Welcome everyone.

We welcome you.

It is Thursday, April 9th, 2026, and we will convene this meeting of the Huntsville City Council.

We are met in the chambers in Huntsville, Alabama, and all council members are present.

We welcome everyone who has joined us this evening or who has joined us online.

And we are grateful for your presence.

We will begin with an invitation offered by Dr.

Sonny Hatcher, one of our Huntsville, Alabama Public Safety Chaplains.

We are grateful for their service.

And our Pledge of Allegiance tonight will be led by Scout Noah Hitchcock of Troop 361, and we welcome all the scouts of Troop Troop 361.

Well, so we'll begin with Dr.

Hatcher followed by Scout Hitchcock.

All who wish to stand for the prayer and the pledge, please do so.

Let us bow heads.

Heavenly Father, we simply pause to say thank you first, God, for your grace and your mercy, God that has covered us and followed us throughout this day.

Let them not be driven by division, but grounded in love, anchored in unity, and carried out with honor and respect for every citizen represented here tonight.

Give these great leaders clarity where there is uncertainty, courage where there is pressure, integrity that does not bend.

Father, we lift up our first responders and our military, those who run towards danger while others run away.

Cover them, God, protect them and strengthen them.

Let them return home safely to their families.

And let your peace rest over this city, binding us together, leading us forward and reminding us that we are stronger when we stand united.

We trust you, we honor you, and we invite your presence into this moment tonight.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

If you will, please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you, Dr.

Hatcher.

Thank you for thank you, Scout Hitchcock.

We appreciate you opening our meeting in such a wonderful way.

Any other changes to be made to the agenda?

Is there a motion to approve the agenda?

Move to approve.

All in favor, please indicate.

Aye.

Any opposed.

Motion carries the agenda is approved.

Council members, you have the minutes of the regular meeting of the City Council held on March 26, 2026 before you.

Are there any changes or additions to be made to these minutes?

Seeing none of the minutes will be accepted.

5B is a proclamation to declare April 9, 2026 as women in sports day to commemorate the achievements of the Alabama A and M and UAH women's basketball teams.

Uh we have the presidents of both universities here.

We have a number of people from the sports departments here, and we have players here, and we would love to have them come up front so we can have a proclamation about great achievements that they've made and the things that they've done for our community.

So UAH players and players come on up.

A and M this side.

UAH this side.

We'll let the President stay kind of in the middle.

How are you?

I'm great.

How are you thinking?

Good.

Guys, thank you.

All right.

And we we have side and side because we have to get pictures.

That's the most important thing.

We have to have pictures uh to to commemorate this day.

And this says, whereas the City of Huntsville proudly recognizes the vital role that women's athletics has played in strengthening our community, fostering leadership, and inspiring excellence among young people.

And whereas the women's basketball program at Alabama AM University and the University of Alabama in Huntsville have achieved historic groundbreaking success during the 2025-26 season, bringing distinction and pride to the Huntsville community.

Whereas the Alabama AM University Lady Bulldogs secured a historic Southwestern Athletic Conference, the SWAC regular season championship, the first in the program history highlighted by a hard-fought 55-50 victory over Grambling State to cinch the title.

Congratulations.

Whereas the University of Alabama and Huntsville Chargers women's basketball team completed the most successful season in program history, advancing to the NCAA Division II Final Four for the first time and achieving a program record 32 wins.

And whereas the UAH Chargers also captured the first Gulf South Conference regular season championship, whereas these student athletes exemplified dedication, both both on and off the court, serving as role models and ambassadors for their universities and for the city of Huntsville.

Whereas it is fitting for the City of Huntsville recognizes and celebrates achievement of these outstanding women and reaffirms this commitment to supporting women in sports at all levels.

Therefore, I, Tommy Battle, mayor of the City of Huntsville, do hereby proclaim April 9th, 2026 as Women in Sports Day in the City of Huntsville.

Thank you and congratulations for you, Dr.

Williams.

One for you, Dr.

Carr.

Thank you, sir.

You're gonna let me say something.

I will.

All right.

Who's gonna speak for the university?

Before uh we move on, I want everyone to know that we have a celebrity in the House tonight, and a lot of people don't understand it.

When you go on social media, you see Coach Dom Thornton.

Her outfits are followed throughout the sports world.

And she has really made a statement and an impact at Alabama AM University.

So we're gonna get her to say a few words.

Good evening.

Uh first congratulations to you ladies uh and Coach uh UAH.

Thank you.

You you all set the tone for our season, so thank you.

They beat us early this season.

Uh but just here to thank everyone for taking the time out to to celebrate with us.

This is a wonderful day, Dr.

Williams, Dr.

Bryant, thank you all so much for all that you do for our women in sports.

We wouldn't be able to do this without the support of you all as well as our administration at Alabama AM.

So it's a great time to be a bulldog, and we will continue to strive to make the city of Huntsville proud.

Thank you all so much.

All right, hey, we want to thank both the mayor and the council and everybody here for recognizing these outstanding women.

Uh we're absolutely honored to stand on the stage with these young people from Alabama AM University.

They are certainly a pride of our community a great tribute.

We're really, really proud of the young ladies up here.

We're proud of them because of their basketball record, but I want you to understand this as well.

We're more proud of them because of kind of the people that they are.

And this is really important because about 80% of our grads at UAH and many of the grads at Alabama AM will stay here and live in our community.

And I'm very confident that they'll make you just as proud as they have us.

Thanks for being here, Go Chargers.

I was wondering which wear today.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

All right, very good.

Um, excuse me, players, before you go.

Uh A and M family, will you come up so we can take a picture, please?

And M family come up so we can take a picture.

What's Kate?

And one thing we forgot to mention, Kayla Walker is the swag player of the year.

And the HBCU national player of the year.

One, two, three.

Congratulations, ladies.

You make us all proud.

No.

5A is a proclamation to declare the month of April as a military child month.

Is representatives from the Arsenal here yet?

We will move on then to council special recognitions.

Is there a motion to approve that resolution?

Motion from Mr.

Kling and second from Mr.

Meredith.

All in favor, please indicate.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Is Amaya has Amaya made it yet?

Oh, Amaya's here.

She just tightened back there.

Will you come up, Amaya, and we'll let Ms.

Watkins make that presentation?

Ms.

Watkins.

Come on, Mama.

Come on up.

So while we're waiting on the mother to come up.

Um has done some extraordinary things this year.

She has uh been outstanding in the track field.

So we want to bring you down today and recognize you.

Whereas the city council mayor of Huntsville, Alabama recognized Amaya Mail Wells, a 12th grade student athlete at May Jemison High School for her outstanding achievements in track and field and her commitment to excellence, both on and off the field.

Whereas the Maya May's Wells has demonstrated exceptional athletic ability by earning the title of 2025 outdoor state champion in the Class 6A 100 meter hurdles, showcasing her dedication, her discipline, and her competitive spirit.

Whereas she continued her success by becoming the 2026 indoor state champion in both the 60 meter jet dash and the 60 meter hurdles, further establishing herself as one of the premier athletes in the state.

Whereas Amaya Wells achieved national recognition with a fifth place finish in a 60-meter hurdles at the 2026 Adidas Indoor Nationals and Virginia Beach, Virginia, earning all American status.

Y'all should be clapping by now.

Whereas she is currently ranked number one in the state of Alabama across all classifications in both the 300 meter hurdles and the 100 meter hurdles and holds the number one ranking in the 100 meter dash for class 6A.

And whereas her accomplishments reflect not only her individual talent and perseverance, but also her pride and recognition that she brings to Mac C.

Jemison High School and the Huntsville community.

Now, therefore, let it be resolved that the City Council and Mayor of Huntsville, Alabama, hereby recognize and honor Amaya Wells for her exceptional achievements in track and field, her dedication to excellence and her representation of Huntsville at the highest level of competition and commend her as a role model for young athletes throughout the committee community.

Would you like to say so, Namaya?

No one say anything.

You nervous.

So we are going to move on to seven announcements and presentations.

7A is a presentation from the Huntsville Salutes America's 250th Committee, and we will hear from Sally Warden and she will introduce her team.

And Sally, come and tell us all about our plans to celebrate America's 250th semi-quincentennial.

Oh, you're the first one to say it.

Good.

I'm glad you said it first.

Now we'll spell it, Jenny.

We have a lot to celebrate tonight, and Jenny has given me 10 minutes to tell you everything, and we're gonna be pushing it to make it in 10 minutes, but I'm gonna talk super fast.

So first of all, thank you for allowing us to come up here and tell you everything that's going on.

Couldn't do it without a great committee, and the mayor appointed a committee last summer.

Many of them are here now.

I'm gonna run through them real quick because I'm asking them to come to a meeting tomorrow afternoon here as well.

So I need to give them some creds for being here tonight.

First of all, uh William Hampton from Huntsville Revisited.

They're all mostly right back here behind me in my chairing section.

Kent Ballard from Parks and Rack, Claire Ayalo from the Chamber of Commerce, David Delisser from Parks and Rack, Aaron Owen from the Communications Department, the City of Huntsville, Katie Stamps, our preservation planner, um, and Natasha Parker, um, who is uh a member of the DRA, and she is also the chair of the committee that's actually producing what's going on the 4th of July in downtown Huntsville.

So you're gonna hear from her about those details in just a minute.

I'm covering everything else.

Other just so you know though, this is a very diverse, broad committee.

They are here on the committee because they're either producing events and programming um for 250th, or they are giving us great advice as we move forward.

We also have members from the Huntsville City Schools, Historic Huntsville Foundation, Huntsville Madison County Public Library, Alabama AM.

I wish they hadn't left yet because we have several members from Alabama AM on our committee.

UAH has several members, Oakwood has several members.

The Northeast Alabama Cherokee Tribe, also from the Sons of the American Revolution, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the State Black Archives.

So we have a lot of folks on our committee, and we've added a few.

We have some from Redstone Arsenal as well that are that are attending as well now.

But I really first also want to tell you when the mayor asked me to take this volunteer job, I said I gotta have some backup from the city with and they have come through.

Your City Parks and Recreation Department, your City Communications Department, your City Music Office, and Katie Stamps have all provided a lot of help so far, and we're going to be calling on a few more departments as we move forward, especially for that parade.

So I also have to give a big thanks to downtown Huntsville Inc.

They are an instrumental partner for us since the event on the fourth is taking place down here.

They are going to be uh instrumental in all of the planning that goes on for that day.

Finally, and not lastly, but finally, I do have to thank Meta and our dear friend Henry Thornton, who is no stranger to this, well, maybe to this room, he hasn't been in there that many times.

Maybe across the way you were there more.

But um, Meta stepped up last fall um because we needed some money to produce all of this.

And um he uh we we gave him a pitch and said, Well, we can onesie cheesy this for the parade and the this and the that and the this, or you can be the exclusive sponsor of Huntsville Salutes, America's 250th.

And um uh he gave us a big blessing by saying yes, they would do that.

So I'm gonna give Henry a minute to step up and say what it means to him to be the sponsor of all these um monumentous activities.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Sally.

Uh friends, new and old, uh, esteemed council members, Madam President.

Good to see you, Mr.

Mayor and and Trey.

Um it's so good to see all of you uh and to be back among friends tonight.

Uh our entire 300-person team up at the uh Meta Huntsville Data Center is so so excited about this event.

We love big gatherings where people come together.

We love being an American company and we love supporting the Huntsville community in lots and lots of ways that I'll spare you from me doing all my talking points here in my brief uh sponsor mentions today.

But I do want to do the prime responsibility of any main sponsor, which is to ask for a round of applause for Sally and the team doing all the actual work.

We appreciate them so much.

Meta is so proud to be in Huntsville.

We appreciate uh everything you all do for the city, and we're very, very excited for July 4th.

