Everyone and welcome to the August 24
Madison city council meeting.
At this time, I would like to invite pastor police chaplain
Shelton Torbert, forward, please,
to lead us in the invocation and ask that you remain standing
for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Please stand.
Thank you.
Pastor Father God, we just thank you for this wonderful day.
This is the day that you have made.
God, we are going to rejoice and be glad in it.
Oh, God.
We thank you for mayor Bartlett.
God, we thank you for the council members.
Oh, God.
We thank you for their faithfulness
and their dedication.
Oh, God.
We thank you for as they continue to do
the business of Madison city.
Oh, God, we thank you for this is one of the greatest
cities in Alabama.
And God, we thank you for all the entities of Madison city
as well.
God, we thank you for our chief God.
We thank you for also chief Williams as well,
and all the other entities.
Oh, God.
We ask you to let everything be done decently
and in order on this evening.
And God, we just love you and God.
We praise you and we give you the glory.
We give you the honor and we give you the praise.
We ask of all these prayers in your most Holy name.
Amen amen.
Thank you, Pastor Torbert.
Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge of Allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America, and to the Republic
for which it stands.
One nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
Thank you all.
You may be seated.
The roll call, please.
Mayor Bartlett here.
Council president.
Wrobleski here.
Council Member.
Bere council member.
Goodson here.
Council Member.
McKay here.
Council Member.
Lessman here.
Council Member.
White here.
Council Member.
Jackson here.
Thank you.
We do have a quorum.
Are there any amendments to the agenda.
There is one Amendment to the agenda.
This is removing item 11, which is the appointment
to the Madison utilities board.
And this will probably come back in September.
Wonderful Thank you so much.
Our first order of business is the approval of minutes.
This is from the meeting dated August 10.
Move to approve.
Second I have a motion for Mrs. white and a second for Mrs.
lessman.
Are there any comments or adjustments.
Seeing none.
May I have the vote, please.
Council Member white.
Aye council member.
Lessman Aye.
Council president.
Wrobleski Aye.
Council Member.
Burr council member.
Goodson Aye.
Council Member McGarvey.
Aye council member.
Jackson Aye.
Thank you.
The minutes are approved as written.
We don't have any presentations and awards,
so we will move into public comments.
And I do have two people that have signed up ahead of time.
And I will remind everyone to please when
you come forward to the podium to say
which district you live in.
And first up, we have Mr. Matthews from district three.
Welcome, Mr. Matthews.
Good evening.
Good evening sir.
Mayor Bartlett.
President council members.
I'm Rob Matthews.
I'm the economic vitality chairperson.
I'm in District three.
Billy Goodson is our great representative over there.
I just wanted to come and address the council tonight
and invite the public to a sensing session.
It's going to be a vision session,
actually, for the surveys that were conducted back in June.
The business survey and the consumer survey,
we're going to be sharing the results.
The Main Street, Alabama, in conjunction with the Downtown
professionals network, is going to announce the results
to the public on in these exact chambers on Wednesday at 5:00.
It's going to be from 5:00 to 6:30.
So I would just solicit you guys support
and just help get the word out.
Wonderful Thank you so much, Mr. Matthews.
We'll look forward to Wednesday night here in council chambers.
Now, I'd like to invite MS Maggie Minsk,
please, to come forward.
Maggie Minsk, are you here.
OK I believe she must have left.
Oh, there you are.
That's closer.
It's closer than it was before.
Hi my name is Maggie Minsk, and I'm here
to talk about flock cameras to Alpers
and government surveillance and the transparency,
and accountability that I believe should accompany it.
I believe in public safety.
And with that justification, with that as a justification
for surveillance, I believe the public deserves
to see the evidence that the surveillance is actually
producing public safety.
There are a lot of false positives that have happened.
There are incidents of misuse and stalking moments
when cops showed up with guns drawn
after a motorcycle backfired.
Last March 2025, Madison approved an $86,000 flock
contract for law enforcement grade license plate recognition
cameras, or alpr, using vehicle fingerprint technology
and real time alerts.
The resolution also authorized agreements with Huntsville
for additional camera locations.
They have a contract with flock, and the North Alabama
multi-agency crime center uses license plate readers, cameras,
gunshot detection, which is microphones,
and intelligence or AI.
However, statistically we see that flock cameras and alpr are
wrong 70% of the time, which leaves us to fight to prove
in court that it wasn't us.
Pay for a lawyer.
Take time off work.
What happened to innocent until proven guilty.
There's no dashboard for the public to see what's going on,
and requests for information with Huntsville
took almost a year, only for us to be
told no, that they weren't going to share anything with us.
Retention of data is not the same thing as transparency,
and a searchable record of where vehicles have been
is still information about people who may have
done absolutely nothing wrong.
And what about all the people in this area
who have top secret clearance.
Madison isn't the only city dealing with this.
Yesterday ends a week long national focus on getting rid
of flock or Alpers, and at least 56
municipalities have rejected or canceled
flock contracts this year.
And while some might try it on the sly,
we know that replacing alpr companies with axon or Motorola
doesn't solve the underlying issue of government
surveillance, invasion of privacy,
violation of the Fourth Amendment, et cetera.
So what I'm suggesting is that before expanding or renewing
surveillance technology.
