Mobile City Council Meeting – November 3, 2026

The Mobile City Council held its regular meeting on November 3, 2026. All seven members were present for roll call: President Small, Vice President Gregory, and Council Members Penn, Ingram, Reynolds, Fleming, and Woods. After an invocation by Pastor Heard and the Pledge of Allegiance, the council approved the October 27 minutes and adopted the agenda. The mayor urged voters to go to the polls until 7 p.m., highlighted the 6,000-square-foot Jimmy Buffett exhibit at the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf and congratulated executive director Karen Poth, announced the November 20 tree lighting at Mardi Gras Park from 5:30 to 8 p.m., and thanked the council for an Alabama Power easement supporting ADEM-led air-quality testing in Africatown.

Consent Calendar

• Approved the October 27 minutes and adopted the agenda by voice vote.
• Approved a noise ordinance waiver for November 6 on St. Francis Street.
• Approved 40-948 declaring 906 South Broad Street a public nuisance and ordering demolition.
• Approved 03-1170 establishing an ad hoc advisory committee on financial transaction security.
• Approved consent resolutions after waiving rules, including an ABC special events retail license for Port City R&B on Government Street; weed-removal cost assessments; and appropriations to Callaway Smith Middle School, the Marching Cougars Band Booster Club, and a CDC as public-purpose payments.
• Approved purchase orders and resolutions for storm drainage vegetation and debris removal, the police and fire pension fund audit, plastic and solar barricades, uniform items, sprinkler repair parts, school-zone traffic signs, and an Alabama Power easement for new underground service to John Kidd Park.
• Ordinances 64039 through 64044 were introduced and laid over for one week. Several held-over consent resolutions were listed, including professional services, diesel fuel, software subscriptions, tennis lessons, property acquisition at 455 Crawford Lane, a sedan service certificate, and alley vacations; no separate vote was recorded for that list.

Public Hearings

• Cochrane Causeway: A representative for Telcon LLC requested rezoning from R1 to I2 on the east side of Cochrane Causeway, 650 feet north of Battleship Parkway. He said it fits established industrial use on Blakely and Pinto Islands, the future land-use map, and a historical zoning discrepancy. No opposition was recorded; the hearing closed.
• Hillcrest Road PUD: Lucas Benedetto, for Daniel Holdings LC, requested modification of a previously approved PUD on the east side of Hillcrest Road, 290 feet south of Freelight Road, to allow a family-friendly restaurant. He said the property is zoned B3 where restaurant use is permitted, the Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval in July, and the plan addresses access, parking, landscaping, lighting, loading, and waste. The hearing closed.
• 6455 Howells Ferry Road: The conditional-use-permit public hearing was opened and closed with no speaker recorded.
• 5070 Old Shell Road: Several residents opposed rezoning from R1 to B2 while expressing support for Food Pac as a business. Carolyn Urban described prior commercial attempts, a March 19 Planning Commission approval of a six-lot residential subdivision, and a July neighborhood meeting where an 11,000-square-foot Food Pac rendering was shown; she said the current 6,500-plus-square-foot plan is still inappropriate and would route traffic through narrow neighborhood entrances, worsening safety near Lavretta Park. Patricia Clark said she supports Food Pac but strongly opposed the rezoning, arguing it fails objective criteria, conflicts with the comprehensive plan’s mixed-density residential designation, would more than double commercial space, is incompatible with four abutting homes, and should be denied because Food Pac does not require rezoning residential property. She said the applicant bought it five years ago knowing it was R1 and that two prior commercial rezoning attempts failed. Cindy Irvin cited traffic, water drainage, and unknowns; she said commercial zoning could allow uses such as drug rehabs, group homes, Dollar General, vape stores, ABC stores, or title and cash-checking stores, and warned of more traffic near the all-accessible park. Linda St. John, president of the Village of Spring Hill, said the organization has spent 21 years protecting a master plan developed with over 600 residents; she said no other area property is commercially zoned, Food Pac would be welcome in an appropriately zoned location, the 6,500-square-foot strip center would route customer and delivery traffic through the neighborhood, and the council should uphold the Planning Commission’s unanimous denial.
• Foreman Road and Dickens Ferry Road: Public hearings on modifications to a previously approved planning approval and PUD at 53 Foreman Road and 6784/6788 Dickens Ferry Road were opened and closed with no speaker recorded.

