we launched Hunchville Music Month in September to uh make sure that jazz
in the park is a pillar of that month and so we'll be kind of gathering
up and reaching out again to talk about uh all things,
uh, Huntsville Music Month and so to be able to announce this first ahead
of everything is something we're really proud of and so a reminder these
concerts.
Free and open to the public in the new venue at Big Spring Park West,
which means whether you're a jazz aficionado or just curious,
there is a space for you out there, and that's what we want to keep building
a music ecosystem where everybody feels welcome and we're attracting world
class talent.
I hope you'll mark your calendars for, uh,
every Sunday in September.
Bring a lawn chair, bring a blanket, um, and join us to celebrate some of
Good evening and welcome everyone. So August 28th, 2025, 5:30 p.m., and we are gathered
to convene this meeting of the Huntsville City Council in the chambers in Huntsville, Alabama
We welcome all those who have joined us tonight. We have lots of opportunities to celebrate
and we look forward to all of those who have joined us for that purpose. We are excusing
Council President John Meredith who is traveling. We wish him safe travels and look forward
to having him return on the on the September 11th meeting. We will begin our meetings as we
usually do with invocation and Pledge of allegiance. Our invocation today will be
offered by uh Alabama Public Safety chaplain, Ethan Ryan, followed by the Pledge of
Allegiance offered by or led by council member Michelle Watkins All those who are willing and
able to do so, please stand. Let's pray I call it in heaven though I just thank you and
praise you so much for who you are. I thank you for, for creation. I thank you for
sustaining us. I thank you for protecting us. Well, I thank you so much for our city
council members. Well I thank you for our mayor, Lord our city attorney, uh, who worked
so hard for our city. Lord, I pray that you would watch over them and you would protect them
Lord, they was, uh, go to you and seek, seek your wisdom and not their own. Do I thank you
for all the organizations that are represented here today, though I think specifically of
Alabama A&M. Lord, I thank you so much for their 150 years of service to our community,
educating, uh, the future of, of the city, where I know there's many products uh of
that institution represented here at the Whites, thank you so much for that. Right, thank
you for their slogan that Service is sovereign. Well, I thank you so much that you are
sovereign, that you watch over us, Lord, you desire what is best of us. And Lord, I pray
that we would live every day striving, uh, to make the world around us a better place, uh,
sharing your glory with those around us. Lord, I pray you be in this meeting now. Lord, I
pray that your presence is truly felt in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. I pledge allegiance
to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it sta one
day under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Chaplain Ryan. Thank
you, Ms. Watkins While Council President Meredith is not with us. All the other council
members are, and we have established a quorum. We'll move on now to the business of
the council. Item 3 is approval of the agenda. Council members, please note that item 9A has
been removed because the property is now in compliance. Are there any other changes to
be made to the agenda. Seeing none, the agenda will stand approved. Item 4, approval of
the minutes of previous meetings. Item 4A is minutes of the regular meeting of the city
council held on August 14, 2025 Are there any changes or additions to be made to these
minutes? Hearing none, the minutes will stand approved. That brings us to special
recognitions. We will start with the mayor's special recognition. 5A is a
presentation of appreciation from the Monte Sano Civic Association to city employees
for their dedicated support and service following recent tornadoes. We're going to ask
um Mr. Joe Pinnock to come forward and we have a microphone. The mayor, uh, Mr.
Mayor, would you like to go down there? Oh. face the crowd Um, I'm, uh, certainly honored
to be here to represent the first speaker for the Monte Santo Civic Association. I'd
like to thank the mayor and all of the council members and all of the city workers behind the
scenes that actually pull all of this together what we have this opportunity to speak. Uh,
my wife and I have lived here for 30 years and we've had lots of ice storms. Uh, we've been
through snow, but the city workers always, always come through. And this time it was
really special, um, the city workers were there within an hour. They were working, they
worked nonstop. They worked through Memorial Day weekend, and um, they obviously had a
plan and it was well thought out, you know, everything moved uh, the just as it should to
get us as um back, back to our neighborhood is, is soon as possible. And um, they say, you
know, there's a picture says it's 1000 words. Well then a video would be 1000 pictures
and the Civic Association with some help with some really talented volunteers has put a
short 2 minute video for you to kind of showcase what we're here for. I see And the
community has put together a, a small card to thank all the workers and um I'd asked I'd
like to ask uh Klaus Berger. He's one of the longest living residents of Montecino. He was
born in Germany, moved here 75 years ago when his dad arrived from Fort Bliss with the Von
Braun team and also Aidan Weiss is one of the newest uh mountaineers. He attends first
grade at Montecito Elementary, Aidan and enjoys camping on Montecio State Park. and
swimming at the Montecito pool. If you too would come up with a card, please. Would we like to
get Mr. Little to accept it since he was the star of the um text texting wars. Mhm Thank
you for that great video. I think we got oh, we don't care but the people do. Um, thank
y'all, uh, Mark Byeers, we have Public Works, Huntsville Utilities. folks here, they
want to come up. We even got some coppers in the back, Chief Giles, I don't know if you want
to send anybody up because y'all were up there too. Um just for a photo op. let's put
it here, let's just do it. I'll hold it. I got it. All right, there you go. You want to come
on the other side All right, so they can see faces. Yeah. Hey. All right, 12 right. Thank you.
We don't often get that opportunity to do those kind of public thanks. One more comment
Yes, so just to quickly wrap up you can't get 94% of the people to agree on the time of day
this year, so it's wonderful to see we had this kind of unanonymity about the city's
response. Uh, in a previous company I worked with cities all over the world, about 4000.
I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly in city management and I can assure you here that
this is one of the best managed cities, not just in America, but in the world. Well done.
And I would be remiss if I didn't point out something important here. Klaus Bergler,
Klaus uh came here 75 years ago with the Vaughn Brown team. That's an important anniversary
and they've left us a great legacy. Once this was a little town of 13,000 people. and
because of them and their American counterparts, it's now the most livable city in the
United States. We often take this legacy for granted, but I think it's the most important
legacy of the 20th century. Think about it. 5 years before they came here, these Germans
had been trying to kill a bunch of Americans. Who did they hire when they come here? The first
GI War bill graduating class, but they put aside their differences. They focused on a
common goal, and they achieved a goal, the century's greatest achievement that many thought
was impossible. Now the, the good book says that we should turn our swords into plowshares
These former enemies did it one step further. They turned their swords into spaceships. Now 75
years later, these are polarizing times, and I'd like to encourage all of us to learn
from their example, put aside our differences, work for the common good and continue to do
the impossible. Thank you Thank you, Ralph Petro Thank you Thank you, Mr. Petro. Thank you
Mr. Petrov. Mr. Pinna, all those and Montesanto Civic Association for those kind
words and recognition for our exceptional department heads and communityartners. Item 5B
is a proclamation to recognize and honor the remarkable accomplishments and historic
milestone of Alabama agricultural and Mechanical University on its 150th
anniversary, the celebration continues. Mayor Battle. OK Madam President, we have a
proclamation and a resolution tonight which is very unusual and Ms. Watkins, if you would
come join me down here, uh, to do the presentation and Doctor Wims, and if you want to bring
the whole Bulldog nation, you can, if we got enough room up here for them. Please come up.
You. Good to see you Come on I told you. should you do one che or start. signature on this.
right, we got a meeting to get too serious. Yeah, I was putting you in the mix All
right There we go, perfect. thank you Mm All right, the reason that we have 150 from
the Bulldog Nation here tonight is because we are celebrating 150 years of Alabama A&M
providing education, providing for our people, providing for people to have a better life,
uh, education is a key to opportunity. Opportunity is the key to doing well in life and
uh to having jobs and to and to uh being able to raise families and do all the things that we
want to look forward to people doing in the city of Huntsville Doctor Wims, we wanna say
congratulations on being here 150 years. I know that you weren't there when we started
off 150 years ago Although it may feel like it some days, but uh, our, our proclamation has a
lot of whereases, but I'm going to let Miss Watkins read hers because I have a feeling we're
they're about the same whereas is there, uh, but I'd love for Ms. Watkins to give a sense of
the, uh, the declaration and the pro the proclamation, uh, and, uh, talk a little bit
about A&M and the importance and I was just gonna wrap up with my comments. OK, we don't
have glasses, so we're doing an audible here whereas Alabama A&M Mechanical University,
Alabama A&M is a publicly historically black land granted university whose rich heritage
and bold vision continues to shape and the legacy as it marks 150 years of excellence,
whereas the university was founded in 1875 by Doctor William Hooper Counsel, and
whereas Alabama A&M remains steadfast in its core values, placing students first
upholding excellence and integrity, embracing diversity, fostering partnerships, and
cultivating global awareness, whereas is the largest historically black college and
university in Alabama. Alabama A&M provides a student-centered environment. whereas Alabama
A&M stands as an anchor institution driving transformation through record
enrollment. Congratulations on the record enrollment this year too. Uh, infrastructure growth
broad uh brand expansion and national recognition is one of the top producers of minority
graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, whereas the
university's bold leadership, that's you, Dr. Wimps, and enduring legacy continues to
inspire progress and serve as a model of excellence in higher education. Now, therefore it be
resolved that the city of Huntsville proudly recognizes and celebrates the historic
150th anniversary of Alabama agricultural and Mechanical University and commends this
remarkable achievements and lasting impact. Be it further resolved that this proclamation
is presented in honor of Alabama A&M's unwavering commitment to academic
excellence, innovation, community service, and transformative leadership. Now
therefore, I, Tommy Battle, mayor of the city of Huntsville do hereby commend our Alabama
A&M for 150 years of visionary leadership and invaluable contributions and call upon all
citizens to join in celebrating this esteemed institution and its enduring legacy. Thank you
so much, Doctor Williams. And and to the Bulldog Nation, Miss Watkins. Good evening. Thank
you everyone for coming out. Who would have thought at the tender age of 27, a former
slave would start a university that is now internationally known. The Alabama A&M
University where I learned service is sovereignty. That is why I'm standing here now. It's
always been embedded in us at the university to serve, and that's what we do. And with the
record enrollment, I want to say one of them is yours truly's grandson. Take care of
my package. and he's very excited to be on campus, but I want to talk about the things
that Anna does. We have one of the best engineering programs in the state. Throughout the
nation it's known. We had the very best student, I mean teacher education program that
I graduated from. Internationally known and had the highest enrollment of any
education center in North Alabama. Alabama A&M University social work program is second
to none, and we have record enrollment there as well. So I want you to know it's some
great things going on at Alabama A&M University. We are excited about the 150 year
anniversary and we're more excited about football season it's gearing up. So if you want
to come out and have fun, please join us. But if you're ready to go to school and get
an education that's worthy of any education. I put it up against any school. Come to
Alabama A&M University, you will be loved. Doctor Wims, would you, would you give us a
response? Uh, thank you for putting me on the spot, Mr. Mayor, but, uh, in deepest
humility, uh, as I stand here with the councilites and normalites. Those of you who
are graduates understand what I'm saying. Uh, it is a seminal moment for our institution and
for our constituents. and I'm just deeply humble that you're honor the Mayor and council
lady, Michelle Watkins, who was an alum as well as the other council members would recognize
us in this way. Uh, I have a team here, so it's not any individual of us, it's all of
us, and what the leaders of the cabinet members who have the provost here, the vice
president for research and development as well as the leaders of the 150th campaign,
which is Vice President Ali marketed communication and Advancement and then Vice
President Reeves, who's leading our efforts on federal, uh, state and local governmental
side we have had enormous success, but it's due to some of you who've also supported
this institution in its trajectory. So I'm very, very humble, very very pleased. I I
think, Mr. Mayor, that we're having some significant impact economically in your city and
in the county of Madison, and we will continue to do so and continue to grow with your
support and your help, and with this council's support and help So thank you all, Reverend
Doctor William Hooper Council would be proud today that 150 years later we're still
recognizing the institution but calling his name Thank you very much. May God bless you all.
