April 28, 2021
Lee Evancho
Work Session
The work session begin with Councilwoman Mosser-Hamby discussing a proposed anti-tethering and cruelty to animals ordinance. This proposal is still in the beginning stages. She wanted to stress she is not looking to punish pet owners who have escape artists, but to protect animals who are tethered to stationary objects and often kept that way with little to no shelter. She is looking at similar ordinances in Anniston, Huntsville, and Birmingham along with several others. Aniston currently states a 10 ft limit while Birmingham has a time limit of anything in excess of 8 hours being a violation. Standard fines are often set at $50 for the first violation, $100 for the second, and $200 for the third. Mayor Willis did ask for all proposed ideas to be vetted by Chief Bush (Police Chief) Chief Bunn (Fire Chief and code enforcement). He pointed out that they and their officers will be the ones responsible for enforcing the ordnance so it was important that they are consulted prior to it going into effect. There was also extensive talk of making the ordnance broad to be more enforceable. Councilwoman Mosser-Hamby will be drafting a proposal for the next city council meeting. She will present it to the Chiefs prior to the meeting. If passed, this ordnance would go into effect immediately and would not be grandfathered in. While there was other discussion of licensing and pet registration, a decision was made to table that for a later meeting as it has larger scope.
Mayor Willis wanted to remind all council members of the Civil Service meeting being held on April 28, 2021 at 6pm. He wanted to ensure at least two members were present. They will be addressing the current applicant testing procedure. The goal is to streamline it so people can be vetted and hired in a more timely manner.
Each council member and city official was then asked if they had any pending items to discuss.
- Chief Bush had no issues.
- Chief Bunn had no issues.
- Clint Burns had no issues.
- Chasity Whetstone – City Clerk – Reminded all to get their economic interest form completed and to print a confirmation and submit to her.
- Tim McRae had no issues.
- Cathy Mosser-Hamby had no issues.
- Nick Bowles had no issues.
- Jeff Clendenning wanted to check on the status of cutting the trail back and was told by Joey Conger – Public Works Director that it would be started next week.
- Mayor Willis wanted to discuss the limb picking truck being down. The estimated cost to fix it is $15,000-$20,000. The inner boom arm was broken as well as other issues such as transmission. They are looking at trade-in costs vs. repair to see what is the best financial decision. The truck was purchased in 2013 or 2014. The hope is to have the truck back in use within 6 weeks.
- Call to Order
- Roll Call
- Nick Bowles
- Clint Burns
- Jeff Clendenning
- Cathy Mosser Hamby
- Tim McRae
- Wayne Willis
- Agenda – Unanimously Approved
- Minutes – Unanimously Approved
- Public Works
- Joey Conger will take temporally leave until June. He will be available via computer and phone.
- Chief Bush – no additions
- Chief Bunn – no additions; however Councilmen Bowles verified that a trailer was outside the city limits.
- Chastity Whetstone – no additions
- Administration – Mayor Willis wanted to remind all city council members that the budget will be on the agenda in June or July so they should start thinking of their input on that subject. He thinks the current budget is working well and doesn’t anticipate substantial changes.
- Council Member Remarks
- Cathy Mosser-Hamby – discussed the anti-tethering measure she is working on and stated she would have a proposal for the next meeting.
- Jeff Clendenning spoke with Chuck Cheatwood regarding the water issues. He will be happy to come down and talk to the city council. Councilman Clendenning also stated that the city needs to select an engineering firm. The procedure is to invite them all to submit credentials. From there the council would vote on who they feel was best and then look at their bid. If the cost is unacceptable the process would start again. Councilman Clendenning also mentioned he had spoken to Jason with East Alabama to let them know the bids would be accepted. The plan in place to start in October may have to be moved up to open up more grant opportunities. He also spoke with Senator Del Marsh about ideas and getting help pushing them through. He finally stressed again that on these types of bids the decision has to be based on credentials first and not on money. Money cannot be discussed until after credentials are approved and a company selected.
- Old Business – none
- New Business – none
- Spirit of Weaver – no representatives present. The next scheduled event is the Christmas Parade.
- Mayor’s Report – Demolition is under way for the buildings designated for destruction. He also reminded all of the civil service board meeting 4/28/21 at 6pm to discuss changing the application testing procedure to be used in hiring.
- Public Comments
- Greg Pierce asked Councilman Clendenning to explain the engineering discussion from earlier. He waned to understand what the process was and who the people mentioned were. The “Jason” referenced was identified again as an employee of East Alabama and the “Chuck” mentioned was from CDG who the city is currently using. Councilman Clendenning did state the Chuck was no longer with CDG and that is why the process to hire an engineering company will be transparent and credentials will be taken so there is no appearance of impropriety. Mr. Pierce then addressed Mayor Willis to ask if there were changes in emergency services. He was informed by Mayor Willis that the services will continue as is.
- Adjournment – Unanimously Approved
