[0:05] All right, good morning, and we're going to get this August 18th, Tuesday August 18th pre-ment and

[0:12] work session underway with minus one a day due to previous planned trip. So the three of us fortunate

[0:21] to be here today so we can have this meeting. And I've got to pick a couple. I'll pick Commissioner

[0:27] Gruber to lead us in an invocation and Commissioner McKenzie to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

[0:32] please rise.

[0:38] Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for allowing us to be here today as we can do

[0:44] conduct the business of Ball and County Commission. We ask that you guide us and help us as we go

[0:51] through the agenda so that we can make the right decisions in to support what the citizens

[1:01] like, and we also want to ask you to please protect our first responders, all of our men

[1:09] and women who are in our armed forces defending our nation.

[1:18] In God's name we pray.

[1:20] Amen.

[1:20] Please join me in a pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America

[1:28] and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty

[1:35] and justice for all.

[1:36] Thank you.

[1:50] All right, good morning, everyone.

[1:53] Welcome to our work session.

[1:56] That's an exciting time that we have here where the meeting could go by in 50 minutes

[2:03] or five minutes.

[2:04] So we will see which one we have today.

[2:08] But we've got to get done before 10 o'clock regardless.

[2:12] I do notice we have a few, well, I call distinguished guests in our audience today.

[2:16] We've got Sheriff Anthony Lowry here with us today with DA Wilters is here.

[2:22] And also we've got Commissioner Elect Tater Harris joining us today.

[2:25] So we appreciate y'all being present at our work session because we know how

[2:30] exciting this is for y'all to come. All right so let's let's set our consent

[2:36] agenda commissioners and we go over to administration we have a one item.

[2:48] I'm

[2:48] good with that. I'm good. Yep absolutely. All right we have an animal

[2:54] control item good to go yeah okay

[2:59] got budget and purchase in on our screen here

[3:04] it looks like I'm looking at something on the tic-tac-toe or whatever you used to

[3:09] call that show Brady Bunch thing or whatever the three y'all don't see it

[3:15] but we we on three split screens here Wanda's on the screen and everybody's

[3:20] else is on screens how y'all doing don't have any questions for the

[3:25] ladies on the screen.

[3:27] Nope.

[3:28] I'm good with that.

[3:28] It was good to go.

[3:30] All right.

[3:32] Thank you guys.

[3:34] Glad we can make our life easier.

[3:38] All right, item CF1,

[3:41] building inspection.

[3:46] I'm good with that.

[3:47] Good.

[3:49] We got three items.

[3:52] The Sheriff's Office looks pretty cut and dry.

[3:55] Yeah.

[3:55] Good.

[3:57] EMA item.

[4:02] Good to go.

[4:03] Yes sir. Good. CK-1 Environmental Management.

[4:17] Yeah I'm good with it.

[4:20] All right.

[4:27] Got five items under grants. I like seeing that.

[4:33] Looks like so does the DA

[4:35] and a few others. So y'all got any questions about these grant

[4:42] opportunities. I know that seeing one is very important.

[4:53] No, I'm good. Good to go.

[4:56] All right.

[5:01] Highway Department. Two items there.

[5:08] All right. Yeah, I'm good. Only two items. I like that. Highway.

[5:15] I like it, but Frank, don't y'all don't get in

[5:17] trouble. If y'all people say, Mark, we not doing nothing. Only two items for

[5:24] highway on here. People say we're not doing anything. So there's a lot of

[5:27] information in those two items commissioner. So that's right. It's

[5:31] probably a lot in that. There's a lot of work in there. Yes, sir. Personnel, we

[5:35] got animal shelter, employment of two animal control positions and then a

[5:41] position change in our CIS department. Good to go. Good. Alright. Planning

[5:47] and zoning. We have a district 18 acceptance of notice and tent to

[5:51] request planning his own in referendum. I'm good. Good. Okay.

[5:58] And we're going to

[6:01] return to public comments. Roxanne, do I have anybody signed up to speak? Thank

[6:08] you.

[6:14] Commissioner request, any requests?

[6:19] No, I'm going to wait until probably next

[6:22] month. You talking about this? Now I'm a wait until next month.

[6:30] Yeah we can do that. I'm

[6:32] going to request this to put this if we can, but we did for the cigars place in Fairhope.

[6:37] Some of the people that's coming here that we recognize can't make it. So I'm going to

[6:41] see if I can put it on next month. Thank you. Thank you Commissioner Bob.

[6:51] Commissioner

[6:51] I mean, your request.

[6:52] We got senior staff stuff.

[6:54] Yeah, sir, I have one report.

[6:56] In fact, you noticed on the grants,

[6:58] we had a lot of grants, a lot of the CD, CD, whatever,

[7:03] CDBGDR, and Trina's gonna give you an update

[7:06] on where we are with that particular program.