Thank you, Mr. President, and we also will point out that Mr. Kling is also an alumni of your
of your group who is sitting right behind us. cheering us on $1500. That's. Yes sir. Yes sir
yes sir. Yes sir. Thank you so much for coming here and thank you for making, uh, help
letting us make this a very special year for, uh, the Bulldogs and, um, as we get on
the football field, we're all yelling, go Bulldogs. Oh. you do Yeah Hey. you see at you huh
see and tell you What a great way to wrap up that. that presentation and proclamation.
Um, to make it official, though 6A is a resolution celebrating Alabama A&M University's
historic 150 year legacy of leadership and service. Ms. Watkins, would you like to move
to approve. All in favor say aye, aye. And I'm not even mass for opposition on that one
because it just wouldn't be right. So, uh, the motion is approved, and many thanks to
all those who've contributed to 150 years of incredible service 6B is a resolution honoring
Vicky Guerreri for her steadfast leadership and unwavering dedication to the
community, the chair moves to approve. All in favor indicate any opposed. The motion carries
we would like to invite Ms to come forward. and ask the mayor to join us. You can carry that.
To the council members and the, and the public, uh, I think I first met Vicky and she was at
the desk at the South precinct, uh, working as a volunteer and every time I came, I thought
she worked for us because I thought she was getting a paycheck because she was there.
Every time I came in and she was volunteering down there. Um this was before we even had
Citizens Advisory Council or anything else. This was, uh, this was way back, uh, 17 years
ago, and she was always a stalwart, always there to help make the community a better
place and Vicky, we're so proud to be able to do a, a resolution for you, for all
years of service and to want to say thank you for those years of service. It means a lot So
this, this resolution is so special. I'm, I don't like to read resolutions, but we're
going to read most of it this time. Whereas the city council and the mayor of Huntsville,
Alabama wish to recognize and honor Vicky Guerreri for her decades and it really is
decades I've dedicated service, steadfast civic leadership and tireless commitment to public
safety and community engagement strengthening neighborhoods, fostering trust, and inspiring
future generations of leaders. Vicky, a Kentucky native, has called Huntsville, Alabama her
home since 1982, bringing with her the values of resilience, adaptability, and service
learned as a proud US Army spouse. Vicky since 2010, she has faithfully served as
District 3 representative on the Huntsville Police Citizens Advisory Council under 5 chiefs
of police, chairing the 2021 Comprehensive Huntsville Police Review that was really tough
duty. Advancing transparency and accountability and contributing to initiatives
including body worn cameras, equitable disciplinary policies expanded mental health crisis
intervention training, the Alabama Multi-agency Crime Center and Citizen involvement
in incident review boards. Her volunteer service extends widely across the community,
including leadership roles as a founding executi board member of the Huntsville South Civic
Association, president of the Hillwood Estate Civic Asso ci ation member of the Madison
County Personnel Board, board member of the Huntsville Area Crime Stoppers and member of
the General Federation of Women's Clubs Legacy. She has devoted her life to
strengthening neighborhoods, promoting public safety, building police community
partnerships and mentoring future leaders, leaving an indelible mark on Huntsville's
civic fabric. She is also a devoted mother of two sons and a proud grandmother of 3
grandchildren who remain her greatest inspiration and mo t iv ation to foster a legacy of
community leaders and services. There's just so much Now, therefore, be it resolved that
the city council and the mayor of Huntsville hereby recognize and honor Vicky Guerreri for
her steadfast leadership. Decades of volunteer service and unwavering commitment to
public safety, civic engagement and community building, and extend deepest appreciation for
her enduring contributions that continue to strengthen Huntsville and inspire future
generations of leaders. presents you with this proc your copy of this proclamation
and thank you so much. I just say I'd like to say thank you very much for this honor. It
has been a privilege to serve um, through, um, all these years. and I know we did a lot
of good and it's a really good feeling and I was blessed with a very good counsel to work
alongside all of our members are very hardworking people. and I'm accepting this also in
their behalf too. and um thank you very much. I gotta stop or I'm gonna start crying. Could
we, could we have the chief come up? and you've got some of your command staff here, Chief,
Chief Hudson. others Lee gonna get a picture with you take Yes he came all the way down here.
We got get down. Let me get, make sure my good ears on there I'll see funny. Thank you all
Thank you you. I've always said that we have lots to celebrate in our community and it's
wonderful to start a council meeting with so much celebration. And now we go on
to the business. Uh, we have no announcements and presentations no matters with outside legal
representation. We do have a couple of public hearings to be held. 9A has been deleted
because the situation has been remedied. That brings us to 9B, 9B. Now is the time and place
for public hearing in order to hear, consider, and act upon all objections or protests, if
any, for removal of a public nuisance at 2407 Oakwood Avenue Northwest, Huntsville, Alabama,
and consideration of a resolution ordering abatement of a new nu is ance located at
the same property. This was set at the August 14, 2025 regular council meeting, Mr. Irwin.
Council members, Mayor Battle, Scott Irwin, the Community Development Department. Uh, the
resolution before you at the public hearing to consider any objections regarding a junk
public nuisance, uh located at 2407 Oakwood Avenue, uh, and this is authorization to abate
that public nuisance. Uh, the video before you is on recent photographs of the conditions
on the property. The public hearing is now open. Is there anyone who wishes to comment?
Is there anyone from the public who wishes to comment on this matter. Hearing none, the
public hearing is closed. Is there a is there a motion to approve the resolution to
approve Motion from Mr. Little, second from Ms. Watkins. Any discussion? All in favor,
please indicate and he posed. The motion carries. Thank you, counsel Members. This moves us
then to item 9C. 9C now's time and place for public hearing on the zoning of 27.61 acres of
land lying on the west of Old Big Cove Road and north of Beauford Drive to residents 2
District and the consideration of an ordinance pertaining to the same. This was set at the
July 10, 2025 Regular council meeting. Mr. Nunez, good evening, council members. Mayor
Battle, Thomas Nunez, manager of Plant and zoning Services. This item is located west of
Obio Road and north of Beauford Drive. It was recently annexed into our city limits. It is
overall 27.61 acres. The petitioner is seeking to zone the property residents to
District. with a plat restriction that will restrict the uses that's permitted by
Section 10.1 of the zoning ordinance, while also offering another plied restriction to
lots of residents 1B of 60 ft and lot area of residences 1B of 7500 square feet. Thank you,
Mr. Nunez. The public hearing is now open. Is there anyone here who wishes to comment on
this matter. Please come forward to the podium and give us your name and city of
residence. Joy Johnson, I live on West Arbor Drive in Huntsville. Um I it it looks
like maybe that's a farmhouse and it used to be a farm. So I find myself again saying we
need to preserve farms. um, more than we need to, uh, give tax breaks to uh drone
companies. Um, also one of these plat restrictions was just a code. I have no idea
what that is. I wish I did know and I'd like to, um, suggest that anytime a zoning or
annexation or anything of this character comes before council, uh, that recognition,
acknowledgement of what is there now is given before suggestions of what is going to
be there. as just a possible tiny window of thinking about things a little bit differently
maybe opening the possibility of thinking about how we need to preserve farms or whatever
might be there that might need to be preserved if we acknowledge what's there before
we decide to build houses all over it. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Johnson Is there anyone
else who wishes to comment? Hearing none, the public hearing is closed. Is there a
motion to approve the ordinance No promotion from Mr. Little, second from Mr. Kling. Is there
any discussion? Questions for Mr. Nunez? All in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Any
opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, council members. Thank you Mr. Nunez. That concludes our
public hearings. We have 3 public hearings to be set. 10A is a resolution to declare a
public nuisance located at 10:13 Kinsey Drive Southeast, Huntsville, Alabama, and to set
the date for when objections will be heard to that date is to be set for the September 11,
2025 regular council meeting. Is there a motion to approve approve. Second the hearing for
Mr. Kling, thank you. Second from Mr. Kling, the hearing is set for September 11, 2025. 10B
is a resolution to declare a public nuisance located at 3506 Gay Street Northwest,
Huntsville, Alabama, and to set the date for when objections shall be heard. Move to set the
meeting for September 11, 2025. 2nd motion by Mr. Little, seconded by Mr. Kling, all in
favor, please indicate any opposed. The hearing is set for September 11, 2025. Resolution
to set a public hearing on the zoning of 572.48 acres of land lying on the north of Bob Wade
Lane and east and west of Mount Lebanon Road to residents to residents 2B, and Highway
Business C4 districts and introduction of an ordinance pertaining to the same. Motion
to set the hearing for September 25, 2025 from Miss Watkins, seconded by Mr. Kling.
Any discussion? All in favor, please indicate by saying aye. And he opposed. The hearing is
set for September 25. This brings us to a gender-related public comments. This portion
of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the council on matters relating to
specific content of items on the meeting agenda, individuals have signed up to speak uh on
the agenda comments roster prior to the meeting. When called, please approach the
microphone and state your name, home address, and city of residence. Each speaker may
address the council for 3 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 individuals. We have two people who have signed up. The first is Joy
Johnson, the subject is agenda item number 2 I. Ms. Johnson. Joy Johnson. I live on West
Harbor Drive in Huntsville. How are you guys doing? Long time no see. Um so just to start, 20
I, I, this is, um, I, I, this is the first time I've heard about some railroad bridge
project over Pinhook Creek, which is my neck of the woods. I would love to hear more about
that if somebody might consider holding that for discussion and maybe getting some explanation.
