Awards, city resolutions focus of City Council meeting

MADISON — Several awards were presented and all payments and resolutions on the agenda were approved at Madison City Council’s Aug. 13 meeting.

Students representing Madison as Team Ecstatic Statics, one of four national winners of the 2017-2018 U.S. Army-sponsored eCYBERMISSION competition, gave a presentation on their competition project and accepted a certificate for their big win.

“These folks [the students] actually come up with this, and they are absolutely amazing,” Mayor Paul Finley said of the winners. “We are proud that you’ve [the students] represented our city, ecstatic that you won, and awful happy to give you these certificates on behalf of the city council.”

Police Chief David Jernigan swore in six newly hired police officers before members of their families pinned their badges.

Fire Chief David Bailey also presented awards to several firefighters and first responders for their successful response to a recent emergency. Jon Howell, CEO of HEMSI, was in attendance for the awards. Capt. Jason Tidwell, Firefighter Mitchell Sowers, Firefighter Duane Clemons, HEMSI Paramedic Lisa Dowdy and Advanced EMT Aileen Corrales received the Star of Life Award. Corrales was not present. Capt. Russ Kennington and Driver Pete Mehok received the Unit Citation Award for their response as well.

Madison Softball League President Patrick Salvail gave a presentation in connection with plans to improve their facilities. The council voted to approve this resolution.

The council also approved the following resolutions:

• Declaring certain city property as surplus and of negligible value and authorizing its disposal
• A travel advance of $122.50 for Officer Adam Lawson to attend the eighth annual K-9 Cop Conference
• A travel advance of $260.50 each of Nicholas McRae, Tanner Ward and Ralph Dawe to attend the 35th annual Law Enforcement Operations Conference
• Another travel advance of $260.50 each for Nicholas McRae and Greg Dees to attend the Southeastern Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar
• Another Lounge Retail Liquor – Class II (Package) License from North Alabama Beverage, LLC to Fresh Spirits on County Line Road for new owners
• An agreement with FivePoint Payments, LLC to process online ticket payments at no cost to the city
• Accepting public utility and drainage easement from both Focus Investments, LLC and Nowlin Development Co., LLC

All other city engineering resolutions were also unanimously approved. These included a topographic survey agreement with JW Kennedy and Associates from County Line Road to Burgreen Road ($7,360), a design services agreement with S&ME to widen Hughes Road to five lanes ($273,415) and a proposal from Strand Associates for an ALDOT-required peer review of the round about for Balch Road to Gillespie Road ($8,500). Two resolutions with Croy Engineering were approved for a design for Sullivan Street ($381,274) and a design for a new right-turn lane at the Sullivan Street/Browns Ferry intersection ($33,500).

Bill Lawler addressed the City Council regarding the naming of Madison’s new baseball team. Lawler urged council members to include “Madison” in the team’s name and consider a name that uniquely reflects the city.

“I would love to see it local … I realize we have a lot of high-talented, good people here in Madison that work for the Army and the missile industry and so on,” Lawler said. “Folks, this is Madison, and in my opinion, we want to relate to that. That’s, to me, critical.”

Finley and District 3 Councilman Teddy Powell later urged citizens to vote now for the baseball team name at northalabamabaseball.com. The final team name will be revealed Sept. 5, and tickets will be available to the public starting in early October.

Council members approved a flood damage prevention ordinance and an ordinance to increase retirement home business license fees.

The council also approved the following payments:

• $38,472 to Turner Construction for construction documents, bidding and construction services phase
• $232,155.88 to Populous for construction documents, bidding and construction services phase
• $37,520 to 5R Design, PC, for professional architecture and construction management services for the city’s new Public Works Department Facility Construction Project
• $302,852.17 to Miller & Miller for the removal/installation of curbs and gutters, roadway, parking lot, landscaping and more for phase III of a downtown streetscape project
• $300 to OMI Inc. for NPDES inspection services for Palmer Park improvements
• $164,903.19 to SJ&L General Contractor for all site grading services in the construction phase

Council members accepted a $250 donation from the Madison Professional Firefighters Association for Virtual Reality. They also accepted a $150 donation from an anonymous senior center client to be used for senior center activities.

Council President Tommy Overcash, of District 5, was appointed again as a Madison Representative to the Huntsville-Madison County Library Board after being nominated by District 1 Councilwoman Maura Wroblewski.