hey, it's a carrier.

I must have did the R as an N.

That happens.

Anyway.

Hello, everyone.

Um Your address in City River.

Oh, right.

Um, my address is uh 17th Continental in Madison.

Thank you.

Um I want to wish you all a happy new year.

But there has been so many things happening, merely seven days out of 2026.

It's hard to say that anything seems happy right now.

I am here to talk about an ICE officer shooting and killing Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis yesterday.

She was shot in the head in cold blood while she was in her car with her six-year-old son, wife, and dog.

She was shot, and even when she was shot, a doctor tried to give aid on the scene and was blocked from giving that to her.

It's all there on video for all of us to see.

And yet our government is currently trying to spin this, telling you not to believe your own eyes.

But our eyes are open and they are filled with tears.

Not just for Nay, but for the hundreds of biopic people being targeted and hunted by ICE, many of them legal U.S.

citizens.

And the 35 people who have already died under ICE custody.

It's too many, and we've had enough.

Why am I bringing this to you?

We are scared.

We are angry, and we do not want any type of tragedy like this to happen here in Huntsville.

ICE is currently being used as anti-civilian force with no accountability.

You all were presented a proposal on September 11th last year, a non-cooperation proposal that asked the city of Huntsville to not go into having any agreements, contracts, or negotiations with ICE.

When this was first presented, it stated that we had that you all had no such agreement currently, but that does not mean it could not happen.

I support Indivisible's proposal for Huntsville to not cooperate with ICE, and I implore you to do the same.

So I need you all to really listen to what we're all saying to you.

Mr.

Landers.

It is the path the oppressors imposed on the people.

And so the people only have two choices to suffer or to fight.

Michelle McCarey, she will be followed by Christina Brown.

Hello, Michelle McQuery and City of Huntsville.

So I've lived here my whole life.

Most of you, half of you, um probably remember me from 2020, 2021, 22, where I was here most every day.

So this is a huge tragedy.

Um to hear the mayor of Minneapolis's speech.

Um to the West Coast and one different state, because I do not feel safe here.

Um grew up in North Huntsville, went to Johnson.

So and I'm moving.

And I'm I say that with sadness because I don't want to.

But I I I can't.

Um it's too much.

No whether I'll be back, I'm not sure.

But I'm talking about I was born here, which is not a lot of a lot of folks can't say that.

And it's also very sad that there's only a couple of people looking at me until right now.

So the rest of my time, I want to hold in silence, not just for the the people that have died and were murdered at ICE's hands, but also the ones that were by HPD.

And I don't have enough time to even if I took it from the beginning to name them, but I'm gonna stand here until my time is up.

We'll now move on.

The next person speaker will be Christina Brown.

We will hear from Christopher Robert Sweeney.

Hi, my name is Christina Brown.

My address is correct on the sign-in sheet.

I live in Owens Crossroads, but my have family who work in Huntsville.

We shop here, we enjoy all the amenities of Huntsville, get our health care here, and what happens in Huntsville is very important to me.

ICE is disappearing people, kidnapping people.

I wasn't sure what I'd say today to make any kind of impression.

So I will say this.

I can't ask you questions, is my understanding, but I will ask, has anyone here ever been kidnapped?

Please direct your comments to the council, not to the audience.

Okay, I can't ask you.

Um I have been kidnapped before.

I saw someone else in here has been kidnapped.

So I can only imagine what um I can imagine what these people are going through.

I was kidnapped in my early twenties.

Uh that man is currently doing two back-to-back jail terms in uh Texas jail.

So I understand what it's to be kidnapped.

These men are running around ICE, masked, not showing ID, not showing warrants, completely unaccountable to anyone, and drunk on power.

What is to stop anyone else from in being an imposter?

How would we know who is legitimately an ICE agent and who isn't?

Women could just disappear, be sexually assaulted, killed.

What's the recourse?

How do we report that?

Were they ICE agents?

Were they criminals?

We don't know.

So I'm begging you, please don't cooperate with ICE.

Okay.

We have seen what happens when they roll into town.

Nothing but good or nothing but bad can come from this.

They do not make our community safer.

And they break down the trust between the community and the police departments.

Thank you for your time.

Honored members of the council.

Thank you.