Thank you all so much.

Thanks, Henry, and thank you for uh being such a great and easy to work with sponsor as well.

Before I launch into everything that's happening in Huntsville, I want to give you guys just a quick update to let you know things are going on at the federal level and also at the state level.

And we work closely with the state.

Uh Arthur Orr, our senator, one of the senators for part of Madison County, is actually the chair of that.

And uh, because of our efforts here in Huntsville to celebrate the 250th birthday, the state has designated Huntsville as an official Alabama semi-quincentennial city, complete with a proclamation and letter that I've already given to your council president, and a flag.

So, ladies, they're going to show you the flag that we have received to be the official semi-quincentennial city, which that's the last time I'm probably gonna say that word.

It's kind of a fancy word for 250th.

Um turn around everybody can see it.

There you go.

There we go.

So we will display that proudly in our activities out and around town for you all.

Another thing that is going on at the state level are uh I'm gonna say the word though, semi-quincentennial schools programs.

And I have a list here of the Huntsville City schools that have already signed up for that.

Just so you know, these are schools that have signed on board that say they're going to have it in their curriculum, do great things, do a community service project, um, and we're still working on getting even more of them signed up for that.

Um, also, the state has a great website.

I know it when I hate hate it when people stand up and say go to the website, but it is a very good website.

It has 500 pages of lesson plans and things for the state that the state has created, the State Department of Ed has created for every teacher in the state of Alabama, and actually we've gotten national recognition because when all the state of Alabama folks went to the big meeting up in Washington with all 50 states there.

We were one of the few states back last summer that already had an amazing amount of information out for our schools.

As a matter of fact, 20 states have asked to copy ours, and we've sent the whole state toolkit to them.

So it's amazing what the city or what the state has done to support our schools.

Now, I can't wait to tell you about what's happening here locally.

First of all, we have a website, and I it is a super easy website, and it is America 250 Huntsville.org.

And we happen to have Aaron Owen who created this website for us.

It's simple, straightforward, and it's where you can send any of your constituents to go find out about what's going on.

It also has places that they can sign up to do things as well.

That's the first opening page of the website, actually.

I can't wait to get into this list now, and I'm gonna start talking fast, okay?

So this is the community calendar.

The website is home to the community calendar, and these are just slides, guys, that that Aaron made up for us, so you can just get a sampling of that.

You can also see you can see all about the July 4th celebration as well.

But it's home to the community calendar.

It gives the details of the July 4th, and it also gives a list of all the committee members as well.

Our community and organizations in town and venues have really gotten into the 250th in a huge way.

Even ones that aren't on the calendar.

Lots of them are doing projects, especially the Sons of the American Revolution, Daughters of the American Revolution, are doing projects that aren't necessarily an event, but they're ongoing things that they are doing all throughout the year.

Here I go.

Those are all free and on Saturday mornings, the third Saturday morning over at Constitution Hall Park.

As always, Historic Huntsville Foundation finds ways to make history fun and accessible, and celebrating 250th is no exception.

Their signature celebration for America's 250th will include a May Preservation Awards event, then the return of the American Signature Quilt, known as the Quilt That Saved Harrison Brothers hardware store, a presentation on quilts, as well as a signature art show with the theme What Does America Mean to You, featuring the works and local regional art of local and regional artists.

The Huntsville Madison County Library is hosting a free lunch and learn speakers series throughout all of uh 2026 about the history, any history in Huntsville of the past 250 years.

They actually started with one last month on the indigenous tribes that were here.

Now they're moving to the revolutionary patriots that here who knew that so many revolutionary patriots ended up living in Madison County.

We had more living here than anywhere else, actually in Alabama.

And as you would expect, the library is celebrating books.

And each month in 2026, their program, We the Readers, will feature a book that they feel could be the great American novel.

They had Grapes of Wrath.

They have some I haven't even heard of before, but they are all books that will be celebrated each month.

It is thrilling for me to also share with you that Theater Huntsville is presenting the Tony Award-winning musical 1776, which brings history alive with songs and a behind the scenes look at the passion and sometimes chaos that led to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Theater Huntsville is going to have 11 performances at the VBC Playhouse, 11 in the month of June.

So they have one every weekend, basically in the month of June at the Playhouse.

One more from the arts community is an American Mosaic, which is from Hymns to Hollywood, 250 years of America Sound.

It's a free concert that's going to be held actually after the 4th of July, in July, I believe it's July 15th, at First United Methodist Methodist Church, featuring the powerful and expressive voice of the organ.

Free concert.

We have two events though that are going to start off the weekend countdown to the Huntsville Salutes, America's 250th celebrations in downtown Huntsville.

Both of them are free.

So what we're hoping is that people will see everything we have going on in Huntsville and decide instead of going to see their family and wherever their family wants them to go, they need to have their family come here because there are so many free events, especially leading up the week of the 4th of July.

Down at Did a Landing exactly a week before July 4th, they'll be putting on a special 250th edition of their annual Independence Day celebration with food trucks, live music, fireworks, more details to come on that later.

And one time only event on July the 2nd, just two days before July 4th, Rocket City Celebrates America's 250th is a free concert featuring the 15 151st Alabama National Guard Band at Joe Davis Stadium.

This is a put on by a group, several groups, but the lead of this patriotic concert is Hunts Spring DAR chapter.

Now I was supposed to click the calendar of events while I was reading through all that, guys.

Sorry.

There they are.

But if you go to the website, America 250 Huntsville, you will see all of those, and you can click and get that's just a quick quick little glance.

Um goes into much more detail and tells what time everything is, and we are adding more every day.

Um Erin is actually taking care of adding those, and every day we have more and more events coming in.

Now, this guys is very exciting.

One of the most exciting and most visible things in Huntsville uh will be 40 banners that will soon be hung on some of the major thoroughfares throughout Huntsville, honoring contributions made by the brave Patriots who established our nation.

Right now, most of them are empty.

Matter of fact, all of them are empty, I think.

And so these will be going up.

And this is brought to us uh the DAR chapters.

We have five DAR chapters in Huntsville.

This is a great story and a great story of cooperation and collaboration in in honoring something of the Patriots of 250 at the 250th.

But it's the coordinated efforts of them.

Penny Sumner's, who you all probably know, she's not able to be here tonight, um, but I've got to brag on her and say her name.

Uh she uh, you know, was a retired principal and she had her best retired principal hat on when she decided to take this take this project on.

She did it in an amazing amount of time.

All five DAR chapters applied for the same grant that the state had.

The state was giving out grants to groups like DAR and SAR to produce events.

Well, all five of them got on board to do it.

All five of them got the grant, and then they turned around and have ordered ordered these banners together.

Uh so it's a great story of collaboration, and we're gonna hopefully hopefully keep them up the whole rest of 2026, I would say.

Uh but one of the masterminds behind this, uh, who is also a DAR member is Natasha Parker.

And Natasha was the one that came to me even before the mayor and John Hamilton came to me and said this and said, What are we doing for the 250th?

And I said, Well, funny you should ask that.

I think I think we're gonna be doing a lot of stuff.

And um, she uh had the vision for the day, and she is gonna come up.

Well, she had the vision actually for these banners.

Uh, and then she also had the vision for what it would look like in downtown Huntsville on July the 4th.

Once in a lifetime opportunity, and as I told the mayor, it's on a Saturday.

You know, we have to have a big party in downtown Huntsville.

So Natasha's gonna come up and give you the details, and more details are coming every day.

Um, every day.

Uh Parks and Rec is deeply involved in in that those that day and um have been a great partner with the committee on that.

So Natasha.

Thank you, Sally.

Um, and thank you, Council, for having us here tonight.

So for um Saturday, July 4th, we're having um a big day of festivities to celebrate the semi-quincentennial.

Um, we're actually currently looking for some volunteers from our citizens to help with a variety, thank you, Sally, of activities.

Um on our website that Sally mentioned earlier, which again is America 250 Huntsville.org, you can go to the top of the page there and click July 4th celebration.

There are um some there's some information there about the day, but we are still looking for some vendors for uh Big Spring Park.

So for any citizens that may be interested in participating as a vendor, there's a vendor interest form there.

Um we're still looking for some parade uh participants, and there is a parade participant interest form there as well.

And then finally, we're still looking for some volunteers for the day for a variety of events.

So there's a volunteer interest form on the website as well.

So if anyone in the city is interested in volunteering, becoming a vendor or participating in the parade, we encourage them to go to the website and fill out one of the forms there under the July 4th celebration tab.

Um, as far as the activities for the day are concerned, um there will be a parade that will start at 5 p.m.

Um it will go through downtown Huntsville and end at Big Spring Park.

The the theme of our parade is American Eras.

Um we'll be highlighting various time periods um throughout American history, from the American Revolution all the way to the technology age.

So it's a moving storyline of our American history for the past 250 years.

Um we would like to take this opportunity to formally invite each of you, Council members to participate in the parade if you are interested.

Um you can be looking for an email from Mr.

Kent Ballard about that.

Um for the rest of the activities, um, we're going to have some programming in Big Spring Park that will begin at approximately 4 p.m.

We plan to have a DJ setting up kind of a f a festive atmosphere.

We'll have some food trucks set up on Williams Street.

Um the vendor booths will also be in Big Spring Park along with we're working to have some reenactments and demonstrations as well.

We'll have some live music that will start at 6 p.m.

with um one of our local favorites, Groove.

Um, and then Jazz McKenzie will be headlining at 7 p.m.

Um we'll end the night with a fireworks show with the Huntsville concert band who will be playing some of our American classics from John Phillips Seusa.

So um oh, I should have clicked again.

Look, there we go.

Uh, sorry.

So we're looking forward to a really fun and festive day.

We hope everybody will come out to Big Spring Park and celebrate with us.

And we want to thank you again, uh, Mayor Battle and Council for allowing us to have this and especially um to Henry and Meta for um sponsoring the day.

Thank you.

Thank you, Natasha.

Thank you, Sally.

Council members, do you have questions?

You may questions.

Um, Aaron, I'm sure you'll be getting this information in our council member newsletters.

That would be a great way to get the information out.

Thank you all for the work that you are doing.

We look forward to it.

Um council members, I have noticed that Colonel Ike is with us now.

So without if there's no objection, we're going to go back to item 5A proclamation to declare the month of April as the Military Child Month, and we will let the mayor present that at this time.

Thank you, Madam President.

If we could have uh everybody with the military child education come forward, uh Colonel Icke.

It was Shane Davis's fault that you were stuck in traffic today.

Uh we'll try to do better next time.

And we want to say thank you to each of you for being here.

We have our superintendent of education, uh Clarence Sutton with us.

Thank you for being here.

Excuse me, we have to come in.

Thank you for being here.

And uh would you like to introduce your your crew here to me?

Uh, I'm Debbie Madgrie with Military Child Education Coalition.

Jeffrey Holiday, I'm the Military Family Liaison for the State of Alabama.

Melissa Lindsay, Executive Director of Student Services for Huntsville City Schools.

Dr.

Dr.

Clarence Sutton from Huntsville City Schools Superintendent.

Yes.

And Colonel Ickey, thank you for being here for this.

As we do this proclamation, we do this proclamation every year, but that doesn't lessen the importance of it.

Every year it means something to us.

And it says, whereas the city of Huntsville is proud to be the home to a strong, vibrant military community, and whereas military children play a vital role in supporting the mission of families by demonstrating resilience, adaptability, and courage as they navigate the unique challenges of military life.

Whereas these young individuals serve alongside their parents in a very meaningful way, often facing facing uncertainty with the strength and perseverance beyond their years.

And whereas the month of the military child provides an opportunity to recognize and honor the sacrifice, contributions, and unwavering spirit of the military connected youth.

