Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Homewood Council President Alex Wyatt talks during a meeting of the council's Finance Committee on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024.
Homewood residents who want to change the city’s form of government will have to wait until at least April before they can vote to make that happen.
City Council President Alex Wyatt gave an update on the process of possibly shifting to a city manager-council government during the council’s Finance Committee meeting on Monday.
“The first step, or the next step, is to get a petition,” Wyatt said. “We have to do a petition that's signed by a certain number of voters. That's the next process. We're hoping to have someone in place to handle that petition here in the next few weeks.”
According to state law, the petition must be signed by 4% of the city’s population at the last census, which would be 1,057 people, and all of those must be qualified voters in the city of Homewood.
The council president said work already is being done to draw up new council districts according to the census data. The council hopes to offer a government that will have four council members elected by district and a mayor who is elected at large who votes as part of the council.
That compares to the current 11-member council, which includes two representatives from each of five council districts and a council president elected at large.
Under the proposed city manager-council form of government, the city manager would handle the day-to-day operations of the city.
“Once we get those two things, once we get the map and the petition completed, then the referendum has to happen within 90 days of the petition being submitted to the probate court,” Wyatt said. “Once we have an idea of when the petition will be completed, then we can schedule the referendum.”
Homewood will have to wait until voting machines are available. Those machines now are scheduled for use in the March 4 general election primaries.
“That's why we're looking at some time in April,” he said. “The earliest (a referendum could happen) would be April.”
If a majority of voters agree to the change in government, that change would not happen until November 2025 when the new council takes office.
“Assuming that it passes at the referendum, it would be for the November of ’25, when the new council takes place after the election,” Wyatt said. “This (current) form of government will stay until that point. The only difference will be that we will – if this goes through – we would endeavor to hire a city manager that would sit without all of their duties until such time as the as the new government took place. But that would allow the transition to be in place and wouldn't require a year after the new government took its seats to find someone.”
An impromptu report came during the Finance Committee meeting as Barry Smith gave her fellow council member a look at renderings of budgeted upgrades to Central Park. Smith is the council’s liaison to the Park Board.
Rendering courtesy of city of Ho
A rendering of upcoming changes at Homewood Central Park in Homewood, Alabama
“I've been able to see all the plans, but nobody else has,” she said. “I just kind of want everybody to see.”
Smith’s excitement over the project was more than evident.
“We've never had a playground in the city that was fully accessible to anybody,” she said. “The fact that we're going to have one that people in wheelchairs can access, kids in wheelchairs ... They can play with their friends on the same toys when previously they would have had to sit on the sidelines and just watch everybody else have fun.
“I love it. I do love it,” Smith continued. “I think it's a fantastic thing, and I'm so excited about it.”
The Park Board liaison added that she’s excited that the caterpillar structure that has long been a staple of the park will live on in a repurposed form.
“I think it came to the park in either the late '70s or early '80s, so it was way, way, way beyond current playground standards,” Smith said. “It just doesn't fit what playgrounds do anymore for safety and all those things. They had started thinking in advance of a creative way to keep him there in the park. It does mean a lot to people, and they were very aware of that.”
Parts of the caterpillar likely will be used as part of the signage at the park.
During the council meeting later Monday night, the council:
- Granted permission for the Homewood Athletic Foundation to host its Cornapalooza fundraising event on the SOHO Plaza on St. Patrick’s Day (March 17).
- Granted a request for a retail liquor license for Slice Pizza and Brewhouse at 1010 Oxmoor Road, pending approval from the police and fire departments.
- Approved the amended development plan for 800 Lakeshore Drive for Samford University to build a five-story, 515-bed freshman residence hall.
- Accepted the 2022-2023 annual report by the Stormwater Management Authority on behalf of Homewood. That report is to be submitted to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management by Jan. 31.
- Granted a special ABC retail liquor license for more than 30 days for Luca Lagotto and Mercato Lagotto at 1722 28th Ave. S., Suite 100. That approval is dependent on approval from the police and fire departments.
- Delayed consideration of requests for sign variances for Southpoint Bank at 1720 28th Ave. S. The matter will go back to committee on Jan. 22 and then for a public hearing before the full City Council on Jan. 29. Wyatt said that bank officials who were not at Monday’s meeting need to be at the committee meeting and the next council meeting. “It would probably be a good idea to convey to them that the people that they think are important to hear this issue probably should be heard at committee and at the public hearing,” the council president said. “We are frustrated with the way this has gone. We're frustrated, I think, with the initial request. I think we were frustrated with the fact that we were supposed to have it heard tonight.”
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