[0:00] Please stand
alsisible
[0:17] with liberty and justice for all.
>> Father, we thank you for the opportunity
[0:21] to gather together, Lord, to be about
the work of of of people today. Lord, we
[0:25] pray that you would give us his wisdom,
Lord, and serve as we try to make good
[0:30] decisions. Help us to do things that are
right for our people and good in your
[0:34] sight. In Jesus name we pray.
>> Amen. Amen.
[0:45] » Let the roll show that everyone is here
except for
[0:49] Tony Wolf
[0:53] district.
[0:56] And at this time before we approve the
I'd like to ask council to approve an
[1:03] amended agenda adding under new business
item H
[1:12] removing a sales tax increase on grocer.
[1:24] Is there any discussion?
All in favor say I.
[1:31] » Oppos? Nay. The eyes have
[1:36] take a minute. Item three approve the
minutes. So take a couple minutes to
[1:41] look over the minutes from last meeting.
[2:13] to approve
[2:18] a motion to second. Any discussion?
Hearing none. All in favor say I.
[2:26] Any
reports of council district one council
[2:32] Kelly?
District two, council.
[2:38] » District three, counc.
>> Um, I don't I was just going to inquire
[2:43] about have we maybe hired someone to
take those trees down.
[2:48] » We have taken bids. We've got low bid
and that should be happening very soon.
[2:54] » Okay. I just wanted to be able to tell.
>> Yes.
[2:57] » Yes. [snorts] All all there are four
total trees and they should be coming
[3:01] down very soon.
>> Thank you.
[3:05] Thank you.
Question.
[3:09] Uh, district
four council. No.
[3:14] Okay. Wolf is out.
[3:20] All right. From my part, I have got
a couple of things I want to make sure
[3:28] to report before the biggest news I want
to report. Uh the first thing is
[3:34] um
[3:38] Lamar Cwell of retirement is this Friday
we'll have a little city employee
[3:45] lunchon for Lamar. has worked with the
city for a long time and
[3:50] we're excited for him and
[3:55] the second thing is uh there was some
confusion and miscommunication on the uh
[4:03] our
youth football league football and cheer
[4:07] which is not run by the city. It's run
by it own board of parents and all, but
[4:12] we got that we got that corrected.
They were looking for a place to
[4:16] practice. They had not reached out to
us. Now that we know what their needs
[4:20] are, we've got that taken care of. They
will be practicing over.
[4:26] So, all that's good and we're glad that
he will help. And then the the third
[4:32] thing, the big news of the day,
[4:36] right? But is our fire rating. We got
our ISO rating. Our fire department has
[4:42] worked hard.
Chief Atkins has really worked
[4:48] to to get to this point, but also this
council uh the former council and mayor
[4:56] have done really work put in work and
former mayors to grow our fire
[5:01] department and to move us to to a
different level. And um u we are very
[5:08] excited. I'm going to go ahead and say
the the headline. I'm turn it over to
[5:11] you too. Uh we are we have moved from a
four to a three in our ISO rating which
[5:17] is outstanding. Uh that a one is the
best, a 10 is the worst. And moving to a
[5:24] three is helpful to all our homeowners
and is particularly helpful to uh to our
[5:29] commercial property owners. And so we're
excited about that. That will begin.
[5:34] I'll turn it over to Chief.
>> All right. So, yes, and we thank the
[5:40] previous council, the mayor, and and
definitely all of you as well. We
[5:46] couldn't do it by oursel. We had to have
cooperation.
[5:50] We're fortunate to to work with
[6:11] Can everybody hear?
>> Well, question is from people online.
[6:16] » Okay.
>> Okay. Go ahead.
[6:22] » So
again, we thank everybody for the
[6:25] cooperation. We couldn't do it by
ourselves. Um, as y'all know, It's not
[6:32] uh
it's not cheap to do it. Um we have
[6:36] tried to to do it as economical as
possible not waste money. Therefore, we
[6:43] have purchased some used trucks. uh we
had researched and found took our time
[6:49] and found something to be in good shape
mileage for the simple fact that we just
[6:55] realized
we can't afford million million and a
[6:59] half and $10 million contracts.
