Homewood City Hall
In a work session on June 12, an ad hoc committee of the Homewood City Council presented glimpses of how Homewood city government could look with a city manager.
The group made no recommendations as it presented pros and cons of three versions of the possible change in Homewood governance.
“All three have somebody full time with subject area expertise in operations of a city to whom department heads can reach out to,” committee member Kent Haines said. “One of the complexities of a city that’s grown to the size of a Homewood is having a mayor’s position that by its nature is a part-time position. It’s difficult to balance that with the size of the city government.”
Subcommittee members talked to Hoover City Administrator Allan Rice, Mountain Brook City Manager Sam Gaston and Vestavia Hills City Manager Jeff Downes. One subcommittee presented the Vestavia Model, another the Mountain Brook Model and the third subcommittee presented the Hoover Model.
“City manager is a career path that people take where they go and get a degree in public administration or some similar thing and they learn a lot about how to run and operate a city,” Haines said. “When electing an official, it’s not necessarily the case that they’re going to have a lot of experience in city administration.”
In Vestavia Hills, the mayor sits on the council and the manager reports to the council. The council is comprised of four at-large representatives and the mayor, who acts as president of the council.
Currently, Homewood has an 11-member council, believed to be the largest in the state.
Shifting to the Vestavia model would require approval by Homewood voters, thus requiring a significant campaign to educate the electorate.
Mountain Brook has used its model of government the past 30 years with Gaston serving as city manager.
“It’s an interesting model,” City Council member and committee member Carlos Alemán said. “It happens to work in Mountain Brook because they have a great city manager who is a remarkable leader there. He has a great relationship with department heads as well as his mayor. They’ve been able to cultivate something over the past 30 years that works for Mountain Brook.”
Alemán cited some ambiguity in the role of the mayor in this model.
“What does the mayor do?” he asked.
In examining other models, it was suggested that a full-time mayor might be needed as well as an administrator.
While a shift to the Mountain Brook model wouldn’t require a referendum, Alemán recounted Gaston saying he thought voters should have a say on it.
In presenting the Hoover model, committee member and Homewood Chamber of Commerce Director Meredith Drennen noted that a newly-elected mayor could change the city administrator’s role.
“’This works,’” she said, quoting Rice, “’because the mayor and I get along really well.’”
Drennen said the Hoover model has the potential to be a little less political as the administrator reports to the mayor instead of “trying to corral the city council into voting one way. You’re not necessarily trying to lobby.”
The potential of a change in administrators would cost the city the continuity that comes with other models, like that of Mountain Brook.
Council President Alex Wyatt said the full council is the only body that can make a recommendation on this change. He added that everyone on the committee is willing to talk to anyone as the process continues.
“I don’t think this is a short-term thing,” Wyatt said. “I do expect that there will be discussions over multiple meetings about this.”
During the council meeting that followed, the council approved an incentive package for Village Creek Development to redevelop the Econo Lodge property at 195 Oxmoor Road and 536 Cobb Street.
The agreement provides for the city to pay a $1.5 million tax incentive package to the developer over no more than a 10-year period. These tax incentives will come from business licenses and the non-educational portions of sales and use taxes.
The developer in turn agrees to spend at least $33 million within the first two years of the contract for land and site prep work.
Tom Walker, president of Village Creek Development, said the development will add 30 parking spaces to the West Homewood neighborhood, contributing significant connectivity with sidewalks and greenspaces.
Walker forecasted the development – which includes a pair of 5,000-square foot restaurants – will produce ad valorem taxes of $500,000 during the next 10 years and lodging taxes of about $1 million.
In other action, the council approved vacating a portion of the unnamed city right-of-way adjacent to 328 Redfern Street. It also approved a variance for a wall sign to be replaced at Homewood Barber Shop at 2724 18th Street South.
The council set 2 p.m. on July 18 as the time and date to open bids for repairs to the City Hall parking deck. Similarly, the council approved a bid opening date of 4:31 p.m. on July 10 for the Saulter Road Pocket Park project.
The panel also accepted the recommendation of the finance committee and amended the fiscal 2023 budget. The mayor was authorized to sign a maintenance agreement with Motorola for the public safety radio system.
Permission was granted for work to be done in the city right-of-way along Evergreen Avenue and Highland Road. That request had the approval of the public works committee.
