Council addresses greenway, water works issues
The council was four members short at its Feb. 9 meeting, but a quorum was present for the meeting to continue.
As part of the ongoing greenway project, Mayor Scott McBrayer was authorized to enter a hold harmless agreement with Jefferson County for any construction that enters county property or sanitary sewer easements. This agreement was necessary for Phase II of the project to move forward.
City Chief of Staff J.J. Bischoff said this phase will extend from Green Springs Avenue to the end of the Wildwood shopping center. The engineering department is still in the design phase, so Bischoff said he did not have a timeline for construction.
Additionally, council members approved the mayor to make a franchise agreement with the Birmingham Water Works Board for the maintenance and improvement of water pipelines.
Ward 5 Place 2 Representative Peter Wright brought up issues the city has had with repairing and paving roads after the BWWB’s projects. T.W. Jones, the BWWB assistant general manager of engineering and maintenance, said the city is free to call him directly or use a button on the board’s website to report problems at any time.
Jones said the board is introducing a new “T-patch” in its next project bid that will prevent water from getting under patched pavement and causing cracks. The board is also looking at using a new material to place between the pipelines and the patched pavement, as well as a thermal bonding system.
All of these solutions, he said, will make repaired pavement less likely to sink or crack.
“I don’t like people making fun of Birmingham Water Works’ patches any more than you like driving on them,” Jones said.
Other council business included:
-Merrick Wilson, a board member at the Chamber of Commerce, addressed the council about the chamber’s 75th anniversary and its plans to make the annual chamber guide into a full-sized magazine.
-New Chamber President Meredith Drennen also spoke about the Taste of Homewood, which will be on Feb. 19 and will include 25 local vendors.
-Approval to replace a 2010 police vehicle that was totaled.
-Approval of a variation to the tent ordinance for an event at Trinity United Methodist Church, located at 1400 Oxmoor Road.
-Awarding a bid for police vehicle equipment to Brasher Electronics. Two police SUVs will receive about $23,000 worth of new equipment.
- Voiding a previous loan agreement with Bryant Bank and approving a warrant ordinance for a loan of up to $1.45 million from Regions Bank. The loan will be used to buy two garbage trucks, a bucket truck and 15 Chevy Tahoes for the police department as part of the 2014-2015 budget.
-A public hearing was set for Feb. 23 to consider rezoning the properties at 301 Goodwin Crest Drive and 55 and 65 Bagby Drive from Commercial Office to General Business District. The properties would be used for a mini-storage facility.
-The Feb. 23 public hearing will also include consideration of a variation to the fence ordinance at 1810 25th Court S.
-The Homewood Farmers Market was approved to use the rear city hall parking lot between May 30 and Aug. 15, with the exception of July 4.
-The finance committee was asked to review an audit draft prepared by Carr, Riggs and Ingram for the 2014 fiscal year.
-The finance committee was also asked to consider amendments to the general and special revenue fund budgets for the 2015 fiscal year.
-A request to declare some fire department scuba equipment surplus was also sent to the finance committee. The fire department has received a grant for new equipment.
-A funding request for hosting the grand opening of the Community Gallery was also sent to the finance committee.
-The public safety committee was asked to consider a no-parking sign at the intersection of East Edgewood Drive and the alley adjacent to 101 E. Edgewood Drive.
-The public safety committee was also asked to consider installing a new turn lane on Valley Avenue.
-The special issues committee was asked to consider changing the name of 1st Avenue West to Montessori Way.