And whereas Huntsville is committed to supporting military families through partnerships with the local schools, organizations, and community leaders to ensure that military children are recognized, supported, and celebrated.

Now, therefore, I, Tommy Battle, Mayor of the City of Huntsville, do hereby proclaim April 2026 as month of the military child.

Thank you so much for all that y'all does On behalf of the military community, Mayor.

I just want to say thank you so much for recognizing the military families and their children.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

You know, it's amazing when you get down the facts of this.

You know, many of the military families moved six, seven, eight, eight times in just in their you know uh K through twelve years.

And so everywhere they are going, they're having to make new friends.

And you know, I think it's a very essential for us as a community to make new friends every day and to make friends with those who are new to our community who are coming into our community and make sure that we make this the best place that they can ever be.

So y'all are doing that on a day-to-day basis, and I say thank you for the job that y'all do.

I'll give you that.

And Shane Davis will work on the traffic problem, so you won't get stuck in traffic next time.

Thank you.

Thank you all so much.

Thank y'all for doing this.

Well, we have had a lot of um a lot of good news stories to get us started today.

A lot of good things going on in Huntsville, a lot of good people doing good work.

So now let's recognize more of that by getting the business of the city done.

Uh we will move on now.

We have no matters with outside legal representative, so we will move on to public hearings to be held.

9A is a public hearing to here consider an act upon all objections or protests if any for removal of a public nuisance at 195 Wilkinson Drive Northeast, Huntsville, Alabama, in consideration of a resolution ordering abatement of a nuisance located at the same property.

The public hearing is now open.

Mr.

Irwin.

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

This public hearing is in reference to the property located at 195 Wilkinson Drive Northeast.

The property was in violation of the State Public Nuisance Act regarding junk.

Community development issued a notice to the property owner and interested parties.

The property remains in violation.

Community development is seeking your authorization to abate this junk public nuisance.

The condition of the properties before you on the video screen, property owners as identified by the Massicane Tax Assessment Records, were notified of the time and place in which the objections may be heard involving the abatement of this public nuisance.

Thank you, Mr.

Irwin.

Is there anyone here who wishes to comment in this public hearing?

Is there anyone who wishes to comment on this matter?

Seeing none, the public hearing is closed.

Is there a motion to approve the resolution motion?

All in favor, please indicate.

I oppose motion carries.

Thank you.

9B is a public hearing authorizing community development to assess the cost of cutting overgrown grass and weeds against certain properties and consideration of a resolution pertaining to the same.

The public hearing is now open.

Well, yes, Council members, this is the public hearing on a resolution authorizing community development to charge for the grass and weed removal on designated properties.

The attached resolution authorizes assessments for the 40 properties listed of the 40 properties, 24 of the owners reside within the city limits of Huntsville.

One property owner is outside the city limits, but within the State of Alabama, and 15 property owners are out of the State of Alabama.

The total amount of the 40 property assessment is 12,655 and 49 cents, with an average per property amount of $316.39.

All procedural requirements related to the declaration removal and billing for grass cutting and cleanup have been fulfilled in accordance with the City of Huntsville Code of Ordinances.

Property owners were notified that an assessment may be authorized and placed on their property at the City Council meeting scheduled for tonight, April 9th, 2026, during which they will have the opportunity to appear and present any objections to the assess cost.

Thank you, Mr.

Irwin.

Is there anyone here who wishes to comment on this item?

Anyone wishing to comment?

Seeing none, the public hearing is closed.

Is there a motion to approve the resolution?

Motion Meredith, second from Ms.

Watkins, any questions or discussion?

Seeing none.

We will now move to the vote.

All in favor, please indicate.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

We move to 9C.

9C is a public hearing authorizing the demolition of an unsafe building constituting a public nuisance located at 13032 Cheney Thompson Road Southeast Huntsville, Alabama, in consideration of a resolution pertaining to the same.

The public hearing is now open.

Mr.

Irwin.

Yes, this resolution will authorize the demolition of an unsafe building constituting a public nuisance located at 13032 Cheney Thompson Road.

The owner and industry parties were notified of this request and may be here tonight to present any objection to the action.

We have photographs of the property for each review on the screen.

This property was initially inspected by an independent contractor who determined that the structure was not structurally feasible to repair of a 100-point scale of the 96 percent loss.

After an official notes was sent by certified and first class mail requesting the demolition and removal of the structure by the 26th day of March of 2026.

No action was taken by the owners or interested parties, and we are now requesting authorization to abate this nuisance.

Thank you, Mr.

Irwin.

Is there anyone here who wishes to comment on this item?

Anyone wishing to comment, Mr.

Cox?

Jerry Cox, 4029, Tail Star Circle.

Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Thank you.

Madam Chairman, my community for at least 10 years and probably closer to 20 years, has been trying to get a property that is only 10 percent better than what this property is.

And every day we still have that property there of being a public nuisance to us, being a hazard that address to us, but we still can't get the action on it that the community at this particular location has been able to get from the City of Huntsville.

We beg you to get this property torn down and out of our community.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr.

Cox.

Is there anyone else wishing to comment?

The public hearing is now closed.

Is there a motion to approve?

Motion to approve.

Motion from Mr.

Merrieth, second from Ms.

Watkins.

Any discussion?

Madam President, staying trying to stay on the subject.

Uh let me just echo Mr.

Cox's uh sentiments.

I've seen it personally and uh certainly would hope we can do something definitive about that property.

Any any neighborhood that has to have a property that has deteriorated to this level or even just 10 percent less than this, certainly needs to have it addressed.

So will you have that conversation with Mr.

Irwin here?

You all can step out in the lobby and have that conversation later.

Any other comments?

All in favor, please indicate.

Opposed.

Motion carries.

Thank you, Council members.

Thank you, Mr.

Irwin.

9D is a public hearing authorizing finance director to issue a limit limousine license to Kirk Parker to admit this as Starship Limousine Service for the operation of two limousines and consideration of a resolution pertaining to the same.

The public hearing is now open.

Good evening, Council members.

Keisha Bryant, Director of Parking and Public Transit.

This public hearing is before the council on the application of Kirk Parker doing business as Starship Limo service for a business license so that he can operate two limousines.

One of his vehicles is a Cadillac ESV and the other is a Lincoln Town car.

Mr.

Parker has completed his application and also passed his background check, thereby meeting the prerequisites to proceed.

Any questions?

Thank you, Ms.

Bryant.

Is there anyone here who wishes to comment?

Anyone wishing to comment?

The public hearing is now closed.

Is there a motion to approve the resolution?

Motion to apply.

Motion from Mr.

Meredith.

Second, second from Ms.

Watkins.

Do you have any questions for Ms.

Bryant?

Hearing none.

All in favor, please indicate.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Thank you so much, Ms.

Bryant.

We have one public hearing to be set.

10 A is a resolution to set a public hearing on the rezoning of 97.24 acres of land lying on the east of Greenbrier Parkway and south of Huntsville Browns Ferry Road from Highway Business C4 District to Residence 2 District and introduction of an ordinance pertaining to this same.

Is there a motion to set the hearing for May 28th, 2026 regular council member?

So moved.

Section from Mr.

Meredith, second from Ms.

Watkins.

All in favor, please indicate.

Motion carries.

That brings us to agenda related.

Public comments.

This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the council on matters relating to the specific content of items on the meeting agenda.

We have one person who has signed up.

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

And you may address the council for three minutes.

Speakers shall refrain from entering into a dialogue with council members or city staff and from making comments regarding the good name and character of any individual.

Ms.

Joy Johnson has signed up and is joining us this evening.

Ms.

Johnson.

Uh uh, yeah, Joy Johnson.

I live on West Arbor Drive in uh Huntsville, Alabama.

Thank you.

35811, District 1.

Thank you.

Um I don't I don't understand everything about uh the different commissions and everything, but I see two items here in 16 about appointing people to the educational building authority, and then it says Madison Academy.

I was under the impression that Madison Academy was a private school.

I don't I'm just saying I don't I wish somebody maybe could explain to me what the city item has to do with that.

Um item 20 N about getting into a cooperative agreement between the City of Huntsville and the drug and DEA.

Um just a little bit concerned uh that we might be over policing in particular some portions of town over others, and I certainly hope that that is not the case.

And and do we even really need to do this?

Um I would love to hear about 20R and the solar um thing that's going on.

Um 21A is uh demonstration of how easy it is, if it looks like to me to change the name of a street.

I'll be danged.

You'll do this, but not change the name of a street that is insulting to Native American women in particular.

I don't understand what the problem is with that.

It looks like you could can do it for a much less important reason.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll now go on and hear comments from Mayor Battle.

Mayor Battle, the time is yours.

Thank you, Madam President.

A lot is happening in in the area right now.

Umcra has come back to to uh the Rocket City and soccer will be taking place this weekend at Joe Davis Stadium.

This is uh community development block grant week.

And uh just the other day we we were out at a property that was being restored um uh house by house uh in part of our city.

And the I'm I want to say congratulations and thank yous to our uh community development department because they go in and take houses that uh may not uh meet the certain codes, and they get volunteer groups to help fix up those houses.

Most of the times those houses are owned by people who may be seniors and maybe not uh maybe can't uh don't have the income to be able to fix uh fix up a house or to uh maintain and maintenance a house, and and we're able to help them do that so that they can stay in their home longer.

Uh we're able to rebuild a community and rebuild a neighborhood.

Um I want to say thank you to community development for what they do.

Thank you to all the volunteers who work with community development.

There are churches that work with them, there are civic groups that work with them.

Habitat for Humanity was there working with them.

Uh groups from across the city are helping their neighbors rebuild communities and rebuild neighborhoods.

And I think it's one of those things that we ought to be very proud of.

Uh we also had 22 veterans here this week who uh were uh leaving the world of the military and come in into second uh second careers.

And uh we were uh telling about opportunities sitting right here in Huntsville.

And I think we might get a few takers out of it.

Um uh Artemis 2, splashdown watch party is happening in Big Spring Park East uh Friday night.

Uh I think it's about 7 o'clock is the time that we're scheduled for splashdown, should be a big party.

And we as a as a city need to come out and congratulate NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center and all the groups there and all the uh companies that have been working with NASA to make this happen uh for a great, great uh achievement by our country uh and a great great achievement as we go into future space exploration.

Uh baseball parks are opening uh on we've already opened Mayfair Park.

Uh Mr.

Kling was there for us for opening Mayfair Park and American League and Liberty League are opening Saturday uh at nine and at 10 o'clock.

Um so uh one of the best days in the world is the day you get to throw out the baseball to open baseball and say play ball.

And um then you have five and six-year-olds who take over the whole field.

The symphony is happening Saturday night, and over the next two uh uh two weeks.

Uh I will be attending the uh National Space Symposium uh out in Colorado Springs and also uh the Washington uh legislative fly-in.

Uh for the record, I would like to appoint Brenda Martin to the Huntsville Madison County Convention and Visitors Board of Directors uh for a four-year term to expire 413 uh 30.

I can't believe four years it will be 2030.

Uh but that's all I have.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Mayor Battle.

We moved to Councilmember comments, and we will begin by hearing from Councilmember John Meredith.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um had the pleasure of going to the Dragon Alley ribbon cutting over in the mid-city, and I'm telling you, if you have a thing for Asian food, you definitely want to go to Dragon Alley.

Um they call it Asian street food, but to me it's high-end dining.

I mean, it was it was wonderful.

Um they were kind enough for those of us that went to the ribbon cutting to give us little uh samples.

And everyone at the table I was at loved everything that they served.

I mean, no one said, Well, I like everything but that.

No, everybody loved everything.

Uh so I encourage you guys to get out there.

Um it's a must-stop if you find yourself in that mid-city um itself or just near Mid-City.

It's worth uh going and stopping and eating there.