So we're cutting corners there. But um
[7:11] so
what led up to a better story? First of
[7:15] all, a little bit about us. We cover 41
square miles.
[7:22] We go from Sandy Creek on 49 to 1500
block 49 north, north and south, east
[7:30] and west from from lake
all the way to
[7:40] a good bit of golf. I got a map I'll
show you in a minute. So, we cover a
[7:46] pretty good area and for a long time it
was covered with one station and then
[7:50] y'all know the history of several years
ago the old
[7:56] Suzana fire station which it location
was good for them when it was just their
[8:02] fire department but when we absorbed it
really didn't fit
[8:09] the coverage map for really helping us a
whole lot other than just that
[8:14] took over. So, one of the things that
helped us get that score down was moving
[8:20] to its current location
because we had areas in that direction
[8:25] that was over 5 miles from the fire
station. So, all of that was taken in
[8:31] within 5 miles. So that that helped our
school.
[8:35] Okay.
And we covered Highway 280 from the
[8:39] Jackson G when we touched them all the
way to the 85 mile mark
[8:46] just past right around the
[8:53] Right.
[8:56] So we currently are operating out of two
stations. Station one is right here at
[9:00] 339 North. street station in the picture
there is in 911. That's kind of what
[9:13] so
the green area is our coverage area
[9:19] outside the city and then the center
part there is the city. So all that
[9:26] combined is the 41 square miles we
cover. Um that's the locations of
[9:32] station one and station two.
[9:56] » Well, next slide is going to show that
All of our territory except for a little
[10:03] bit on the far corner where it makes a
90° up in the right hand corner is about
[10:09] [clears throat] the mile out there on
road that is outside of five miles. So
[10:15] that one spot is not getting credit for
being covered by a fire department even
[10:21] though we cover and we are going if they
have a problem they don't get credit. So
[10:27] eventually that's probably our next
to get them covered, but also by getting
[10:33] them covered and having our entire
coverage area within five miles, it
[10:37] actually helps every one of the things
they look at is station distribution. So
[10:44] better we have our entire area helps.
[10:51] So notable improvements, uh we've added
personnel.
[10:56] So when city hired me. They had uh
including me, they had one full-time
[11:05] person and two part-time when I first
got hired. We now have seven full-time
[11:11] and 12 part-time employees, all of which
are certified career firefighters that
[11:19] helped us a lot on our ISO school.
>> All right.
[11:25] Yes, sir. Can you [clears throat]
explain to people the difference in
[11:28] because in certified parttime I mean
fulltime or part time certified officers
[11:35] hours
>> the hours okay so
[11:38] » that they're all they are all certified
trained fire but
[11:42] » yes so
currently our part-time people most of
[11:48] the time get 24 hours a week now there's
a open spot because somebody took a
[11:53] vacation day They may work with extra
but most of the part-time people work 24
[11:59] hours per week. Either one 24hour shift
or two 12 hour shifts. Fulltime people
[12:05] um currently are working up to
106 hours in a twoe pay period. After
[12:12] 106
[12:15] overtime kicks in for we fall under FLSA
parab standard act. We can work up to 53
[12:23] hours per week without hitting.
[12:28] So that's just traditionally the way
it's been for years.
[12:34] So any other questions?
[12:41] » And a big thing that helped us because
40%
[12:45] of the overall score is based off of
water. Obviously, we can't put out fire
[12:50] without water. So, uh to help that
section, we uh we have added to our
[12:57] fleet a couple more tankers that can
haul a lot of water that we can keep a
[13:03] constant flow.
So
[13:07] when we got them to bring us this time,
which is an extra step, it's a little
[13:14] extra work on on the ISO representative,
but that's okay. That's that's it done.
