The Board of Commissioners of the City of Dothan, Alabama, met in regular session in the Commission Chambers of the Roy Driggers Municipal Building at 10:00 A.M., Tuesday, May 22, 2007 with the following members present: Mayor Pat Thomas, Associate Commissioners Larry Matthews, Amos M. Newsome, Jr., Paul Lee, Jason Rudd, Taylor Barbaree and Phillip Tidwell. Also present were City Manager Michael West, City Clerk Pam McCoy, Secretary Tammy Danner, who recorded the Minutes of the Meeting, and the local news media representatives.
Mayor Thomas called the meeting to order. Tim Stewart, IT Manager, then led in prayer, afterwhich Commissioner Rudd led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
Commissioner Tidwell moved that the Minutes of the Meeting of May 15, 2007, be approved, motion seconded by Commissioner Barbaree and unanimously approved.
Commissioner Lee presented and read a proclamation, proclaiming the week of May 20-26, 2007 as "Emergency Medical Services Week" in the City of Dothan. Dothan Fire Chief Larry Williams and EMS Captain Adrian Thomas were present for the proclamation.
Chief Williams presented the Award of Valor to Firefighter Paramedic Elmo Boyd for his heroic actions during an incident that happened March 23, 2007, which resulted in saving a man's life. Captain Thomas presented the John T. Ingram EMT of the Year Award to Firefighter Todd Phillips and the Paramedic of the Year Award to Firefighter Paramedic Blake Kelly.
Commissioner Larry Matthews entered the meeting at this time.
Commissioner Lee, along with Fred Clark, the new CEO of the Alabama Municipal Electrical Authority, presented the AMEA Scholarship Award to Brandon Seth Michael.
Matt Parker, President of the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce updated the Commission on the economic development activity going on in Dothan and the surrounding areas. Mr. Parker said recently, Dothan was recognized as a top southeast city for retirement. Dothan stands at the eighth lowest unemployment level per metro areas in the nation. Mr. Parker said this past year our market was identified as seeing the family median income grow 5.7% by the Center for Business and Economic Research. We are in the top tier in our state with income level growth. Mr. Parker said job growth, from January, 2006 to September, 2006, we saw 1200 more jobs added into our market. Mr. Parker said we have the highest per capita retail sales rate in the state again for about the eighth year in a row. When you look at population growth indicators we are seeing a really good growth period right now in our market. Mr. Parker said we have surpassed our ten year average from the previous decade. He said Houston County has grown at 8% from 2000 to 2006. The majority of that growth happens in Dothan because of the infrastructure and the availabilities. Mr. Parker said we are on pace right now to grow about 16% this decade. He said we are the seventh fastest growing area in the state. Mr. Parker said this past year brought about $30 million in investments with new and expanding industrial projects and 740 jobs. We are currently working on two distribution projects, one at Westgate and one in the Dothan/Houston County Distribution Park. Steel is supporting a lot of our smaller development businesses that are expanding. Building product manufacturing is very active. Mr. Parker said about 85% to 90% of the projects right now are looking for available buildings. He said our area has always been very attractive for customer service activity because of Fort Rucker, two-year colleges, four-year universities and our telecommunication infrastructure. Mr. Parker said we have looked at putting something downtown that has sufficient parking, maybe a speculate project. He said we need to look at that very hard. Mr. Parker said we have three industrial training projects going on right now; the second shift at Southeastern Sheet Metal; a window company that was recently announced and Pemco. Mr. Parker said the aviation college in Ozark is finishing their training facility, which will help all of the aviation sectors that we are trying to grow and develop in our marker area. He said the ThyssenKrupp AG's steel facility announcement in Mobile will have some ramifications in our market. Mr. Parker said looking at 2010 when that project is fully online it will create some primary manufacturing opportunities in our area. Mr. Parker said small business activity has been very good. The Houston County micro-loan program that we started less than two years ago, we have made seven loans leveraging about another half million and have retained 151 jobs. We have a revolving loan fund program that helps our small business base; they are going to refund the twelve regional planning and development commissions, giving them another $1 million or $2 million of capitalization to refund their revolving loan funds. Mr. Parker said as part of the downtown revitalization effort, we feel like we have a great opportunity to create a flex loan program to support some business development downtown. Mr. Parker said we are going to continue to focus on projects that we can win at. Our sectors right now are distribution activities, building product manufacturing, supporting our existing industrial base and looking at the fabricated metals, electronics, aviation, instrument control and the footloose manufacturing. Mr. Parker said we are seeing a good growth trend right here, but we have to continue to make improvements in education. We have a lot of positive things going on here; we only look for bigger and better things in that regard. Mr. Parker expressed appreciation to the Commission, Mayor, City Manager and all of the City staff for their support to help move this community forward.