Um, I also noticed an item M20M as in Mike. um is about court code enforcement. Is this
another way to uh get around, get in a city detect or something. I would like some
reassurance that this is not another if you don't mind my saying, nefarious plot. Um,
item S as in Sierra. uh I would love to hear if this is about public transit. We need to talk
about public transit all the time, up one side and down the other. Please, uh, I think we
would all love to hear what this grant would be going towards, that we are going to
be applying Says an X-ray This looks to be like a contract with an AI company. And I will
take every opportunity that I get to say we do not be needing to be used, using AI on any way
shape or form, it is an energy hog at a time in history when we need to be stepping off
using as much energy as we do. In fact, I'd like to propose that Huntsville proclaim itself
AI free. and while we're at it, ice-free, but anyway, that's another issue. Um, and uh I, I
would, uh, um, well, it's in item 21. So I know you're not inclined to discuss it, but be
prepared that I'm gonna want to know about 21A and the uh human resources relations Commission,
uh, not a gender bylaws, and, you know, what is actually being decided on next time when
it comes up, OK? Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Johnson Um, the next person to sign up is Mr.
Jeffrey Engel, Subject is police drone budget increases. Mr. Engle here. Well folks, my
name is Jeffrey Engel. I live in Sherwood Park, um, with, uh, the North Alabama Democratic
Socialist of America. Um, I would like to talk about the Skyfire contract that you guys
are uh extending, uh, I, I guess. uh. building up a larger um, so for those of you not in
the audience, not familiar, uh, we live in a surveillance state Uh, the, uh, police have flop
cameras that watch your license plates and they uh document everywhere you drive. Uh,
there's cellphone triangulation if you have it in your pocket, uh, they know where that is. Um
and all of that data is put towards a fusion center, uh which is a center where uh law
enforcement agencies are able to share all of that information to track you in
every aspect of your life. Uh, to address the agenda item right now, Skyfire AI drones,
uh, for the police department. Um, I do not think that you guys should extend, uh, I guess
um enlarge in this contract, uh $25,000 per month. Uh, that could go to almost 8000 school
meals, uh, instead of, uh, putting on uh an extension uh to a contract that will
continue to surveil our communities. I will continue to be used to infringe on our
privacy and we'll continue to be used to keep uh the American people uh down and watched. Um,
so my proposal here is that you guys reject uh this uh expansion of the contract. Uh,
it is what is in the defense industry called scope Creep. Uh they are increasing the amount
of time and money uh that they are taking from your contract, um, and I guess Boeing is a
very good example of that of a cost plus contract. That's what they're trying to get you into
right now. And I suggest that you turn it down, but we do not want our our tax dollars used
to surveil us. We want our tax dollars, as Mr. Tommy Battle said himself, uh, to provide
opportunity uh to the community uh, instead of being used uh to keep us down. Uh, thank you, uh
you myitan. Thank, thank you, sir Um, this brings us then to Mayor comments, Mr. Mayor
Battle, the floor is yours. Good. Uh, thank you, Madam President, uh, and council. Uh,
first off yesterday, the, uh, Metropolitan Planning Organization approved 6
electronic traffic signs, which will be placed about the city parkway, North Parkway, South
Parkway, 72 East, uh, 72 West, uh, and their traffic signs that can give you information,
uh, there are information based uh signs as you come, uh, if you come uh up the parkway and
coming over those hills where if traffic is stopped right in front of you, you have a big
chance of having a wreck. Uh, the traffic signs will be saying, uh, congested traffic
ahead, be careful, uh, they can say it's raining, slow down. They can say, uh, wreck ahead,
seek alternate routes, those kind of signages will save lives in the city of Hustville,
and I think it's one of the, uh one of the best technologies that we can put out in other
cities across the state have are already way ahead of us. Uh we just installed two in the
city of house where installing 6 more. It'll take about a year to get them in, but um they are
great, great service for our community and they will make um uh they will make for safety on
our roads. Uh, also, uh, this September is Music month. Um, there will be over 2040 events
including jazz in the Park, uh, music events that will happen in September and I hope that
everybody will take, will go out and take advantage of that. Uh, Ms. Watkins and I were at
the back school parade on the 2 on Saturday the 23rd, uh, it was, uh, quite a production and
there were a lot of people there. There were bands, there were, um, uh, school age
children and, uh, and lots of and the superintendent of education wrote in the fire
truck, uh, along with me and we got to talk about how, how, how much gains that we have had in
our school system and I'm very proud of what he has been able to accomplish and achieve. and
what we will achieve over the next year, um, this is, uh, the uh, we had also this week, uh,
this past week we had the celebration of the 10th year of our cyber program in, uh,
Huntsville and cyber Huntsville has been is 10 years old. It has provided jobs. It has
provided economy and it's also provided a um a community that is, uh, much more intelligent
than you'll find in the, in, uh many communities around, uh, as we go into those cyber cyber
meetings. I'm probably, um, uh, I probably pull down the intelligent quotient a few
couple of notches when I go when I go in, but they are very very intelligent crowd. And
then, uh, last Sunday, uh, we had the 41st anniversary of the thirty-ninth birthday of Miss
Betty Showers, uh, she hit 80 years old, uh, she was Dr. Shower's wife, uh, uh, widow,
and she, uh, has been a, uh, a person of who has given back to this community time and time
again and uh the there was, there were quite a few people there to celebrate with her and
celebrate her 80th birthday. Uh this weekend, uh, starts, uh, the football, the pigskin type
football, and, uh, we will start with uh games on Friday and then Saturday and uh A&M
Bulldogs play Saturday and, uh, and, uh, all the other teams played in, uh, so it's be a
start of a, a fall and a great fall to get us all started. I hope everybody will come out
and enjoy, um, our community, uh, Saturday will be a good day to go shop because those chops
will be not as full because people will be watching football, so, uh, I hope that
you go out and and enjoy that and, and have a good time and um that's all I have. Madam
President Thank you, Mayor Battle brings us to council member comments, um, Ms.
Watkins, will you start us off? Thank you. Good evening everyone. Last Monday, um,
August 18th, I had the pleasure of being a guest speaker at Hunts for Housing Authority's
annual meeting. I appreciate, uh, Antonio McGinnis for extending that opportunity and
on last Sunday I was with the mayor and councilman Clean. We celebrated Miss. Shower's
birthday and um she was really surprised and they said it was hard surprising her, but she
was surprised, and we had a really good time on last Thursday I attended with the
mayor of the Good Neighbors event at Saint Barley Church, that is where AT&T distributed
100 laptops to the students that attend um Village of Promise School. I thought that
was really a phenomenal event. It shows that this community cares and it's just awesome
when you have community partners who want to um be part of the education of the child
and make sure they have every opportunity available to them. I also attended an ice cream
social at Monrovia Flats on last Thursday with um House Authority director in Elmington
the ones that, um, built and maintain the facility, and it was really nice, kids were
having a great time and this past Saturday, the celebrating education parade. It was, it
was just awesome to see, um, students from all across Huntsville come out to the
district to celebrate and I want to give a special thanks to the police officers who
helped with the traffic. who kept everyone safe. We didn't have an incident. I really
appreciate you for that. And I want to give a special thanks also to Scott Irwin and Crisis
Services, had an incident where I needed them to assist with someone and they came through
and I really appreciate that. On this Saturday, and then we kick off their first football
game, so hey, it's not at home, but you can tune in on television and then tomorrow
night, if you have nothing to do. please come out and support Jemison Hunts for high football
at Milton Frank. The kids need us in the stands. It's hard to look at a game when it stands
not full. I remember when I was in school, the stands were, it's like you couldn't find a
seat. So tomorrow night hunts behind Jemison. David, I'm gonna see you there. night. Oh,
sorry, no. Oh, my God, he don't listen to me. Auburn's playing tomorrow night we'll we'll
excuse you, but if you don't have anything to do. No, go Jaguars Um, if you don't have
anything to do, make sure you come out to Miller Frank and support our students, please.
Thank you so much. That's right I'm sorry. I need to bring Shane Davis up to the
microphone real quick. Um, Shane, um, is going to explain what's going on with the
Northern bypass being named MLK Thank you, Councilor Watkins. Shane Davis, director of Urban
Economic Development. So council members, uh, what is coming before you is the, uh,
decision to name officially named a road that is under construction in District one,
news media, and what we refer to as the Northern bypass. Uh, so this section of roadway
that's under construction starts just east of Pulaski Pike and travels 1500 ft east
of US 231. So the road that is under construction, there's been some confusion publicly
about this. So I wanna take a moment just to explain to, to you and those who may be
watching. So the road that is under construction is actually a state highway, so it's state,
it's an extension of state route 255 that starts at I-565 and goes north through the
northern part of our city. Uh, it's part of the reason we call it the Northern Bypass. There's
two phases remaining that will ultimately connect to the east side of our city at US Highway
72, completing a northern loop Um, regardless of your decision on us giving a local name of
the row will officially per state because it will be operated, controlled, and
maintained by the Alabama Department of Transportation will be state route 255.
There's been, uh, some confusion that we are widening Bob Wade Lane. Uh, we are not
widening Bob Wade Lane. We're not renaming Bob Wade Lane. That is not what you are
considering. Uh, the existing section of Bobway Lane for the most part is being demolished
to make way for State Route 255 So state route 255 has three names, so south of Interstate
I-565 on to Redstone Arsenal is always been referred to as ride out Road. Uh, north of
Interstate I-565, they're near Bridge Street, uh, common landmark to Highway Alabama,
Highway 53 is referred to as Research Park Boulevard. Uh, the council before you back in
about 2005, I believe. uh as that next phase was under construction that went from
Alabama Highway 53 to just east of Plaskey Pike, the piece that is there today. I was
designated as Doctor Martin Luther King Highway from a local, from a state and most
Google Maps, it still shows up as state route 255. We have that all throughout our city.