Here in Madison, I would say, please,
let's establish some guardrails and access for the public
and other checks and balances.
If surveillance is necessary for public safety,
then transparency should not be a threat to public safety.
Transparency is how you earn public trust.
We don't have to choose between safety and liberty.
Madison can demand both.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Mrs. Minsk, for your comments.
Is there anyone else that would like to address
council at this time.
Yes, sir.
Come on.
Forward if you could state your name
and which district you live in.
And if you're not.
And if you're not sure of your district, just the area
so that your council member can follow up with you.
I'm actually in Huntsville district five.
OK OK.
And what's your name.
Tyler Courtney.
And how do you spell your last name.
Tyler gaut ey.
Thank you.
OK, so I don't have a script.
Unfortunately I just found out about the council meeting today,
but I came to speak out against floc.
And it.
It's common that.
Councils and municipalities across the country
are arguing that floc isn't a violation
of the Fourth Amendment because of the US
Supreme Court doctrine of.
Public like it's a public domain.
It's not private domain protected
by the Fourth Amendment, but the direction of the Supreme Court
is trending in an opposite direction.
We see that most notably in charter v United States.
In it, the Justice Elena Kagan wrote referenced both two.
Previous rulings in.
Ford v United States, I believe is what it was, but also
Carpenter v United States.
And so there are actual litigation
going on across the United States on that front.
But more importantly, the bigger problem with floc and this I
can speak to because it is in my industry, it is data science.
I'm a software engineer, and fundamentally,
when it comes to a data science algorithm,
they operate on heuristics and usually heuristics.
The effectiveness of a heuristic algorithm
is inversely proportional to its greediness.
That is to say, a heuristic is algorithm is used
whenever we cannot represent a model
of the real world in computer.
Like in, computers are very logical.
They're very rigid, and the world is very abstract.
And we can't represent the rough edges of the world
perfectly in a computer model.
So we use the best approximation in the form of heuristics.
A lot of them pull from nature and are not very.
Just they're not very.
The big thing is that they are greedy, usually.
And usually they will choose a result. In the meantime,
within each step of the algorithm,
that may make its effectiveness less effective later on.
So it's taking a result that often.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and comments,
I appreciate that.
Is there anyone else that would like to address city council.
Seeing none, we'll close public comments
and we'll move into the consent agenda
and Finance Committee report Mr. Bier is not here today,
so I believe Mr. McKay is in charge.
Yes, ma'am.
I will take this one.
So we've got four resolutions tonight and 4 acceptance items.
Council president, can I go through all these
at one time and then whatever you'd like to do that.
So resolution number 2020 6-2 99.
That's acceptance of an insurance
settlement from AMIC caused by collision
with the police vehicle.
That's $4,827.51, less than $1,000
deductible to be deposited into the general operating account.
Resolution number 20 2630 4-r, that is,
authorizing a termination of a PSA with
Valerie harp and Joshua harp.
Dream vacations doing business as vacations by Val
travel group for travel agent services
at the Sr. center resolution number 2026 309.
Or is acceptance of an insurance settlement from AMEC
for another claim involving a collision
with the police vehicle.
That's the amount of $6,320.72.
Again to be deposited into the general operating account.
The last resolution is 2020 6-3 10 r.
That is the acceptance of an insurance settlement from AMEC
for a different claim involving a police vehicle,
which occurred in May for the amount of $8,954.56.
Also to be deposited into the general operating account.
So that's it for resolutions for acceptance items.
Item E is acceptance of supplemental insurance payment
from AMEC in the amount of $1,582.84 on a claim for damage
to a police department vehicle.
Item f acceptance of supplemental insurance payment
from AMEC in the amount of and $0.58
for a claim related to damage on a building department vehicle.
Item g is approval to accept a donation in the amount of $100
from Sandra and Jeffrey milhorn to be deposited
into the donation account.
And lastly, item h is the acceptance of a donation from
Commissioner Steve Haraway in the amount of $50,000 to be used
for repaving Gillespie road to be deposited into the general
operating account.
And I appreciate the human Resources
Committee for inviting us into a joint meeting before this.
It was very informative.
All everybody here attended that one.
So with that, that's all I've got.
Motion to approve.
Second I have a motion from Mr. McKay
and a second from Mr. Goodson.
Any comments or questions.
Seeing none may have the vote, please.
Council Member McGarvey.
Aye council member.
Gibson Aye.
Council president.
Aye council member.
Beard council member.
Lee Aye.
Council Member.
White Aye.
Council Member.
Jackson Aye.
Thank you.
The consent agenda passes is approved as written.
And now we'll move into presentation and reports.
And we'll begin with Mayor Bartlett.
Thank you.
I spent this morning in Hoover alongside chief Williams
and chief Gandy.
And Sergeant Dixon.
We were meeting with Mayor Burgess,
his public safety staff, command staff
to prepare for the SEC tournament.
We've had trips to Hoover before focused more on the tourism
aspect, but we realized it was very important to also make sure
that event is secure, that we had thought through all
of the emergency services that we're
going to need at that event.
And we're going to be planning with Garrett Harmon
and his staff at field and the Trash Pandas
to make sure that we are ready and prepared for that event.
I want to extend congratulations to council member
white and chief Williams, who were accepted
into leadership greater Huntsville's flagship program
and historic class 40.