Um also had the pleasure of being invited to the UAH neighborhood nursing program.

Um they have several different stops.

Uh the one I got to go to was in Triana.

Um it is from downtown, but it's um literally, if you count houses, it's a fifth house from my house, is Triana.

So it's not that far away from the city of Huntsville.

So if you live in that general area down Zert Road, down Waltrana Highway, um, off Swancott in that general area, um, and you do not have a primary uh physician, I encourage you to start going to the Triana location.

They're there, I believe, every week.

Um, I forget the day of the week, uh, might be Thursday, but every day of the week they are there, and you don't have to be a resident of Triana.

You can come from anywhere and they will take care of you.

Um it's a one-stop shopping for all basic health care screening.

Um they have immediate references there on site if you have mental uh issues that you need dealt with uh thanks uh to the folks over there at Wellstone.

Um and then also general medical concerns, like um if they take your blood and turns out you have a very high uh glucose, then you are uh gonna be uh given a a um uh an appointment with the folks uh at Happy Medical uh who are also there on site uh to get that taken care of.

So they're not gonna let you walk out, you know, with the with a problem without at least getting you an appointment to have uh that issue dealt with.

So it's really good to see the amount of uh the general public that was on hand and uh the uh the seemingly good time that they were having, despite what brought them there in the first place.

Uh so that was uh a privilege to see the neighborhood nursing program at UAH really start to crank out and do some of that mission work that they have tasked themselves with.

Also had the pleasure of attending the Oakwood University's Blue and Gold Scholarship Gala, where I was uh able to present the new President, Dr.

Gina Brown, with an allocation from the District 5 Council Improvement Fund.

So we help add to the uh scholarship fund there at uh Oakwood University, and it's always a great night of of music and camaraderie and fellowship.

Um and want to invite folks to this year's 2026 innovation showcase at Columbia High School.

Um Monday, April 13th, we're gonna feature the 9th and 10th grade Trailblazers, and then on Tuesday, April 14th, we're gonna feature the 11th and 12th grade visionaries.

The times are from 8 30 a.m.

to 3 30 p.m.

each day.

So come on out and witness the next generation of Huntsville's leaders, thinkers, and creators.

And we'll have incredible presentations, interactive uh demonstrations, and plenty of I knew them win moments.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

We will hear next from Councilmember Michelle Watkins.

Good evening, everyone.

On this past Saturday at the Boys and Girls Club on Plaskid Pike, we had a stop the violence rally, which is focused on our youth.

We um had a good showing, had good representation.

I was really satisfied with the calls that I received.

People were really impressed.

This is only the beginning.

We're not going to stop.

Next month we're going to have a rally to talk about truck awareness.

So if you're um in District 1 or any other district and these topics interest you, please come out and support us.

Our youth need us at this time.

I want to thank Ricky Wilson, James Gossett, and the shower center staff for coming out on Monday.

We had a meeting at the shower center to talk about if we were going to renovate the shower center or if we were going to build a new shower center.

And the consensus when we have was remodeled.

So thank you, Ricky.

You were very thorough.

I really appreciate everything you did.

There was a rumor run around town and people were getting calls at the city as well as I was getting calls that we were going to change the name of the shower center.

I don't know where that started.

That conversation never happened here at the city, not between the mayor, any council members, no one.

So shower center name is going to be the same.

It's going to stay where it's at.

That conversation never happened.

Parks and Rec did a lot of support, and I want to thank you for doing that.

It's uh Easter egg hunt that Yolanda Denson and several people started.

But I want to thank you for your support as well as I want to thank Parks and Rec and the Shower Center for supporting Happy Com.

The Easter Bunny comes to Happy Health at the shower center.

They had an Easter egg hunt as well.

So I really want to give a big shout out to Parks and Rec because you exemplify what a parking rec office should be doing for the community being involved, and I appreciate that.

Lastly, um I think that's it.

That's all I got.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Watkins.

We will now hear from Councilmember Bill Clinton.

Thank you, Madam President.

I think all of us on the Council have gotten input, comments, concern, questions about the uh acquisition, merger of uh Crestwood Hospital by Huntsville Hospital.

Uh a lot of information, rumors have been out as far as what would have happened and what hasn't happened.

Um the council, the full council had arranged uh for the CEO of Crestwood Hospital of Huntsville Hospital uh to come down.

He's gonna be at the April 23rd meeting, and of course, if you're watching this, you are streaming it, or watching it on cable TV, or you're in the audience, you know it's available.

But anyway, because of that community interest, uh we appreciate the CEO of Huntsville Hospital, Mr.

Sam's coming down, and again, he's gonna be making a presentation and uh I think uh providing some uh some very good information.

Uh another issue that perhaps I have dealt with, I don't know if other council members have seen, but as I walked around neighborhoods uh throughout the district, uh I become more aware, it started at Archer Park, and then I just kind of looked in more and more and more of these damaged cable TV boxes, cable boxes, cable TV, fiber, uh different types are kicked over, they're rusted, they're uh may work, they may not work, but they're definitely an eyesore, and there are neighborhoods throughout the uh the district, and I'm pretty sure throughout the city, based upon what I'm hearing.

Uh I have talked uh with our esteemed uh well, let me rephrase that.

Um I have talked to our city attorney, Mr.

Riley, and Mr.

Riley is looking into it, and this is not pinning you up on anything, but can you just kind of tell what your thoughts are, where we are, where you would see this going, and just whatever you would like to just say.

Keep it in mind, this is basically the uh the top of the first inning on this, so there's nothing definitive that's been decided yet.

That's right.

Uh thank you, Councilman Claim.

Uh of course, the subject you talk about, uh dangling wires, uh ill-kept or abandoned communication boxes and things is uh is sort of a bane that we experience all over the city.

I look out my front door and I see some boxes that are not properly taken care of.

I see uh uh a cord that uh has been connected and has been running across the street and across the yard for months on end.

And you know, of course, with grass mowing season coming on, it it sort of impacts me how I'm going to take care of that.

So it is a problem that I'm personally familiar with, and I think is across all the city.

In fact, through the years, uh many uh people have complained to city officials and obviously to City Council members as well about the commission of those facilities and things adjacent to their homes.

Typically they are located in the city's rights of way, which gives us a particular interest in how things look, uh, including our public utility easements.

In 2020, the City Council, in an effort to address these things, passed a comprehensive police power ordinance that governs communication facilities in our rights of way.

That ordinance addresses, among other things, construction standards when we're putting things in our right of way, restoration of property as a result of installing those things.

Conditions of use, including proper maintenance of the facilities when they may get hit by a car and knocked over, or there's service work going on and the lids don't get put on properly, uh, and those things in the right of way.

So those things are there as well as abandoned facilities.

Oftentimes what happens when you have these dangling wires is someone will change their service and the new service will come in, they'll just cut the wire and leave it dangling or tangle it up against the uh port or whatever, the pole or whatever, and then put their own in.

And so you have that, and that develops and continues to bind up over the years.

That ordinance had some several enforcement methods, uh, including prosecution in the municipal court, stop work orders, in other words, if they fail to do what they're supposed to do, we can issue a stop work order on other things that the communication companies are doing, and permit revocation, for instance, if they get a permit to do some of this.

These uh all are effective to some degree, but they are also ineffective.

For instance, in municipal court, they are just not equipped, for instance, to cite and uh potentially jail or whatever a corporation like ATT.

They are used to dealing with individuals.

So that turns out not to be a very effective method for us.

Stop work orders are not effective if they don't have any work order ongoing at the time.

And permit revocation again is only effective when they are trying to obtain a revocation.

So those methods have some uh lack of effectiveness.

A more effective method uh with that we've been utilizing and a more informal one has been to develop a more cooperative relationship with our communication providers.

Our city ITS department is spearheading that effort, and they're making a very coordinated effort through our CIC, C click fix and other communications with the city to address each of those and to get with those providers to address citizen complaints in a timely fashion.

Admittedly, we don't always get the quick results that we would like to have, but it is an effort that does produce fruit from time to time, and we continue to do it.

But once again, the problem is somewhat immense and and and there's not the manpower to address it as we would like.

Providers have largely been responsive, but they also don't necessarily have the resources on hand to address the magnitude of the problems that exist.

Uh and oftentimes their work is done through 30 part third-party contractors as well.

So this has been a frustrating experience for the city as well.

As a city attorney, my job is to evaluate these tools that we have and try to address these problems in as effective a manner as we can.

Frankly, as we discussed, all those tools are not available to us in all situations, such as I indicated when we're uh in the municipal court and we're not dealing with an individual.

And sometimes the bang is not worth the buck.

In other words, the expense involved with pursuing a remedy that would be effective is more expensive than necessary.

But we have a methodology that when compliance arises to a certain level, especially when public safety is implicated, or when there are repeat violations of our ordinances that we can seek to obtain what is called injunctive relief through the circuit court.

That is a relief or a methodology that we used in other areas, and we are exploring it at this time, and we will continue to do so.

We ask for the continued patience of the uh the citizens as we work to solve this thorny problem, and it's a difficult problem.

Uh but we are doing the best we can, and we'll try to do better.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Mr.

Kling.

Thank you, Mr.

Riley.

Uh we will now hear from Councilmember David Little.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um this Saturday, the uh Boston Valley Civic Association will be hosting a biscuit breakfast at the uh at 9 o'clock at the Cornerstone Presbyterian Church, and we'll have uh fire trucks and the police will be there to talk about summer safety things and other items that I think our residents will be interested in.

And then reminder April 30th out in the Cove area, we'll be hosting a town hall at uh the residents at Well Point.

I believe that's at 5 o'clock.

We will have Dr.

Sutton and Holly McCarty from the school system, I believe Shane Davis will be there, and kind of Commissioner Hill just to talk about what's happening in the cove.

And then uh I'll just like to give a special shout out to Chris McNeese, who's gone with me on a couple of meetings with some residents to talk about some road issues.

Uh it was very helpful on that.

And then, as always, uh thanks to HPD, the engineering department, Hounts for Utilities and Public Works being responsive to citizen uh needs.

Thank you.

I have a point of order here.

You did not invite the uh the gentleman from the TRUP to come up and introduce themselves like I thought was your role.

Yeah, you you do it all the time.

I was planning to do it.

Oh well I'm sorry for stealing your thunder.

I'm just so used to Mr.

Little doing that.

Um sorry.

I'll be happy to.

On that note, let me again welcome the members of Scout Troop 361.

We are glad to have you here.

We know you're probably working on badges.

Could we have each member of the troop come up and give us their name, um, their rank, and uh if you're working on a badge, tell us what badge you're working on.

And many thanks as well to NOAA for leading our pledge.

It's a scary thing when some lady you don't know comes up to you and asks you to get up and like that and give a pledge in front of all these people you don't know.

Uh hello, my name is Noah Hitchcock.

Uh I'm a Life Scout from True Tree 61.

And you're are you here to work on a badge tonight?

Yes, ma'am.

Which badge are you working on?

We're working on communication and citizenship in the community.

Very good.

Thank you.

And thank you again for helping us with the pledge, Noah.

My name is Danielle Linick.

I'm a Life Scout, and tonight I'm working on communications and citizenship in community.

Thank you.

My name is Anna Koltoff, and I'm actually from Troop 321.

I just tagged along with Troop 361.

And I am first class rank, and I am working on communication and citizenship in the world in the communities.

Very good.

Thank you.

And Scout Leaders, would you like to introduce yourselves?

Yeah, you're doing you're doing really, really important work by leading these young people and helping them develop their leadership skills.

I'm Benjamin Hitchcock, uh one of the assistant scout masters of Troop Transition.

That's why you volunteered NOAA.

Dad does it.

Okay.

I'm BJL Linick.

I'm the uh advancement chair for uh Troop 361.