[7:09] Thank you.

[7:09] Good morning, Katrina.

[7:10] Good morning, Chairman and commissioners.

[7:12] Thank you for this opportunity to provide an update

[7:14] on the Community Development Block Grant

[7:16] Disaster Recovery Grant Award.

[7:20] I'll start off with a brief update and a background of the grant.

[7:24] The state of Alabama was awarded CDBGDR funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban

[7:30] Development to support the state's recovery from the 2020 Hurricane Sally and Zeta.

[7:36] As part of the state's damage and needs assessment, Baldwin County was identified as a most

[7:42] impacted and distressed area and was awarded $43.3 million through the Alabama Department

[7:49] Department of Economic and Community Affairs action plan.

[7:53] These funds are intended to address remaining recovery needs from the disasters by filling

[7:58] funding gaps or providing means to mitigate future impacts.

[8:02] To receive these recovery funds, Baldwin County had to prepare and submit a local recovery

[8:07] plan to ADECA.

[8:09] The local recovery plan provided an assessment of remaining recovery needs within the county.

[8:14] The County Commission approved the local recovery plan on September 3, 2024.

[8:19] The county is in full implementation of three approved CDBGDR programs, including the Home

[8:25] Ownership Assistance Program, the Local Government Recovery Infrastructure Program, and the

[8:31] County Priority Infrastructure Program.

[8:33] The first program is the Home Ownership Assistance Program.

[8:37] This program will assist low to moderate income households that were residents of

[8:41] Baldwin County during the 2020 disasters. These funds will be used for the purchase

[8:46] of a home by providing funds to assist with the down payment, closing costs, and interest

[8:51] rate buy downs within the approved program allocation of $19 million.

[8:57] On July 24, ADECA approved the program policies and procedures. Today's consent agenda includes

[9:04] the adoption of the program policies and procedures that establishes the formal

[9:08] framework for implementation and secondly the approval of the Family Promise Agreement

[9:13] allowing the provision of case management services to support program participants.

[9:19] Can I get a drum roll please?

[9:22] The county is excited to officially announce that the program is launching on September

[9:26] 21st.

[9:27] The public notice and social media announcements will be released today.

[9:31] On August 25th and 27th, I have interviews with WABF Radio to discuss the program

[9:38] along with the application process and eligibility requirements.

[9:41] There are also two public meetings scheduled

[9:43] to provide residents and community partners with aid

[9:47] in submitting applications on September 15th

[9:50] at the Foley Satellite Courthouse

[9:51] and September 16th here at the Fair Hope Satellite Courthouse.

[9:55] The second program

[9:57] is the Local Government Recovery Infrastructure Program.

[10:00] This program will focus on assisting local governments

[10:03] and public utility providers

[10:04] in their infrastructure recovery needs

[10:07] such as sewer, drainage, or roadway improvements with the approved program

[10:11] allocation of $13.3 million. On June 16th, the Commission approved the 10

[10:17] local government or public utility projects to be submitted to ADECA for

[10:21] funding. The 10 activity profile forms have been completed and are now being

[10:26] submitted in ADECA's portal for review and approval. Our team will begin

[10:30] working with the funded entities to initiate the environmental review

[10:33] process for each project. We are anticipating construction on all projects to begin in the

[10:39] spring of 2027. The third program is the county priority infrastructure program. This

[10:45] program will allow the county to address and prioritize recovery needs that have a

[10:49] countywide impact with the approved program allocation of $10.7 million. The county has

[10:56] two segments to the County Road 65 corridor extension project. Days one will be connecting

[11:01] county road 28 and county road 32 and the second phase will be connecting county road 34 and county

[11:08] road 36. For phase one the county awarded the construction bid to asphalt services at the July

[11:15] 21st meeting. The bid did come in below the independent cost estimate allowing the county to

[11:21] add the traffic signal installation at county road 32 and county road 65 with the CDB GEDR funds.

[11:28] For phase two, ADECA approved the environmental review on April 6th and released the funds

[11:34] for implementation on July 21st.

[11:36] The bid package for solicitation is currently being drafted.

[11:41] Are you having any questions?

[11:43] Good job.

[11:44] Yeah.

[11:44] It's taken a while, but we've got it taken care of, and it's all due to y'all's hard

[11:51] work of getting this put together.