[13:20] So we told we we don't want a split
rate. We want to get rid of that X
[13:26] because we were at 44X before. We want
to get rid of X. So he said, well, you
[13:33] got to prove that you can
a certain amount of water, keep that
[13:37] amount of water flowing without losing
the stream. Yeah, we know. So,
[13:45] so that was big. We have done away with
X.
[13:54] Current score was 44x and a 10. 10
represents anything over five miles.
[14:00] So if you're if you're over five miles
from a recognized fire station, whether
[14:06] they're coming to you or not, as far as
ISO concerned, you're not covered. And a
[14:13] lot of insurance companies will need to
write your policy and if they do, it's
[14:17] pretty high. All right. Our new score
effective that will go in effect for
[14:22] insurance purposes November 1st
is
[14:30] 10. So still if you're over five miles
from the station is 10, but everything
[14:36] else is three. We didn't w because we
can now haul a sufficient amount of
[14:41] water to help meet our
fireflow needs.
[14:46] » Chief, if I may add.
>> Yes, sir. One thing that people don't
[14:50] understand is the areas that are outside
of the city limits that are in our fire
[14:55] district.
>> We have no
[15:01] legal recourse to collect fire damage.
They want to give us a donation they can
[15:06] but we can't collect fire. For that
reason, um we are working with the
[15:13] county commission on how we resolve that
issue and and
[15:18] potentially get get some help from them
on making sure that we can have a a
[15:23] station far enough out to reach that
area all the far northeast corner of the
[15:30] fire district in less than five miles.
We want to make sure we
[15:35] live there even though they're not in
the city limits they are in a fire.
[15:41] Yes. And again, like I said, since it is
part of our fire district, it still
[15:47] counts against us without having
big. So, we're helping them, we're
[15:53] helping ourselves also.
All right.
[15:56] So, a whole bunch of little bitty points
add up to big points. So, currently
[16:02] under the new system,
105.5
[16:06] points would be perfect. Uh, nobody's
perfect. a 90.0
[16:13] and up. If you're better than a 90, then
you are a class one. And there are very
[16:18] few of them.
Class two would be 80 to 89.9.
[16:24] And class three, which we are, is 70
79.9.
[16:29] We actually gain a whole 10 points. We
were 62 previously. And it takes a lot
[16:35] of little points to get that 10 big
points that we got to move a whole
[16:40] numeric. number.
Our goal is a two
[16:46] and I think that that is achievable.
One of the biggest things is personnel.
[16:56] See from from the from the volunteer
side or or not even necessarily
[17:01] volunteer. You can be paid, but if
you're off duty, you're not at the
[17:06] station and you have to come back in
when the call comes in. ISL counts three
[17:13] offduty people to equal one.
>> So that hurts.
[17:20] We're supposed to
for
[17:24] purposes, they want us to have a minimum
of 12 people on that structure.
[17:30] Well, a lot of times we can get that,
but it's not in our initial response. U
[17:36] you know, a lot of times we end up with
six or eight, maybe 10 of our own fish
[17:41] getting to that 12 mark because of
automatic aid from our department to
[17:47] come to help us. So sometimes we can't
get that 12 hours.
[17:53] So any that's a goal for down the road
and we can
[18:00] So this is a breakdown.
So the community risk reduction
[18:06] that's hard to see 5.5 total points
possible. We got 3.7 out of that. Um the
[18:13] water points we moved up to 32 out of
40. So that was a big improvement on the
[18:22] water. Uh fire department side we did
move up but they still uh a lot of
[18:28] territory we can gain points right
there. Best on fire department side is
[18:34] 50 and we're at 30.7.
So once in the future once we get a
[18:41] training facility you get extra credit
for training at training facility
[18:46] instead of just reading the book at
discussion. So more of the hands-on
[18:51] stuff you get extra credit
that goes back to number of personnel.