US 431 through the medical district is Governor's Drive and so on and so forth. Alabama
53 is Pulaski Pike, Jordan Lane or Jordan Lane. So what your decision is, is to whether or
not to extend the existing local designation that starts at Pulaski Pike and would carry
through Memorial Parkway. That was the original intent of the existing road that is there
today, and that's what you. Should counsel determine to vote no for that. The row would
only have a signal designation a state route 255 because that is the state route and
state-controlled highway. There is a small section of Bobway Lane that intersects at uh
Memorial Parkway. that will remain. It is undisturbed, if you will, from the rope project
and it ties back into State Route 255. That section of Bobway Lane will remain Bobway
Lane. I hope that provides some clarity Yes, thank you so much, Shane. I appreciate that. And
just to clarify for the public's information, that a hearing will be set at the
September 11th meeting for to consider that renaming and then the hearing itself will take
place on September 25th, and the council will consider at that meeting also. I want to
add one other thing. Um even at that meeting when you choose what the decision is to name.
The name will not go into effect until we officially open state Route 255. So upon that
vote, you're just approving for the final signage that would get placed when the road is
completed early next year and open to the public. So the existing Bob White Lane is
being used by the public because we're trying to keep access to residents. They would
continue with that until this road is open. Thank you for clarifying that, Mr. Davis.
Thank you. Um, is Ms. Smith here? Penny Smith? Miss Smith, can you come up to give an
update on the budget, please? Could we do that when, when we do the financial report was she
asked me. my comments. but that I'm sorry. I What do you do the finance report. Is that OK? Mr.
Kling Thank you, Madam President, it was my pleasure to join uh Mayor Battle and
Council member Watkins and celebrating uh Betty Shower's birthday, uh, again, I think a
lot of great things have been said about her, so I guess all I can say is really ditto.
She's been a great personal friend and uh I'm just so proud that uh we have a community
where we got 3 elected officials, kind of paying accolades to her for what she
has meant to our community and again a belated, but once again Betty, happy birthday. Also, uh
I know we've had people in the public that have asked us about seeing if we could stream city
council meetings on Facebook, and I do understand that our staff people are looking into
that and I appreciate their efforts on that. And finally, uh, if I could borrow the
microphone, mayor, we have one little bit of recognition that we still need to get done and
uh we were able to arrange this at the um kind of at the at the last minute I have a uh
certificate that's been signed by the, the mayor and all 5 council members to recognize
Sonia Infinger. Sonia, come on down. Sonya is uh Miss Senior Huntsville, and she's a member
of the Miss Senior Alabama court. in Sonya and uh uh her husband Jeff have done so many
things in our community. Sonia, I just want to give you a chance to let you tell our
community about what you are doing and what missing your Alabama is all about. Thank you
Councilman Kling, and also yes, I think we're on. Thank you so much, councilman, and to all
the councilman and mayor, I appreciate your time and, and thank you all for all your
service and what you do. I'm super excited to be a part of the Miss Senior Alabama court
and that I am the name of Senior Huntsville and so my honor is to be able to serve
the city of Huntsville. And so what I get a chance to do is to promote nonprofits, anything in
the community to help bring greater awareness to our great city. And so as Miss Senior
Huntsville, if you have any volunteerism that you would like, MSA to be a part of.
Certainly all you have to do is go to Miss Seniorallabama.com and we're able to serve. We
also serve across the state of Alabama and so not only just the city of Huntsville but the
entire state and our mission and goal really is to help promote women, senior women to
know that we have a purpose, a purpose-driven life, and we like to contribute and give
back because what that does for us, it helps us to have longevity. You get plugged into
your city, you're doing more for others, and that helps bring greater awareness to
those nonprofits and to the city, the great city that we have here in Huntsville. And so
it's my honor to receive this great certificate. Thank you, Councilman Kling and Councilman
and Mayor Battle. Thank you, counsel. Uh, thank you for everything that you have done
for our community, you and your family have done Legionary Legion work, and we very much
appreciate, uh everything. Thank you Thank you again, Councilman Clain. Councilman,
Little. Thank you, Madam President. Um, just would like to give quick shout outs to
Public Works, traffic, engineering, and planning, um, uh, being responsive to
citizens, uh, issues and concerns over the last few weeks and then I certainly hope
everybody's football team wins this weekend. Thank you. Um, I had the opportunity this week
to attend the Council of Neighborhood Associations, Lyle Voyles has served as president
of the council for many years now, and he does a wonderful job gathering leaders from all
the neighborhood associations across across the city. They meet monthly for those of you
who have any interest in attending, it's a public meeting. They meet monthly. If
you have a neighborhood association, a civic association, a community watch,
or an HOA, I encourage you to attend. At the meeting this past week at Travis Cummings,
our manager, our zoning manager came to answer questions about zoning enforcement, and boy,
they had a lot of questions for him. Uh, he went away with some homework to do and to report
back, but he answered so many questions that I think there's been a little bit of confusion
on those meetings are well worth anyone's time to attend. So if you have an interest, I
suggest you contact Mr. Boyles and find out when the next meeting is. If you're interest
ed in forming a neighborhood association, a community watch, um, it, this would be something
to for, for y'all to, to do. I've found that the strongest neighborhoods have the
strongest connections with each other, and one of the best ways to start that is with a
community watch or a neighborhood association. We saw a great example of it
tonight with the Monte Sano, um Civic Association who was there not just to recognize the city,
but I think a lot of it was their work that they do with each other to look out for each
other and to ensure that the well-being of their neighbors. So, so please take a look at
becoming uh active in the Council of Neighborhood Associations. That brings us to
the Finance Committee report 14A is a resolution authorizing expenditures for payments.
Watkins, would you like to make that motion? Yes, Councilwoman. Robinson I move that we approve
the expenditures in the amount of $29,230,00483.04. 2nd. Second, motion made by Ms.
Watkins, seconded by Mr. Little I, all in favor indicate by saying aye, and he opposed.
Motion carries. Do we have a a finance report? Yes, Ms. Smith will come up at this time.
Thank you, Ms. Smith. Thank you Good evening, Penny Smith, finance director of finance. Um
tonight, before you, I'm just gonna give you a short financial update, um, for, for
the city out of head of, it'll actually usually I give these at the quarter end, but we have
all the July numbers in and so this will actually run through July and, um, and give us an
update at that point. So a little bit about the economic environment that we're in right
now. It is a shifting landscape um, kind of moving almost daily uh, between what happens um
from federal government, which bleeds into our also our local government and so I'm not gonna
read through all of this in general, things are the, the labor markets are kind of
softening. Customer confidence is still a concern. You'll see in our numbers that bleeds into
our numbers as we move forward. We're very much in kind of a, a level playing field. People are
still kind of holding back a little bit, but spending is looking a little better, um,
inflation numbers, um, while the outlooks are rising, we still remain around the same
inflation numbers that we've had for a couple of months. So that is, that boats bodes well
for the future to to remain a consistency and then also with the Federal Reserve, they,
their outlook is for a downturn in their expectations that rates will be cut at the next
meeting, which will be in September. So we are gonna look look towards that and that will
that will go well for the economy as a whole. So we're gonna look at some specifics
you have seen these graphics before. So this is for sales and use tax. This is all of our
sales and use tax. Remember that it supports not only our general fund, but also our
schools and both of our capital projects funds the 1990 and the 2014 capital projects funds,
year to date we are behind a little bit the prior year 0.7%, and we are under the original
budget, um, at 80%, but remember we revised our budget mid-year and so we are, we are
on that budget at 83.6%, just a teeny bit ahead for the fiscal year elapsed. So a couple of
things, these are some selected revenues. So I kind of took out um, what's above uh the locally
levied taxes there for sales and use tax which we already already looked at that, but I
did want to point out a few things that are both ahead and behind in our sales um,
feedback from somewhere. OK 00, sorry. Um, go ahead, miss. So, uh, the SSUT tax, it is 13%
ahead at this year to date of last year and then it's at 88% of budget. So, um, so it is
doing well. It is helping with the, with the general fund. The the other revenue here, the
vast majority of this is actually coming from interest revenue, just like many other
people in the state and across the country, we are benefiting from those high interest rates
for the past couple of years, and that, that also feeds into this particular July report, um
but for, for the whole year and we should see that moving forward as well. They are
remaining fairly consistent as we move out from there. Permits are down, um, we continue to
see a kind of a decline. So we are coming out of a period where we had lots of very large
industry projects and multi-family projects that that contributed to our permit fees,
and we are back to kind of normalizing that and so that continues to come down. We
didn't predict it to fall quite this far, but, um, but we are hoping that that levels out
this year. You'll see the line actually right above it. I didn't flag it, but the line
right above it is our license fees, and that is ahead of budget and, um, and it should
come in quite well at the end of the year as well. And then overall just pointing to that
final total line that we are 86% ahead of budget and about a little over 2, 2.5% ahead of
this year overall. That is ahead of the revised budget, so we've brought that budget down,
so we are doing well relative to that revised budget. For this is a flip side, this is
again for the general fund expenditures through July. So looking again at a couple of
these personnel is that 80% of the budget. Remember 83% of the budget has elapsed, so we are
under budget for that and which makes our sub the subtitle for the departments are at 78%.
That is typical, um, of the city. We usually come in around 5% below, and that is happening
again this year within our department s Our total, so the appropriations are pretty much
paid out. Remember we pay out most of those quarterly. So, um so those, those have gone ahead
and pay out, it will not grow above 100% and then the total general fund is at 79%. So that
looks well. That represents about, um, if we remain consistent at that level, it'll
represent about $9 million which um below budget, which is about what we took out of the
general fund, so we should be right on, um, with that, with that in line with those budgets
even making a little bit towards the end of the year. The lodging tax revenue, so, so
this is just one that we follow It is much smaller than any other revenue we follow, but,
but it is very, we like to, um, it points in real time to both individual behavior and excess
funds for travel and commercial and defense. I would point back to actually and I forgot to
mention it, but within that slide, that economic slide, the GSA came out last month and
said that our department for that a department of defense and for those, those numbers
for PDM would remain the same, um, which was usually they raise it every single year,
which helps us when we, when we have so much DFD travel within our area so, so that may
reflect be reflected in this number as we move forward, but we will be careful with those
projections, but we do believe that right now it is ahead of budget and the year to date
collections are 6% ahead of last year. So we believe this will come in um ahead of, ahead
of budget and on time. And so I want to, before I get to any questions, I just want to talk
for a minute to the overall because I do kind of bring this hey, we've got level revenue.