[11:53] you know this thing got dumped through our lap ADM would not do it and they

[11:59] said well you're gonna have to do it yes sir that's right we proved that we can

[12:04] do it and you know I think we're doing it better than they are yeah I want to say

[12:08] thank you too because you took up you and your team took off and ran with it

[12:11] and did an excellent job with it so thank you fantastic job I can remember

[12:15] we first started talking about this we had no idea what it was that's true

[12:18] We had to figure something out on top of COVID and the hurricane and everything and it's

[12:26] great to kind of see this thing being completed and I know there's a lot of happy municipalities

[12:31] that are getting a lot of much needed projects done as well as what's fixed to happen with

[12:36] some of these local residents with getting new homes and stuff.

[12:39] So what a great opportunity to be a part of and to get to see it come to an end

[12:47] and when all three of us won't be here in a couple months.

[12:50] So it's great to see something that we've worked on

[12:53] for almost three years finished.

[12:56] So we appreciate y'all's hard work and dedication

[12:58] because we, the commission couldn't have done it.

[13:00] I mean, they were trying to task us

[13:02] with figuring this stuff out.

[13:04] I didn't even know what the initial stood for it first.

[13:06] So thank you Katrina and Brian and everybody

[13:08] that's, I don't know where everybody's at

[13:10] but I guess you're representing everybody.

[13:12] Yes sir, we appreciate y'all support.

[13:14] Absolutely,

[13:19] that's it for you.

[13:21] I hate to ask the next question, but I've got to go to my county attorney, find out

[13:27] what we've got to talk about if we've got anything.

[13:29] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[13:30] Yes, unfortunately we do have a couple of matters to discuss in the Executive Session

[13:34] today.

[13:35] So if we're ready to do so, I would recommend the Commission adopt a motion to discuss

[13:40] with your attorney the legal implications of and legal options for pending litigation

[13:44] controversies not yet being litigated but eminently likely to be litigated or

[13:49] We're eminently likely to be litigated if the governmental body pursues a proposed course

[13:53] of action.

[13:54] I'm an attorney licensed to practice law in Alabama, and this exception is applicable

[13:59] to the planned discussion.

[14:01] After the vote, Mr. Chairman announced that we will not reconvene the work session, and

[14:05] we will see everybody at the 10 o'clock regular meeting.

[14:08] All right, Commission, you have heard our attorney's advice.

[14:11] I'll make that motion.

[14:12] We'll go into executive session per our county attorney, and I'll second it.

[14:17] We've got a motion and a second to go into an executive session as requested by our attorney.

[14:22] Any further discussion on that?

[14:25] All those in favor signify by saying aye.

[14:28] We will not reconvene this work session and we'll see everybody back at 10 o'clock

[14:33] at the regular meeting.

[14:39] We'll get our meeting underway today, August 18th, regular meeting for the Bowling County

[14:46] Commission.

[14:49] First of all, I've already heard a phone quacking in here.

[14:52] If you don't mind, please cut your phones to silent or vibrate during this live broadcasted

[14:57] meeting as it interferes with-

[15:00] Our TV networks and stuff. So I've got today Pastor Rodney Phillips with Three Circle Church

[15:09] is going to come up and deliver our invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by Commissioner

[15:14] Gruber.

[15:17] Please rise.

[15:18] Join me in prayer. Father God, we just thank you for the opportunity to gather here today,

[15:24] God. We thank you for the privilege that we have to live, work, and serve in this

[15:31] County. Got to ask for your wisdom and guidance for this County Commission and

[15:36] for all those who are in a leadership role here in this County God. Lord I pray

[15:40] for your blessings on the citizens of this County God and I just pray for your

[15:44] protection for our law enforcement, our firefighters, our first responders, our

[15:50] educators and our County employees God and all those who call this County

[15:53] home. Thank you for the sacrifices that those that made for the freedoms

[15:57] that we have here today. I just ask now for your blessings on this meeting in your name.

[16:03] Amen.

[16:04] Please join me in a pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America

[16:11] and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty

[16:18] and justice for all.

[16:21] Thank you.

[16:22] Thank you.

[16:23] All

[16:33] right, commissioners got a couple of items before us before we get to our consent agenda.

[16:40] We've got two sets of a minutes.

[16:42] We need to adopt August 3, 2025, 20, excuse me, 2026 special meeting budget deliberations.

[16:51] Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we adopt the special meeting budget deliberation

[16:58] minutes.

[16:59] I'll second it.

[17:01] Got a motion in a second. Any further discussion?

[17:03] Hearing none, all in favor signify with saying aye.

[17:06] Aye.

[17:07] Motion carries.

[17:08] Mr. Chairman, I'll also make a motion that we adopt August 4, 2026 regular meeting minutes.

[17:15] I'll second that.

[17:16] Got a motion in a second to adopt and approve the August 4th regular meeting minutes.

[17:21] Any further discussion?

[17:23] Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying aye.

[17:25] Aye.

[17:26] Motion passes.

[17:27] Commissioner Gruber.