[18:56] It goes back to number of stations for
your distribution to cover your area
[19:00] like it's supposed to be. So there's a
lot of those little points that add up
[19:03] in that fire department section. And
then the green section
[19:09] is emergency communications. So that is
through dispatch. So everybody in the
[19:14] county gets the same score because we
all use
[19:20] They got their own dispatch. Everybody
else in the county gets the same score
[19:24] on this because we all use county
sheriff's office. Our dispatch center.
[19:30] So we got 9.46 out of 10.
I think the one thing that's missing is
[19:37] number dispatch circuits. One more to
call
[19:44] and then
there is Another thing that 3.73 is
[19:50] called
those are negative points. So if your
[19:56] fire department and your water are not
in line with each other, if one of
[20:01] them's real good and the other one's
bad, they actually subtract because you
[20:07] have a really good fire department, they
don't have any water, they can't do the
[20:10] job. Or you can have a whole lot of
water but don't have a decent fire
[20:13] department and the water's no good. So
both they got to work together. So
[20:18] that's you know when we get those two
closer together we'll get those negative
[20:22] back. So I think that you know every
five years uh is the schedule that they
[20:28] bring us unless we think that we have
improved enough to call them on our own
[20:34] but uh which is a possibility but I feel
like within the next five years when
[20:39] they come back we will probably be ready
to move to a
[20:46] right here. I think it's the next slide.
So,
[20:50] this represents all the fire departments
across the United States. Total of
[20:54] 37,358
recognized fire departments nationwide.
[20:59] And you can see different classes at the
bottom. We are now in a class three. We
[21:04] are one of 3,956
out of 37,000.
[21:10] So, we're doing pretty good.
[21:16] So at the end of the day, it's not so
much the graphs and piece of paper and
[21:24] the shiny trucks. It's the heart to go
out here and help the uh the people that
[21:31] we live around, people we call neighbors
and family, and we have that
[21:36] determination to to help people.
That's why we get called home pretty
[21:42] good bit to go even outside of our
territory because people need help and
[21:47] we're willing to help as long as we can
afford to do so. Obviously, if we have
[21:52] something going on in our area, we're
going to handle that first, but we're
[21:59] willing to help people
questions.
[22:08] I do want to say how much we appreciate
chief the job that you have done in
[22:15] because this the city has committed
resources to the fire department but
[22:20] you've also gone out and made those
resources go further and that's one of
[22:23] the things that people shouldn't miss
when we talk about the amount of water
[22:27] they have to take the trucks and you're
driving to Pennsylvania trying to take a
[22:30] truck 50,000 instead of a million those
help us get that water up get our score
[22:37] up and make it affordable. We appreciate
that.
[22:41] [applause]
[22:54] » All right. New business
approved rec center.
[23:22] I got a motion. Any discussion? Hearing
none. All in favor say
[23:26] » I.
Nay. The eyes have. Item B is resolution
[23:32] 2617
participation in local government health
[23:35] insurance program.
This
[23:40] resolution
[23:44] is u
cleaning up
[23:49] our
[23:52] wording and our and making sure that
each of [snorts] our rather than
[23:58] our water board, our gas board, and our
city
[24:02] insurance being lumped together. The
state won't allow us to do that anymore.
[24:06] So, making sure that that we would
divide that ourselves now has to be
[24:10] divided force in Texas. So, this is a
housekeeping issue that doesn't really
[24:16] change anything other than where the
state looks at it from a legal
[24:19] perspective.
Is there any discussion on resolution
[24:22] 2617?
[24:27] Do I hear a motion to
resolution 267?
[24:32] » Make a motion to approve resolution
17.
[24:38] Have a motion to second. Any discussion?
>> All in favor say I.
[24:44] » I oppose. Nay. And the eyes have. All
right. Item C. We'd like to hear from
[24:52] our executive director of chamber of
commerce for
[25:07] all day. So, um, but I just want to come
and update everyone about the chamber,
[25:13] things that we've had going on since the
last time I was in. We um along the LCD
[25:20] chamber tourism board and the mayor. We
participated in April the dragon boat
[25:27] race. Um Fury was our name. Uh we had a
great time. It was at Winry State Park.