We've had sales and use tax been revised and so kind of this concern that that kind of
that kind of looms over what is happening in the year. and while our revenues, um, sales
and use tax being flat, um, we are doing well and other revenue streams and our
expenditures as you just saw, look good. Our departments, um, hats off to all of them as they
manage their budgets and um and look towards the future with that physical in mind. And so,
but we are physically stable. Our fundal, our reserves and our liquidity is strong. That
not only speaks to our AAA performance in the markets, but it also speaks to, um, to just
be in a good place as we move through the next physical year. Next month I'll be bringing
before you, um the, the mayor's budget for y'all to present to y'all and um and so we'll do an
introduction at the first meeting, we'll do, we'll have a work session on that next
Friday, and then we'll do the, the second reading and actual vote for at the end of the
month. So that will, um, this, this picture that as we go into that, we are financially stable
and financially strong and I wanna be sure that Reiterate that Is there any questions Mr.
Kling general assumption, just following up on what you said, uh, I would assume that we're
probably in better shape fiscally than uh most cities around the country based on
what I'm seeing in national news. I would like to say so. I mean, so much of that is the
decisions that are made by the council and the conservative nature by which we treat um our
financial stability, strong reserves and strong liquidity is a is a big portion of that
having that cornerstone and that backbone in which to lean upon in lean times, so many
cities bleed their city all the way down and um and we have never done that and so that has
been just um it it's nice to have that whenever we need it. I believe best I can recall,
there have not been any employee layoffs due to financial challenges, you know,
programs being cut. here in the city. No, I'm absolutely not. Other questions Ms. Smith,
thank you for your, you to you and your team for your leadership and also thanks to
our department heads for being such great stewards of, um, the taxpayers' dollars. Great work
from all. Brings us to 15 board appointments to be voted on. 15A is a resolution to appoint
Sasha Irby to the Community Development Citizens Advisory Council placed 3 to the seat
previously held by Billy Lennox for a three-year term to expire April 14, 2028. Is there a
motion to approve? Motion from Mr. Little 2 from Mr. Kling. Discussion, all in favor
indicate by saying I, and he posed motion carries. 15b is a resolution to reappoint Claude
Moore to the Board of Examinations and Appeals for struction Industries. Place 6th
is current seat for a 3-year term to expire September 13, 2028. Move to approve. Motion
for Mr. Little from Mr. Kling. Any discussion all in favor, please indicate by saying aye.
Any opposed? The motion carries 15C is a resolution to appoint David Blair to the Huntsville
Police Citizens Advisory Council Place 8, the seat previously held by Vicky
Guerreri for a four-year term to expire August 1, 2029. The chair would like to make that
motion seconded by Mr. Little in discussion. All in favor, please indicate by saying aye
or any he opposed. Motion carries. Mr. Blair is appointed 16 board appointment nomination
16A is a nomination to appoint Yolanda Caudle to the Huntsville Police Citizens
Advisory Council placed 4 to the seat previously held by Willie Love for a four-year
term to expire August 1, 2029. I move to approve Second, um, Ms. Watkins, would you like to,
um, that there was a previous nomination made from the floor at the last meeting for this
same seat. Yes, I nominated Linda Holmes from the floor, but um she did not want to
serve, so I made another nomination so that's why. Let the record reflect that the
nomination of Linda Holmes was withdrawn, and the nomination of Yolanda Caudle for to the
police, police Citizens Advisory Council place for to the seat previously held by
Willie Love for a four-year term is in place of that other nomination. Is there any
discussion All in favor, please indicate by saying aye, and he posed the motion, or I'm sorry,
that was for nomination only. We got ahead of ourselves. Uh, nomination only, there will be
no vote taken at this meeting. It will be considered at the September 11th, um, council
meeting. My apologies. a motion to change the, no, no, it was it was withdrawn. It was
withdrawn, um, no hunts for utilities items, no legal department items or
transactions to be considered brings us to 19 unfinished business items for action. 19A
is an ordinance to amend Chapter 5, Division 2 of Article 2 of the Code of
Ordinances of the city of Huntsville. This does require motion. Move to proof, motion
from Mr. Little. Second from, uh, from Mr. Kling. Um, uh, is Mr. Fisher here? John Fisher,
the director of, uh, our animal services. Good evening, council members, Mayor. This is the
ordinance to amend Chapter 5 as it relates to the current fee schedule. Uh, the existing fee
schedule has different rates for our residents versus services provided under service
agreements with other agencies. This proposed um schedule would apply the same standards to all
the entities, ensuring the cost of service is appropriately covered by all users. The only
change for City of Huntsville residents is a small change for folks wishing to surrender
their own pet to the shelter, um, it's a nominal, uh, uh, um, increase that um covers the
increased cost of vaccines and exams that we would have to do on intake. Um, there is a new
investigative hold fee that is for criminal investigations were required to hold animals
for longer periods of time, um, and they require, uh, more extensive care, more extensive
documentation, and veterinary care. Are there any questions for Mr. Fisher? Questions about
the ordinance. Thank you, Mr. Fisher. All in favor, please indicate and you posed uh, the
ordinance is approved. Thank you. 19B is an ordinance declaring certain property
surplus and to be disposed of for agreement with managed asset recycling Solutions LLC.
Move to proof. Motion from Mr. Little, seconded by Mr. Kling. Any questions or discussion?
All in favor, please indicate and you opposed motion carries. That brings us to item 20 new
business items for consideration or action. Are there any items anyone wishes
to hold for separate consideration. Yes, sir. 20 F as in foxtrot and I as in India
F and I, and I would like to do Mr. Kling. S and X S as in Sam was a request from report. And
Ms. Watkins, um, I have been called. I still want IMS. XNZ Zulu. Zulu. OK, let me make
sure that we've got everything item F. I I I M I S I X Item Z. Are there any others? Did, did
I get all of them? Because you're going to do that Could you run through F? I have to
have David do the phonetics on that. Item F, I I, India. M S X and Z. Can I get them all All
right. Then the chair moves for approval. Items A to E. G, and H. J J to L. Thank you. And to
R. T2 W and item 2Y. Is there a second? Second from Mr. Little. All in favor, please indicate
any he posed. Uh, those items are approved and we will now move to separate consideration
beginning with item F. Item F is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract
between the city of Huntsville, Alabama and Grayson Carter and Son Contracting Inc. for
Tollgate Trail Improvements Project Project Project Project Project Project number
71-25-WP02. Um, chair makes the motion. 2,, 2nd by Mr. Mr. Little. Um Mr. Davis, will you
be making a presentation on that? You want me to take it, Shane Jane, you want me to take
it there? You can. This is extension of our, our, uh, trail system that we're working
on with in partnership with the Land Trust and Huntsville Utilities. Huntsville Utilities
is putting up $500,000 and land trusts put up $500,000. City cost is $760,760,700.31. and
it's to make toll gates rail improvements on that, uh, Tollgate project there. What
did I miss, Shane You nailed it Mayor. Are there any questions, comments, Mr. Little? I held it
because this is my neck of the woods. This is an exciting project. Um, few people have
asked me and just wanted for clarity that they're worried we're going to be up there
clear cutting the mountain to build this. It's actually along the old tollgate roadbed and I
walked it with one of the mountain residents and uh other than probably just a few
saplings and some stones. It's a pretty clear path and it'll get people from the, uh uh land
trustst parking lot on Bankhead all the way up. safely off of Bankhead, and a lot of people
like to bike it, and this will be an alternative for them. Um, so I think it's going to be a
great addition to that area. That that's correct. So you know the trail is is, uh, the
mayor and council Little said we'll start at the existing parking lot and go up to Fern,
and uh it's a trail system that's already used, but one of the things that, uh, both North
Alabama Land Trust, uh, and then Hunt utilities come in in partnership with the city is we
have a lot of cyclist activity on Bank, Bankhead, and there's just not quite enough facility.
So what this will do is take a, a trail that is uh a non-paved, non gravel and put it in a hard
surface not only to extend our greenway but also provide bicycle, uh, multimodal through
that, that area of the city. Well, is there still a plan to um extend it down to the uh
closed road along the shoulder of Fern. That's right, yes, so this is the first phase is the
most expensive phase just due to the terrain, right? OK, great. Thank you. That's all,
Madam President. Any other questions? I guess I would also note that um while it was not
held the following item is the meat Greenway, and so we're going to be uh starting to
greenlight projects too long awaited agreement projects at the same time. That's correct.
I apologize for looking puzzled when I walked up here because that's the one I was getting
ready to speak on and I know we celebrated Alabama A&M's 150th tonight. Uh, that project, uh,
would not happen without, uh, some dedication of land for Alabama A&M and we want to
publicly thank them for that. So, uh, this, this trail is almost 2 miles. uh, and it will
go, uh, from Winchester to Alabama A&M's campus. So it's the first piece of the Northern
uh, gateway belt line that we just had some public meetings. So this is, uh, one that has
been in the works and, uh, finally was able to get all the right of way needed to get that
started. So, uh, tonight, counsel, you're approving almost 4 miles of new greenway
in the city. Thank you for that little update. I know it wasn't germane to our agenda topic
there, but I felt like it deserved to mention. So all in favor, please indicate and
opposed motion carries. Uh, item 2 I. 20i is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter
into an agreement between the city of Huntsville, Alabama and CSR Engineering Inc. for Peter
Fain Railroad Bridge over Pinhook Creek Project number 71-23-SP23. Chairman's approval
Second from Mr. Kling. Mr. Davis. Thank you, Dr. Robinson. So, um, as it's been long
awaited. Uh, we received a federal park grant, uh, for our build grant for our park
project downtown which has multifaceted pieces to it. It's a flood mitigation project, uh,
that starts, uh, just on the north side of Holmes Avenue and goes into the low ill
neighborhood crossing Governor's Drive and uh we're getting uh very close to
advertising and bidding that, uh, project is part of that project. one of the major flood
impediments downtown is the old existing railroad, Trussell Bridge, kind of behind the von
Braun Center. Uh, that project will replace that bridge it's not our bridge, uh, it's
actually owned by the Huntsville Mass Can Rail Authority. So through FRA
requirements as we reconstruct that, um, we must provide, uh, funding for uh engineering
inspections, third party inspections for federal rail authority, and Huntsville
Madison Rail. That's what this will do is provide that on site uh, reviewed during the
construction of that railroad trestle bridge. Questions from Mr. Davis. Yes, ma'am. Um, is
this uh the bridge project, is that eventually tying with the whole park grant project down
there or is this, so, so that the, the, the large scale park project that that has been
widely publicized on the news. We will actually bid that project in 3 phases because
there's different specialties of that project. The first phase that the public will see
in the next couple of months will be the channel wide, the flood mitigation piece. Uh, so
you'll see the widening of Pinhook Creek, a little bit of Spring Branch Creek as it
crosses Governor's Drive and, and things that will alleviate flood mitigation in areas of
our downtown where that we've experienced flooding. The next phase that you will see will be
this, uh, railroad bridge. And the third phase will be pedestrian visa. There's
actually, I know the quote sky bridge, um, I don't know how much I talked about this
project that it's, you know, really a flood mitigation project and that seems to what
dominates. It's only 20% of the project. uh will be bid, but there's 5 pedestrian bridges.