Uh for the continued prosperity and growth of the city.

The part of that prayer concerned the prosperity here and the businesses here, small and large.

My family, we first came here, uh, my surrogate father uh came to Huntsville as a defense contractor.

One thing that I've expressed with my co-workers and others who were born here and who've lived here all of their lives is how I've noticed as someone who's not originally from here the expansion, the growth, the success, just moving from one success to another here in Huntsville.

And this is across different administrations, different members of the council over all these years.

What I believe is happening is that there's a shared vision.

And it's to that that I'm hoping going forward that the city will not cooperate with ICE.

People have disagreements about this, but I think it's fair to say that everywhere they've gone here just this year alone.

It's created more discord than harmony.

And that kind of discord is not going to help the city continue to move in this progressive forward prosperous direction.

People are legitimately scared, even people who themselves are not immigrants to this country one way or the other.

There is, I think, some legitimate question about how this force in ICE will be held to account for their actions when there is excessive force, as sometimes occurs in any kind of policing action.

So excuse me.

I would urge the council, please to find the means to not cooperate with them, instead continue to have Huntsville what it is and what it has been as a place of a fun place to live and work and raise families and so on and so forth.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

The next person to speak will be Tierney Gaston.

Ms.

Gaston will be followed by Marcia Ramsey.

Hi, my name is Tierney.

I my address is correct on the sheet.

I live in Huntsville.

First, I'd like to start off with saying thank you for what you guys do.

I I know you guys really do want to improve the city, and I have a lot of respect for people who actually go and serve in local government.

A lot of people don't.

So I totally understand that you are trying to do your best in this situation.

Just so you are aware, less than an hour ago, I shot two civilians in Portland.

Full U.S.

citizens shot them in Portland, too.

It's getting worse in a matter of days.

So with that in mind, I'm asking you to bring the citizens' proposal to not cooperate with ICE into an actual policy.

It was introduced back in September, and you have done nothing with it.

This is from the literal people here who live here.

In the last 10 days, ICE agents have murdered two U.S.

citizens in cold blood.

Keith Porter Jr.

in LA and Renee Good in Minneapolis.

I don't know how the people who were shot in Portland is are doing because I am focused on paying attention what's happening right now, right here.

So I haven't really looked that up.

But I'm assuming it's not good.

I don't know if you've been shot, but it is certainly not fun.

On camera, I shot Renee Good in the face and then refused to allow medical care to be administered.

If these are the kind of people you are OK with operating in our city, then all the respect that I do hold for you is gone.

It is down the drain.

In the same city where they killed Renee Good, ICE allegedly, according to witnesses, deployed tear gas at a high school as it was dismissed so that they can detain people who are leaving the school and arrest teachers.

I understand the fear and the hesitancy that can come up when you are being asked to stand up to a force such as ICE.

And here's my advice for standing up to those who decide to hold power over you.

Do it scared.

That's what bravery is.

This is not a matter of city efficiency or zoning disagreements.

This is human lives at risk.

Your people's lives at risk.

Do it scared, or we will replace you with someone who will.

Your actions and choices will be remembered by the people who live here.

Please keep that in mind as you continue to try to keep our city safe and running and growing.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next person to speak is Marsha Ramsey.

Ms.

Ramsey will be followed by Pamela Herndon.

My name is Marsha Ramsey.

I live at 2510 Montview Drive, Huntsville 35803.

Thank you for listening tonight.

I think you get the drift of what's happening here tonight and our concerns.

I think also as a an indivisible member who helped shape the resolution that we put before you in uh September 10th.

I'm here obviously in support of that and to move it along.

I think that not just in Minneapolis, but all over this country, seeing masked agents in the street is really chilling.

As a kid growing up in the heartland in Iowa, my teachers, I'm really old.

And I don't mind admitting it.

My teachers assured us that stuff like that would not happen in our country.

We wouldn't see masked people going around not being not having to identify themselves, no warrants.

That just wasn't America.

And I believed them, but here we are.

And so that's not the sort of thing I want to see on Huntsville streets.

Huntsville's a nice place.

I really like it.

And I would not like that sort of thing happening here.

We don't deserve it.

So please take the the uh example of your excellent human res uh relations uh commission.

The the people who spoke earlier in your meeting, their example is wonderful.