So it's the 40th anniversary, and I can't think of two people
who could represent the city of Madison any better than you two.
And we're very proud to have you part of that program
this Wednesday.
I will be at field with the first meeting of the mayor's
Youth Council, and I'm so excited about getting
to work with 33 young high schoolers
here in the city of Madison to talk to them not
only about civic engagement, about how
they can register to vote, and also jobs that are in the city.
Throughout that program, we're going to be focused on workforce
and civic engagement and service,
and that is why I can't be here at City
Hall for the visioning session.
It would take something like that to tear me away.
I'm very excited that you're doing this at City Hall,
and I know you're going to have a lot of good attendance
from our city council members, so I hope the public can come
Wednesday night to attend that.
Finally, I'd like to comment and give praise to our police
force last Tuesday evening.
There was an alert that was sent out due to a mental health
emergency that had occurred in on the Limestone County
side of Madison, and our police officers
and our own police chief, Chief Gandy,
were there handling that issue.
Because of the well trained CIT officers,
because of how well trained and the emphasis that chief Gandy
places on training, I think that we could not
have had a better result than what
we did last Tuesday evening.
And I just want to thank Chief Gandy.
And the entire police force for how well they perform their jobs
and how well they take care of us
and how well they handled a very difficult situation.
Thank you chief.
And that's all I have.
Thank you.
Mayor district 3, Mr. Goodson.
So a couple of things.
Last Thursday was the last third Thursday event for the summer.
I want to really thank the Downtown businesses and all
the vendors who came out to all those events over the summer
and made downtown Thursday night just a great time to walk
around, meet friends, meet neighbors, engage in commerce,
and basically just we got to show off downtown for that.
I want to also say that work continues downtown.
If you've been down there.
Madison utilities continues their water
line replacement down there, so keep that in mind.
They're still working.
The plan is, I think for the end of this week
or next week, potentially, they will complete church.
After that, they will then move on to either front or Arnett.
I think it's Arnett is the next but one of those two streets.
Been a lot of questions of people saying,
is this going to be going on during street festival.
The answer to that is no.
Madison utilities has committed that they will not begin any
work that they cannot complete by the 25th of September,
to give time for clean up and everything for street festival.
So there will not be a work zone during street festival.
It will, however, not be repaved until next year.
So the patch pavement that you see there now,
on the North part of church and on college
is what you will see on whatever roads are completed.
It's very passable.
It's not unsafe, it's not the final that we will have,
but that will be done.
It's being done basically.
So the city can do a repavement of all of those streets
next year, and it will be a better
result at the end of that.
There is one other comment that I had.
The street festival also is scheduled for October 3, which
is coming at us like a train.
It is amazing how quickly the October
three date is getting here.
And just if you have never been here.
I was privileged to actually move into my house
on Church Street on the Tuesday before street festival,
and they talked about street festival
and I thought, oh, this would be kind of neat.
We can walk downtown and see a couple of hundred
people in a few vendors.
That was the year, I think we had 35,000 people.
You couldn't stir them with a stick down there.
It is such an opportunity that we have to showcase Madison
to the North Alabama community.
There are people that come from quite a ways
to attend that event.
And the last thing is, again, at the end of this week on Thursday
night, Madison utilities has announced
that there will be a water shut off for the bottom part
of Church Street.
It's actually if your address is 100 to 114 Church Street,
front and maple, those water will all be shut off for a two
hour window between 6 and 8:30 PM to accomplish some
integration work down there.
I want to thank them for all the work
that they are doing to notify council and everything
of what they are doing.
It is really helpful when we have great communication.
And I want to thank all the people who actually
email us during the week.
I did not realize how many emails and phone calls
and stuff that we get from Citizens, some of which
are providing great information, sometimes are lodging
complaints, and those complaints are very valuable
and nothing is more satisfying.
Account to a council person, at least to myself,
when I can answer someone's questions
and give them good facts and so good communication.
I also want to compliment the mayor on how well she
communicates with council, and just in the efforts
that she goes to make sure that we are included in discussions
and feel like everybody is a valuable part of the team.
So I'm close with that.
Thank you, Mr. Goodson Mr. McKay, District 4.
Yeah two things for tonight.
So I'm going to set office hours for mid-September.
I'm working right now to get conference from 130 reserve.
There's a lot of conflicts with it.
So I'll at next council meeting I'll announce
that when it's going to be.
The other thing is we had some storms
roll through last Thursday night that were pretty crazy.
A lot of lightning in them.
And I'm not going to try to thank
all the different departments and the police and fire,
but for us to have that kind of wind go through
and the power go off for a lot of us,
and then back to pretty much normal by lunchtime
the next day, I mean, the Greenway was all swept off,
their sticks were gone.
It was like nothing even happened.
So we're really lucky to live in a city
like this that gets stuff taken care of quick
and in an orderly fashion.
So just thank you to all the involved in that.
That's all I got.
Thank you, Mr. McKay.
District 5, Mrs. lessman.
Yes so we had another Business Council meeting where
we discussed it was actually held at Homewood
Suites in town, Madison.
So thank you to them.
And we discussed the taste of Madison that will be
benefiting the Miracle League.
So if you guys make sure to mark that on your calendar
September 24.
And we've got information on our website
where you can get tickets.
