Council vote puts Rec Center on schedule for 2014

It took meeting on two consecutive nights, but a plan for financing and paying for Homewood’s new Parks and Recreation Building has been approved.

At a special called meeting of the Homewood City Council on Nov. 8, the council approved a resolution authorizing a 30-year repayment plan for a proposed $16 million bond to finance the center. Although the resolution received some opposition – approved 7-3 in the absence of Council President Brue Limbaugh – its passing means that tentatively the center is on schedule to be completed before summer 2014.

The three dissenting votes on the resolution were cast by recently elected council members Britt Thames, Jenifer Champ Wallace and Michael S. Hallman, who indicated in a called meting the night before that they weren’t comfortable approving the resolution without more time to review the bond structure and repayment plan. Members Champ Wallace and Thames also indicated they desired to review the proposal submitted by Mayor Scott McBrayer against other solicited proposals.

“It’s clear to me the mayor did do a diligent job gathering the proposals,” Thames said. “Although I didn’t reach the comfort levels of having a couple weeks to do it myself, I do feel like a lot of you have, and I’d just like to say, let’s move forward.”