They're standing against uh discrimination and for the rights of all the citizens, the residents of of our city.

That's a great example.

Please uphold it and um thank you so much.

Thank you.

Next person to speak is Pamela Herndon, followed by Sarah Coletti.

Miss Pamela, I made me getting the last name wrong, but it looks like Pamela Herndon on Mid Medford Drive.

Okay.

We'll go on then to Miss Colletti.

Ms.

Colletti will be followed.

Oh.

Is Ms.

N.

Okay.

So uh Miss Colletti will be followed by Kelly Sawyer.

My name is Sarah Coletti.

My address is listed correctly on the sheet.

I am a resident of Hartzall, Alabama.

And I really just want to thank everyone who came out here tonight.

Um I do need to remind everybody that when we talk about the city of Huntsville needing to have a non-cooperation agreement with ICE, we would first have to cancel multiple agreements that we already have with ICE.

Mr.

Hamilton showed us a list at the last city council meeting that was a very partial and incomplete list of our agreements with ICE, the earliest of which had started in 2006, according to the documentation that he had.

However, some of y'all might not know we have a representative of the Huntsville Bail Fund who has filed a FOIA request to get the information on the agreements that the city has with ICE, and there were substantially more agreements than the one that Mr.

Hamilton showed us last week.

So when we talk about we need to stop having cooperation with ICE, there are several agreements that need to be canceled before we can actually not have agreements with ICE, because we already do.

HPD has already set up a roadblock on Winchester Drive in your district, Miss Ms.

Watkins, in your district.

They set up a checkpoint, they invited ICE, and then ICE came and kidnapped people off the streets.

And I'm sure y'all have noticed me with my camera out.

When y'all record these meetings, you record our faces, you collect our information, and you put it out onto the entire internet to be doxxed.

When I record these meetings, I record y'all's faces because the people of Huntsville and the people of Alabama need to see the ways in which y'all ignore the people that come in here to talk to you.

It's disgusting, it's sad, and I don't understand how y'all sleep at night.

I really, really don't.

But again, I really really am proud of the people of Huntsville, even though I can't be proud of the leadership of Huntsville.

I know at least three of y'all on the dais are up for reelection, and I really hope that the people of Huntsville will come out to vote you out in the next election.

I think a really important thing to mention about Renee Nicole Good.

She was a legal observer.

I don't do y'all know what a legal observer is.

Because I can tell you it's someone who all their purpose is to do is to observe.

They are there so that if there is a case, there is proof of what exactly happened.

All she was doing was documenting, and she was shot in the face multiple times.

Multiple people continue to get shot.

US citizens.

Thank you, Ms.

Coletti.

Your time is up.

The next person to speak is Kelly.

Kelly Sawyer.

There will be order in the chambers, or you will be invited to leave.

Kelly Sawyer is the next person to sign up, and then we will hear from Christina Wright.

My name's Kelly Boger, and I have a look at Nervous.

Oh, you you're right.

That is a that is a B, and I'm not wearing my glasses.

Gracie Lane, correct?

Correct.

And uh Miss Boyer will be followed by Christina Wright.

First of all, I want to thank and broken hearted.

Address, please.

I'm sorry.

Kelly Bowyer, um, Madison, Alabama.

Thank you.

I am brokenhearted at what our country has become.

We were a beacon on a hill.

Bring us your poor and you're tired.

And here we are today.

Immigration and customs enforcement in and of itself is not a bad name.

We need that.

We need that.

Every country needs that.

I'm sorry.

Every country needs that.

But the way in which it is being used, the blatant use of a blatant use of mask to conceal the identity with no identification, no accountability, a recent shoot first mentality and full first full force mentality.

It is, in my opinion, become a bad terrorist-like organization that would only be allowed to happen in a third world country.

Are we a third world country, ladies and gentlemen?

I thank you for your service to our country.

My family has a long history of military service.

I was an Army nurse corps.

And I am so proud of our country until the past few years, and I am ashamed of it now.

How we treat others.

I want to read to you Matthew 25, 35.

I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

This is equating hospitality to the marginalized, the hungry, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned.

Leviticus an old testament commandment.

Leviticus was the law of the old testament.

You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as a native among you, and you shall love him as yourself.