Probably make a good date night.
You go around and taste all the different food.
And then also attended the Alabama
league of municipalities district
five congressional luncheon.
It was held at the Alabama veterans museum in Athens,
and would like to thank Congressman
Dale strong for coming out and giving us an update.
He talked about our footprint of space and defense
here in North Alabama, and also discussed the $13.5 million
grant that was secured for our second state veterans
cemetery that will be located here in North Alabama.
Congratulations to Madison, Alabama.
Latter day Saints on their groundbreaking.
I see charity out there.
Thank you for the invite and always including us on that.
That was really exciting.
It was a Saturday morning and it was beautiful.
All that.
We had someone from James Clemens or one
of our own students come out there and talk,
and I think that somebody from Huntsville
high was the other one.
You all correct me if I'm wrong.
I paid attention to the Madison student.
Sorry But it was beautiful.
So thank you again.
Actually, I paid attention to all of them.
It was good.
Congratulations to First National Bank on their five year
anniversary in town Madison.
We got to attend that as well.
And it was very nice.
So thank you.
First National Bank for trusting entrusting
Madison to for your location.
I'd also like to congratulate also
council member white and chief Williams
on leadership greater Huntsville.
It's going to be such an exciting year for you guys.
I'm so excited and I love seeing how we are
all involved in the community.
I'd also like to congratulate mayor Bartlett,
if you haven't seen already.
She is also named a yellowhammer 2026 woman of impact
for the state of Alabama.
Our own mayor.
So I was pretty excited about that.
And yeah, go ahead clap.
Yeah, that's a big deal.
It's for the state.
Yeah and I think you're going to the celebration on Thursday.
That'll be in Birmingham.
So congratulations.
And on top of all the other things
council member and chief that you're doing and you stay
involved.
So thank you for that.
One more reminder.
Tomorrow morning is the back to school breakfast
hosted by our Madison chamber.
It'll be at crosspoint church.
And it's at 7:30 AM so hope to see you all there.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. lessman.
District 6, Mrs. White.
Yes, I have a few items.
So first off, I'll have my second office hours
of this year from September.
On September 8, it will be here at City Hall from o'clock
PM to 2 o'clock o'clock PM.
So if you're interested in coming to speak in person,
you want to discuss anything, go over any information,
please come out.
The last one was successful.
One of the residents that came out
had a request that we put before council and we got that funded.
So they do work.
So come out if you'd like to speak in person again,
that's September 8 and I'll be sending
it out in my monthly email and putting it on social media.
Also, if you're interested in serving on any boards,
there are openings available on the Zoning Board
of adjustment and appeals, as well as the Industrial
development board.
There's information on the city's website,
and it's also located on my Facebook page.
So if you search, you'll see you can go apply.
There's an application for boards and committees
that you can find on the city's website.
So if you know anyone who's interested
or if you're interested, please feel
free to reach out if you want more
information on either board.
So we can provide that to you.
Also the last planning commission meeting,
the planning commission approved plans
for a new 23 acre public park that's adjoining Madison farms.
The park is planned to include three
athletic fields, a playground, dog park, pavilions,
restrooms, and parking.
The park does not yet have an official name,
and Mayor shared in her recent newsletter
that the city is interested in hearing
from individuals or organizations who may
be interested in naming rights.
So if that's something that you're interested in,
please reach out to the city.
You can reach out to the mayor's office via email
for more information there.
And lastly, just like a few other people
said about the storms that came through,
I got a call that night that there was a tree down
that was crossing a street.
It wasn't in my district, but someone called me and I reached
out to public works, and literally within 12 minutes
there was a crew out there removing the tree,
and it was a safety hazard.
So I just wanted to shout out Kent from public works
and this whole team and department
for just being very responsive even to us, and just like Billy
said, it does feel good when someone is able to call
and we're able to provide a solution.
So thank you.
I know everyone, all departments were involved, in making
sure that cleanup happened.
So just wanted to appreciate them publicly.
And thank you all for your congrats.
Thank you, Mrs. White Mr. Jackson, district seven.
Yes thank you.
So first off, I want to give a thanks
to the residents and exhibitors who came
to ask your city on August 13.
I really enjoyed the conversations that we had there.
Next, a couple announcements from the school system
on Friday, September 4 from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM Woody Anderson
Ford will donate $30 per test drive taken to Madison city
schools, and the test drives will take place in the central
office parking lot.
There's no cost to participants, although they
must be 18 or older, so don't bring your high schoolers
and the registration link will be or is on the school
system's Facebook page.
You can check there for details.
Second Madison Police Department is partnering with the FBI
to provide internet safety awareness presentation
that's going to be on Tuesday, September
8 at 5:30 at James Clemens high school in the Harvard room.
And that's intended for parents and educators only.
And then a couple announcements related
to Madison Arts Alliance.
There's a new art exhibit by Raven Mobley at the Madison
Public Library, and it will be on display for five more weeks.
And then finally, for them.
Invitation to battle of the bands on Saturday,
September 12, starting at o'clock PM.
In addition to live music, they'll
have food vendors and activities for kids like face painting.
And keep an eye on their Facebook page for more details
because those are forthcoming.
And then finally, I wanted to put out a plug
for the adopt a spot program.
We're always looking for individuals and organizations
to improve our community's appearance.