Uh, there's one that crosses Pinhook Creek back into, uh, the Thrasher Fountain or the
canal that goes between the embassy suites and the von Braun Center. There's a new
vehicular bridge behind the embassy suites to provide better truck access to the back
of the BBC. There's a pedestrian bridge that goes into the medical district and
then uh the bridge over the parkway and over Governor's Drive. Those will be bid at
different phases and then the final phase will actually be the linear park piece. So it'll
be the Greenway Trails, uh, bot repair stations, uh, benches, landscape, those type of things
along a new linear park in our downtown that will combine about 12 acres of new linear
park. Now that sounds very confusing and our engineering department's done a great job
of staggering a schedule of letting these packages to where they will finish on time
together. So we won't, you know be going through construction saying when will the public get
to use this? When will the flood mitigation? But, but they're all different
specialized contractors to do those types of work. Uh, but the thing to remember the first
phase in the next 45 days, uh, we'll be bringing that first contract for your consideration
that will be used with the federal grant funds. Thank you. Is it too early to tell how
long the railroad replacement, a railroad bridge replacement would take. Um, it, it is a new
design, so it's concrete, it's pre-cast. Uh, so when we let that project, you won't see, uh
immediate activity. Uh, the whoever the low bidder is will, will pre-order that, so it'll
take the manufacturer some months to do that. But once the those pieces get on site, I
would think, you know, 3 to 6 months it would be finished. OK great. Thank you. Thank you,
Madam President. Any other questions? All in favor, please indicate and imposed. Motion
carries. Thank you Davis. 20m is a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute addendum
number one to the business agreement to implement technology between the city of
Huntsville, Alabama and Comkate Inc. for continued services related to the code enforcement
division of Community Development. Is there a motion to approve motion for Mr. Kling
second from Mr. Little Mr. Irwin. Oh, yes, council members Mayor Battle Scott Irwin, the
Community Development Department. This is an addendum to an existing contract with
Comate to do code enforcement software. So what that software allows our staff to do is open
track and close code enforcement cases such as overgrown grass, junk vehicles,
unsafe structures, of public nuisances. It also allows mobile functionality,
inspectors can enter case notes take photos, and update violations, uh, from the field
directed from their tablet or smartphone. Um, it also provides dashboards and reports
to track performance, uh, look at trends and for enforcement outcomes. So it is a program
we've been using for about 3 years, and this is a 1-year extension. Other question, Mr.
Klain, just for clarification, since the concern had been raised. This is not the
artificial intelligence issue that we were talking about a couple of weeks ago, correct?
No, sir. This is data management of our of our system as its currently exists. Thank
you. Anyone else Um, I should note that at the Council of Neighborhood Associations this
week, one of the issues that the, the focus was on zoning enforcement, but it evolved to
enforcement of all our codes, and one of the concerns that was expressed was we have a lot
of codes on the books. They need to be enforced. And so this software is what helps us
do that. You absolutely does. Thank you very much. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion
carries. We will go on now to 20 S. 20s is a resolution authorizing the mayor to make a
grant application to the Federal Transit Auth Administration for the FY 26 4
mg. Motion from Mr. Kling. Mr. Little council member is a mayor. I'm Emma Walker,
accountant for the Public transit department. Um, welcome Miss Waer in lieu of Miss
Bryant, our director, um, this is our annual appropriation just applying for it, um, from
FTA for our operating in capital budgets for FY 26. Thank you. I can't remember who
held this. who had questions about it. We, we had a question from, from the public. And I
guess just to clarify this, you're talking about buses. Yes sir. Shuttle buses, maintenance
uh, those types of things. Everything in administration there. OK. You know, it's just
total, total cost of $6,115,287 of the grant fund is $33,972,492. The city cost is
$2,142,795. Yes, sir Any other questions All in favor indicate Any opposed? Motion carries.
Thank you so much, Ms. Clark. 20 X is a resolution authorizing the mayor to
execute modification number one to agreement between the city of Huntsville and Skyfire AI
Incorporated. OK, I've makes the motion. Second by Mr. Little. Mr. Eland been asked by
Chief Giles to uh to speak to this item, uh, basically, this is a resolution authorizing the
the uh mayor to execute modification number one to the currently existing agreement
between the city of Huntsville and Skyfire, uh, we are currently under a contract with
this group to manage our drones as a first responder program. uh, under the current contract,
we pay for 2 employees, uh, Monday through Friday from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. They're FAA
certified. They perform rooftop pilot in command and teller operator duties. The program
has been very successful and they're requesting to add 2 more employees, HPD is, uh, to,
uh, 2 more employees for 2 additional days of service when being Saturday and Sunday, uh,
during the same hours, which is 30 p.m. to 11. Uh, and so the modification is for those
additional hours in those days. And again, this is a first responder program, very uh
helpful and successful when there is an event and first responders there, the drones
were able to get to that scene before vehicles on the, on the uh land can get there and for
instance make an assessment early on as to the severity of the injury, for instance, in an
accident or uh God for bi d there's a gunfight or, or some type of situation to determine
the exact situation where there are armed individuals who are still there. These are, these
are the type of services that are provided to help the first responders as they come to have
a better idea of what they're coming to and if it's determined that the emergency
is not quite as emergent. They don't have to tear through the city at a high rate of speed
with all the danger that might be associated. So it's been a very successful program and
there's a look to expand it. Questions? Yes, ma'am. Uh. so I've heard about these. I know
they're, they're really great in those situations. I just wanna be clear they don't just
fly around randomly filming people. Right? That's not what this is for. This is a first
responder program, um, and obviously a lot cheaper than us buying a couple of helicopters.
I would say considerably cheaper. All right, thank you. That's all I have. Question.
I'll make one comment when I visited the NAMAC, um, I got to see video of how quickly these
drones can give them eyes on a critical situation, and they can, and then give the officers
who are responding accurate information about what's going on, so they come in prepared to
deal with the situation. It's, I'm glad we're expanding it. It's very successful. Yes, Mr.
Davis. I just want to make a comment. It's not germane to what, uh, directly to what
you're about to vote on, but uh I do want to recognize that this company is headquartered
here in Huntsville, uh, started here with two employees and now provide these services globally
So, uh, they are a local company, local vendor. That's good to know. Thank you. Any
other discussion? All in favor indicate and he posed motion carries, Sir, you're out of
order. You can make comments after the meeting. So, sir, sir this is not an opportunity for
you to have a conversation with us. You can make comments, uh, after the meeting if you have
signed up. Uh, 20Z is a resolution authorizing authorizing the mayor to enter
into a special employment agreement between the city of Hunsel and Kurt W. Worsick.
Chair Mo's for approval There's a from Mr. Kling, um, Ms. Watkins, I believe you held
this item. Do you have a question? I think the mayor is going to be this is yeah, this
is our, our expert with the NAMAC, uh, who makes, uh, uh, Namack really roll. It's a one
year contract and this is a renewal for for one year, and the city cost amount is 168,540
annually. uh, total cost is, is again $168,168,540. The NAAC has been a very good tool to be
able to use to uh make sure that uh crime, crime is abated and we keep crime down. Kurt
has added, uh, the technology to it that, uh, makes it very, uh, uh, protects our, uh,
citizens but also protects our policemen out there. comments All in favor, please indicate
any he posed, motion carries. Um, item 21A. New business items for introduction. 21A is
an introduction of an ordinance revising, restating, and consolidating the Human
Relations Commission and its bylaws, pursuant to resolution number 94-633, which was
adopted and approved on August 25, 1994. No action will be taken at this meeting, but it
is for introduction only and will be considered at the September 11th uh regular
council meeting that concludes all of our business and it brings us now to Citizen
comments. We have a number of people who have signed up, and I will just read the little
preamble for you. This portion of the meeting is reserved for for persons wishing to address
the council on matters relating to city business, whether or not such items are on the
meeting agenda. In individuals wishing to speak, um, have signed up on the 2nd public
comments roster prior to or during the meeting, when called upon, please come to the
microphone and state your name, home address, and city of residence. Each speaker may
address the council for 3 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. Please remember that the best way to communicate with council
members really is by email, phone conversations or one on one on one meetings with
council members. So we will begin, uh, first person to sign up is Donald Campbell, Subject
is smart meters is Mr. Campbell here. Hello again Uh, my name's Donald Campbell. My address is
on record. A city of residence, sir. Madison, thank you, sir. Um well, a few people have
presented a proposal for a smart meter opt-outs to hunt through utilities. For the
record, I was not part of that. and the proposal, many requests were made that HU um Huntre
Toys HU is not about toomply with at this time I regret that they did not reserve such
requests for our town council, as you are the entity with authority over HU. And then
working on a proposal. and I still am to present it to you, which includes a layout of how
to implement controlling legislation, which is financially feasible to HU. And
there is more involved which I cannot divulge at this time. HU has responded with her opt-out
plan, although it is called an AMI opt out. They are not guaranteeing that we can choose
to have an analog meter, which is our main request and concern and there are many reasons why
we do not want any electronic meter besides the fact that they are physically harming us,
which you've heard about before Um, HU did not agree to allow those opting out to send, it
did agree, excuse me, did agree to allow those opting out to send a photo of the meter
reading each month, which is being done in other places. However, they still want to
penalize us with a fee. We should not be and refuse to be penalized for not allowing a
device on our homes that harms us. All of our lives we've been paying for meter readers to
read every meter. If the smart meters are saving so much money then it should be no burden for
HU to retain a few readers, but if we are sending in the reading, which we must now do.
we should not be paying anything extra for that. Uh, any such uh additional cost for
that can be incorporated in the cost of the watt hours we're paying for. Uh, also, if HU is
sure that everyone will suddenly opt out in bankrupt them. Studies have shown that
only a mere 2% will opt out. There will be more as time goes on, but there will be time to
make changes and new technology that will communicate without harming us. Uh, I again request
that you, the council, write legislation. amending the code which regulates HU to make
opt-outs long. I spent this summer studying this entire history with this battle of the
meters all over the country and all over the world. We're in a time where industry is now
beginning to control us. We must not let it. We must contain it. Um, I have copies
of sample legislation, for opt-outs for you. And also copies of some bad legislation
that's going around the country which I hope we don't see happen here. And I'd like to
give it to you after the meeting. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Campbell Next person to
sign up is James Franchini. Subject is smart meters, is Mr. Franke here. Hello, my name is
James Franchini, and my address is accurate as shown on your sheet, and I'm in Southeast
Huntsville. I'm speaking on behalf of a group of concerned residents regarding the health
and safety impacts of smart meters that are being installed as part of Huntsville Utility's
advanced metering infrastructure program, also known as AMI This will be a
short status update on the progress being made in our collaboration with HU on
developing a smart meter opt out policy for Huntsville residents. For those in the
audience that may not be aware of this important topic, we originally approached this
council because we were notified by HU that smart meters were going to be
installed on our homes, even though we had previously opted out a few years earlier. More
importantly, there was no provision allowing us to opt out again This was unacceptable
for us because of the extensive research and studies that have been done revealing the serious
health impacts that can arise from exposure to radiofrequency or radiation emitted by them.
