Bartlett agrees with Big 10 Mayors for Aniah’s Law

MADISON – During the week of April 26, Mayor Ranae Bartlett joined the ‘Big 10 Mayors,’ the city leaders from the 10 largest cities in Alabama, for their quarterly meeting in Montgomery.

Alabama’s 10 most populous cities in alphabetical order are Auburn, Birmingham, Decatur, Dothan, Hoover, Huntsville, Madison, Mobile, Montgomery and Tuscaloosa. (alabamabig10.com) The mayors discussed Alabama’s mental health system; public safety; economic development; Simplified Sellers Use Tax or SSUT, a tax on online purchases; and preparations for next year’s legislative session.

“I proudly joined these mayors in support of a constitutional amendment that will appear on the May 19 primary ballot,” Bartlett said. “Amendment 1 would give judges the discretion to withhold bail in cases including attempted murder and shooting into an occupied building. This will strengthen Aniah’s Law.”

The law’s namesake, the late Aniah Blanchard, was a student at Auburn University who was tragically murdered by a man released on bond for a prior violent crime. “Expanding Aniah’s Law is a commonsense step toward keeping dangerous individuals off our streets and protecting our communities,” she said.

For more information about the ballots, visit madisoncountyvotesal. gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/2026-Primary- Amendment-Information. pdf.

In other business….

Madison Meeting Hall, the former home of Madison Senior Center at 1282 Hughes Road, officially opened. Available rental space includes two boardrooms and the former ‘auditorium’ or flexible space for community events, like birthday parties, reunions, baby showers or neighborhood events, Bartlett said.

In downtown Madison, Main Street will soon offer enhanced Wi-Fi access. Meta awarded a $20,000 grant to Madison Visionary Partners for improvements to internet connectivity.

On April 27, Madison City Council unanimously approved Tess Halbrooks’ appointment to Madison Board of Education. Halbrooks now will serve a full term after filling the vacancy left by Alice Lessmann, who was elected to council.

Bartlett and County Commission Chairman Rex Vaughn signed a proclamation to declare May as Foster Care Awareness