The Birmingham City Council approved four appointments to the Birmingham Water Works Board on Tuesday, with terms set to stretch through 2024. The council appoints six of the BWWB’s nine members; the other three seats are appointed by the Jefferson County Mayor’s Association, the Shelby County Commission and the Blount County Commission. Read more.
The Birmingham City Council approved an economic incentives package for the long-awaited redevelopment of the former Carraway Hospital property. Northside Redevelopment, the company overseeing the mixed-use development project, will receive an aggregate of $13.2 million in incentives, the council decided Tuesday. Read more.
Birmingham’s finances appear to be holding steady despite COVID-19’s impact on city revenues, finance director Lester Smith told city councilors Tuesday afternoon — though he warned that a clear picture of the city’s financial health won’t be visible until March. Read more.
The city of Birmingham will apply for a $34 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the “comprehensive revitalization” of the Smithfield Court housing project. Read more.
The Birmingham City Council has codified a new policy for developing self-storage facilities in the city, replacing the moratorium it placed on new self-storage developments last year. Read more.
The Birmingham City Council has approved a plan to bring up to 132 furloughed city employees — mostly from the Birmingham Public Library and the city parks department — back to work. The workers were furloughed in September due to budget cuts necessitated by COVID-19’s impact on city revenue. The plan, described as a compromise between mayor and council, will be funded by $4.85 million borrowed from the city’s general fund reserve. That’s far less than the $7 million requested in Woodfin’s initial plan, which would also have restored two paid holidays for city employees and reversed some salary reductions to appointed staff. Read more.
Black Friday will be an unpaid holiday for Birmingham city employees after the City Council delayed a proposal by Mayor Randall Woodfin to pay employees out of city reserves. In a last-minute addendum to Tuesday morning’s meeting agenda, Woodfin called for the city to take $807,333 out of the city’s general fund to restore the paid holiday, which had been nixed due to COVID-19-related budget cutbacks. Employees still will receive their regular paychecks next week but without payment for Nov. 27. Councilors balked at Woodfin’s proposal because it was brought to them without warning and without details on the health of the reserve fund. One objected to the mayor’s asking the council to make major financial decisions while figuring out the budget numbers “on the back of a cocktail napkin.” Read more.
The Birmingham City Council is mulling a proposal from Mayor Randall Woodfin to bring back up to 132 furloughed city employees by taking $7 million from the city’s reserve fund. The proposal also would reinstate two paid holidays and reverse some salary reductions to appointed staff, both of which, like the furloughs, had been cut due to a city budget shortfall caused by COVID-19. Although Finance Director Lester Smith assured councilors he was confident the money would be reimbursed with Cares Act funding that is awaiting action by the Jefferson County Commission, the proposal was met with deep skepticism from councilors, who criticized the proposal’s lack of detail and argued that it could damage the city’s financial standing. Read more.
District 5 Councilor Darrell O’Quinn welcomed Birmingham residents to “the new era of shared micromobility” Tuesday after the council approved deals with two bike- and scooter-sharing companies. Read more.
The Birmingham City Council approved the rezoning of Carraway Hospital and several adjacent properties Tuesday, clearing the way for Corporate Realty’s long-planned mixed-use redevelopment of the abandoned campus. Read more.