After presenting our concerns to this council back in July of this year. Mr. Meredith,
proactively hosted a meeting between representatives of our small group and HU For that,
Council President Meredith, we're deeply grateful. I know he's not here, but I share that
with you. And we're grateful as well to the Huntsville Utility leadership for being open to
work with us. Now for an update of our progress. We attended the August utility Board
meetings this week with our primary purpose being to request that the boards
postpone their vote upon the current draft opt-out policy and allow us to continue to
work with HU in crafting a more complete and robust policy. The meetings were productive with
many good questions being asked by the board members, followed by intelligent and thoughtful
discussions between them and the HU team. which led to the vote being postponed. HU staff
in our group will be meeting several times over the coming weeks to prepare the next
version of the policy for the board's review. I intend to provide another update at the
next city council meeting in 2 weeks. Thank you for your support and for your interest
in this matter. Thank you, Mr. Franchini The next person to sign up is Ms. Francis Akridge,
Subject is professional respect sacred. Thank you. I live in Huntsville and my address is
correct on the sign sheet. and the topic is professional respect because I've been very
busy traveling, yay, and learning about the world and art and food, and yet somebody
called me recently and said, Did you see the epic? embarrassment of the last
meeting. so I watched it It definitely could have been less contentious if number one the
president or the second the whatever the titles that you have had called a point of
order. A vote had already been made about Mr. Bowden, the item on the floor was about Ms.
Caruso, and yet the conversation started back to Mr Bowden. parenthetically, I have
no idea why someone would want that person on the, no, that we have to be very careful when we
put people on the board because their need to, they need to add value. They don't, the
clutching our pearls and saying they had been thrown out of here doesn't disqualify them.
Please do not bring Facebook into your repertoire. If someone can get on their phone
and go to Facebook for crying out loud, you can go to the Huntsville Media Center and
watch these live and by the way you might learn something while you're there, like the phone
numbers of the planning division and find out that it is not up to the government
what a farmer wants to do with their land once it is annexed. Thank you. Thank you, Ms.
Akridge. I have a gift for everybody. The next person to sign up is David Snyder.
Subject is multiple Hello, my name is David Snyder. My information is written
correctly on the sheet, and I live in Huntsville, Alabama. Um I'm going to run through a few
items kind of quickly. One, I would like to talk about transparency in the jail. I
understand it's the Madison County jail. It is not the Huntsville City jail. But I
would like to know if Huntsville is making money off of ICE deportations. My
understanding is every person that gets an ice hole that is in the Madison County jail
right now is getting taken. That's what's happening. And I would like to know if our city
is making money off of that, a horrendous thing is happening to our Hispanic community. and
I expect that Huntsville should establish establish itself as a welcome welcoming city like
Birmingham did. uh previously. There have also been multiple deaths in the jail that we need
transparency around. There are going to be FOIA requests made. I, uh, hope to have the city of
Huntsville's, uh, support when those FOIA requests are submitted and any dealings that
we have with the MCSO. Um, I'd like to talk about Derick Street a little bit. I am going
to be meeting with Scott tomorrow, actually, um, about that um, there needs to be
greater access to the hose that is a water outlet for people to be able to get water from. It's
not a great setup to drink uh from, but it is water, so, you know, that's great. Um, but it
could be, it needs to be moved over a little bit or have an access away from the camp so
people with mobility AIDS can actually get to it and it's suitable to drink out of. Um,
there also needs to be an EMA special response. Imagine being in a tent, uh, when a storm
like we saw with Monteceno. Imagine being in a tent when that happens. We need to have a
special van come out and be willing to take people to safety ahead of a storm like
that. Um, we also need to have the resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza signed. I emailed Bill
Kling actually at our last district. uh meeting a petition that has gone around. I'm going
to email that to all of City council and to Mayor Tommy Battle. It will be a stain on
the city of Huntsville if we don't at the very least, it is the bare minimum thing that we
can do to sign for a ceasefire resolution and for humanitarian aid to be supplied to the area
that is the bare minimum. Um, regarding city detect, I am going to say again that these
uh people of Huntsville, uh, like you've seen with the concern with Skyfire. We don't
want to be surveilled. We don't want money to be put into surveillance. Um, we would uh
like to have a Black History Museum installed in the city. We do not want to be surveilled
Um, I understand that with Skyfire, the idea is that it is for emergency response, and
that is a good thing, right? Um again, one of the things with uh City detect is about what it
can be used for or what that data can be used for, right? So where are we getting assurances
and transparency that they're not going to use those drones for any other purpose other
than emergency uh you know, response and um like with City detect, what assurances do we
have that if a larger federal body demands that, you know, data that that's not gonna just
be handed over to other parties right? The best way to not do it is to not have it. We
appreciate your attendance tonight. The next person to sign up is David W. Address is
AAMU. There's no subject. Is Mr David W here? Apparently not. Uh, then we will move on to uh
Taris Smith. Mr. Smith Mr. Smith is not here. Moses Eben Mr. Eben Yolanda Caudle Is
Caudle here Lynn Holmes I'm beginning to suspect that these were folks who were here and
thought they had to sign in. Tony Gaskin, subject is AI cameras, AI police, drone
budget increase. Hello, um, my name's Tyranny Gaskin. Uh, I live in the city of Huntsville.
Thank you, um. real quick, I would just like to talk about the city to tech program, so
local citizens, I have a copy of everything I'm about to say. I'm about to talk very fast. So
a local citizen's concern on the city detect program possibly coming to Huntsville,
Automated surveillance undermined trust and cooperation between citizens
and their government. If the AI tool is used, is doing the work of spotting violations on the
street than our officials will lose contact with the community and the human element is lost.
Without community and civic empathy, government officials will become disconnected from
citizens. for privacy concerns, the CEO of City Detech claims that the data collected will
not be sold to anyone, but how can we be certain that our data won't be sold ever. Legally, is
it in the contract that our data is not for sale under any circumstances or after a
certain period of time, how does City detech make money for its investors if they do not
sell our data. Customer data in the contract that you guys have um under that. uh proposal, uh,
customer data is defined as any information or other data of any type provided by the
customer or its end users to City detect in connection with the product, including
preferences, case status, notes and summaries, however, customer data does not include
analytical data or raw data or any other information reflecting the access of or use
of the products per section 3.2 of the terms of use. Raw data is defined as quote, all audio
visual images, text global positioning system, and other geospatial and environmental
data and other types of content captured by devices or otherwise provided by City
detect in connection to the product. End quote. Also as per section of 3.2 terms of use.
Analytical data is defined as the output that is generated through the gene that is.
output that is generated through the product using artificial and intelligence AI
output, and the data and information submitted or produced by the customer or its
end users related to the interpretation, understanding and refinement of raw data and
AI output per section 3.2 of the terms of use, as of section 11.1 of the terms of use states
that all customer data, the product and analytical data, raw data and AI output are
deemed to be confidential information of City detect, which implies that if we are
not in a contract with City detect that we cannot access our own data. All of the
cameras that are used in the City detect program are leased to us by the company, we will
never acquire ownership of the data and the collection devices um. well which implies that the
photos, videos, and audios that is collected is not legally ours. First section 1.10 of
terms of use. In the agreement, it is said that City Detect has the right to use analytical rot
and raw data in a way that implies that it could be sold or used for data mining, quote,
City detect shall not use customer data for any purpose outside of the scope of the
agreement or otherwise permitted by the privacy policy the foregoing does not restrict
the city detects right and and abuse. Gaskin. Your time is up. I'm glad you're going to
provide us printed copies of that, you said? Yes, I do have printed copies. Good. That's a
lot of information. We appreciate you preparing that for us. Uh, the next person to
speak is Sabrina. Craxi Our subject is AI cameras City detect. Hey guys, I am Spring
Clary. Um, I wanted to talk about residence, please. Oh, Madison, thank you. Sorry. Um,
I wanted to also talk about City detect with the Environmental concerns or the
aspect. Um concerning AI. AI has a substantial power draw requirement, which some
estimates suggesting that data centers supporting AI could require up to 3 times the power
of traditional facilities of the same size. That power disparity will continue to grow
as these egg chips grow more and more powerful and therefore more power hungry, a
considerable portion of the power cost is due to cooling requirements. Given that
Alabama has a rather warm climate, it stands to reason that its cooling costs will be
greater than the average of other area s With climate change mounting in an ever
greater as ever greater threat, it would be more prudent to invest the money into renewable
energy solutions instead of dumping it into a surveillance mechanisms that that would, as
things stand now, only accelerate the rate of greenhouse gas emissions to
keep up with their inefficient power requirements. Buying solar panels and incorporating
them into the city's power grid would pay for themselves over a 5 to 15 year time frame. And as
they can last up to 35 years, they'll provide savings for the city well after that.
