By Nathan Prewett, For The Tribune
CENTER POINT – During a meeting at the community center, the Center Point City Council voted to enter into an agreement with LRY Media and approved garbage payment exemptions for disabled residents.
City Hall is temporarily closed due to the discovery of mold and will be providing services remotely. The council met at the Center Point Community Center on Sunhill Road.
The council considered a proposal from LRY Media on providing services such as website design, social media marketing strategies, strategic communications, and others. The overall cost is an estimated $16,000.
“It’s an expensive process, and I understand that they do a great job at what they do,” said Mayor Bobby Scott. “It’s really important for what we’re trying to accomplish for the city, but we have to expect to break a few eggs to make the cake.”
Afterward was to consider exemptions for garbage payment. Scott explained that in the previous contracts, there were special exemptions for those who are disabled that had to be approved by Jefferson County. However, the city’s current garbage pickup service, Waste Management, does not accept exemptions.
“So as opposed to telling those residents that ‘you have to pay now’ and a lot of them are on fixed incomes and things like that, we wanted to bring a proposal to the council to see if the council wanted to pick up that cost going forward for those particular residents that passed that county exemption,” Scott said.
The resolution was passed unanimously.
After passing items on the consent agenda, the floor was opened to the public, where several spoke. The first was retail strategist Jeff Sommer, who spoke on recruiting retail and other businesses to the city.
“Our role is to use demographics that we have at our fingertips, the systems we have, our expertise in real estate, to identify the available assets on the ground here in Center Point – whether that’s vacant space, raw land, anything like that and then we use our contacts – locally, regionally and nationally – to go recruit new retails and bring new brands to the market,” he said.
He pointed out possible national brands to bring to the city, such as a drive-thru coffee concept that he said was gaining popularity, as well as apparel stores and a national sandwich chain. He also mentioned the Eastgate Shopping Center and is in talks on bringing businesses there.
Billy Hagood afterward expressed concern about several dogs that his neighbor has that he said have been allowed to run about and have been troubling him. He said that the dogs have been on his property and have killed several of his cats, as well as causing some damage. Scott said that he would be in touch with him to see what they can do.
In other business, the council:
- Established the use of electronic vote counting devices for the Center Point Special Election,
- Authorized an alcohol license for Brown Bag It to be located at 1727 Center Point Parkway,
- Authorized the city to join Alabama and other local governments in the Janssen Settlement (a lawsuit related to opioids),
- Authorized the city to join Alabama and other local governments in the McKesson Settlement (also related to the opioid lawsuit),
- Declared items damaged by mold and mildew at City Hall as surplus and ordered their disposal, and
- Awarded a bid to TOA for the demolition of the sanctuary of the old Hilldale building for $117,000.
The Center Point City Council meets the first and third Thursdays of every month at City Hall located at 2209 Center Point Parkway.
To contact Nathan Prewett, send an email to nthomasp6@gmail.com.