Public Comments & Testimony

• A resident alleged ethics conflicts in discretionary funding, said she had been reprimanded for praying and blocked from discretionary money, cited First Amendment religious and assembly rights, and requested a public investigation involving a $376 request related to a black market and property demolitions.
• Matthew Miller criticized the loss of $14.7 million to fraudsters. He cited six finance directors since 2021, nearly 100% turnover in accounting and accounts payable since 2023, an August incident in which nearly $1 million was sent to fraudsters and recovered, and an October 2 request for $14.7 million. He said the finance director was not involved and that he and the mayor learned of the fraud October 16. Miller called for removal of the finance director and other executives, a direct apology, a full public accounting, documents online, a timeline, and more than three minutes for public comment. He said the mayor failed to lead, the executive team failed to supervise, and the council failed at oversight.
• Estella Trotter said it was time to clean house and that many city officials must go. She said citizens had reported financial mismanagement for years, questioned how the council in the same building did not know about a $1 million scam, said money is rerouted with little transparency, and said black developers are not represented.
• Reggie Hill asked for updates on the municipal enforcement budget increase for blight and demolitions, safe passage and youth initiatives, and performance contracts; he also urged that the FY28 budget not eliminate expected services. He raised bank-account questions about the fraud, suggested amending Mobile City Code sections 15-41 through 15-44 to restore a citizen civil oversight group, and cited a December 17, 2024 WPMI report on a $1.3 million Mobile Civic Center demolition change order and construction documents due February 7.
• Samina Dortch asked the council to place an independent forensic investigation and senior financial-controls review on its agenda. She requested a qualified forensic accounting firm with no conflicts to examine the $14.7 million transfer, the August incident, payment authorization and verification, internal controls, and other exposure, with written findings, public reporting where lawful, and a corrective action plan with timelines. She said finance turnover is alarming and that an independent review need not be an attack; she asked what prevents the council from initiating it. Council President Small said a finance committee meeting was scheduled that afternoon and the council was awaiting answers to submitted questions.

Discussion Items

• The council discussed procedural rules for public comment, including the requirement that speakers return to their seats and that there be no dialogue between speakers and individual council members.
• Council President Small said the rezoning items were first reads and would not be voted on that day.
• The mayor and council members repeatedly encouraged voting on election day and highlighted the pay-as-you-go ballot question; Vice President Gregory specifically cited completion of widening, sidewalks, and a bike path on Ziegler Boulevard in District 7.
• Council announcements included District 2’s Bridging the Gap program with Mobile police at Williamson High School, Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Year of Youth at Crown Hall on November 4, and Port City R&B at Cooper Riverside Park on November 7 at 7 p.m. Council Member Penn cited visits to Holloway Elementary and South Alabama, a District 1 community meeting on November 17 at Ashland Place Church, and the Port City R&B event. Vice President Gregory described a University of South Alabama government discussion with students. The next council meeting was announced for November 10 at 10 a.m., and a finance committee meeting for 1 p.m. on the ninth floor.

Key Outcomes

• All recorded votes were voice votes with all in favor and no opposition noted.
• The council approved the minutes, agenda, noise waiver, nuisance demolition, ad hoc financial transaction security committee, several consent resolutions and purchase orders, and an Alabama Power easement for John Kidd Park.
• The council waived rules to consider selected resolutions and left the remaining introduced items to lay over for one week.
• No vote was taken on the public-hearing rezonings or PUD modifications; they remained first reads. Public hearings from T5.2 to T6 were scheduled for December 8.
• The next regular council meeting is November 10 at 10 a.m.