[17:29] Aye.

[17:29] Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we pay the bills totaling $18,573,049.13 of that,

[17:41] which is 645 invoices.

[17:46] I'll second that motion.

[17:48] We got a motion and a second to pay the bills.

[17:51] It's always fortunate enough to be able to do that to the tune of $18 million a month.

[17:55] So we appreciate Commissioner Gruber's motion to make so we can keep these

[18:03] lights going. So any further discussion on paying our bills? Here none. All in

[18:10] favor say aye. Aye. Mr. Chairman also want to make a motion that

[18:16] re-ratified the ratification of it. In from payments as allowed by policy

[18:21] 8.1, and that amount is $4,766 and $182.08, and of that, there are 71 invoices in which

[18:35] that covers.

[18:37] Second that motion.

[18:39] Motion in a second for the ratification of interim payments is allowed by policy 8.1.

[18:45] All those in favor say aye.

[18:46] Aye.

[18:49] Commissioners before us, we have our consent agenda.

[18:51] I'll

[18:54] make that motion to approve our consent agenda, and also could it?

[18:58] We have a motion to adopt the consent agenda as presented in our work session.

[19:03] Any further discussion on the consent agenda?

[19:08] Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

[19:10] Aye.

[19:12] Our consent agenda has been adopted.

[19:14] Cariousness now to our presentations, Deidre.

[19:21] We've got the presentations for our employees of the quarter for the second quarter of 2026.

[19:25] Good morning.

[19:29] Good morning.

[19:29] Once again, I am very honored to be able to present our employees of the quarter.

[19:34] We have six this quarter, which is a lot, and so we have a pep house today, so we'll

[19:39] keep it quick.

[19:41] Our Employee of the Quarter program celebrates our employees who go above and beyond in

[19:46] their roles, and it also recognizes the meaningful impact that they have on the

[19:50] success of the entire commission.

[19:51] It gives county employees the opportunity to shine a spotlight on our coworkers who

[19:56] consistently do exceptional work, and we also invite citizens to recognize our county employees

[20:01] who deliver outstanding customer service every day.

[20:04] And so, we will get started with that.

[20:07] First of all, we have Council on Aging.

[20:11] We have Kelly to present, Ms. Crystal Richardson.

[20:20] Good morning.

[20:21] Good morning.

[20:21] I'm so happy that we have a packed house to see all these good employees that the

[20:27] The commission has, Crystal has been with the council on aging for 21 years.

[20:34] She has been a case manager and I am honored to be here this morning because I see her

[20:39] work every single day and what she does, but when the citizens of Bowen County write

[20:44] to y'all or call me, it means so much and so I know we've got a lot to do this morning

[20:52] But I just want to read a few things that a lady and gentleman wrote in about crystal.

[20:57] Thank you so much for your efforts to provide guidance on Medicare health and prescription

[21:01] drug plans for the upcoming year despite your full schedule of appointments.

[21:05] On the last day of counseling for seniors, you wedged me into your workload.

[21:10] Your service and dedication to the work is so much appreciated and it has provided

[21:14] a clear picture of how to move forward on our medical plans.

[21:17] Thank you for your forbearance and excellent guidance.

[21:22] Another citizen wrote in and said, what a pleasure it is to see a wonderful county employee

[21:29] enjoy doing her job and helping folks understand what we do.

[21:34] And Crystal does that.

[21:35] Crystal goes above and beyond and I'm tickled to recognize her for this well-deserved

[21:40] achievement, her compassion, dedication and commitment to the senior citizens and

[21:46] And Baldwin County serves as a meaningful difference every day in our community.

[21:50] So thank you, Crystal.

[21:59] I just want to say I'm very grateful for being selected as employee of the quarter.

[22:04] But I could not do it without my other coworkers.

[22:08] And I want to thank them as well for what they do every day.

[22:12] So good job.

[22:14] Thank you.

[22:15] Deidre, are we doing pictures?

[22:16] All right,

[22:22] next with our citizen service center.

[22:24] we have Ms. Shannon Spivey to present Ms. Wendy Bryant Sellers.

[22:38] Good morning.

[22:39] Good morning. I'm so happy, like Kelly said, to have everybody here. Chances are

[22:43] somebody in the crowd has probably talked to Wendy. She talks to hundreds of

[22:48] our customers every week and she treats them the way I would want to be treated.

[22:54] I would want my mom or dad to be treated when they call in with a genuine

[23:00] and desired to help them. And what she's done most recently is truly go above and beyond

[23:06] about a year ago. We found out we were transitioning to a new contact center software. It was nowhere

[23:13] in her job description that she learned call routing and that type of thing, but she was

[23:17] interested in it. She has done over 200 hours of training on the new software since January.