All litter prevention supplies will be provided
and if interested, please email cleanup up medicine at gmail.com
is battle of the bands at the stadium.
Probably Oh thank you.
That's at home place park.
Oh home place park.
OK very good.
Good deal.
Thank you, Mr. Jackson.
I also have a couple of things to share.
The library is now accepting book donations.
They took a little bit of a break
because they got flooded over the summer with book donations,
but they're accepting more donations.
And the next library book sale will be October 24.
Some friends and I attended the SEC trivia game
in support of the Madison Police Foundation,
and we came in a respectable fifth out
of 20, which is really good.
All the women were glad that they brought their husbands
and it raised thousands of dollars for MPF.
Very thankful for that.
Also want to mention that we have started a system
with Madison utilities, and I'd like to shout out to Reese Lee
that every Friday he is sharing with me
what their current projects are, what their future projects are.
The city communication department is sharing it.
Several of us are sharing it on our Facebook page.
And then this is just my personal thoughts.
To address the two folks that spoke on flock cameras,
I think unfortunately, and again, this
is just totally my opinion.
Flock cameras kind have a little bit of a negative reputation
because with everything that comes along, that's good.
There's often abuse.
But what they are is they're license plate readers.
So in Georgia, where we were over the weekend,
you see a sign that says flock cameras coming.
And so you're aware that it's coming.
And what it does is it reads the license plate.
And if there is a be on the lookout
or watch out for this car successfully.
Within the last two weeks, I've read articles
about finding kidnapped people.
In fact, one was in Atlanta.
The woman had a baby in the car, ran into the store real quick.
I mean, it's hard for those of us that have had a baby.
You lose your brain cells for the first six months of life.
It takes a while to get them back.
And so she ran into the convenience store,
left the keys in the ignition.
Somebody took the car and the baby.
They found the baby within 15 minutes.
Are there abuses.
Yes there are.
Do the benefits outweigh the abuses.
In my humble opinion, they absolutely do so.
Again, there are license plate readers.
If you're a law abiding citizen and you don't have your license
plate in the system for a bank robbery or a kidnapping,
I personally don't think you have anything to worry about.
So I just wanted to share my personal thoughts on that.
We will move now into board committee and appointments,
and we have one for the Madison city disability
advocacy board, Mr. McKay.
Yes, we do have one tonight.
We had an opening.
So this appointment is for Sarah long to place seven.
This is a home run.
This is an individual that has a master's of special education.
She's a community volunteer.
A lot of experience.
She's already got ideas and initiatives she's
bringing forward to the Board.
It will be a fantastic appointment if we go with her.
Thank you.
I would there be any other nominations.
Seeing none, we will accept the appointment of MS Sarah
long to place 7 and thank her in advance for her service.
We'll move on to public hearings.
And we do have two this evening, Mr. Davidson.
Yes good evening.
The first public hearing is proposed ordinance 2026 236,
which is a request to zone 11356 cardinal drive R1
a upon annexation, which is later on your agenda.
The property is located on the East side of cardinal drive,
North of Powell road.
Property contained is a 0.62 acres
and contains an existing home that was constructed in 1997.
This item was considered by the planning commission
at their June meeting and both staff
and the planning commission are supporting the requests.
Thank you, Mr. Davidson.
At this time, we'll open the public hearing
and ask if there's anyone here that
would like to address council and Mayor on this subject
to come forward.
And seeing none, we'll close the public hearing
and move into consideration for a vote in a second.
Move to approve.
Second I do something wrong.
OK have a motion for Mrs. white and a second for Mr. Goodson.
Any comments or questions.
May I have the vote, please.
Council Member white.
Aye council member.
Goodson Aye.
Council president.
Aye council member.
Beard council member McGarvey.
Aye council member.
Lee Aye.
Council Member.
Jackson Aye.
Thank you.
The ordinance passes.
The second public hearing is proposed ordinance 2026 249,
which is a request to rezone 10569
green road R1 a upon annexation, which is
also later on in your agenda.
The property is located on the West Side of burr green road,
just North of Cedar acres road.
Property is 2.42 acres and contains an existing home
that was constructed in 2017.
This item was considered by the planning commission
at their June meeting as well, and
staff and the planning commission
are supporting the request.
Thank you, Mr. Davidson.
At this time, we'll open the public hearing
and ask if anyone is here to address
this particular property.
Seeing none, we will close the public hearing
and move into consideration.
Motion to approve.
Second I have a motion for Mr. Goodson
and a second from Mrs. White.
Any comments or questions.
Seeing none may have the vote, please.
Council Member.
Goodson Aye.
Council Member.
White Aye.
Council president.
Aye council member.
Sawyer council member McGarvey.
Aye council member.
Lee Aye.
Council Member.
Jackson Aye.
Thank you.
The ordinance passes.
Now we'll move into department reports,
and we'll begin with engineering.
This is great.
I don't have to change the microphone
while I follow planning.
That's a lot taller than me.
All right.
So tonight I'm going to do a short presentation
on the 2027 2027 transportation plan for the 2019 gas tax funds.
This year, our proposed projects are
several paving several collector roads,
including the Downtown streets.
As councilman Goodson was talking about earlier,
we want to do Church Street, College Street, Arnett street,
and Front Street with these funds,
as well as a pretty good length of County Road.