You were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Hebrews goes on to welcome strangers.

It encourages believers not to not to forget to entertain strangers, as some has done.

So unknowingly, we entertain angels.

I was a Republican until 2016.

I am begging you.

I am praying, I am begging you in my Jesus Christ, Lord Savior's name, to look into your hearts and to not allow and to not allow ice to come in here and make us a third world country.

Thank you, Miss Boyer.

We'll now hear from Christina Wright.

Ms.

Wright will be followed by Julia Darby.

Sorry.

My name is Christina Wright.

My address is correct on the forum.

I'm from Harvest, Alabama.

Thank you.

Hello, Councilmembers, Mr.

Mayor.

I was born here.

I went to Monrovia School.

Miss Battle always made me nervous because she always meant business when she was walking down the hall.

And my sincere condolences.

I'm so proud to be from Huntsville when the tornado outbreak happened in 2012.

I was at the Monrovia Community Center, right alongside Dale Strong and his wife Laura.

I cooked so many burgers that week on my grill that I hold down there that it literally caught on fire and burned to the ground right in front of all those volunteer fire department members.

And I remember when FEMA showed up.

Their representatives looked at us and said, this is a model for what other places should do in a disaster area.

This is amazing what you all have come together to do to take care of your people here.

And now I want to ask that we continue to set the standard as we should in the Rocket City.

We should not comply with ICE beyond the need to police violence.

We understand there are necessities in some situations.

But beyond that, we should not have large-scale cooperation agreements.

In a way, there were there was an unpopular victim yesterday beyond just Renee Nicole Good.

The man who took her life.

Why was he a victim?

Because he obviously did not have the training needed to handle that situation.

He shot into a vehicle which is strictly against protocol.

All of our officers are trained not to do that.

Why?

Because it puts everybody around that vehicle in danger.

Her foot slammed on that pedal as soon as she was shot.

It rammed forward.

If anybody had been in front of that vehicle at that time, they would have been injured.

He put everybody around them in danger.

Why?

Because he's poorly trained.

They're rushing these people out onto the streets.

They don't know what they're doing.

And they're putting people in danger.

And if you have them continue to do this with our police officers, they put our police officers in danger.

And they put our citizens in danger.

So I ask you, as a mom who now came back and have raised my two children here to keep helping us be the city that's a model.

We're the rocket city.

Why?

Because we had immigrants.

We we didn't do it all on our own.

People from other countries came here and helped us make rockets.

We love this country.

That's why we're here.

We're not here out of anger and hate.

We're here out of love.

Please hear us.

Please do what's right and limit our cooperation with ICE.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll now hear from Julia Darby.

Ms.

Darby will be followed by Grace Alan Kirsnowski.

Hello, my name is Julia Darby, and my address is correct on the form, and I live in Madison City, born and raised.

So I um here tonight to speak about the same things that everyone else is.

Um but Mayor Battle, I'm here specifically to address you.

I remember watching you in an interview while I was at home with my kids when they were toddlers and you were at a Black Lives Matter protest here in Huntsville.

I remember you wrapped up that interview while speaking to the constituents with saying that your wife wanted you home for dinner.

That is stuck with me for all these years.

We would you mind even looking at me while I talk to you, please, sir.

Okay, thank you.

No, that's fine.

Please thank you.

Continue your comments.

Um that is stuck with me for years.

And I'm here to bring it up because I feel like this is your opportunity, both as a mayor and as a counsel to not leave those lasting impressions by inaction or maybe tone-deaf comments that you didn't necessarily realize were tone deaf at the time, which we all have to learn something at some time and listen to the people who are here to ask you for help, like your constituents.

Um I urge you to please make it to where other husbands, wives, sons, and daughters, and other loved ones can go home to their families for dinner.

Something that 31 families of the people who are posted outside and countless others that have been unnamed or unidentified have not been had the pro the privilege of doing so, and their families were robbed of that.

Um please do not cooperate with ICE.

Please put this noncompliance agreement on the agenda and listen to your constituents who are here to stand up for what is right.

We beg you.

And I'm going to close with one of my favorite quotes.

Um I think what motivates people is not great hate, but great love for other people.

Huey P.

Newton.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll now hear from Grace Allen Kirschnowski.