[23:25] She's gotten multiple certifications.

[23:28] And then as the case always happens, about a week after GOLIVE, I was out of the office

[23:35] and have been for the better part of the six weeks since we have transitioned to the new

[23:43] contact center.

[23:44] So Wendy has been the point of contact.

[23:46] She took the initiative to go to 10 different offices, train over 100 contact center users,

[23:52] 100 of our employees and really build a great relationship with them so because of that

[23:59] we want to also once I was back in the office several department heads reached out to let

[24:06] us know what a great job she did and continues to do so because of that I'd like to recognize

[24:13] Wendy.

[24:21] Thank y'all and if anybody has any issues with Cisco, y'all know who to call.

[24:26] I

[24:29] would like to add to that that we didn't just receive one nomination for Wendy, we've

[24:34] received eight within a short timeframe.

[24:42] Alright, so with our highway department, what about Ms. Derricka James?

[24:55] Ms. Derricka, if you know she's in operations, support specialist number two.

[25:00] She's been with us about four years.

[25:02] She works in the area of 300 barn, our Foley barn, very busy barn, and the support

[25:07] specialist playing in bottle roll and that is to keep all the guys organized and keep

[25:13] them moving forward and keep them on task and so she's got a very challenging role of hurting

[25:20] that many cats. If anybody that's worked in a facility like that, we've got some great

[25:25] guys but sometimes they need some adult supervision and Derricka is that adult supervision.

[25:36] So

[25:37] So I would like to congratulate Derricka. She brings a sense of professionalism and does

[25:44] an awesome job at what she does. And she is very organized, which is helpful with our

[25:53] Area 300 barn. So thank you so much for doing all you do. I'm going above and beyond.

[26:00] Well,

[26:03] Jeremy is our supervisor. I'm just the assistant supervisor, but she does bring

[26:09] a professional attitude to the barn and she's always helping the people out that need questions

[26:18] asked on the phone. She helps me out because when I started my job, my new job, I was not

[26:25] very computer literate and her and Jeremy has helped me mainly her because it's the

[26:33] county's hard system to figure out if you don't know but she is really smart with

[26:38] her job. She knows all the ins and outs and how to get things taken care of.

[26:45] Derrick does a great job for us and I'm proud of her. Thank you. Thank you.

[26:56] Come

[26:56] on, you might as well come up and say something. She said no.

[27:01] No pressure. Remember the days. All right. And then next with our highway

[27:07] department, we have Mr. Gerald Wilson.

[27:13] While they're walking, I guess so so

[27:16] So many times we have some incredible employees that have been with us a substantial amount

[27:21] of time and we felt like they're kind of like unsung hero, they need to be recognized and

[27:27] then there's an occasion when you get somebody that's only been with you a short amount

[27:30] of time but has had a major impact to what you do on a daily basis and not only that,

[27:36] the quality of what you do.

[27:38] Jared is our paving supervisor.

[27:40] So he's been with us just a little over a year but the improvement that we have

[27:45] seen in the quality of our resurfacing projects that we perform in-house and our dirt road

[27:49] paving projects we do in-house has grown exponentially. Although he's a young man compared to some

[27:55] of us, his whole life has been in the paving business. He grew up in it, so he came with

[28:01] us winning a way more experience than somebody his years normally would have. He has not

[28:07] only shown that in the field and through the improvements and the quality of our

[28:12] workmanship that we've seen, but also in improving the morale of that paving crew.

[28:16] Now, for those y'all in the audience, and you all know how hot it is right now, that

[28:22] asphalt, when it goes down, how hot is that asphalt, when it's?

[28:24] About 280.

[28:26] About 280.

[28:27] So they're working with material that's 280 degrees, and 110 degrees, a heat index,

[28:34] sometimes 115, right now they're out there working.

[28:36] And so, he normally does that.

[28:39] He keeps these crews safe.

[28:40] We rotate our crews out,

[28:41] letting sure they have plenty of breaks,

[28:42] especially in these kind of conditions.

[28:44] But he has been an immediate positive impact

[28:47] to the paving department.

[28:48] And we are so proud to have him with us.

[28:51] And I was going to say a few words as well.

[28:59] Morning, Commissioner.

[29:00] I'd like to thank you for the opportunity

[29:01] to recognize one of our outstanding employees,

[29:04] Mr. Gerald Wilson.