I've got a map on the following slides I can show you.
These also want to do some structural concrete repairs
to the bridge on Madison Boulevard between Westchester
and next technology down near the alleys and the big A
gas station down there.
And then just allocating another $81,000 for other small
road or paving projects, so a total
of a total budget of $881,000.
Go to the maps.
There's the section of County Road.
It's 3525 linear feet from production Avenue
North to the railroad overpass.
That area is worn down.
It's starting to unravel.
It's very difficult to see the striping down there.
There's not any RPMs, the reflectors on the street.
And it just it's needed it for a while.
This is the time to do it.
And then there's the Downtown area.
North is to the left there, including Church Street, College
Street, Arnett street, and Front Street,
various links of those roads.
I am extremely glad to see the word mill at the front
of mill and resurface for many of those downtown roads,
Michael.
Yeah it's needed.
And to your point is well taken that they're not
going to pave it until later.
And the way it is now is the way it will be until then.
It's not a lot worse now than it was before, frankly.
It's needed.
It's definitely needed over there.
But this is the new project we've been
waiting for before we do this.
So this is the right time to do it.
And then this is the section of the bridge to do
some repairs to the concrete.
I think there's eight girders and just some
structural concrete repairs.
I have a couple questions.
Are there more slides.
That's it I guess the first one was how
were these projects selected.
So every year we identify a good handful of collector roads.
And some of those like this one was
selected because of the project that's going on over there.
The downtown roads need to be paved.
They needed to be paved for years.
Now that we're getting on the correct side of the Madison
utilities repairs.
This is the time to do those.
And then County Road again.
It's well needed.
That one speaks for itself.
We'll do this section.
The next section will be coming in future years.
And then the second question, which
I know it's not in the presentation,
but I was wondering if you could give an update on the Balch
and Gooch roundabout.
Roundabout? sure.
So the last time I was asked, we were waiting on overhead power
to relocate.
That's now been done.
And so now we're waiting on AT&T. So
AT&T has got their design done.
They were taking it to QC today I think.
So if it passes that they have I think
they said six customers over there
in the area that are still on copper.
So they have to work that out to try to either switch them over
to fiber or figure out a workaround to keep
those properties in service.
But so now we're waiting on are we in a position to give them
a deadline, please do this by September 15 or we'll relocate
and you can come back when we're done.
I mean, I feel like this project should have honestly kind
of been done by now.
We were hoping to do the roundabout in the summer
before school started, and here we are.
We haven't even started it, and I know a lot of it
is out of your hands.
I'm wondering if we can take some control.
AT&T is being pretty responsive, so this is pretty good for AT&T.
We got back with those guys once we got the overhead power done
and they already had the design complete.
So this is pretty good.
A lot of the issues over there had to do
with right of way acquisition.
And one property just kind of took a long time to do.
So you have a projected start date for construction.
I know I'm going to put you on the spot.
Sorry this is essentially one of September.
Can we say by the end of the year.
I would love to say we could start this year.
If we can't start this year, can we
move to the baulch and Browns Ferry roundabout
where there are no issues.
I'm just frustrated.
I understand we're still I mean, we're
not quite we're working on right of way
acquisition for that one too.
And so we're not stopping.
So we've got to get right of way.
We've done the appraisal.
So we're working on that one to just
then we got to bid that one.
And then by then, it's just I know
council president are you proposing
postponing the roundabout.
No I'm just saying that if it is delayed on its own,
can start work on another project
rather than holding on to this one.
I mean, it seems like we've been in a holding pattern on Gooch
for a year.
We talked about this at the last council, with the last council,
and here we are, 9 months into the new council.
And I'm just saying that if Gooch aren't going to be started
anytime soon, can we put our energy toward another traffic
improvement work.
Work is already being done to facilitate the construction
of Gooch roundabout.
Is it OK.
I mean, utilities are being relocated.
Located regarding the construction.
Yeah, I think Madison Hospital is really anxious for sure.
All we all completed and some of the things that
lead to the delay are beyond our control of way acquisition
can be more difficult on that stretch
where we don't have it's not just property located
inside Madison, so part of it is in the County,
depending on what people want for their property
and the negotiations that take place,
we've tried to move that along as quickly as possible
and also improve our processes in terms
of how we check on the work on right of way acquisition.
So it's something that we continue to work on,
but it's really out of his hands.
As soon as we're ready to pave, though, we can pave fast.
All right.
Good deal.
Thank you.
Any other comments real quick.
Can we go back to the last slide.
Well, the other map.
Yes so Neil, I'm trying to see we've talked about it before.
And Billy, this is your district.
But where the street and the sidewalk.
How it's mismatched.
Will that be fixed.
On the corner say, the corner of mill and church that far North,
is Has that been milled?
Will that be.
I know that Mill Road is not on there,
but I'm just looking at Church Street
and I'm wondering if this construction does
that help solve that issue.
This won't this is just milling and OK,
we did Mill Road two years ago.
Maybe OK.
We did Mill Road, but separate from this,
we're working with engineering in-house,
is working with public works to find a solution there to make
it a much more safe transition.
OK crossing that and then going around the corner,
because I'm with you, it's very difficult
to get if you're on the South side of Mill, coming down
and try to go around that corner,
you're basically having to walk in the gutter
to get around and up to the sidewalk,
and then there's stairs on that piece of sidewalk, too.