Mr. Parker reminded everyone that on June 5th, there will be a referendum for "Amendment One", which will increase the Capital Investment Trust Fund of Alabama from $350 million in bonding indebtedness to $750 million. That fund allows us to compete for big projects. It is an important vote to support a lot of big projects in Alabama. Mr. Parker said we need to vote yes to make sure the fund continues. He said when you are going for projects that size you have to have some resources.
Commissioner Newsome said District 2 inherited Haven Drive in 2000, along with the mess on Haven Drive, i.e. the heavy equipment. He said in the last four years he has not seen any change. City Manager West said we did check into that, but he would have to look at our records to see what the ultimate determination was in that case. Mr. West said he would check into it and get an update for the Commission.
Commissioner Matthews said there have been some dogs running loose along Allen Road. Mr. West said traps were set and two of the animals were caught. Commissioner Matthews said we need to strengthen our leash law. The animals need to be on a leash or in a fence. Mr. West said we are working on that with Sav-a-Pet and other volunteer groups. He said one of the things that will come forward is a recommendation that even if an animal is on an individual's own private property they will have to be restrained somehow, either behind a fence or on a leash if they are out side. Mr. West said the Commission will have to decide if it is willing to take that step.
Commissioner Matthews said there are some sink holes behind 815 Dellwood Avenue that need to be looked into. Commissioner Newsome said they are on private property, but the City of Dothan has an easement for the underground there. Jerry Corbin, Public Works Director said the City has a storm drainage easement on that. Mr. West said he would have staff look into it.
Commissioner Newsome asked if the City has been prosecuting people who have not been having their dogs on leashes? He said we need to go after the dog owner. Mr. West said unless the officer physically sees the dog and unless the individual is willing to sign a warrant then we have nothing to go on. Police Chief John Powell said we cite individuals for violations of the animal ordinance and it does go to court. Then it runs the process through the court system. Commissioner Newsome asked if we are getting very many of those? Chief Powell said the two animals that Mr. West referred to were captured in cages and taken to the animal shelter. He said we do not know who the owners are. Mr. West said if they call, there are fees associated with getting an animal out. Chief Powell said there is a $15.00 impoundment fee and associated fees that add up as far as housing the animals. Commissioner Newsome said if someone calls and has to pay a $15.00 fee to get their animal we should cite that person right off because they are admitting that is their dog. Chief Powell said there are cases where animals come up missing by no fault of the owner. They show up at the animal shelter. He said in those particular cases if they come in and pay the $15.00 impoundment fee they will get their animal back. Mr. West said a lot of these animals have no tags and no identification. He said in most cases the animals are running loose and the owners are not taking proper care of them. Commissioner Newsome said anytime you own an animal, if it gets loose, it is because something went wrong; either the leash he had on broke or he was never leashed or the cage he had never held him. Mr. West said a lot of cities require that anytime the dog is outside the house that the animal be either on a leash or in a pen or restrained some way. Commissioner Newsome said when we get a dog, he is a stray dog, until someone claims him and then he is no longer a stray dog. The person who comes and gets the dog should be cited even if he was on a chain. Mr. West said he would talk with the City Attorney and see what we can do and as we redraft the ordinance if we can address something like that then we can do it at that time. Mr. West said hopefully within the next 30 days we can wrap up that proposal.
Commissioner Matthews asked if there would be a requirement for them to have a leash or tag? Mr. West said yes; they should be tagged now and they also have to have a rabies vaccination.
Commissioner Barbaree asked for an update on the root removal at the Westgate Walking Trail. Mr. West said Leisure Services is removing the roots now. He said that problem happens every spring when the trees start growing again.
Commissioner Newsome said the old City Yard on Columbia Highway has been sitting empty for years. He asked if there was a possibility of turning that into a green space and in addition to that the west half of the Highland Headstart playground has just been sitting there. Commissioner Newsome asked if there was a possibility of utilizing that for a play area for those kids that play along Herring Street with basketball goals in the street? Mr. West said he would check with Anne Rumble. He said we have looked at the old shop compound. It is being used for driver training in the Fire Department.