Good.

Thank you.

And I'm Kyle Koltoff.

I'm an assistant scout master at both 321 and 361.

So I've got a son in 361 and a daughter in 321.

Wonderful.

Thank you again for joining us.

Thank you for the work you're doing.

And speaking of scouts, I had the opportunity last week to take give a city hall tour to Cub Scout PAC number 73.

It was really fun, taking them around, and there was a whole lot of ooing and awing, but I'll tell you what impressed them the most.

I we had did kind of an impromptu visit down to EMA, and they got to see um the places where in a disaster our folks would be able to sleep and take showers and eat, and they thought that was so cool.

So uh we we love all our scouts.

Uh I had the opportunity this weekend to attend the Chalk Festival.

Southeast Huntsville Maine sponsored the second annual chalk festival.

We saw chalk creations of all kinds and all skill levels, had a great turnout, really nice weather, food trucks, vendors.

It was a great event, and I applaud South Huntsville Maine for taking that on.

We just want to see it get bigger and better over the years.

I'm also looking forward to opening day.

I last month I actually got to do a walkthrough at Bell Mountain Park with the Liberty League Board members to look at some issues there.

We made an extensive list of some things that needed to be addressed in advance of opening day, and I want to thank everybody at Landscape and at Parks and Rec, particularly uh James Gossett and Scott Stapler and others who have worked to get the parks ready for opening day and to address some of those issues.

Um be a great day, and I will be there.

I don't know that I will be throwing out a pitch, but I will be there to cheer everybody else on.

On May 9th, Ditto Landing will host the annual cleanup day at Ditto Landing, and we are so grateful for the Southeast YMCA who are partners in this.

It will start at 8 o'clock in the morning, so be there early.

There will be opportunities to cut down limbs, to pick up trash, to paint stripes in the parking lot.

Um there really are jobs for everybody at every age.

It's a great project for scouts.

We always have scouts that come.

So that's May 9th.

Be sure and join us for that.

And then finally, Godspeed to the Artemis crew.

Uh our prayers for a safe splashdown.

And um and that's it.

We will now move on to Finance Committee report.

14A is a resolution authorizing expenditures for payment.

I move for authorization and approval of expenses in the amount of 22,979, eight hundred and thirty-five dollars and sixteen cents.

Second from the chair.

All in favor, please indicate aye.

Any posed?

Motion carries.

Is there a report from the committee?

No, no, ma'am.

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

Moved to approved.

Motion from Mr.

Little, second from Mr.

Meredith.

Mr.

Little, can you share with us what you are planning to do here?

Thank you, Madam President.

This is a $5,000 appropriation to the Alabama Center of Military History, our Veterans Museum, as it's more commonly referred to, uh, to provide a little funding for development and improvement of their educational displays.

Thank you.

Any comments from council members?

All in favor, please indicate.

Opposed, motion carries.

We have no board appointments to be voted on.

16A has been uh deleted by the sponsor.

We'll go on to 16B.

16B is a nomination.

Yes, sir.

I'm sorry.

We'll take nominations from the floor.

16B is a nomination to reappoint Mark McDaniel to the Education Building Authority, Madison Academy to his current seat for a six-year term to expire November 12, 2029.

This is these again, these are nomination only.

Action will be taken at the April 23rd Council meeting.

16C is a nomination to reappoint Robert Burton to the Education Building Authority, Madison Academy to his current seat for a six-year term to expire November 10, 2031.

The floor is now open for now to take nominations from the floor.

Mr.

Clain.

Madam Prozo, I would like to nominate Ed Banville for the vacancy created by the expiration of the term of David Driscoll on the Bingo committee.

Thank you.

Are there any other nominations?

We'll move on then to number 17, Huntsville Utility Item 17A is a resolution authorizing the mayor to approve the sale of surplus property on Gillespie Road in Madison, Alabama, to the water and wastewater board of the City of Madison doing business as Madison Utilities at a sales price of $1 million.

Is there a motion to approve?

Motion to approve.

Motion from Mr.

Merrith, second from second from Mr.

Little.

Do we have a presentation from Huntsville Utilities?

Hey, good evening.

Chris Jones, Huntsville Utilities.

No presentation, just a couple of quick comments.

This is property that was used by our electric department from 1996 through 2016.

And then from 2016 through 2024 by our fiber group.

We relocated that group to another location, primarily due to traffic.

As Madison grew, it became very difficult to get our crews out of that location.

The City of Madison would like to purchase the property.

It's a good fit for them.

They don't have to travel as far.

So the million-dollar purchase price was a result of a couple of appraisals, one performed by a contractor on our side, one by the city of Madison.

So we think that represents fair market value, and I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Any questions?

Any questions?

All right, very good.

Apparently you did a good job.

All in favor, please indicate.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

We have a couple of, or one legal item.

18A is an ordinance authorizing the vacation of utility and drainage easement in the Huntsville North Village Phase 1A, North Village Boulevard, and Northwest.

Is there a motion to approve?

Moved approved.

Motion for Mr.

Little, second for Mr.

Meredith.

Any discussion?

All in favor, please indicate.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Unfinished items for business.

19A is an ordinance amending Chapter 2, Article 4, Division 2, Section 2-184 of ordinance 96-864 to establish a formal policy to exempt expenditures for repair parts and the repair of light duty vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of 12,000 pounds or less from the competitive bidding process.

Is there a motion to approve?

Move to approve.

Motion for Mr.

Little, second from Mr.

Meredith.

Any uh discussion?

All in favor, please indicate.

Opposed, motion carries.

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

Is there a motion to approve?

Motion for Mr.

Meredith.

Second.

Little, second for Mr.

Meredith.

Any discussion?

All in favor, please indicate.

Opposed.

Motion carries.

We move on now to new business items for consideration.

Council members, um, you have told me that you would like to hold items D, F, I, M, N, P, and R.

Are there any other items to be held?

D.

F, I.

M, P and R.

And P and R.

Okay.

Anybody have anything else?

Right.

Then the Chair moves for consolidation approval of items 20 A to C, 20E, 20 G, 20H, 20J 2L, 20 N, 20Q.

And 20 S and T.

Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

All in favor indicate?

Aye.

Any opposed?

The motion carries.

We'll now move on to consider each individual item.

We'll begin with 20 D.

20 D is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a consulting agreement between the City of Huntsville and Bold Agency LLC for graphic design support and web development services.

Is there a motion to approve?

Motion to approve.

Motion from Mr.

Meredith, second from the chair.

Ms.

Rice.

Hello.

Good evening.

My name is Carrie Rice.

I'm a communication specialist with the City of Huntsville.

Council members item 20D is the annual professional services contract renewal with bold agency for website design and large branding projects with a not-to-exceed amount of 100,000 dollars.

Included in this amount includes the design and development of our new city website, which will launch later this year.

It also includes design work for any large city branding projects.

And if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Any questions?

Any questions for Ms.

Rice?

I have questions.

Ms.

Wilkins.

Good evening.

How are you doing?

So you said large branding.

Would it be any branding like if City Council needs flyers, anything done like that?

Would that be able to be that for us?

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

Just let us know.

Anyone else?

All in favor, please indicate.

Opposed.

Motion carries.

Thank you.

Move on to 20 F.

20F is a resolution authorizing use of the DS 200 precinct electronic voting devices and the ADA express vote machines in the municipal general election and runoff election if necessary.

Motion.

Motion to motion from Mr.

Meredith.

Second.

Second by Mr.

Little.

Good evening, Council.

Mayor Battle, Shandrika Edwards, City Clerk.

This resolution is authorizing the use of the DS 200 precinct electronic voting devices and the ADA express vote machine and the upcoming municipal general election and runoff if necessary.

This machine is a device that does all of our reporting, counting, counting, excuse me, and tabulating for our election results for all of our elections.

Moving forward, this will stay in place for any subsequent elections.

I'll be glad to answer any questions.

What's the difference between a count and the tabulation?

You can say I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss something.

It's the definition they use for the machine.

It's essentially the same.

Is it is it the last time we did um uh a canvassing here?

You brought out a machine.

Is that that is the DS 200 that we utilize from Madison County.

Okay, so that's what we're talking about.

That is the DS 200, correct.

And the only change here, that's the same machine we've been using for a number of years.

The reason I did this is because the ADA machine was previously known as an auto-mark machine, and it is now known as an express vote machine.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Any other questions?

All in favor, please indicate.

Opposed motion carries.

Thank you, Ms.

Edwards.

20i.

20i.

Is a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute renewal number two to the lease agreement between the City of Huntsville and WizKids LLC for the lease of a portion of property.

Chair moves for approval?

Second.

Second by Mr.

Meredith, Mr.

Wilkinson.

Yes, good evening, Ricky Wilkinson, Director of General Services.

So this is uh the second renewal to a lease agreement with WizKids.

Um this renewal will take effect uh July 1st of 2026.

It is a one-year extension to June 30th of 2027.

It does include uh per the original lease agreement a 3 percent escalation uh in the rent cost, which brings that total to um $6,013.33 cents a month.

And I'm happy to answer any questions.

Questions from Mr.

Wilkinson?

Anyone have questions?

All those in favor, please indicate by saying aye.

Any opposed?

Motion keeps the Mr.

Wilkinson.

20 a.m.

is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter an agreement between the City of Huntsville and ParkZen.

Chair moves for approval.

Second, second by Mr.

Meredith.

Ms.

Bryant, welcome back.

Good evening again.

Keisha Bryant, Director of Parking and Public Transit.

The item before you for consideration is to enter into an agreement with Park Zinn.

Park Zen provides a data-driven approach to parking.

This hardware-free technology would be a standalone mobile application that has capability to provide real-time parking availability along with corresponding wayfinding to get you to that parking location that has available parking.

With this, we would be able to assist our parkers in locating available parking more efficiently.

Our department would also benefit from the addle the analytics that the application will provide to us as we look for ways to optimize our operations and plan for the future.

This contract covers a one-time implementation fee of $10,000 and an annual subscription fee of $15,000.

Any comments or questions?

I will make one comment.

I have heard over the years repeatedly people saying there is no parking downtown, we don't have enough parking downtown, but then parking people will say we have parking.

This will just help people find it.

That's right.

It's there.

It is there to help them find it.

I promise.

Thank you.

Yes.

Okay, the $10,000 implementation fee.

Why is that?

So the implementation fee is the app actually has to be developed to take into account all of the parking that we have in the City of Huntsville.

So what they do is they tailor the app to meet our needs.

And so they would have to geofence all of our parking garages and parking lots and put that into the app that would be specifically for Huntsville.

And that's a one-time fee.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yes.

Any other questions, Mr.

Mayor?

Is there a fee to uh end users?

No, there is not a fee to end users.

And it's its own freestanding app, so they have to go in there and download that.

But then we'll have to do that.

That's correct.

That's correct.

So users would have to download the app to utilize it.

And once we get it developed and ready to launch, we will share that with the community so that they know it is out there and hopefully lots of people will take advantage of it.

And hopefully this never happens, but if there is an issue, then they need to yell at the uh the developer of this app and not city of Huntsville, correct?

We'll direct them to the proper person to complain to.

Thank you very much.

And you'll also take that feedback into it.

Any other questions?

All in favor, please indicate.

I oppose motion carries.

Thank you very much, Ms.

Bryant.

20 N is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a cooperative agreement between the City of Huntsville, the United States Department of Justice, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Is there a motion to approve?

Motion to approve.

Motion for Mr.

Mayor, a second from Mr.

Little.

Mr.

Hamilton.

Good evening, Councilmember John Hamilton City Administrator.

So what is before you is uh renewal of the existing MOA MOU that we have had with uh with DA and the Department of Justice specific to uh drug trafficking?