Bolstering the power grid could also help incentivize incentivize future AI
investments that don't involve invasive hammer fleet since cities with robust power grids
would be ideal sites for development in the long run. So that's AI in general, but I
also wanted to mention that for citizens here in Alabama who have native plantings The
native plantings will not be recognized by these cameras leading to citations. The
movement to create yards and grounds that use native plants to create habitats for Alabama
pollinators and reduce water usage means that we can have more native lawns in our
communities. These would benefit everyone and there is concern that the AI cameras
will not be able to discern a patch of native vegetation from weeds. And therefore
insinuating citations unneeded. Thank you. Thank you The next person to sign up is Jeffrey
Engle, Mr. Angle. Hello, uh, Jeffrey Ingle, uh, City of Huntsville, live in Sherwood
Park. I'm with the Democratic Socialists of North Alabama. Um so we're going to talk about AI
again. Um, so I want to express my uh complete disappointment with the board uh for extending
the contract uh to allow drones to surveil our communities on weekends and uh for that to be
uh shuffled through uh through an AI company. Uh, I am a very active in uh the uh movement
here uh in Huntsville, and I know that those drones are used to watch us. Uh, Eleanor, First
Amendment rights, uh, gatherings. Those drones are above us and those that all of
that data is being fed into this AI uh system. Uh, so it is being used for more than just
first responders. Um, onto City Detect, uh, that again on data. um your, their contract says
that all data is stored in third parties facilities, uh, and uh we do not know where
those facilities are. Uh, the contract also says the city detect can store that data
indefinitely. Now, why are they able to store that indefinitely ? Why would they not be able to
delete it after a certain amount of time, quote, images stored in deep storage for 12
months and then moved into deeper storage indefinitely, retrieval retrievable upon
request. Who would be requesting that data of all of our streets who would need all
of that data of every street for uh for years and years, um except for to use it, uh, for
some type of surveillance. All right? The uh gone to cost, so this will be over $300,000 per
year uh for three years, uh, equating to almost a million dollars. Uh, that money can be
used for solar panels. That money can be used instead to uh feed schoolchildren. Uh, one of
the biggest, uh, indicators of econ economic opportunity is hunger. Uh, one of, uh, the
greatest things that our city can do is provide for its children and then provide uh
impoverished communities, uh, with free meals. Uh, where did it go All right, uh, so again,
to the crowd, uh, you live in a surveillance state, uh, just because there are AI cameras
all over the roads, uh, like Google, Amazon, that does not mean that we need to have more
of them. Uh, I've been heard that as an excuse from a uh city official that, hey, this
technology is already out there why not use it? We don't want it. We don't want to be
surveilled more. We don't want our tax dollars used to surveil us. Um, 1984 was not meant to
be an instruction manual. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Engle, and please to the, just for
everybody's information, comments should be addressed to the council, not to. everybody
else. Amanda Puchek. Is Miss Pushek here? That was fantastic I don't know if I've ever had
someone say my last name so well. My mother was Czech, so Again, thank you for the
pronunciation. I'm very impressed. Uh, Amanda Pushek. I live in Huntsville. Thank you.
Welcome. Hi. Uh, I want to talk a little bit about City detect AI as well. um here's the thing
I check my mail in my robe. and there's lots of people in our neighborhood who have kids,
walk around, their kids in their bathing suits in the summer, splash pad out in the
yard, all of that sort of thing and the way that City detect is currently being proposed. All
of that data, all of that information, all of that photographic evidence would be
stored indefinitely. So while we may live in a time right now where that may not be so much
of an issue. I've also had my data leaked before. I've had it leaked, I've had it sold when
companies close down, and now I get 8000 spam calls a day. Not to mention the amount of times
that I've had my credit damaged because of it, or I've had my father's personal home
information leak because of it. My biggest concern is because of the indefinite manner in
which that this data is stored. Historically speaking, when these sort of companies do
close because typically companies close. That's just how it exists. Because that
information is stored forever. One of the first mechanisms of action that they do to try to
liquidate their assets is by selling the data. Another thing that they'll do is also just
leak the information, whether intentionally by a company workers or an outside source,
it doesn't matter because once it's out, it's out. We all know that it's very difficult to put
that information back into the bottle. Now there's services out there that will hopefully
pull that information back down off of the internet for us, but I feel like the people of
Huntsville shouldn't have to pay for that to happen. If we get ahead of problems, it's
much easier than fixing them later. And I would just say with a word of caution that
when we think of things indefinitely. time is a construct, and then we tend to
experience it very differently as individuals. When we look at broader periods of time, it can
be very difficult for our brains to wrap around that indefinite concept. What we do
with that information cannot only affect us today, but 20 years from now, when those same
kids are adults applying for jobs. and now they have their pictures of them in swimsuits
as kids on the internet. I know that that seems very silly, but that's what we're talking about
here. And that's the real life consequences. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Ms.
Kuscha Next we have Julie Calderwood. Julie. I'm Julie Calderwood. I live in South
Huntsville, um after one of my, our meetings about the smart meters, uh, one of the comments
from the city council was, but you've been here before talking about smart meters and we've
referred you to that, so, um, uh, utilities kind of questioned why, why we're
coming back and, and I, and I thought to myself, um, it's because you don't understand,
um, this is not just about smart meters. Um we have man-made two-way microwave
radiation that sends and receives data in all sorts of things, the smart meters, the
cell towers, Bluetooth laptops, iPads, WiFi routers, classroom access points, you name it, all
those wires or stuff, hearing aids, vehicles, gaming systems. So there has never been a safe
level of microwave radiation determined in scientific literature. Many of the health
issues associated with wireless technologies can also occur with electrical system s and
devices that operate in low, extremely low frequency range. Um, when I started researching,
because I was feeling, getting sick, what was going on with me ? I finally bought a an acousta
meter and started measuring around different places and different things, and that's
what got my attention. Um. I have done so much research, but well I realized that um we
adopted wireless technology without taking into consideration its potential
impact on health. The FCC guidelines in place today were developed in 1996 and they do
not address the much lower nonthermal impacts that come with use of today's devices.
The science has proven there are many harmful nonthermal effects, and the FCC standards
also don't address the impact on children and fetuses who absorb a lot of this radiation
more than we as adults do. and impact our bodies in such in so many ways. um, the FCC, um, an
agency reported by the Harvard is captured industry, and they have thousands of pages of
scientific evidence that has been entered into the public record. Thousands of studies
have been done and many countries have banned and restricted the use of Wi Fi and
cell phones for children and protect women who are pregnant. Um, from the health impacts of
this this technology is causing and 2015 Harvard University published a captured agency
report detailing how the FCC is run by the industry. It presumably regulates. The US
government has known that there are biological effects for from electromagnetic radiation for
decades in the US and elsewhere evidence of harm was suppressed and non-protective standards
were set, falling back on the excuse that more research needs to be done before those
standards will be updated and NASA back had a report in 1981, the Army intelligence document
from 1998 identifies I have other things, but we would like to send you some information
and that would be great you thank you always appreciate that. Thank you. Um, next, Dr.
David Calderwood. David Calderwood, Southeast Huntsville. I too would like to
um express our gratitude as a member of the Smart meter opt group of this of the Huntsville
utilities being willing to work th us to try to come up with a good plan, and we hope that
the, this will be successful. Um, I come tonight, uh to extend an invitation, um, to
the members of this council as well as everyone else present. I think that there are members
of our city government who would like the city of Huntsville to be a smart city.
Um, and, uh, my invitation is for all of us to become educated on electromagnetic
radiation so that we will all realize that a smart city is neither intelligent or healthy.
Um, I am going to send links to members of the council. and if I can to, uh, Mayor Battle as
well to a wonderful website, Massachusetts for Safe Technology.com. It is probably
one of the most extensive collection of information on electromagnetic radiation. It
has a section on the science on cancer infertility, impact on children, WiFi in schools,
including the effect on the health of children and how it interferes with their learning.
Um, electromagnetic hypersensitivity. You utility company smart meters, a large
section on that and the effects of those cell towers, 5G, planetary impact, including the
impact on um uh wildlife, on plant growth and insects, including bees, if the
radiation level gets high enough, beaming down from satellites as it is, and in all
of our areas, we could kill off all the bees, and that would end life for humans on this
planet. Um, also, there's legal issues section bills from Massachusetts and other states.
Um, also a section on industrial whistleblowers, exposing what's going on behind
the scenes and the cover-ups and so forth. and world response in which you learn
that the United States, Japan, and Canada have the highest levels allowed, which are 100
times higher than smarter countries who are allowing a much less than those include
Switzerland, Austria, and Russia, among others. Um, there's also a section sections
on solutions for schools and families, for workplaces, for healthcare providers, for
engineers and physicists for municipal leaders like yourselves. for legislators and
for lawyers. I therefore would like to extend an invitation that we learned about this, so
that Huntsville can be an intelligent and healthy city. Thank you. Thank you, Dave,
Doctor Calderwood. And now Mariah Hammond, isn't Miss Hammond here? I suspect these
areMU people who were here earlier. Mariah Hamad and Kenya England. They're not here and
that concludes our um citizen comments. We welcome all of you back at our next council
meeting, which will be, yes, uh Rhonda Lynn No is that you I skipped right over you Thank
you for calling that to our attention. You will be our concluding speaker. Please give
your, is your time to sign on the list and I would love to speak also. we we have to have
you sign that our procedure is to have you sign on the list. We'll look forward to hearing
from you at the next meeting. Miss Lynn, good evening. I'm, I I read this statement from,
name and address. I'm Rhonda Lynn. I'm reading this statement for Huntsville. Thank
you. Uh, Alicia Booth Hegmaker also from Huntsville, um, and this is her statement uh, who
she wishes to raise an issue that ties directly into Huntsville's future stability.
We all know Huntsville is being branded as a tech hub, but there's a dark side to that
trend across the country corporate giants like BlackRock and Blackstone are buying up
utility companies, tying them directly to the growth of AI data centers. These data
centers don't just use electricity, they drain community water supplies and
spike local power costs. Communities in Texas, New Mexico, and Minnesota are
already in legal battles because private equity firms are driving rates up while
residents are left footing the bill. Here in Huntsville, we've already seen the proposed
rollout of AI-powered surveillance cameras. Pair that with the growing demand for
server farms, and you have a picture that should concern all of us. Our resources, power,
water, even our privacy are being turned into commodities for outside corporations. She
wants to be clear She uses AI. I believe it can be tool, but using it irresponsible at the
expense of residents' bills, health, and freedom puts entire communities at risk. selling
out to corporate interests that view Huntsville as just another market is a dangerous path.
Huntsville is unique. We are a city with deep military, scientific, and family roots.
We cannot afford to let Wall Street interests dictate our utility policies, drain our
resources, and then leave us with the damage. So I'm asking this council before Huntsville
follows the same path as other cities, commit to transparency, commit to protecting residents
first, not outside investors, because if we don't, we may wake up to find out that the
city we love is being run by algorithms and corporate balance sheets, not by the
people who live here. Thank you Thank you very much I believe that concludes our meeting.
Move to adjourn Uh, we are adjourned until September 11. We welcome you back then. Thank