The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday approved five bids related to an emergency declaration allowing the city to better tackle overgrowth at nuisance properties.

The council on July 9 voted to declare an emergency due to heavy rainfall that has hampered city efforts to cut overgrown lots.

The declaration authorizes the city to hire additional contractors to cut abandoned lots for a period of 45 days.

The bids approved Tuesday are with Birmingham Land Preservation Group, Honorable Security Firm, FL Unlimited, Renew Birmingham and Purified Landscaping & Restoration.

“We did an open bid process, and out of the 12 applicants that we had, these are the five that we want to move forward for the emergency weed abatements for the city of Birmingham,” said the city’s chief of operations, Chaz Mitchell.

According to city staff, 1,691 private lots have been cut by the city this calendar year. There are currently 14,820 tax delinquent properties in Birmingham.

Weed abatement and blighted properties have been a major policy priority for city leaders. Residents have often cited it as a top issue at town halls and public hearings.

“This is a silent killer of our neighborhoods,” Councilor Carol Clarke said in a statement. “It erodes property values and wealth, especially in historically underserved neighborhoods. I think it is at a crisis level. Beyond this declaration, we need to take a serious look into creating a formal process for community land stewardship, to help deal with some of these lots.”

According to the National Weather Service, the Birmingham area experienced 11.29 inches of rainfall in May, 7.08 in June and 2.41 so far in July. Each month normally has about 5 inches of precipitation.

Jones Valley Reaches Almost 5,000 Students

The council on Tuesday also received an update from leaders of Jones Valley Teaching Farm regarding their Good School Food program and the farms at schools across the city.

According to Jones Valley representatives, the organization administered 478 Good School Food lessons, reaching a total of 4,876 students across 16 partner schools in Birmingham in the past year. The eight farms at various schools provided more than 24,937 pounds of free produce to the community. There are also 11 high school intern positions that have been filled, with more positions expected in the coming year.

“We use food as a foundation so that young people can lead, create and grow a healthy future for themselves and their community,” said Amanda Storey, executive director at Jones Valley Teaching Farm. “We envision communities inspired by food and transformed by youth.”

Last year, the council approved $250,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding to help with the expansion of school programming.

In other business, the council:

• Approved a $1.5 million agreement to provide 16 drones and related equipment to the police department. The two-year contract is with Skyfire AI Inc.
• Approved a one-year $100,000 agreement with Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama to assist with gathering information to aid police investigations. According to the agreement, Crime Stoppers will promote police resources through multiple media sources to assist with the prevention and detection of criminal activity. Crime Stoppers offers up to $5,000 for an anonymous tip that leads to solving a felony case, the issuance of a felony warrant or a felony arrest. In 2024, anonymous tips with Crime Stoppers resulted in 133 felony arrests and the resolution of 337 felony cases, with 51 individuals receiving cash rewards totaling $32,200, according to city staff.