So we uh we provide officers into uh into their offices, uh they provide officers into our uh regional task force.

And so this is just a renewal of that agreement.

Questions for Mr.

Hamilton?

I do, Ms.

Markins.

This uh does this have anything to do with ICE?

It does not.

Will you be assistant ICE in picking up citizens?

Uh this this MOU has nothing to do with that.

So uh you know, as we have talked about before, so separate from this, obviously, if there's uh if there is a warrant for somebody's arrest, oftentimes uh local law enforcement assists ensuring that uh that those operations, whether it's the FBI or any other Federal agency does that in a safe manner.

Is this agreement in place where if Ice comes to town, you assist ICE?

This in no way facilitates that.

Okay, thank you.

There is a question regarding over policing in some areas of town.

Is this going to be used to provide law enforcement across the city?

Is it actually it's a regional task force?

So we have uh agencies, you know, local, state, and federal agencies from across North Alabama that are all partners in in this fight, and so uh they're gonna go to wherever uh wherever the crime is.

So there is no targeting involved in this.

Thank you.

Uh any other questions, comments?

I think uh Mr.

Clinton, I think.

Microphone.

I believe I saw in one of the uh police reports, police department annual reports that very generally we can say that drug is a drug problem throughout the city.

It is not one part of the city.

Um the district I represent east of the parkway, west of the parkway, I looked at, and it's pretty prevalent on both sides, and what I saw in that report, it's pretty much widespread throughout the city.

Unfortunately, drugs do not have any limitations.

They seem to go all over the place.

So that would kind of back that up.

And I think you know, obviously we put a a lot of effort into, you know, in this particular area, there's obviously different task forces focus on different types of crime.

One of the things that we see in the drug networks is that other crime comes from that.

There is other violence, other things.

Uh you see rivalries between networks and things that generate uh violent crime and things.

So, you know, ultimately this is a big part of making us safe on multiple levels.

Are there any more questions?

Thank you, Mr.

Hamilton.

All in favor, please indicate any opposed motion carries.

We will go to 20 uh P.

20 P is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement between the City of Huntsville and Crimson Recruiting Services LLC for police officer recruitment.

Is there a motion to approve?

Motion to approve.

It's the second from Mr.

Little.

Mr.

Hamilton.

Councilmember, what is before you, I think is really the start of what will be a continuing conversation on a number of things that we need to do to ensure that we are recruiting and attracting a highly qualified workforce uh within our police department.

You know, that that also applies to other departments, but in particular focused on ensuring that our police department has the resources they need and the manpower and highly skilled, highly qualified, properly trained manpower is is obviously critical to the work that we do throughout your districts.

Uh but that's a getting that workforce is particularly challenging.

Uh and there's another things that we are doing to try and assist with that that we will continue to bring to you over over the coming council meetings.

But what this is is specifically a service that we have in collaboration with other cities in Alabama, they have used and particularly Mobile to great success in assisting and finding good candidates to bring into our police academy.

Uh so this would be a new relationship, so uh that uh would really rely on the experience they have had and the success that they have demonstrated in South Alabama, bring that here and assist us in the recruiting effort.

We have uh full-time staff inside the police department that works that effort.

Uh and uh we believe we really need to increase that effort and the success that the this particular company has shown in partnership with Mobile is something that we want to bring to you.

So we recommend approval on this contract.

Questions from Mr.

Hamilton?

Mr.

Meredith?

Yes.

Um what's their expertise?

What what are they gonna do that our current local folks aren't doing?

So uh what we have seen, you know, in their their demonstrated capability is uh really in the manner in which they market, and they have been particularly effective in, you know, not everybody's cut out to be a police officer, you know.

And uh uh the the types of folks that we find that come in and are are very successful and high quality police officers, they've uh uh demonstrated particular skill in just marketing to that particular unique uh segment uh of our population and have a number of kind of marketing takes.

So this is really a marketing campaign is what it is, but they have uh shown uh to be particularly adept at going after those particular types of folks.

Um national bases or regional bases?

Well, we certainly try to market nationally.

Uh you know, in and there is some success, and particularly you know, later on the agenda, there is an item to assist us in going after folks that are already police officers elsewhere and interested in moving.

And so that's probably where you see the the most success in a national marketing campaign.

We have had some success like that.

We have some great officers in our force right now that came here from Chicago and places in Arizona and California and in other states.

Uh so we have had some success, but it you're kind of talking onesie's twosies in those particular cases.

Uh so certainly we want to push nationally as best we can.

Generally speaking, folks aren't moving across the country for that job, and those if you want to be a police officer, there is one in every community, right?

So there is opportunity.

So uh we certainly will take every single person that we can that that is properly qualified to do the job.

Your real bang for your buck in terms of the volume you need is going to be local.

It is going to be within our region within our state or within a certain driving distance.

And so we we will focus most of our efforts where we're going to expect to get the greatest return on our investment.

But of course, in today's world, a website goes around the world, right?

And social media goes around the world.

That's where I think the way in which we sell our community and the quality of our department is why we attract some of those folks.

But I think really kind of the point you are getting at is your greatest success is going to be within a within a certain radius around the community.

And finally, what um do we have any target recruitment uh goals for them?

Uh meaning do we expect them to recruit 200 workers in the next year or you know, I would tell you right now, just you know, the positions that council has authorized us versus what we have filled, we have about 75 vacancies.

And so uh, you know, we are working hard to fill every single academy class.

Generally speaking, what you what we can take at any one time will be in the kind of the mid-30s is what what the Academy can handle.

Uh and so two sessions per year.

Uh so far we have not been successful in coming anywhere near that number.

You know, so you've seen some of our graduating classes of eight or ten or twelve.

Uh and so it's something that we have got to uh to identify ways of getting better at bringing people in.

Now, there are some of that also is uh you know competitive compensation packages, and so we're doing you know studies uh regionally, uh particularly just how how we compare and that.

I think there's some things to work that we need to do to assist with that.

And those of that that's why I am referring to when I say we're going to probably bring you some additional things in the in the near future to try and address some of those concerns throughout our public safety, not only police, but also the fire department.

Uh but you know, obviously tonight we are focused on the police.

So, you know, the reality is if if I could get 75 folks in the academy tomorrow, I would do it.

Uh but Academy couldn't handle it, and quite frankly, we have not uh generally found that number of highly qualified folks.

Uh it is a very, very selective process.

Every time we advertise every academy, we will get several hundred applicants.

Uh and oftentimes of that 10 to 20 are actually of the quality, the capability that we're looking for.

So it is a tough, tough cut.

Um and so we've we've got to continue to get more of those highly qualified folks.

Thank you very much.

Any other questions?

Ms.

Watkins.

Um, I see on the notes it says that we may extend for two additional 12 month terms.

Is that correct?

So that means for two additional years?

So that those would be if we choose to do so.

So that's pretty typical.

A lot of our contracts like this, we will do you know one year but have the option to do to do extensions if in fact we are having success.

You know, this is uh you know a first time we have gone to an outside entity to partner with us.

And so while we have seen great success in the work they did down in Mobile, uh, you know, Huntsville and Mobile aren't exactly the same.

And so if it's something as we get through it that it's not working the way we need it to, then we would not renew that contract.

If it's working great and we think it's worth the investment, then we would continue it.

So would you say like if they improve the hiring like by 25 percent, that would be a success rate that you will want to continue with?

I certainly wouldn't.

I think you know it it's hard.

You don't want to put an exact number on it, but I I agree with the premise there that you are putting forward that we have got to see a return on that investment.

Um that is really what I was concerned about.

It's making sure we are seeing a return on our investment.

Absolutely, I agree with that.

Thank you, Mr.

Hamilton.

And those extensions would come to the council for approval.

Any other questions?

All in favor, please indicate I oppose the motion carries 20R is a resolution authorizing mayor to entering to a solar ground lease agreement by and among the City of Huntsville and Madison County, Alabama as landlord, and E.

Gemini Solar LLC as tenant and authorizing mayor to sign additional documents related there too.

Motion to approve motion from Mr.

Mayor, second second from Mr.

Clay.

Mr.

Davis.

Good evening, Councilmember.

Thank you, Madam President.

So uh tonight what we bring you is a triparty agreement, uh really a quad party agreement uh between the City of Huntsville, uh Mass County Commission, Hunts for Utilities, and uh uh URIS Incorporated, or our Gemini Solar LLC.

Uh so what I wanted to bring you is a vicinity map, as you can see on the screen.

Uh the pink uh square there is near the intersection of 6th Street and Waltrana.

So that is property that is uh been on for uh probably 30 plus years.

It's jointly owned between the City of Huntsville and the Madison County Commission.

Uh it was purchased uh many years ago as a potential industrial site or for industrial use to benefit the holistic community, meaning City of Huntsville and Madison County.

Um I want to go through some details of this lease agreement.

The County Commission uh passed the same document that is before you tonight earlier this week.

Uh so what we would uh do in partnership with Madison County and Huntsville Utilities is enter into a ground lease.

So we're not selling the property, the public remains, the owners of the property of 237 acres to generate a new 40 megawatt solar facility.

Very significant local power generation in a very uh green manner.

Uh the lease term would be for 35 years.

At the end of that term, uh we would have two options.

You know, future council and a future county commission could renew and extend and continue to generate power there.

Uh, if we chose not to do so, uh, all the solar facility that would be on the property would have to be removed and the property returned to its natural state.

Um there is a revenue stream attached to that.

So should you approve this tonight, they'll start their due diligence period and then get into what we refer to as a development uh period, that's actual construction in this document.

We see development period.

So once construction starts, they have 14 months to complete and be generating power.

Uh so we uh during that construction period have asked for a partial payment of the annual lease in the amount of $23,796, and then upon completion and it generating power, there is an annual lease payment of $237,690 per year.

We will split those proceeds 50-50 with the county.

Umtilities is here tonight uh who is the backbone of this project.

So if you would like to know more about the solar and its generation and how it comes on to our grid.

Um I can tell you from from where I sit in City Hall of Industrial Development and Economic Development and some of the long-term goals that TVA is working on, and uh people like Eli Lilly coming in and Space Command and the growth of the uh of the FBI and Redstone Arsenal, the proximity to our grid in Redstone Arsenal, uh this is a great solution for our community, uh especially not only you know for the next 35 years, but there's about a three to five year window uh where adding this local generation to our overall power grid helps strengthen this community as far as our future and continued growth and be able to manage that and manage cost.

Uh I think Wes Kelly, when he came before this council uh talked about the five goals, and one of those was local power generation, which keeps our rates low.

Uh this is a prime example of that.

So I'll defer answering any question you have about the lease, but as far as the project, uh Chris Jones is here with Huntsville Utilities.

Questions?

Mr.

Mayor.

Yes, I've got one for uh Huntsville Utilities.

Where is this gonna tie in?

I I know there's a substation up Waltrana, but that's the one I'm familiar with.

Is there another one that this is possibly gonna tie in?

I'll let Mr.

Jones Thank you, Mr.

Davis.

Yeah, good evening again.

Uh Chris Jones, Chief Operating Officer of Huntsville Utilities.

So there is an existing 46 KV uh transmission line that runs along Wall Triana that connects to the substation for our water treatment plant, and it also goes north and eventually connects to Jetport substation.

So we'll build a new substation tying to that transmission line and the energy will go back to Jetport.

Okay.

Awesome.

Thank you.

That was it.

Come in.

Just general comment.

Uh this what I understand about this is kind of complicated.

You've got Huntsville Utilities, City of Huntsville, working with the Madison County Commission, they did their thing.

And uh, you know, in this era of what we see nationally, it's just nice that we see that local city governing bodies and agencies can work together for the public good.

That's the only way it happens out in the West, my friend, is you got to have collaboration.

Yeah.

