Jacksonville Work Session and City Council Meeting April 26, 2021

1. Call to order 
2. Roll call
   1. Tylor – Present
   2. Green – Present
   3. Wilson – Present
   4. Laster – Present
   5. Galloway – Present
3. Acceptance of minutes – Unanimously Accepted
4. Retail Strategies – Lacey Baccus – The purpose of the company is to be a middleman for cities and real estate and business interests. She specifically discussed the goals of the downtown strategies. The process is about 100 days. There is a kick off call, then a 3 month discovery phase outlined below. Once that discovery period is over there will be a five year implementation phase.  That first year is broken down into things that can be done now, years 1-2, and then years 3-5. They also do the same process for the citywide area also. The downtown and citywide can be done concurrently or one after the other. The city council asked about rate of success. The current renewal rate is 90%. The bottom line investment for the downtown strategy is $25,000 for the initial assessment. A one year contract is $40,000. For the three year term it is $40,000 for the first year, $35,000 for the second, and $30,000 for the third year. The academy portion is a $10,000 one time investment. Councilmen Wilson was vocal that he thought this was a good investment to do further research on and that it would be beneficial to the city. Councilman Laster wanted to understand the update process. She was told that each conversation is logged and reported to the city on a daily basis. There is quite a bit of give and take. There is also a yearly meeting and formal update. Councilmen Wilson wanted to know how they dealt with the individual business owners. It was explained that Retail Stratagies has a designated person who works with the business owners and helps them understand the vision and the benefits for working within the process. Councilman Green wanted to make sure this wasn’t about replacing the current businesses, but more about improving existing businesses and branching into new business. He also wanted  to stress the importance of saving historical buildings while balancing that with safety and practicality. A suggtion was made to form a subcommittee to discuss and come up with a proposal for the next meeting. The discovery plan is detailed below: 
   1.  Data and Demographics
   2. Walkability Assessment
   3. Downtown Real Estate Analysis
   4. Downtown Strategic Vision Workshop and host a town hall
   5. Downtown Design
   6. Downtown Policy/Administration
   7. Downtown Tourism and Promotion
   8. Downtown Economic Vitality
5. Ordinance regarding Small Cell Technology – Mark Stephens. – The basis of the ordnance was built off the Gadsden City ordnance. The consultant used by Gadsden advised this is a larger issue then just this one ordnance.  Mr. Stephens then introduced the consultant, Mr. David Andrews, with CMS. Mr. Andrews discussed the FCC guidelines and what expectations for Jacksonville might be. After questioning from the city council Mr. Andrews suggested passing the smaller ordinance and then also it would be needed to pass a larger ordnance that addresses all the required areas. He explained that if a city doesn’t have the ordinances in place then you have to follow what the state and FCC regulations are. The deadline to pass the ordnance is May 1st. If an ordnance is not passed by this time one cannot be passed later. If an is ordnance passed now it can be amended at a later date. 
6. Ambulance Service Discussion – The first decision was if Jacksonville wanted to be involved with the County 911 bid process for ambulance usage. The discussion revealed that Jacksonville is not interested in participating at this time, but may be in the future. A request was made for something from the Mayors Office formally stating that we would not be participating at the time with the Calhoun County 911 board. The Mayor stated that that needed to be added to the agenda and voted on during the city council meeting before that could be decided. 
7. Back to School Sales Tax Holiday – The Mayor will add this to the next meeting agenda. 
8. Police Department Air Filtration System – Chief Wood spoke about the concerns over COVID and that the shelter doesn’t provide a way to clean the air or to allow social distancing. The sanitizing methods that are being used are also degrading the floors so a better system needs to be in place. This is also true with the police and fire officers having to deal with the public. The equipment is being damaged while trying to stay sanitized. He also invited a demonstration of an alternate method to be COVID friendly and that can protect employees and citizens while not damaging equipment and the buildings. A representative from Extreme Air Solutions came to speak. He demonstrated the new Rainbow cleaner. This cleaner actually circulates and cleans the air so that during meetings the air is actually cleaned and 99.9% of the germs in the air. It cleans about 3000 square feet.  For the shelter the air would be completely cleaned in about 30 mins.  They also have smaller units for offices and could be used on different vehicles. They have a program that if you buy one you get one donated. These units can also be used to clean the vehicles and rooms as well. The council wanted to know how this would be purchased as far as per department or as a lump sum. A request was made to table this until it could be added to the agenda and have more discussion. 
9. Proposed Creekside Park – An all inclusive park has been suggested to serve all ages and abilities for the children of Jacksonville. There is  ongoing work between the city and PARD to look into various equipment and requirements to serve the full community. A discussion was held about the importance of keeping as many trees as possible. A suggestion was made to have a public hearing to invite public opinions and to hold a meeting at 5:30 on the next scheduled meeting date to discuss this matter publicly. No master plan has been formed at this time. 
10. Any other business – The Mayor reminded that a meal agenda needed to be removed from the agenda due to an issue with the permits. Also he noted that the Waste Water treatment plan was very detailed and what a good job that was done in drafting the plan. Councilman Taylor also mentioned the trees that were purchased through grants. He also mentioned that there were a few other grants he would like to pursue. 

City Council Meeting