Ms.

Kirchnowski will be followed by Kim Anderson.

Is Ms.

Kirschnowski here?

We'll go on then to Kim Anderson.

Kim Anderson will be followed by David Snyder.

Hello.

I'm Kim Anderson.

My address is form correct on the sign-in sheet, and I'm a resident of Huntsville.

Thank you.

I moved here in 2021.

It is my chosen community.

And I love Huntsville.

I am the mother of an active duty Air Force member currently serving on another continent.

And I have a close family member who is a green card holder.

That person is a model of integrity.

Honest, hardworking, smart, productive, the type of person any community would be proud and happy to have.

As a family, we feel that we have had to have we've had to form a safety plan for that person.

And that person believes they have to travel with all a passport and all their immigration documents.

And I worry about the day when that person could go missing, and I might not know where they were taken or what was happening.

I am here to support a non-cooperation agreement or posture between the City of Huntsville and the immigration and customs enforcement agency.

Something has happened to that agency in 2025.

It has been expanded enormously.

I think its mission is unclear.

They've added a huge amount of members of agents and been given a huge amount of money for a mission that is unclear or objectives that are not clearly established and may sometimes be illegal when they go into certain communities because of this dangerous combination of poor training, poor vetting, and an unclear mission and unclear limits about their authority and the power they are using.

When they come into communities, I think that they are making us less safe.

I think they are bringing danger and sometimes violence where it didn't exist.

For that reason, I want to exercise my First Amendment right to support individuals' request that the City of Huntsville, Huntsville eliminate or reduce the cooperation between local law enforcement in support of ICE operations, or at least take steps to make sure that everybody remains safe.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Anderson.

We will now hear from David Snyder.

Mr.

Snyder will be followed by Caden Hebling.

Hello, my name is David Snyder.

My information is written correctly on the sheet.

City residents.

I live in Huntsville.

Thank you.

I remember a case that has recently come up again where 53 people overheated in the back of a semi attempting to cross the border.

Here is a quote about the incident.

As the temperature inside the trailer rose, those inside screamed and banged the walls of the trailer for help or tried to claw their way out, investigators said.

Most eventually passed out.

When the trailer was opened in San Antonio, 48 people were already dead.

Another 16 were taken to hospitals, where five more died.

The dead included six children and a pregnant woman.

The immigrants had come from Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico and had paid between 12,000 and $15,000 each to be smuggled into the United States, according to an indictment in the case.

They had made it as far as the Texas border city of Ladero, Larito, when they were placed inside a tractor trailer with broken air conditioning for a three and a half hour drive.

A piece of me died when I first read about it.

I remember people laughing and joking on the Internet, the same people that no doubt would call me unpatriotic for not attending a vigil for the late bigot Charlie Kirk.

Meanwhile, Trump has a golden visa program that facilitates, facilitates expedited immigrant visas for aliens donating one million individually or two million if paid by a corporation or similar similar entity on behalf of an individual.

Apparently $12 to $15,000 isn't enough for Trump.

It is abundantly clear the Trump administration despises poor people.

And he is using immigrants as a part of his racist class warfare, ultimately for the goal of his fascist agenda.

His wanton disregard for human life and the cruel radicalization of his party has led to the use of ICE to terrorize America and led to the assassination of Renee Good.

The official word coming out of the White House regarding this assassination is good riddance.

Renee was protecting people from these vigilante ICE terrorists and deserves so much more than the vigils that are happening across the country.

We must as a city denounce the actions of these agents and send a clear message that we will not aid ICE in their unconstitutional and cruel manhunts.

I wish my city officials had half the courage of Renee to stand up to ICE in the Trump Party.

We should and must cease all agreements and understandings between ICE and its departments, adopt the proposed non-cooperation resolution, and establish Huntsville as a welcoming city as Birmingham once did.

That's the bare minimum.

And any less is a shame and a stain on this city.

Thank you, Mr.

Schneider.

We'll now hear from Caden Helbling.

Mr.

Hobling will be followed by June uh smoker.

Smoker?

Schmoker.

Schmoker.

Uh I'm Caden Heldling.

My address is correct on the sheet.

Uh Huntsville.

Thank you.

I love Huntsville.

Uh I think it's a beautiful city.

