Mayor names new Planning Commission, police task force

Homewood Mayor Patrick McClusky named four new members to the Homewood Planning Commission.

These four positions were filled because of expiring terms on the commission. The new commissioners are Giani Respinto, Paige Willcutt, Patrick Harwell and Winslow Armstead.

“I got a lot of great candidates who approached me or were sent to me,” McClusky said at the Feb. 22 City Council meeting.

The mayor also thanked the four members whose terms are expiring. Those members are Mark Woods, James Riddle, Jeff Foster and Billy Higginbotham.

“I know they have all done a very good job on the Planning Commission, and I wanted to say thank you to each one of you guys,” McClusky said.

The candidates he chose have backgrounds in a wide variety of aspects, he said, from real estate, planning and development, CPAs, local business owners and commercial business developers.

A commissioner’s term is six years, so the new commissioners’ terms will expire in 2027. The new commissioners had their first meeting at the March 2 Planning Commission meeting.

The mayor also recently named the members of the city’s new police task force. This is a joint task force of community members and Homewood Police Department leaders to evaluate the department’s policies and procedures, which first appeared on the City Council agenda in June 2020, following the May 25 death of George Floyd.

Those on the new task force are John-Mark McGaha, Lee Lavette, Lavona Wormely, Police Chief Tim Ross, George Terry, Mark Quimby, Mario Naevez, former councilor Mike Higginbotham, Jeff Walker and Mayor Patrick McClusky. The first task force meeting was March 18.