Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Homewood Council President Alex Wyatt talks during council committee meetings on Monday, Oct. 16, 2023.
The city of Homewood will have to have a petition from residents in order to change to a city manager-city council form of government, Council President Alex Wyatt said Monday night.
The process begins with a petition that must include 10% of the people who actually voted in the most recent election, Wyatt said during City Council committee meetings Monday.
“The easiest way to do that is to hire someone to do it,” Wyatt said. “I think we're gonna start looking into groups that can handle that. I don’t anticipate there's gonna be a problem getting the petition. It’s just a matter of getting the work done.”
Here’s a roundup of other issues discussed during council committee meetings:
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Councilwoman Barry Smith gave her recommendations for updating the policy for using city credit cards. She repeated her wish to limit the use of city credit cards to department heads, who can grant permission for subordinates to use the card.
Smith spelled out that credit card use for travel would include registration fees for conferences and transportation, whether it be airfare or gas mileage. Use of the credit card for ride services like Uber or a taxi is also permitted.
“You can't use a city credit card to purchase alcohol, which is pretty standard across the board for any kind of corporate or whatever kind of credit card,” Smith said. “Then you submit your itemized receipts. This [current policy] says you have to submit stuff, but we just haven't really been doing that. It's just kind of making that happen.”
The Finance Committee also saw renderings of proposed changes for vehicular access to U.S. 31 and sent to the full council a recommendation to apply for grant money from the state for the project.
Applications for the Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program-II grants are due by Nov. 17, and grant winners should be selected in mid-January. The state is expected to award $40 million for 20 projects across the state.
The Finance Committee set 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 6 as the deadline to receive bids for communication services. Brian Wallace currently has the contract to provide those services, which include the city’s website, social media production and various miscellaneous communication efforts.
Wallace said he is asking for a three-year contract “so that the new council – whether it’s the new city manager or whatever – can have a year with me so it’s not somebody brand new who has no idea who I am and what I can do,” Wallace said. “It’s a call for bids for all of it, not just pieces of it, but all of it.”
The committee also recommended that the full council pay KONE Elevators and Escalators of USA $20,300 to maintain the jail elevator at the Public Safety Building and heard City Engineer Cale Smith’s request for funding for a new senior engineering inspector position.
“We have a lot of projects that are about to start some sidewalk projects and stormwater projects,” Smith said. “This position will be responsible for monitoring those from the city standpoint.”
PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
The Planning and Development Committee set a public hearing for 6 p.m. on Nov. 6 to consider an amended development plan at 202 State Farm Parkway. The plan calls for the construction of a 3,726-square-foot, single-story urgent care medical clinic called Fast Pace Urgent Care.
PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE
The Public Safety Committee set a public hearing for Nov. 27 to consider condemnation of an accessory structure at 2819 Crescent Avenue.
SPECIAL ISSUES COMMITTEE
The Special Issues Committee recommended approval of the Wine 10K event taking place on the City Hall Plaza on March 2, 2024. The plaza likely will be reserved from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m.
A committee member asked about wine being served so early. After some joked that "it's 5 o'clock somewhere," Joey Longoria of event sponsor Aspire Sports Institute explained.
“The very first year that we did it, International Wines had been a longtime sponsor of our organization,” he said. “They did mimosas the very first year, so we thought we'll just call it the Wine 10K and let them do mimosas in the morning.”
Longoria said participants drink wine when they have completed the course.
“We kind of promote running responsibly,” he said. “There’s just water and Gatorade [during the race].”