I love seeing all the mutable improvements that we make to it.

Um it's all the more reason to keep the ugly scourge that is ICE these days out.

Um I don't want everybody to be scared uh of what they've become.

And as tragic as what happened yesterday with the murdering of a U.S.

citizen was, it's as tragic as it is predictable.

Um the whole plan is to antagonize the citizenry of this country and give the administration pretext for what they're already doing.

And I think all of us are smarter than that.

We're better than that, and we don't need to play into the hands of these people.

So please um you know adopt that proposal.

Do not cooperate with ICE.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll now hear from June Schmoker.

Ms.

Schmoker will be followed by Jaden Mann.

Hi.

Uh I would like to thank the council for their patience today.

I know this is a lot.

Um I'd also like to thank you.

Address, please.

Yes.

My address is correct on the form.

Uh I am a Huntsville resident.

Uh I'd like to thank uh Congressmember Robinson for her work in my neighborhood.

Um I ask your patience tonight as well.

Um I was not prepared for to speak today, otherwise I would have worn uh something a bit more proper.

Um I am, however, a Huntsville native.

Uh I was raised in uh Congress member Kling's district on Merrimack Park.

Uh, I have lived here 36 years of my life.

Um I am the uh granddaughter of uh two German immigrants, and you'll forgive my presumption my presumptuousness here, but as a um as an ancest or as their granddaughter, I feel it necessary to speak out against uh what is going on in our country and prevent it from going on in our fair city.

I have lived my entire life here.

Ummigrants have been my neighbors, have been my school members, have served my dad has served in a uh soccer team, the Shivas, uh, with they've been his best friends, and one of them is my best friend.

Uh they have been my employers, they have been hard workers, and they deserve much better than what is going on.

We owe it to them to this city that is made of immigrants and made better by immigrants than to throw them to the side for political convenience.

We owe it to them to stand with them when things are hard, and I beg you, uh Congress members, to please oppose ICE uh encroaching into our neighborhood.

Thank you very much for your time.

Have a lovely evening.

We will now hear from Jordan Mann.

And Jordan Mann will be followed by, and I am so sorry I can't hardly read this.

Logan Blumquist.

Yeah, residences on your port road.

Hello, Jaden Mann.

Uh address is correct.

Uh your city of residence, sir.

Uh Huntsville.

Thank you.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

Uh I didn't uh have a speech prepared tonight.

I was walking by exploring with a friend and saw this going on, decided I had to say something.

So um as public officials, I'm sure you all know uh that the due process of the Constitution is something quite important to our country.

Um, the amount of videos I've seen of ICE just detaining people, uh, using no warrants, just setting up checkpoints, stuff like that, um, is kind of scary, uh, as uh as anyone could guess.

Um I'm sure you would be absolutely terrified if someone just came up to you and started asking for documents, uh, took you into custody without any sort of reasonable warrant.

Um this reduction of due process um if you study history at all, uh, kind of resembles the gestapo in a lot of ways.

It's quite scary for our country.

Um like I said, didn't have a lot of uh talking points here.

Um I'm sure you guys as council members um want to do what's best for your people, and I'm sure all of these people here have made it quite clear that um they want what's best for our city.

I want what's best for our city, and I urge you guys to please not work with ice.

Um thank you.

Have a good night.

Thank you, sir.

And finally, a Logan Blumquist.

Something close.

Oh, well, I wouldn't even close.

Thank you, sir.

Yeah.

City residents.

Thank you.

Yes.

Um I just moved here last year, and uh as you can tell, I'm pretty young, I'm probably pretty ignorant as well.

But even I know we should not comply with ICE.

Um I'm sure many of you have heard this quote before, and I'm gonna read it because I don't have a memorized very well.

Um first they came for the socialist, and then I I did not speak out because I was not a socialist.

Um this quote goes on to suggest ignoring violence only further leads to more violence.

Um it also leads it to your door, leads it to your front door.

Uh let's just ensure that Huntsville is safe from violence that is brought on by the federal government.

And uh any proposal to uh not comply with ICE, let's push that forward.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

That concludes our meeting.

Um we have no further business.

Is there a motion to adjourn?

We are adjourned until our January 22nd meeting.

Thank you for everyone who joined us.