[29:06] Gerald's our paving crew supervisor,

[29:07] been with us for about a year, like Mr. Mark said. In that time, Gerald has greatly improved

[29:12] our paving operations, strong work ethic, paving knowledge, great leadership skills,

[29:18] and an overall great attitude. Gerald has embraced any task given to him, not only

[29:24] just in the paving, but anything from our bridge maintenance crews to our crack seal

[29:28] to even placing the RPMs on the road. He has not only embraced it, but he has

[29:32] actually thrived on it. Gerald's always ready for after-hours call-outs, doesn't

[29:38] matter if it's storms, doesn't matter if it's size, doesn't matter, he's always there to

[29:41] help us. He has been a huge, huge, huge benefit in helping changing the culture of

[29:47] our paving crew. Like Mr. Mark said, it's hot out there and through his positive

[29:52] work ethic and through his, you know, just his positive attitude and skills and

[29:56] leadership, everybody on our paving crew is just happy now and they're

[30:00] The job reflects it now. And I just want to feel like I'm honored to give them the floor of the quarter.

[30:05] Absolutely.

[30:06] Because I

[30:11] just like to say thank you, and I'll keep doing the best I can.

[30:13] Well, thanks.

[30:14] Thank you.

[30:20] Next, we have Jared Cunningham to present Miss Rhonda Riles in our custodial department.

[30:37] Good morning, commissioners.

[30:38] Good morning.

[30:39] Rhonda here has been doing a great job for a long time. I know this employee of the quarter, but Rhonda could be our employee of the year.

[30:46] Custodial deals with everybody's staff up to elected officials, excuse me, and Rhonda's

[30:52] always got something different going on each day.

[30:55] We've had some changes in the custodial department and with changes sometimes there's some difficulty

[31:00] and Rhonda's overcame them.

[31:01] I've received numerous emails and we've done some more in-house work such as cleaning

[31:07] the carpets at the Baymanette facility for the commission area and there's just a

[31:13] lot that she has done, that has came out, that has looked great. So we wanted to go ahead

[31:17] and recognize her with the employee recorder.

[31:25] I just want to say thank you for this recognition.

[31:27] I truly appreciate it. Absolutely. Thank you.

[31:36] Last but certainly not least, we have our

[31:39] probate.

[31:44] Not sure who's coming up here.

[31:50] Couldn't see you over. We got much. This is to present

[31:54] Ms. Melissa Adams.

[32:00] We've got to keep him under control. You know, he gets a little bit.

[32:02] That's right. Good morning, Commission. The judge and I are

[32:06] excited to be here today to present Ms. Melissa with Employee of the Quarter.

[32:10] Melissa is our lobby clerk here in the Fairhip location.

[32:14] That office service is about three to four hundred customers a day

[32:17] and she is the smiling face that attends to them. I've personally witnessed

[32:22] Melissa and everything that she brings to the table but what I think is

[32:24] really fantastic about this is that her co-workers nominated her for this. They voted her to have

[32:30] this award. And I just think there's something special about people being in the trenches

[32:33] with you but still being able to recognize what you're bringing to the table with them.

[32:38] I just want to read a brief summary about what her supervisor wrote. Melissa serves

[32:41] as the lobby clerk and is often the first point of contact for the public entering

[32:45] the building. She has developed a strong knowledge of the building and its departments

[32:49] allowing her to efficiently direct visitors even when they are not here for probate

[32:53] Services. She checks and probate customers, reviews documentation to ensure that they have

[32:58] everything that they need before waiting and handles many transactions in the lobby to

[33:03] improve customer convenience and reduces wait times. I have personally seen her process

[33:07] 100 transactions a day. That is still while processing customers in, giving them tickets

[33:11] and she does it with a smile on her face every time. We're very proud of Melissa.

[33:24] I love my job and I love that we have great leadership and supervisors and co-workers and

[33:31] it's truly humbling that it was them because they do the same thing I do.

[33:35] So thank you.

[33:37] Thank you.

[33:42] And if we can have our recipients come up to the front to take a group picture with

[33:46] the commissioners,

[33:51] whichever, I think y'all come down.

[35:07] Before the employees of the quarters scatter out of here and get back to work, I'm sure

[35:12] the commission would like to say a few things about it.

[35:14] Commissioner Gruber?

[35:16] Yes, golly.

[35:18] You know, we had these recipients today and everyone of them brings something unique

[35:23] to the table. You know, from laying ass fault, you know, supervising people at custodials,

[35:32] you know, and taking complaints in the highway department, you know, and helping the public

[35:38] in the probate office. Everyone of those people are very important. They've got a job sometimes

[35:45] that is pretty tough every once in a while. So, but anyway, I want to thank each and

[35:52] one of them and continue to do the good work that you do, you know, those are the best people

[36:02] we've got.

[36:02] I want to thank them.

[36:03] Thank you.

[36:08] To the six employees, thank you for what you do for Baldwin County and for the citizens.

[36:13] It's a pleasure to work with y'all.

[36:15] I get to work with some of you, especially the ones that work here in Fairhope.