Yeah, there was a safety issue.
It's not a great situation for pedestrians over there.
And like I said, we're working on an in-house project
to do that.
Do that.
And that's something that we'll coordinate with public works.
But this is just milling and resurfacing with our contractor.
They'll come in.
They'll mill them, they'll do them all.
It might take three weeks or something like that.
And then just making sure it was still being tracked
separate from this.
OK thanks for thinking of us, though, Erica.
Yeah no problem.
And I would like to thank you for emailing this to us.
This helps us to have it, for future reference.
And to know what's coming and be prepared to ask questions.
I have a question.
I didn't receive it by email I sent it to I can't remember,
I sent it to you specifically, or
if I sent it to all of council, I think it was only.
Yeah, OK.
I didn't get it either.
I will forward it tonight.
My apologies.
I thought we all got it.
I will send that.
Michael, I've got a softball question.
I'll give you an easy one here.
Can you go back to the County line slide
real quick so that new East West streets pretty much where
that arrow is right there.
Is there a status update on that thing, the new one
that's going to jet plex?
I think it is.
That's correct.
So that one they're working.
They're under construction right now.
They've got most of the base done.
There's a little bit of undercut,
so there might be a change order coming for that,
but so far we've been able to wrap it up under contingency.
So if there were no other additions we're still good.
But there may be a change order coming for that.
But that's moving along just fine.
We're getting into the best part of the year
to do that work on this kind of land.
And this is one of my favorite projects.
We're just out there working.
We're not bothering anybody.
Nobody's pulling in traffic.
We're not stopping anybody.
The schools aren't panicking.
This is a good project we like.
Is that going to be named jet plex?
Is that new street stub called jet plex?
That is going to be that's actually
going to be royal drive.
That's going to be a detached section of royal drive.
And then this phase I of that project
will also be a traffic signal right about there.
And then working with mayor's office and different avenues
to try to move on to phase Ii in the next fiscal year,
at least starting the design on that,
try to cross the Creek and the floodplain
and the floodway way and the wetlands.
Everything else that's over there.
Yep any other comments or questions.
OK well thank you.
This does not need any kind of a vote or anything.
We just thank you for everything you do
and for bringing us up to date.
All righty.
Thank you, Mr. Smith.
With facilities.
I just feel like I should do a motion to approve.
I could tell you already.
You got five opportunities for opportunities coming right now.
Facilities, Grant.
Apartments got four items for your consideration tonight.
First is resolution 2026158.
Our awarding bid number 2026009 ITB for janitorial services
for city facilities for Barzal servicing, LLC,
for a monthly amount of $8,442 to be paid from
facilities and grounds budget.
This is for Madison meeting Hall and community center.
Move to approve.
Second I have a motion for Mrs. lessman
and a second for Mr. Goodson.
Any comments or questions.
Seeing none may have the vote, please.
Council Member.
Lessman Aye.
Council Member.
Goodson Aye.
Council president.
Aye council member.
Beer council member McKay.
Aye council member.
White Aye.
Council Member.
Jackson Aye.
Thank you.
The resolution passes.
Next resolution 2026305 authorizing a contract agreement
with Struthers recreation for the purchase and installation
of three shade equipment and for benches at Sunshine Oaks
in the amount of $38,416.21 to be paid from facilities around
neighborhood park account.
Move to approve.
Second, have a motion from Mrs. white and a second from Mrs.
lessman.
Any comments or questions.
Yeah where will these be located or where.
At the playground.
We don't have any shade where we have the fenced
in playground seating.
OK, so this is just for people watching our kids.
Probably we're not going to rent these spaces out.
Got it.
OK I just wanted to thank MS zingarelli.
I had a few questions about this item,
and she got them answered for me, so thank you.
Great all existing seating will have covering now the three
different areas there.
Playground area.
I'm very familiar.
Thank you.
Very good.
We have a motion for Mrs. white and a second for Mrs. lessman.
May have the vote, please.
Council Member white.
Aye council member.
Lessman council president.
Aye council member.
Beard council member.
Gibson Aye.
Council Member McGarvey.
Aye council member.
Jackson Aye.
Thank you.
The resolution passes.
Next is proposed ordinance 2026295
declaring vacant track of land.
0.93 acres in size and located at Kaiser Boulevard as surplus.
The first reading was August the 10th.
Move to approve.
Second I have a motion from Mrs. white and a second from Mrs.
lessman.
Any comments or questions.
May I have the vote, please.
Council Member white.
Aye council member.
Lessman Aye.
Council president.
Aye council member.
Beer council member.
Gibson Aye.
Council Member McGarvey.
Aye council member.
Jackson Aye.
Thank you.
The ordinance passes.
And last is resolution 2026306, authorizing brokerage service
agreement with crunkilton associates, LLC
for the sale of the vacant tract of land
located at Kaiser Boulevard.
Motion to approve.
Second I have a motion for Mr. McKay
and a second for Mrs. White.
Any comments or questions.
May I have the vote, please.
Council Member McKay.
Aye council member.
White Aye.
Council president.
Wrobleski Aye.
Council Member.
Goodson I council member.
Lessman I. Council Member.
