Photo courtesy of Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
David Thompson
David Thompson, executive pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church, was jokingly invited to stay in his lane during Monday’s meeting of the Homewood City Council’s Public Works Committee.
Thompson came to the committee seeking permission to work in the right of way on Manhattan Street to repair a damaged curb.
“We saw the sidewalk on the back on Manhattan in the curb had some damage,” Thompson said. “It's had some damage for a while. We were wanting to make those improvements. I talked to our city council folks and just said, hey, we are willing to do that if we need to make that change ourselves. They said, come to this meeting and we'll discuss it.”
Berkley Squires, the city’s head of public services, prompted laughter from the committee as he responded to the minister. “You need to stick to preaching,” he said.
Squires continued: “If you want to fix it, you can or not. I can have my guys come do it.”
Thompson didn’t argue, saying, “We would love for your guys to do it.”
The committee dropped the matter, leaving it for the public service to handle.
Following the meeting, Thompson said the church was willing to do the work if it needed to, if given permission. “But it's awesome because it's the city's thoroughfare for them to handle that problem and make sure that they do it the right way,” he said. “We would hate to do it and then do it the wrong way.”
The Finance Committee sent to the full council a recommendation to authorize the mayor to sign a contract with UAB for medical direction services.
“It is required by law,” Fire Chief Brandon Broadhead said. “We have a doctor oversee our EMS services and we would like to use Dr. (Shea) Duerring. What we’re looking for is a little more involvement in our program and (the current doctor) just doesn’t have the time.”
The Planning and Development Committee did not meet because it lacked a quorum. As a result, a request to set a public hearing to consider rezoning 2917 Linden Avenue from C-1 office building district to C-4(a) retail shopping district will be sent back for the committee's meeting on July 1.