And and kudos and a shout out to TVA.

Um they changed their policy a few years ago.

Um, so what they refer to as people like Huntsville Utilities is co-ops, cooperatives, uh, and their policy uh forbid or prohibited any local power generation by their cooperative.

So Huntsville Utilities could not have done this project, uh, but they see how they need to be uh reactive and proactive and change some of their policies, and and certainly they want a green power mix across their entire portfolio, certainly the hydropower and the nuclear power, they're doing some of their own solar, but to allow the cooperatives, people like Huntsville Utilities to go do projects like this.

Uh we've completed one, North Huntsville Industrial Park in partnership with Toyota.

Uh Athens Electric and TVA are working on a uh a major uh project very similar at Mazda Toyota in partnership with them.

So one, I think it's great for our community, show diversity in uh in how we generate power, uh, but also the resiliency that will bring to our community.

Anyone else have questions?

E.

Gemini Solar LLC.

Is that an entity created by Huntsville Utilities?

It is actually created by their business partner who operate.

So it is the same company.

So that Huntsville Utilities did an RFP, so a very competitive process.

So it's actually URIS Inc.

They are actually a parent company of Toyota, or they were birthed out of there.

They're a for-profit standalone company.

But they won that.

They have done about as much solar as anybody across the U.S.

So very experienced.

And that RFP process actually had a competitive component in it in what that power generation of those solar panels of what that power could be generated and purchased for.

So the cheaper we can purchase it, the better it passes on to our rate customer.

And that's how they were selected.

So that's another layer of partnership for you there.

Very good.

Any other comments?

Ms.

One last question.

Would this have any effect on rates?

Will this take any rates up?

No, no.

So the capital investment that is being made here will have no bearing on the rates.

I don't want to speak for Hunts for Utilities.

But in talking with Wes Kelly, deploying projects like this.

So Huntsville Utilities is self-generating power actually helps us long-term stabilize our local rate.

You want to add to that?

Sure, I can just say, based on our experience with the solar facility at Toyota, the energy cost that we will purchase will be lower than what we purchased from TVA.

We also experienced demand savings, so we expect this to be we will have some capital investment to build a substation, but we expect the payback to be probably two years or less, and it will be money savings after that.

Thank you.

All in favor, please indicate.

I proposed.

Motion carries.

Thank you, Councilmembers.

Thank you, Mr.

Davis.

Thank you, Mr.

Jones.

Move to new items for introduction.

These items are for introduction only, and they will be considered at a later meeting.

Sorry.

I guess just for the for the record on item 21A.

Could I read it first?

If you would let me if you would let me introduce it and then we'll talk about it.

21A is the introduction because we don't have anything to talk about yet.

21A is the introduction of an ordinance renaming the portion of Cleveland Avenue from Meridian Street to Church Street to Microwave Dave Way.

Okay.

So it has been properly introduced.

Mr.

Cling.

It would be my request that the Council, and this is actually at the request of the family and foundation group, that they would like to have this held over until May 14th for passage, as there is going to be a special event the uh the following Sunday at the Civic Center.

And uh for that reason, we would like to ask.

Also, uh a concern was raised about the street naming.

Uh for me before this even but something on my radar, I was approached by uh numerous people from the Microwave Dave Foundation and family, and they, along with the six business owners that would be impacted by this, they lobbied me and they asked that this be done.

It wasn't like I went out to do it, and this is going to change some things.

But the people who would be impacted with their business addresses requested that uh that this be done.

Uh also, if I can bear a little bit of hang on, let's we need to we need to just really focus on what we are doing here.

So from what I understand, we have the family coming on March on May thirty May 14th to accept a resolution.

Correct.

And so you are asking that rather than having this considered as would be our normal practice at the next council meeting, April 23rd, you would like to postpone consideration uh until the May 14th meeting.

Have you made that motion?

Uh I would so move.

Okay.

And I will and Mr.

Little will second it.

So no, is there any question, comments regarding this motion to postpone the May 14th meeting?

Is that kosher with bylaws and Roberts rules, or do we need to actually make this motion uh at the next meeting?

Uh to me, yeah, I looked at it briefly this afternoon, and I saw nothing that would make it uh impossible or illegal for us to simply set the consideration of this matter at that next meeting.

So be not the next meeting, but the one after.

It is just that since this was for introduction only, we shouldn't really be having this discussion, therefore, can we actually be voting on something pertaining to this meeting?

Postponing it.

I believe we are voting on the consideration.

And normally it would be considered at the April 23rd meeting, but we are asking to just postpone to the for Mayor to be able to do that.

I see no problem with doing it.

You know, because in every one of these, we would just, as a matter of habit, we would set it for the next meeting, and we simply there is a request being made that we set it at the next one.

Either way it accomplishes the same thing.

I know the great deal of public interest, and we just for the clarity's sake.

We are just going to let everybody know that it will not be considered at the next meeting.

Given what you have said, what Mr.

Riley has said, I have no objection on voting on Mr.

Clink's motion.

Then all in favor of uh considering this item that has been properly introduced at the May 14th meeting.

Please say aye.

Any opposed motion carries.

We will consider that at the May 14th meeting.

21B is the introduction of an ordinance to name the dog park located at I-565 and Pratt Avenue, known as the downtown dog park dog spot to the microwave Dave dog spot.

So this has been properly introduced.

I just wanted to know it says City Council is a sponsor.

Who actually is sponsoring that?

I would be glad to be listed as the culprit, but I thought this might be something good for the whole council.

I was just curious because we are running out of things to name after you, Mr.

Kling.

Clang and I can co-sponsor it like we did the road.

That's fine.

Just to clarify, it will be Mr.

Kling and Mr.

Little.

Is it going to be necessary also to postpone consideration to the May 14th meeting on this item?

I believe so.

I believe we would just parallel make a similar motion to postpone the introduction from the introduction to the May 14th meeting for the year.

Postpone for consideration to the May 14th meeting.

Second for second for Mr.

Any discussion.

All in favor, please indicate.

I opposed the motion to postpone the properly introduced ordinance carries.

There is a relationship between Microwave Dave and the dog part, but you are going to have to tune in on May 14th.

You'll hear about it to find out.

You'll hear about it then.

Thank you.

Mr.

Little or Mr.

Kling is so excited about this.

He just wants to tell everybody.

21C is the introduction of an ordinance to amend Section 8.2 appointment rate of ordinance 04-315 personnel policies and procedures manual.

This will be considered at the April 23rd meeting.

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

21E is the introduction of an ordinance to amend the budget ordinance number 25-744 to modify the authorized strength of departments.

21F is the introduction of an ordinance annexing 2.41 acres of land lying on the west side of Old Big Cove Road and south of Worley Drive.

21G is introduction of ordinance to declare certain property as surplus and authorizing the mayor to enter into a purchase and sale agreement between the City of Huntsville and Everett Properties Inc.

for the purchase of the same, and 21H is introduction of an ordinance declaring certain equipment surplus and to be sold at public auction.

All those items will be considered at the April 23rd meeting.

This brings us now to second roster public comments.

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 meeting agenda.

Individuals have signed up on the roster prior to the meeting.

And when I call your name, approach the microphone, state your name, home address, and city of residence, and I will call also the succeeding speaker so that you can be ready to come up.

Each speaker may address the council for three minutes.

Speaker shall refrain from entering into a dialogue with council members or city staff and from making comments regarding the good name and character of any individual.

The first person we will hear from is Angelica Conder, who will be followed by Julian Boykin.

Is Angelica Conder here?

Then we will move on to Julian Boykin, who will be followed by Michael Francis.

If you'll just give those to Mr.

Riley, Mr.

Riley can make sure that we get them all.

Thank you, sir.

And if you'll come to the microphone right there.

Your name and address for the record.

Julian Boykin, 1107, Black Briar Circle, Hartzville, Alabama, 35640.

Thank you, sir.

Good evening.

Council members.

Mayor Battle.

My name is Julian Boykin.

I'm here to introduce a civic partnership vision called the Luminary.

Alabama History Museum.

Alabama has an incredible historical assets, but no single institution tells our full multicultural story from indigenous Alabama to the civil rights era, the space race, and the innovation economy shaping our future.

Huntsville is the only city positioned to house that complete story.

The luminary fills that statewide gap.

It's designed as a world-class architectural iconic museum that aligns Huntsville's growth, its tourism strength, and its identity as the Rocket City.

I have two visual uh renderings that I want to present to the council as well.

Sorry.

Sir, you're you're using up your time here.

So if you'll just continue your comments.

Thank you.

The museum's four-level design ascends from Alabama's foundations to his future, echoing Huntsville's spirit of launching bold ideas.

It also includes a K-12 educational model aligned with Alabama standards and parental choice, making it a statewide resource for families and schools.

The Luminary is not asking for funding.

We are seeking a partnership pathway, a concept endorsement, a designated city liaison, and a collaboration on site identification with the I-65 I-565 gateway.

Huntsville has it's has always led Alabama forward.

The Luminary is the next opportunity to do that.

Thank you for your time and for your service to the city.

Any questions?

Thank you, sir.

We appreciate your time.

Thank you.

We will now hear from Michael Francis.

Michael Francis will be followed by Howard Ross.

Is Michael Francis here?

We'll move on then.

Is Mr.

Ross here?

Then we will hear from Mark Culberton.

Mr.

Ross.

Thank you, Mike.

No.

Oh, here he comes.

Okay.

Mr.

Ross.

Following Mr.

Ross will be Mr.

Ross, if you'll come to the microphone, please.

And then we will hear from Mark Colbertson.

Oh, can we swap?

Is this Michael Francis?

Mark Colberts.

And is it Ross?

Okay.

Well, we'll hear first from Howard Ross, and then we will hear from Mark Culbertson.

Howard and Mark would like to swap.

Mark Culbertson and then Howard Ross.

Mr.

Culbertson.

I just go to that.

Yes, please, right up to the microphone.

And if you'll give us your name and address for the record, and then you will have three minutes.

Okay.

Hi, my name is Mark Colbertson.

My address is 6016 Ellington Road in Huntsville, Alabama.

Earlier this year, about March 3rd or 4th, we decided we would go on vacation for a little bit.

And we left her home.

After about three days of being at vacation, we get a phone call from a friend of ours, said somebody's in our house.

So we call the police.

On September 1, Janet Hampton filed a 14-day notice to vacate.

It was posted by law enforcement on February 25th, 2026.

Of this case.

Janet Hampton appears to have reclaimed the property, supposed to Mark Colbert's personal property without agreement or notice to them.

After review of the statute court finds that the college is not properly before this court under the Alabama Code section applies to this incident.

In other words, she's not my landlord.

She didn't have no right to go in my house and throw my stuff out, but the police uh aided her in this.

And while what I'm here to do is find out what I can do about it.

That concludes your comments, sir.

That that's that's yeah.

Well, I don't I don't know what else to say.

One thing you need to know.

I have somebody in my house right now.

I have I have four kids, and uh I have somebody staying in my house that don't ain't supposed to be in my house at all.

And I'm living in a campground in your police department here in the city, done it.

Thank thank you, sir.

So our police do not do evictions, that's a sheriff's department issue.

Yes, ma'am, I know, but I know who called I know who I called.

I called Huntsville City Cobbs.

And said, hey, these people are.

No, you you'd finish.

Okay.

Do you have more?

You have one minute left.

If you'd like to, you you said you were finished.

Well, no, I want to know how this is going to go because we me and my wife and kids have already been thrown out of our house by the city.

Absolutely understand that, and that's why we would like you to talk about the Mr.

Um we'd like you to talk with Mr.

Hamilton.

Okay.

He can provide you more information.

Now hear from Howard Ross, Mr.

Otts.