Fire Chief Williams announced that a "burning ban" in the City of Dothan was issued yesterday in the media. He said we are trying to follow the lead of the state Fire Marshall's Office. They have been in contact with Fire Marshall Danny Appling on a regular basis monitoring our humidity and our dry conditions. Chief Williams said we have seen a drastic increase over the weekend in the number of outdoor fires. He said yesterday alone, we had twenty something calls based on outdoor leaf burning fires. Chief Williams said we have decided to go ahead with a "burn ban" in the City and we have also pulled all of the burn permits that are out there. He said we are expecting the Forestry Commission to come out with a statewide burning ban sometime this week. Fire Marshall Appling said from a state standpoint we have a KBD Index that measures the drought humidity. They have suspended the index because it is so dry. Fire Marshall Appling said it would take substantial rainfall to get us past that; 4 to 6 inches. He said for the rest of the summer there will not be any burn permits issued. Fire Marshall Appling said many of the outdoor fires that we have had in the last few days have been in the medians of the roads or on the shoulders from cigarettes or sparks from tires. Chief Williams said we are working with the media to get this information out.
City Manager West encouraged everyone to follow the City of Dothan water schedule. He said it is imperative that we follow the restrictions that have been laid out. Mr. West said we pumped over 21 million gallons of water yesterday. Right now we have a major well down and our capacity is 26 million gallons. Mr. West said we will begin to monitor neighborhoods starting at 4:00 in the morning. People will be given a warning initially. He said during periods like this where there is low recharge when we pump our wells to the point of 21 million gallons a day we are testing the recharge area significantly.
City Manager West expressed appreciation to everyone who had a part in making this weekend's BBQ Festival a great success.
City Manager West introduced the new City of Dothan CDBG Administrator Maurice Head. He also introduced Jansen Tidmore, graduate student at Auburn University who will be interning with the City this summer.
City Manager West said the graduation ceremony for the Dothan 101 class will be tonight at 6:00 in the Dothan Opera House.
Mayor Thomas introduced Resolution No. 2007-181 entering into an agreement with J. Michael Lee Associates, Inc. to provide architectural services to include design, bid document preparation and construction oversight for the expansion of the apparatus bay at Fire Station #2 with compensation to be eight percent (8%) of the construction cost. Commissioner Lee moved for adoption, motion seconded by Commissioner Rudd and unanimously adopted.
Mayor Thomas introduced Resolution No. 2007-182 agreeing to issue a permit for the Dothan Country Club Independence Day Celebration Fireworks Display to be held on Wednesday, July 4, 2007. Commissioner Tidwell moved for adoption, motion seconded by Commissioner Barbaree. Chief Williams said if the Commission approves this today and as we get closer to the date if we cannot allow it because of the dry conditions we will not allow it to happen. Mayor Thomas said the Country Club is aware of this. Chief Williams said there is no way we can forecast today what will be occurring in July so we will have to play it by ear. He said we also approved one for Selma Baptist Church and we will monitor that also. Commissioner Newsome asked how much lead time do we give these? Chief Williams said we can usually make a good determination within ten days. There being no further discussion the resolution was unanimously adopted.
Mayor Thomas introduced Resolution No. 2007-183 entering into a permit agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation to change out a gang switch pole at 4401 Montgomery Highway. Commissioner Tidwell moved for adoption, motion seconded by Commissioner Barbaree and unanimously adopted.
