By Terry Schrimscher, For the Tribune
IRONDALE – The Irondale City Council met at Irondale City Hall Wednesday night, Oct. 4, for the first regular session of the month. The meeting date was changed in September due to the city’s participation National Night Out events on Oct. 3.
Irondale resident John Bivona speaks to the city council about damage to public and private property he says was caused by contractors installing fiber optics on behalf of Spectrum in the Grants Mill Valley neighborhood.
Mayor James D. Stewart Jr. was absent, so the Council skipped over his portion of the agenda and moved quickly into two public hearings. Both hearings concerned the demolition of properties deemed to be public nuisances. No one spoke on behalf of either property and the Council approved demolitions on 1004 Parrish Lane and 5142 Amber Hills Road during the new business portion of the meeting.
In the public comments portion of the meeting, Irondale resident John Bivona spoke on behalf of the Grants Mill Valley community. Bivona is a retired structural engineer and presented the Council with information about problems with Spectrum’s fiber optic installation in the neighborhood.
“I’m here tonight to address the Council on Spectrum’s continued poor construction practices in Grants Mill Valley,” Bivona said. “Approximately 30 to 35 cracked homeowner driveways, that’s one every five driveways, seven consecutive in one location.”
Bivona said the contractors did not use the impact boring tools to industry standard depths. He presented photos of cracked driveways in the community along with evidence of damaged public roads and sod on private properties.
Councilman John London added he had been to the neighborhood and viewed the cracked driveways.
“I ask the Council to hold Spectrum accountable for immediate repairs and consider withholding their business license in Grants Mill Valley until such corrective measures are completed,” Bivona said.
In other business, the Council authorized the city to accept two grants from the Alabama Tourism Department in the amount of $2,600 and 3,900 to assist with expenses from the Irondale Music Festival held on Sept. 23.
The Council also approved a resolution consolidating the city’s contracts with Axon Enterprise Inc. for police officer body cameras. The consolidated contracts were approved for an amount not to exceed $615,088.49 for 60 months.
The Council approved two purchases in the new business section of the meeting, a 2023 Freightliner M2 with Brush Hawg Knuckle Boom Loader for an amount not to exceed $227,712 and three 2023 Dodge Charger police vehicles for an amount not to exceed $130,000.
Prior to the meeting, members of the Council met to approve up to $17,649.60 for the purchase of four mobile radios for the Irondale Police Department.
The next meeting of the Irondale City Council will be held at 6 p.m. on October 17 at Irondale City Hall. An agenda for the meeting can be found on the Irondale website prior to the meeting.
