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Record of Proceedings

Tuscaloosa City Council Meeting Summary - 2025-11-04

City Council MeetingsTuesday, November 4, 2025
BodyTuscaloosa, Alabama
SessionCity Council Meetings
DateTuesday, November 4, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record

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Transcript — Verbatim
0:03

In a second.

0:08

Got a motion to say all in favor.

0:10

It's been a long day, guys.

0:12

It has been a long time.

0:13

All right, Scott.

0:14

Good afternoon.

0:16

This is a amendment that has come actually.

0:19

I think Mr.

0:20

Eatman and the mayor both independently asked us to take a look at this.

0:23

And so I've I've worked on along with uh Miss Kreitz and Mr.

0:27

Ponds there.

0:28

My one of my first assignments when I started at the city of Tuscaloosa in 2014 was to uh draft a street, an honorary street renaming policy.

0:39

And the assignment I was given was to make it as hard as possible to rename a street.

0:45

Um and I was extremely successful until uh until Nick and Terry saved and wanted to name Nick's Kids Avenue, and they they bested me.

0:54

Umsequently to that, we have had some other items come up, some requests to name different infrastructure.

1:02

Um I think we all realized for the first time when we were very deservedly naming the new McRights Ferry Ridge after the Maccabees that we didn't actually have a process in place for any of those other things.

1:14

And so what this amendment before you does is since we're bringing in things other than just streets, it pulls the honorary street renaming portion out of the the street part and puts it up more towards the administrative part.

1:30

Uh the the amendment that I think y'all have in your packet does a couple of things.

1:35

It's interesting to see.

1:37

Um talk occasionally about a lot of what we touch, especially in my office, is cyclical.

1:43

And so it's just a matter does this issue come up every six months?

1:46

Does it come up every two years?

1:47

Does it come up every six years?

1:49

Um so going back to look at what I was doing thinking, considering back in 2014.

1:57

I actually found myself in the way back machine uh back to about 2003 or 2004, and uh reviewed some of Mr.

2:05

Nunley's notes when he was working on this the first time that was never enacted.

2:09

And we actually incorporated uh some of his notes and thoughts in into this.

2:13

Um hopefully Tim would be would be proud of that.

2:18

What this does uh briefly and then I'll answer any questions you have, is it applies the basically the street naming sort of uh policy?

2:28

It applies it to anything.

2:30

If if we as a city are gonna name uh a building, a bridge, a pipe, uh mayor's lift station.

2:39

If we're gonna name anything, it needs to go through this crossing.

2:45

Um, it will have to wait until he is out of office before it can be named for him.

2:51

Um so this would apply universally across the board to anything we name.

2:54

Uh it sets out uh a criteria.

2:58

There was a little bit of a criterion there before, but I don't think there was really a good this is what you need to look at before you name something after somebody.

3:05

So we we set out that criteria, and we stole a lot of that from Tim Dundley, actually.

3:09

Um and one of the the big things that I think will be helpful for our citizens, um, and and was also very requested by our public safety folks, is this would no longer take down street signs and officially rename streets.

3:27

Uh and so if somebody, you know, let's say you've got 7th Street, and if we we named 7th Street, you know, Kip Tiner Street, uh it would no longer be would it would still be 7th Street, but we would have another sign that's distinct that would honorarily name that street after that person.

3:43

I think that helps for visitors, it helps for citizens that live on those streets, it helps for these guys that have to rememorize those things.

3:50

Um and I think would would be a very good change.

3:54

I like that a lot.

3:55

Well, what if what if I'm sorry?

3:57

May I?

3:57

Yeah.

3:58

What if there's an emergency and they call in Kip Tatter Street instead of 7th Street?

4:03

Those people are gonna be excited.

4:05

Sure.

4:05

And that's something that I think they would we would have built into the system.

4:09

Those street, those signs should be smaller, should be distinct.

4:12

Is actually the way they do it in most larger cities.

4:15

Um, and so it's there's always a danger, right?

4:21

You know, what what you would probably call if you called in something off of old jug factory today, uh, a lot of our officers wouldn't know what what you're talking about.

4:29

And so we do build in our cat systems too to reflect how they call that system and all that stuff.

4:34

They say paper mill road.

4:37

Yeah, it's still called that by people who lived it.

4:41

This this would, I do want to point out this would not change any previously named or designated streets.

4:50

That's okay.

4:51

Committee members, any other questions for Scott?

4:54

I like it.

4:55

I'll make a motion.

4:56

Second.

4:57

Got a motion and a second.

4:58

All in favor?

4:59

Aye.

5:00

Aye.

5:01

Motion passes.

5:02

Um next properties meeting will be January the sixth.

5:06

If there's no other business, I entertain a motion to adjourn.