Yeah, Howard Ross, 2617 Excalibur Drive, Huntsville, and I'm just here to follow up on this because uh while I'm not the victim, I was a witness because when I got to the property, after I was told what was going on, I also call I called the police department, spoke to dispatch, and told them that these people were taking uh were trespassing and they were taking the property out of the illegally removing property uh and possibly stealing it.

And police showed up and when I explained to them that the police said that well, they had a court order of eviction.

I said that can't be, because they filed they gave them a notice and there's a uh paperwork here saying that they're gonna have a trial on March 24th, so they could not have had an order of eviction.

Someone is making it up, but they what the police said, well, they got an order and we're not showing it to ISTC.

They said, Well, we're not we're not gonna show it to you.

We're good, you need to get out of here, and and we're letting we're letting them onto the property.

And in fact, uh I've even got something from from two years ago when I boarded someone's house up where I was the landlord, and I think that's a good question.

A local landlord is being told he cannot immediately evict his tenant even after that person's attempted arson arrest.

Police say he poured gasoline over himself and his wife during a domestic dispute.

Way 31's Nicole Zedek has been following this story since the property owner boarded up the home Monday, which Nicole he is now being told to undo.

Mr.

Ross, take out those.

Mr.

Ross, we don't usually let people play audio in here.

So I think we've we've heard it.

Do you have any other comments?

Do you have any other comments?

When I went to evicting someone is being evicted, didn't eviction lock the door up.

They said they're not going to be able to do that.

I couldn't do that.

The police made me let the people back in the house.

I don't understand why the I don't understand.

This is this is a very difficult situation.

Yeah, we understand that.

And so we're we're having the Mr.

Hamilton speak with the family to see what what resolution we can find.

Okay.

Thank you, sir.

I appreciate you.

And uh who I think this is District One is the uh uh the area that do we need to also coordinate with the city council person from that would be Ms.

Mark.

Michelle Watkins.

So can we contact you if we need to talk to the minute?

That would be the most effective way to handle this.

Thank you for making us aware.

Uh we will now hear from Angela Somerset, who will be followed by Patty Coberson.

Dr.

Somerset.

Okay.

Well, good evening, everyone.

I am Dr.

Angela Somerset.

And as always, again, give us your address for the record.

I'm sorry.

I am at Nine Chalk Stone Street.

In Huntsville.

Okay.

In Huntsville, Alabama, that is correct.

Thank you.

And I am here again to talk about Huntsville utilities.

It's going to be very brief.

Three things I've learned this week.

Freedom is not free.

Common sense is not common.

And transparency and accountability will cost you more than a tank of gas.

This past week, I've had so many citizens that reach out to me to answer questions that really should be answered by the board in Huntsville Utilities.

One of those would actually be the cubic uh feet for the gas.

Huntsville Utilities has not put the conversion factor in there.

It's in metered units.

You have to multiply it by 100, and that's how you will actually come up with the equation.

One of the other concerns was a citizen, a great friend of mine, found this citizen that Huntsville Utilities told her that she had a $6,000 bill.

It was not her bill.

It was actually another tenant.

So the lady, I'm trying to keep from saying her name, went home to the house that she had leased.

She had the keys.

She stayed in the house for one week during that coldest week in March with two children.

She asked Huntsville Utilities if they could give her some time.

She recognized that she had a pass due balance, but not $6,000.

After that week, she talked to her landlord, who then graciously called Councilwoman Watkins, who then interceded.

Then it is my understanding that the landlord was then asked if he wanted to pay it.

That's illegal.

You cannot ask someone to assume someone else's bill.

We have got to start delving into Huntsville utilities a lot deeper than we are.

They are overspending in budgets.

Google Fiber was supposed to cost 57 million, and it's always an excuse.

We're 50 million over.

There's got to be some resolution in regards to this.

That young lady who is a single mother was struggling to pay that bill.

And at some point, Christianity has got to be more than just talk.

So a friend of mine and myself paid that lady's bill of $834.

This is got there's got to be something with accountability.

We have got two of our council members up here, Dr.

Robinson and Councilman Klein.

Actually, the young lady was in your district.

People are looking for answers that they're not getting.

We have boards, board members.

If they don't understand metered units and how to make conversion factors, why are these people sitting on boards?

We've got a CEO with a bachelor of arts and he's explaining to us a heat pump.

But we're not explaining availability charges.

Or I live in Georgia and my utility bill is $76 on a 2200 square foot house that has a general rack in all of this.

It's got to stop.

We have got to start delving deep.

Oh, lastly.

Thank you, Dr.

Somerset.

Thank you.

We will now hear from Patty Cobertson, who will be followed by Molly Cluck.

Hi, I'm Patty Cobertson.

I'm at 6016 Elton Huntsville.

And I just wanted everybody to know how that when we get kicked out, when we got kicked out and they took our stuff, how hard it is to live in a camper with three kids that has pamphlets and we just wanted to see if we could get help from somebody and see which way to go.

I just didn't want to take up no more much time because of you already sent my husband out to talk to them.

So I just want everybody to know how hard we have it right now.

And thank you all for listening.

It sounds like this has been a very difficult situation.

Thank you for coming and sharing it.

And we hope we really want to reach resolution.

That's why we've asked you to meet with somebody one-on-one.

Thank you so much.

We'll now hear from Molly Cluck.

Molly Cluck will be followed by David Snyder.

Hi, my name is Molly Kluck.

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

President Trump's immigration policies were designed for mass incarceration, and they are working.

As of February 7th, 68,000 people have been detained by ICE.

That's a 70 percent jump from the 39,000 in 2024.

10 percent of these detainees have been children, children held beyond the legal limit of 20 days, children given dirty water and moldy food, children left with nothing to do but play with rocks.

Some too young to have been toilet trained, left in soil clothing, waiting for someone to notice, waiting for someone to care.

At least none of them have been reported as dead yet, but it could happen at any moment.

Since the start of 2025, there have been 46 reported deaths in ICE custody.

For comparison, there were 26 between 21, 2021, and 2024.

In 2025 alone, there were 33.

Last year exceeded the death toll of the previous four combined.

Thirty-two of these deaths were tied directly to medical neglect.

Nine are suicides, five are categorized as other with no transparency.

This year is on track to be worse.

It's early April, and at least thirteen people have died.

ICE has publicly identified only two of them.

None of these deaths are mysterious.

They follow overcrowding, neglect, and system collapse under rapid expansion.

And this is what indifference looks like.

This indifference is not accidental.

It is not foundation it is foundational to a prison industrial complex that generates a billions through the exploitation of those confined.

For such a system to endure, the public must remain either unaware of its consequences or once aware, be willing to accept them.

Consider yourselves aware now and complicit.

We have built a system that teaches us a simple lie that if someone is labeled a criminal, they don't deserve dignity or health care or life.

Even people convicted of a crime don't deserve this treatment.

Yet we have people locked up largely because of their color, their skin, and all because of collective indifference.

But the consequences of this collective indifference are not abstract.

The consequences are actual bodies and detention centers.

They are families dying and grieving.

They are people stripped of dignity and children stripped of innocence.

Caring about these deaths is not a radical position, but it seems radical because it's become commonplace to look at these deaths and shrug your shoulders.

Omar El Akkad said: no atrocity is too great to shrug away now because the muscle of indifference has been sufficiently conditioned.

If you can look at this and not see what it is, that conditioning is working.

You are conditioned by greed, conditioned by political power, conditioned by the media to remain indifferent.

I'm here to reject that indifference.

I'm here to demand that the city take no part in it, that it refuse cooperation with ICE agenda of ethnic cleansing through mass incarceration.

Thank you.

We'll now hear from David Snyder.

And David Snyder will be followed by Liliana Painter.

Hello, my name is Mix David Snyder.

I live in Huntsville.

My information is written correctly on the sheet.

I put a lot on my plate, so this one will be fast.

I've heard a number of people in my personal life contemplate fascism and Nazism, and specifically whether or not our city and city council could be considered fascists.

Definitions of fascism are a system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, a capitalist economy subject to stringent governmental controls, violent suppression of the opposition, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism, and or a political uh philosophy or movement based on advocating for such a system.

As such, Trump is aiming and succeeding at being a populist fascist, and people that support him are supporting fascism.

Definition of Nazism is uh is that it advocates for dictatorship, fervent anti-Semitism, anti-communism, anti-Slavism, anti-Ramoni, uh Romani, uh scientific racism, anti-Chinese sentiment, white supremacy, Nordicism, social Darwinism, homophobia, ableism, and eugenics.

I believe this concept of white supremacist Nazism extends past these definitions.

I use the term trash X for transphobic, racist, religism, ableist, sexist, homophobic, and xenophobic.

And I believe people in this MAGA culture identity war devaluing certain people's human rights as people that align with Nazism and would have gotten right along with the Nazis in Nazi Germany.

I may lose some people here, but the discrimination and stigmatization of unhoused individuals, sex workers, and criminals are also corroborating indicators of Nazi ideology.

Based on these definitions, I do not view the city of Huntsville and Huntsville City Council as outright fascist, as we most certainly aren't exhibiting explicit signs of Nazi ideology.

I find myself surprised at the amount of times I've actually been proud of our city.

However, there have also been many times I've been deeply ashamed.

This silence in the face of genocide of the Palestinian people, as well as our city's silence in the face of the mass arrests and forced attention of people being targeted explicitly for their race and culture cultural identity has been a blatant, atrocious and shameful devaluing of certain people over others.

Our city's lack of concern over our Palestinian community members that have explicitly asked numerous times for something so basic of humanity as a ceasefire resolution.

My ears burn with shame to think of it.

Huntsville has many aspects that seem to be at a glance to be progressive and equitable.

These values appear to be appeasements and a billion dollar multicultural salad bowl.

We fall short in every field that really matters regarding the values of human rights because it we refuse to take head on the reality of racialized classism in this corporate police state that is America.

And because of that, the city ultimately fails at making even basic admittance to the onslaught of disgusting human rights violations this country is committing every single day, much less make any meaningful progress against it.

On that note, our Office of Multicultural Affairs, uh and Randy Barber, we need to staff them more.

And we need to install a uh thank you, Dane.

Thank you.

We deserve it.

We will now hear from Liliana Painder.

She is our concluding speaker.

Good evening, Council members.

Good evening.

My name is Liliana Painter.

My address is correct on the sheet.

I'm a Huntsville resident, a working mom, and a small business owner.

First, I want to express gratitude for the detailed meeting we had two weeks ago.

The presentations, resolutions, and initiatives discussed show a clear effort to ensure that residents feel heard.

And that is something I truly value and want to see continued.

At the same time, the length of the meeting highlighted an opportunity to improve consistency, efficiency, and transparency, and how we address those concerns moving forward.

Programs like the Civic Engagement Academy, the Citizens Police Academy are important investments that help our residents better understand how we're how our city operates.

However, we are beginning to see signs of growth that is outpacing capacity across our public systems.

From what is visible, departments like this, like the Multicultural Affairs Office, appear to be carrying a growing scope of work with limited staffing.

Similarly, with public safety programs, there are essential functions that rely heavily on volunteer support.

Because when systems are strained, residents feel it.

Whether that's an in access to services, response times, or overall quality of life.

So my question is, how are we planning ahead to ensure public service public service workforce has the capacity to support and structure needed to keep up with that growth?

Planning ahead and investing in capacity also ensures Huntsville remains a place where both residents and small businesses can continue to grow with confidence.

Lastly, how are the boards currently being incorporated into the planning process?

And how are there opportunities to engage them earlier so that residents input is reflected before those decisions are finalized?

As Huntsville grows, we have an opportunity to grow with intention.

And I'll give you back your time.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Painter is our concluding speaker.

Is there any other business to come before the council?

Seeing none, we are adjourned.

Thank you, Mr.

Little.