[25:35] We did not bring home a trophy, but we
plan on next year. So, um we were
[25:41] excited about that. But, um between May
and July, the chamber uh had 22
[25:50] members chamber memberships with us. We
had two 10 new members join and five are
[25:58] located right here in we have three in
the Auburn area and two are from city.
[26:05] So um just encouraging businesses to
join the chamber. Uh we do try to help
[26:12] with your advertising and just you know
seeing the bond that
[26:19] that our community has and I love seeing
it grow. We um we are revitalizing the
[26:27] chamber ambassador program and that is
open to anyone that either is a chamber
[26:33] member or works for a business that has
that is a chamber member and we just had
[26:39] a meeting yesterday. We have 12 active
ambassadors and five new ambassadors.
[26:46] So, that's exciting. Um, and we will
also be working with LCD chamber. We're
[26:52] going to have an ambassador day next
Friday um on the lake to bring the LC
[26:58] chamber ambassadors and chamber
ambassadors together to um just for them
[27:04] to meet in
recruit
[27:08] ambassadors. And then um we started
planning our fall festival and
[27:15] I just wanted to let everyone know that
it will be again in the Dable First
[27:22] Baptist Church parking lot and uh along
West Street and we will still have the
[27:30] car show that will be downtown. So, um
we're excited. We have a lot of things
[27:36] going on the next couple of months and
so you may see some a lot of advertising
[27:43] going on. If you have any questions,
please, you know, feel free to reach out
[27:48] to me, call me, stop by, you know, they
have a new office and I still call it
[27:53] new because I feel like I'm
[27:58] just I see new faces all the time. So, I
feel like I'm still new in my position.
[28:05] So, I would love for anybody and
everybody to stop by and see us.
[28:10] Y'all have any questions?
[28:14] Thank you.
[28:19] » All right. Item D is ordinance 480F.
Uh this is
[28:27] came up if we as we passed our last
meeting, the ordinance on manufactured
[28:33] homes.
This is just an addition that goes back
[28:38] to an ordinance that was passed some 50
years ago. Uh so it's not a change, but
[28:44] it's putting u the wording into the the
particular section of the code that we
[28:53] have. Uh I believe
article four section three that that
[29:00] refers to
man homes and it just makes sure that
[29:05] it's clear to anybody who looks at it as
you see that single wide manufactured
[29:11] homes are only allowed in a manufactured
home park
[29:16] uh and nowhere else in the city limits.
So this is this is a a clarifying piece
[29:23] to make sure it's been in place for for
quite a long time.
[29:29] Any discussion?
Do I hear a motion for
[29:33] Make a motion to approve ordinance.
>> Is there a second?
[29:42] » Have a motion to second. Any discussion?
[29:47] » All right.
All in favor of ordinance 480. Yes. Say
[29:51] I.
>> I. I. Opposed. Nay. And the eyes have
[29:56] move to ordinance 530 mobile food units.
This also
[30:04] a lot of work done by planning and
zoning. Uh this just puts some rules in
[30:10] place to help to make sure that our
we have more mobile food units
[30:19] that they this is good for them and good
for the for those businesses that exist
[30:25] here all the time and brick and mortar.
And so the biggest piece of this, there
[30:31] are several things and so I would
encourage anybody who is interested in
[30:35] doing a food truck or a food trailer go
look at this after it's passed as far as
[30:41] all the thing the things that that are
that are
[30:45] gerain the situation. But the big piece
is um from my for my takeway is that a a
[30:54] mobile food unit
cannot set up within 200 ft of and this
[31:00] is my paraphrase y'all. So this is not
legal of of an open restaurant an open
[31:06] brick and mort so that we don't create
[31:14] competition for those
So, u there are other there plenty of
[31:20] other little things in there, but that's
to me is the biggest piece.
[31:27] Do I hear a motion
for ordinance 530?