5:09

Make the motion to

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Summary of Proceedings

Tuscaloosa City Council Meeting Summary - 2025-11-04

The City Council convened on November 4, 2025, to consider and pass an ordinance amendment regarding honorary naming conventions for city infrastructure.

Consent Calendar

  • None recorded in the transcript.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No public comments or testimony were recorded in the provided transcript.

Discussion Items

  • Honorary Nomenclature Amendment Proposal: Scott proposed an amendment to establish a universal process for naming city infrastructure (including streets, buildings, bridges, and utility facilities) after individuals. The proposal, developed in collaboration with officials Miss Kreitz and Mr. Ponds, was initiated at the request of Mr. Eatman and the Mayor.
    • Scope and Criteria: The amendment expands naming protocols beyond streets to all city assets. It includes specific criteria for naming, incorporating notes from former staff member Nunley and criteria from Tim Dundley. A key condition established is that a living official may not have an asset named after them while currently in office.
    • Implementation Strategy: The proposal distinguishes between official renaming and honorary designation. It stipulates that official street names (e.g., "7th Street") will remain unchanged for legal and emergency purposes. Instead, a distinct, secondary sign will be installed to honor the individual (e.g., a sign reading "Kip Tiner Street" alongside "7th Street").
    • Emergency Considerations: Council members raised potential concerns regarding emergency dispatch accuracy if callers reference the honorary name. Scott responded that the Police Department's computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems would be updated to map honorary names to official designations, and that honorary signs would be smaller and distinct to avoid confusion with official signage.

Key Outcomes

  • Motion Passed: The Council unanimously approved the amendment (Motion: "All in favor? Aye. Motion passes.").
  • Policy Shift Established: The city accepted the change to use separate honorary signs rather than officially renaming streets to prevent confusion and the need for physical sign replacement.
  • Next Meeting: The next properties/meeting is scheduled for January 6th.
  • Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned following the approval of the motion.

Meeting Transcript

In a second. Got a motion to say all in favor. It's been a long day, guys. It has been a long time. All right, Scott. Good afternoon. This is a amendment that has come actually. I think Mr. Eatman and the mayor both independently asked us to take a look at this. And so I've I've worked on along with uh Miss Kreitz and Mr. Ponds there. My one of my first assignments when I started at the city of Tuscaloosa in 2014 was to uh draft a street, an honorary street renaming policy. And the assignment I was given was to make it as hard as possible to rename a street. Um and I was extremely successful until uh until Nick and Terry saved and wanted to name Nick's Kids Avenue, and they they bested me. Umsequently to that, we have had some other items come up, some requests to name different infrastructure. Um I think we all realized for the first time when we were very deservedly naming the new McRights Ferry Ridge after the Maccabees that we didn't actually have a process in place for any of those other things. And so what this amendment before you does is since we're bringing in things other than just streets, it pulls the honorary street renaming portion out of the the street part and puts it up more towards the administrative part. Uh the the amendment that I think y'all have in your packet does a couple of things. It's interesting to see. Um talk occasionally about a lot of what we touch, especially in my office, is cyclical. And so it's just a matter does this issue come up every six months? Does it come up every two years? Does it come up every six years? Um so going back to look at what I was doing thinking, considering back in 2014. I actually found myself in the way back machine uh back to about 2003 or 2004, and uh reviewed some of Mr. Nunley's notes when he was working on this the first time that was never enacted. And we actually incorporated uh some of his notes and thoughts in into this. Um hopefully Tim would be would be proud of that. What this does uh briefly and then I'll answer any questions you have, is it applies the basically the street naming sort of uh policy? It applies it to anything. If if we as a city are gonna name uh a building, a bridge, a pipe, uh mayor's lift station. If we're gonna name anything, it needs to go through this crossing. Um, it will have to wait until he is out of office before it can be named for him. Um so this would apply universally across the board to anything we name. Uh it sets out uh a criteria. There was a little bit of a criterion there before, but I don't think there was really a good this is what you need to look at before you name something after somebody. So we we set out that criteria, and we stole a lot of that from Tim Dundley, actually. Um and one of the the big things that I think will be helpful for our citizens, um, and and was also very requested by our public safety folks, is this would no longer take down street signs and officially rename streets. Uh and so if somebody, you know, let's say you've got 7th Street, and if we we named 7th Street, you know, Kip Tiner Street, uh it would no longer be would it would still be 7th Street, but we would have another sign that's distinct that would honorarily name that street after that person. I think that helps for visitors, it helps for citizens that live on those streets, it helps for these guys that have to rememorize those things. Um and I think would would be a very good change. I like that a lot. Well, what if what if I'm sorry? May I? Yeah. What if there's an emergency and they call in Kip Tatter Street instead of 7th Street? Those people are gonna be excited. Sure. And that's something that I think they would we would have built into the system. Those street, those signs should be smaller, should be distinct.

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