[36:17] I get to see what y'all do, and you do bring a lot of happy customers, and I

[36:23] know there's a lot of times that they let us know.

[36:25] And I just really want to say thank you for what you do, so thank you again.

[36:35] So I've got to follow the other two, so it's all the same, we definitely appreciate our

[36:40] employees and I'm glad that we've got this implementation of the employee of the court

[36:46] assistant that we implemented to recognize outstanding employees and I like the fact

[36:51] that when some come up here to speak they always don't take the credit but give credit

[36:56] to others that work with them and that just shows an example of true leadership.

[37:00] So we live in the greatest place on Earth, I would say,

[37:06] and got the greatest employees on Earth.

[37:10] It's a blessing to be a small part of such a big organization.

[37:16] And there's not a day that goes by that we don't think about

[37:19] or thank our employees for what they do.

[37:21] And thank you, Deidre, for running this program

[37:25] and keeping these employees at the quarters going

[37:27] because it's just exciting to see some people's only been here a year, some people's been here 21

[37:35] years, so it rains in between, so it's always good to recognize our employees. So thank y'all,

[37:41] each and every one that's well deserving for the award, so I'm glad I don't have to use Cisco.

[37:50] So I'm glad other people have to use that for us. So I wouldn't know how to do all that,

[37:56] but Wendy would teach me.

[38:01] Thank y'all again.

[38:03] So we'll move on to our public hearing section

[38:07] of this commission meeting.

[38:09] This is where the fund begins.

[38:13] So I'm gonna let the employees of the quarter

[38:16] exit out if they want to.

[38:19] Congratulations again, guys, ladies and gentlemen.

[38:27] There will be some seats opening up

[38:28] if people wanna sit down

[38:30] Instead of standing up the whole time, a few seats up front here.

[38:40] More people here, and the team came out to vote.

[38:45] That's right.

[38:46] That's something.

[39:15] Okay, first up on our public hearings agenda, we're going to be hearing case number Z26

[39:23] slash 26, the Gulf Coast Farm LLC property rezoning request.

[39:37] Commissioner, we received notification from the applicant that they do intend to withdraw

[39:41] this case today.

[39:43] Okay.

[39:43] Now, they're within the seven-day window, so they're requesting to withdraw.

[39:48] That would still require a vote of the Commission to allow them to withdraw if you such use.

[39:55] So, Brad, in this case, I don't open a public hearing.

[39:58] We just call for the vote.

[40:00] Correct.

[40:00] If y'all are inclined to grant their withdrawal request, then just a motion.

[40:03] Commission, do I have a motion to accept this withdrawal request?

[40:07] I'll make that.

[40:08] Go ahead.

[40:08] Go ahead, Mr. Chairman.

[40:09] I'll make a motion that we accept the applicant's request to withdraw his application at this

[40:16] time.

[40:16] I'll second that.

[40:17] Got a motion and a second.

[40:18] Any further discussion?

[40:20] Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

[40:21] Aye.

[40:22] Motion passes.

[40:23] That case will be withdrawn.

[40:26] Next up is case number Z26 slash 27.

[40:31] Cooper's Lake Property Resonant Request.

[40:35] Commissioner, likewise, I've received the indication that the applicant may be wishing

[40:40] to withdraw.

[40:40] I would like, if the applicant's in the room, to actually confirm that before you take action.

[40:47] Is the applicant in the room?

[40:50] All right.

[40:51] I confirm.

[40:52] Okay.

[40:52] We wish to withdraw.

[40:54] So we have a commissioner.

[40:56] Is there a motion to withdraw?

[40:57] Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we accept the applicant's request to withdraw his application.

[41:08] I mean, excuse me, I'll make that second.

[41:09] Well, we've got a motion and a second to accept the withdrawal of the Cooper Lakes property rezoning.

[41:14] All those in favor say aye.

[41:15] Aye.

[41:16] Next up, case Z26 slash 28, Carlton Fine Properties LLC property rezoning request.

[41:27] Could y'all please hold it down just for a second so we can hear each other talk up here.

[41:33] Case Z26-28, Calton 5 properties, LLC property rezoning request.

[41:38] Frank, what do we have on that one?

[41:40] Yes, sir.

[41:40] Commissioners, likewise, I've received confirmation from the applicant this morning that they

[41:46] do want to withdraw this case as well, a request to withdraw.

[41:49] So you'd need action to set that request.

[41:52] We resetting the date on this one, though, right?

[41:54] No.

[41:54] So, no, sir, if they, it's the same as the previous two.

[41:58] Okay, so commissioners, you've heard the...

[41:59] I'll make that motion to withdraw the case.

[42:04] Well, second.

[42:05] Got a motion and a second to accept the withdrawal

[42:07] of case Z26 slash 28.

