Alcohol license, bulletproof vests, citizen comments at the Madison City Council meeting
(File Photo/Nick Sellers)
By Nick Sellers | Staff Writer
MADISON – The Madison City Council was abnormally short-handed at its scheduled meeting March 9 at the city’s Municipal Complex, as Mayor Troy Trulock, District 2 Councilman Steve Smith and Council President Tommy Overcash were in New York negotiating a bond with Moody’s, the financial services company.
Tim Holcombe, District 1 councilman who presided over the meeting as president pre tempore, noted that Standard & Poor’s is set to visit the city on Wednesday.
Once the bond, which will be around $20 million, is secured, the funds will be spent on capital improvement projects such as the new Madison library and the recreation center set to open near the Madison City Stadium. The city is taking out the bond, Holcombe explained, as a result of the half-cent sales tax the Council passed around two years ago.
In other business, Picasso’s Grill, LLC was granted an on-premise beer, wine and liquor license for its soon-to-be location at 12060 County Line Road near the Publix Shopping Center. The restaurant is presently located in Athens.
Presentations connected to annual appropriations were also made by representatives from the Huntsville – Madison County Emergency Management Agency and the National Children’s Advocacy Center, based in Huntsville.
The EMA was appropriated $45,000 and the NCAC was given $10,000.
In addition to the EMA’s appropriation, the Council approved a resolution to enter into a cost-sharing agreement with the City of Huntsville, Redstone Arsenal, and the Madison County Commission to provide upgrades to the sirens maintained by the Huntsville – Madison County EMA.
In another regularly schedule purchase, the Council approved the purchase of two bullet-resistant vests for the City’s police department for a combined $330.80 from the grant and departmental budget.
In public comments, two Madison citizens spoke out in light of the incident involving former Madison police officer Eric Parker, who has a court date on his third-degree assault charge on March 12. Both spoke of their perception of the City’s police force as over-aggressive and militaristic in nature.
The comments prompted replies from District 4 Councilman Mike Potter and Police Chief Larry Muncey.
“We don’t want to be defined by one incident,” Muncey said, echoing the statements made by Potter and, in weeks prior, by Trulock and Overcash.