Jackson I thank you.
The resolution passes.
Thank you, Mr. Smith.
Chief Williams with fire.
Have resolution number 2020 6-307 are authorizing a letter
of consent to the city of Gadsden
regarding use of the radio frequency for FCC purposes.
Move to approve.
Second, have a motion from Mr. Goodson and a second from Mrs.
lessman.
Any comments or questions.
Yes I was wondering what is the city
or what has the city used this frequency for itself
in the past.
So the city of Gadsden is seeking
to renew their FCC license.
They let it lapse, I think unknowingly.
So they're trying to get their FCC license
back just to be in compliance.
And anyone within 88 kilometers of their city,
they have to notify them that there's a small overlap.
And it's a minuscule overlap to our city,
so there's no impact to us.
May I have the vote, please.
Council Member Gibson.
Aye council member.
Lessman Aye.
Council president.
Aye council member.
Beer council member McGarvey.
Aye council member.
White Aye.
Council Member.
Jackson thank you.
The resolution passes.
Thank you.
Chief now we have legal.
Good evening.
I have one item for your consideration tonight.
This is resolution 2026 30308.
This authorizes the renewal of the agreement
with Madison County for solid waste collection and disposal.
And the amount.
And this amount represents the amount that the County Bills
the city directly for Limestone County
residents is 67,450 per month, to be paid from customer fees.
There is no increase to customer fees,
and they've proposed a flat rate this time.
So we avoid the task of counting the number
of Limestone County residences as they fluctuate every month.
So move to approve.
Second, have a motion from Mrs. Lassman
and a second from Mrs. White.
Any comments or questions.
May I have the vote, please.
Council Member lisman.
Council Member.
White Aye.
Council president.
Aye council member.
Beer council member.
Gibson Aye.
Council Member McGarvey.
Aye council member.
Jackson Aye.
Thank you.
The resolution passes.
Thank you Mr. Davidson, you're back.
The first item for planning is proposed.
Ordinance number 2026 237.
And this is assenting to the annexation of property located
at 11356 cardinal drive, East side of cardinal drive,
North of Powell road into the city of Madison.
First reading for this item was on July 13.
Move to approve.
Second I have a motion from Mrs. white
and a second from Mr. Goodson.
Any comments or questions.
Seeing none.
May I have the vote, please.
Council Member.
White Aye.
Council Member.
Gibson Aye.
Council president.
Aye council member.
Beard council member McGarvey.
Aye council member.
Lee Aye.
Council Member.
Jackson Aye.
Thank you.
The ordinance passes.
The next item is proposed.
Ordinance number 2026 250.
This is assenting to the annexation of property located
at 10569 Bergeron road on the West Side of Bergeron road,
North of Cedar acres drive into the city of Madison.
And the first reading for this item was also on July 13.
Move to approve.
Second, have a motion from Mrs. white
and a second from Mr. McKay.
Any comments or questions.
Seeing none may have the vote, please.
Council Member.
White Aye.
Council Member McKay.
Aye council president.
Aye council member.
Beard council member Gibson.
Council Member.
Suen council member.
Jackson thank you.
The ordinance passes.
The next item is proposed.
Ordinance number 2026 298.
This is the vacation of a pedestrian easement located
within 107 Cabot circle, which is
lot seven of Biltmore bend of heritage plantation subdivision.
And this is the first reading for this request.
So this will be back to you at your next meeting.
OK we'll see you on the 14th for that one.
And the final item for planning is proposed
ordinance number 2020 6-300.
This is the vacation of a utility and drainage easement
located within 117 Kensington drive, which
is lot 50 of block three of Woodfield
subdivision first edition.
And this is also the first reading, so this will be back
to your next meeting as well.
Great thank you.
We'll see you on September 14.
Thank you, Mr. Davidson.
Are there any miscellaneous business or announcements.
Seeing none, I would like to invite MS zingarelli
to come forward, please.
Ask that the following declaration
be reflected in the minutes.
As the city attorney, I request that the city council enter
an executive session pursuant to Alabama code section 3625, a 7,
a 3 in order to discuss with the city's attorneys
the legal ramifications of and legal options for pending
litigation, as well as controversies not yet being
litigated, but imminently likely to be litigated
or imminently likely to be litigated
if the governmental body pursues a proposed course of action.
It is my opinion that this open Meetings Act exception is
applicable to a discussion of these matters
with legal counsel, and this discussion
does not constitute a waiver of the attorney client privilege.
I move that we enter into executive session for
the purpose of such discussion.
2nd May I have the roll call, please.
Council Member.
Lessman here.
I I thought you said oh.
So I heard roll call.
I'm good.
Council Member.
White Aye.
Council president.
Aye council member.
Sawyer council member.
Goodson Aye.
Council Member McGarvey.
Aye council member.
Jackson Aye.
With majority consent, the council
will now enter into executive into executive session.
Council is not expected to reconvene
or take any votes following the executive session.
So this concludes our meeting tonight.
Thank you so much.
Just a quick reminder on mentioned
earlier the taste of Madison.
Tonight is the last time you can get your discounted
tickets early bird.
Early bird ends tonight $75 if you do it tonight.
It's 90 after tonight.
So good to know.
All right.
Thank you.
We're adjourned from the meeting.
I'm usually the one that messes up the.