Public Safety, Finance Focus of Foley Council Meeting
John Mullen • January 16, 2024
Foley Plans Major Infrastructure Upgrades
Foley, Ala. – (OBA) – The Foley City Council will meet in a joint regular/work session at 4 p.m. on Jan. 16 at city hall in council chambers. The council normally meets on Monday but rescheduled for Tuesday because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Jan. 15. The Orange Beach City Council meeting will take place today, January 16th as well.
Foley is looking to hire Sawgrass Consulting to manage the construction, engineering and inspection for an improvement project on Philomene Holmes Boulevard.
The proposal would be for $143,480 and $10,560 to purchase wetland mitigation credits with a total project cost of $1.5 million.
During the joint regular/work session, the council will:
- Have a public hearing on violations of the city’s lot clearing and weed removal ordinance on lot 1 Laurel Avenue. The council will also discuss authorizing employees to enter the property to clean it up.
- Conduct a swearing-in of Finance Director/Treasurer Sue Steigerwald.
- Hear a presentation by Executive Director of Public Safety David Wilson to award firefighters David Synder and Lee Taylor.
- Approve expense vouchers for $10.8 million for December.
- Hear a report on tax collections in December including $3 million in sales taxes, down $55,298 from December of 2022 and $106,975 over budget projections. The city collected 111,522 in lodging taxes or less than $1,000 more than December of 2022 and just slightly above budget projections.
- Hear a report from Community Development that 144 permits for single-family residential were issued in December compared to 81 in 2022 with a valuation of $37.5 million. Six multi-family buildings with 51 units were permitted with a valuation of $8 million.
- Receive a report from the police department for December showing 212 inmates were processed through the city jail for a total of 2,645 in the calendar year of 2023. There were seven death investigations, 11 reports of shoplifting and eight theft reports. The Investigations Division received 32 new cases, solved three and 26 cases closed as inactive. Police were dispatched 1,820 times in December.
- Receive a report from the fire department for December showing fire crews were called for medical assists 53 times, 51 times to assist invalid, 27 times to vehicle accidents without injuries, 16 times to vehicle accidents with injuries and 28 times crews were called out but canceled en route. The fire department responded to a total of 257 times in December. There was a total of 2,872 incidents in the 2023 calendar year.
- Introduce an ordinance to consider a temporary moratorium on above-ground overhead utilities.
- Discuss a resolution to amend the pay classification for multiple departments including the head of history and genealogy and a part-time history and genealogy technician for the library.
- Consider an agreement with Naval Air Station Whiting Field for the city to provide maintenance and repair services including materials, equipment, supplies and projects for operations at Barin Field just south of U.S. 98 and east of the Foley Beach Express.
- Discuss a resolution to accept costs for weed abatement at the northeast corner of Hickory Street and County Road 20 and send a copy to the Baldwin County Tax Collector at a total cost of $238.
- Consider going to bide for a Ford F-150 pickup for the Parks and Recreation Department for $39,000 to replace a 2008 model.
- Discuss retiring two dogs from the K-9 unit and declaring them surplus and given to their handlers. The council will also discuss buying a new dual-purpose dog.\
- Consider a resolution to build bathrooms/concessions at the Foley Sports Tourism fields to replace the trailer restroom being used now for $300,000.
- Consider a sponsorship for the National Guard’s Iraq Reunion for $4,100.
- Discuss the purchase of arrow board signs for the Street Department to help with traffic control for $19,594.
- Consider a donation of land for utility easements at Wolf Creek Park.
- Discuss declaring a plotter from the Engineering Department as surplus.
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