Mayor Thomas introduced Resolution No. 2007-184 entering into a permit agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation to install a roadway bore for water main service at 4929 East Highway 134. Commissioner Newsome moved for adoption, motion seconded by Commissioner Barbaree. Commissioner Rudd asked who bears the expense of the bore? Billy Mayes, Dothan Utilities Superintendent said on residential service the City covers the cost. He said there are several locations on this side of the road that could be residential service in the future. Two of them are currently being served. Commissioner Rudd asked what is the estimated cost of the bore? Mr. Mayes said it is around $4,000.00. He said they pay the service cost on two 2 inch services. We are going to upsize that somewhat so that we can cover additional services. Mr. Mayes said instead of doing several two inch services or several one inch services across the roadway, we can save money by going ahead and put the service in now that we plan to use later on also. There are only two services right now; two 2 inch services are paid for. Mr. Mayes said we still have to do the roadway bore; instead of doing two bores we can make one bore and then have additional services that we add off of that one location that you could not do otherwise. Mr. Mayes said it is to our benefit to do it that way. Commissioner Rudd said he is trying to understand why we have not asked in the past or are we going to do it in the future, ask the people that are getting the service to pay for it. Mr. Mayes said if it is a subdivision or a commercial development they pay the full cost. On residential services, back in 2001, it was determined that because they are on both sides of the road, the resident did not have a choice on which side of the road, that we pay and split the cost in our cost of services, on roadway bores. Commissioner Rudd asked if all of the cost of installing the meter is paid by the resident? Mr. Mayes said they pay $1,250.00 for two inch service for two locations. He said $2,500.00 has been paid for two 2 inch services. Commissioner Rudd said that covers the cost of that service. Mr. Mayes said yes. Mr. West said the only thing they are not charged back for is the actual bore itself. Mr. Mayes said you are talking about a 2 inch service bore across the highway. He said it is not a major issue, but you are talking about quite a bit of time; one piece of copper to go across the whole highway. Mr. Mayes said because we can use this for multiple locations we will probably upsize this to a 6 inch. We can use it without having to come back to the state to bore it again. Mr. Mayes said we typically have bored under 231, 1 inch or 2 inch service to make sure we have water flow across that at our cost. He said before 2001 we did it at their cost. He said the difference is that a lot of those places you only have one large tract of land, you have one service. If you have multiple areas that we are looking at using or servicing it is to our benefit to upsize it so that we only have to do it once. Commissioner Rudd said he understood that, but the person getting the service should be paying for that. Mr. Mayes said this is the determination made by the Commission back in 2001. Commissioner Newsome asked if this was City policy. Mr. Mayes said yes, it is in the code. There being no further discussion the resolution was unanimously adopted.
Mayor Thomas introduced Resolution No. 2007-185 appointing Jeff Coleman as a member of the Industrial Development Board. Commissioner Tidwell moved for adoption, motion seconded by Commissioner Barbaree and unanimously adopted.
Mayor Thomas introduced Resolution No. 2007-186 appointing Jerry Coleman as a member of the Planning Commission. Commissioner Barbaree moved for adoption, motion seconded by Commissioner Tidwell and unanimously adopted.
Mayor Thomas introduced Resolution No. 2007-187 awarding the following bids and approving other purchases over $7,500.00 by the City. Commissioner Tidwell read each item in the meeting.
| ITEM | VENDOR | AMOUNT |
| Mosquito Spray for ULV Fogging Machine | Clark Mosquito Control Products, Inc.
Roselle, IL | $24.95 per gallon
$1,372.25 per drum |
| OTHER PURCHASES: | | |
| Police Sergeant Assessment Center | International Public Management Association for Human Resources
Alexandria, VA | $11,050.00 |
| Installation of a 15 Ton Split System Cooling Condenser and Air Handler | Fails Heating and Air Conditioning
Dothan, AL | $13,375.00 |
Commissioner Tidwell then moved for adoption of Resolution No. 2007-187, motion seconded by Commissioner Barbaree. Commissioner Rudd asked if the air conditioning bid was sent to only three people? Larry Muench, General Services Director said we contacted about four or five vendors and these were the only two that responded. The air conditioning people are wrapped up right now. There being no further discussion the resolution was unanimously adopted.
Mayor Thomas introduced Resolution No. 2007-188 approving the following advance travel requests for City employees:
| NAME | CONFERENCE | AMOUNT |
| Delvick J. McKay | Center for Government: Alabama Training Institute Foundations in Training for Trainers
Auburn, AL | $1,253.10 |
| Charles E. Metzger | 2007 AL Section Institute of Transportation Engineers Annual Meeting
Gulf Shores, AL | $771.00 |
| Steve Parrish | Dealing with Internal and External Environments Developing Financial Resources
Anniston, AL | $362.10 |
| Brandi Bowen | Internet Crimes Against Children - Undercover Chat Investigations
St. Louis, MO | $1,167.80 |
| Rose Evans-Gordon | Alabama Lawyers Association Spring Retreat
Biloxi, MS | $588.00 |