[42:09] All in favor say aye.

[42:11] Aye.

[42:12] Our P and Z cases are over with for the day.

[42:14] Thank y'all for coming.

[42:16] Any other staff recommendations?

[42:19] You got to take it, yeah.

[42:21] All right, no, sir.

[44:08] I like them

[44:22] All right, things have calmed down a bit.

[44:28] I did get a little bit of feedback.

[44:32] Yeah.

[44:33] Wow.

[44:36] Wait a minute, how to pick up?

[44:37] I mean, I'm going to download this board.

[44:39] You got cussed down?

[44:40] I'm proud of you commissioner ball you didn't I didn't come over the table over him all right um

[44:47] Any of any addenda?

[44:50] All right great press questions

[44:52] I didn't see anybody here from the press

[44:54] All right commissioner comments

[44:58] Who you want to go first?

[45:03] Again,

[45:05] I want to thank the staff for all they do to getting us to the meeting to us so

[45:13] that we can make the seasons on it. And, you know,

[45:21] they weren't very diligently with all

[45:23] the department heads and everyone else and all their departments that have anything to do

[45:28] with this. There's a lot goes into it that people don't realize what goes into

[45:32] meeting a meeting ready to present to the public. So again, I thank them so very

[45:40] much for that.

[45:44] And you know, I just want to again thank everyone for what they do

[45:49] in helping Balling County. You know, our law enforcement, our first responders,

[45:55] or, you know, our folks that, operators that answered the telephones and, you know,

[46:03] take the abuse sometimes of what citizens don't like and they want to

[46:10] complain and they're the first ones to catch it. So I just want to thank them

[46:15] for that and all our first responders. Wish you all the very best. Thank you.

[46:22] I just echo what Commissioner Gruber said.

[46:24] I just want to thank the employees that do a job for the county every day.

[46:29] Thank you for what you do and for the ones that we recognize.

[46:32] Thank them.

[46:33] They do a lot for Baldwin County and for the employees and for the city, excuse me, for

[46:38] the citizens.

[46:39] Commissioner, thank you for, you know, for today.

[46:42] That's all I have.

[46:43] Thank you.

[46:44] Absolutely.

[46:46] I would like if, on my comments, I would like to address something to the public if Frank

[46:51] would get on his microphone and explain what happens when an applicant of a plan in a zoning

[46:59] case had it all teed up today, decides that they want to withdraw, explain to the mad

[47:08] public that all came here today to either speak for or against cases how this process

[47:14] this works, so it doesn't all fall back on us.

[47:17] Sure.

[47:18] And so it is the opposite of the applicants,

[47:22] prerogative or discretion, if they choose to withdraw

[47:25] or request to withdraw, which is what they did.

[47:29] And going forward, what it would require is the applicant

[47:32] can either come back at a later date,

[47:35] they could change their application

[47:36] to request something different

[47:38] than what they brought to the package

[47:41] before you today, what's on the agenda.

[47:43] But the ball is in their court to regroup and decide how they want to come back or if

[47:48] they want to come back.

[47:49] Some may not.

[47:50] Sometimes they don't ever come back.

[47:52] So that's really the only action that was taken was they put it back in the applicants

[47:56] court.

[47:57] Obviously they realize for whatever reason they chose to not attempt to move forward

[48:04] with it.

[48:05] So that's where we are.

[48:06] But I will say, when they do come back, there will have to be a full range, you know, a

[48:12] full advertisement, a whole complete different public hearing.

[48:16] That public hearing will be advertised.

[48:17] The entire process that was going through to get to where we were today will all have

[48:21] to be redone again.

[48:22] The applicant typically pays for that cost.

[48:25] And so that's where we are.

[48:27] So I would encourage the residents to keep their eyes out.

[48:31] If they start seeing signs up again, start seeing notices again, then look at the

[48:35] applications being presented and make your decisions accordingly.

[48:38] Thank you, Frank. That helps clarify that.

[48:42] And, you know, just as the other two said,

[48:46] we appreciate everything that our staff does to get the agenda ready.

[48:49] I don't even know.

[48:52] I've never count the pages.

[48:54] How many pages was this in the agenda packet?

[48:58] A few hundred pages, and we got four or five pages to look at.

[49:02] So it's a lot just to put together for us to breeze through in such a short

[49:07] amount of time and never underestimate that our staff does top notch job in

[49:12] putting this together making it simple for us to be able to sit up here and do

[49:16] what we do and again congratulations to all the employees of the quarter that

[49:22] were recognized today much deserving awards given out so that's it for my

[49:29] comments if y'all don't have anything else then it means a journey.

Baldwin County Commission Regular on 2026-08-18 10:00 AM

Agenda

Transcript