[31:34] Make a motion to approve ordinance 530.
>> Second.
[31:39] » Got a motion to second. Is there any
discussion?
[31:44] Hearing none. All in favor say I. Oppos?
Nay. And the eyes have.
[31:52] Item F is ordinance 531 group homes.
Uh this is another of the um of the
[32:02] items that we had had. We had a
six-month mortorium council pass
[32:08] on group homes until we had time to look
into it and decide what was most
[32:15] active place and uses for groups of for
groups of group homes. Um, and the the
[32:23] takeaway the brief cliff notes on this
is this. I won't read the whole thing,
[32:28] but in section three, it says that group
homes, group living arrangements, the
[32:32] residential care facilities may be
located the R2 medium density
[32:36] residential district and the R3 high
density residential district subject to
[32:41] approval as a special exceptional use
complies with all standards in this
[32:46] ordinance. So the rest of the talks
about state regulations and those things
[32:50] necessary to be able to have a group
home, but the big thing is that it them
[32:56] to R2 and R3 and and they are not
allowed in R1.
[33:05] » I hear a motion for ordinance 531.
>> Make a motion to approve ordinance 531.
[33:14] » Is there a second?
[33:18] Have a motion to second. Is there any
discussion?
[33:23] Hearing none. All in favor of ordinance
531 say I
[33:28] » oppose nay and the eyes have
item G ordinance 532 is for storage
[33:35] facilities and main warehouses. This
also been part of a moratorium while our
[33:40] planning is only look to see what was
best
[33:44] for planning for we go forward and I
will focus on takeways in this
[33:51] definition
some other site plan requirements. But
[33:55] the main part of this cliff notes is
self-service storage facilities
[34:01] including boat and recreational vehicle
storage facilities may be located only
[34:04] in the M1 limited industrial district
and the M2 general industrial district
[34:09] is shown on the most current city and
zone.
[34:16] That's really the the big takeaway for
future zoning as always in all of these
[34:23] the things that are currently exist in a
zone when zoning has changed as long as
[34:29] they're used for the same
the same thing that were being used for
[34:34] that is a nonforming acceptable use. So
it doesn't mean the zoning change
[34:38] doesn't mean something that's here can
no longer be doing what it's doing. It
[34:43] means that nothing new can go in except
in these places.
[34:50] Do I hear a A motion for ordinance 532
[34:58] ordinance 532
>> second got a motion second any
[35:03] discussion
[35:06] hearing none all in favor say I
oppose nay and the eyes have item H
[35:15] item H is
couple months ago we as we decided to uh
[35:21] change our sales tax to be the same as
everybody around us and it's paid by
[35:26] Alabama almost
have a municipal sales tax at 4%.
[35:33] But one thing that we did not want to do
that we need to come back to address is
[35:38] we would like to amend that
to say that there will be no sales tax
[35:43] increase on groceries. So on grocery the
sales tax will stay at 3.5% on
[35:49] everything else 4%.
[35:54] » Do I hear a motion?
>> Make a motion to approve.
[35:57] » Okay.
>> All right. Got a motion to second.
[36:01] Any discussion?
>> All in favor of amending the prior
[36:06] motion so that there's no increase on
sales tax on groceries say I.
[36:12] » I. and all oppose.
and the eyes have before we get to a
[36:18] journ there's one thing I would like to
do because we'd like to recognize uh
[36:23] many of you know that former police
chief Steve Freeman passed away this
[36:28] past week and Chief Freeman served this
city for a long time and we appreciate
[36:34] his service and I'd just like to take a
moment
[36:38] give us a moment of silent prayer for
his family in this time of loss and and
[36:43] thanks for
[36:59] No.
[37:03] [laughter]
>> I've got a motion to adjourn on the
[37:07] table.
[37:10] » All in favor say I.
>> Oppose. Name. The eyes. Are there public
[37:15] comments?
Anybody want to address the council?
[37:20] Thank you very much. Look forward to
seeing you next time. If not,