A Snake in the Midst of the Florence City Council?

 

TAKE ME IN OH TENDER WOMAN 

The agenda for the 03/18 meeting of the Florence City council was rather tame on paper. The only item that really stood out to me was for an extension request from Craig construction to add 90 days onto the allowed time to complete the pickleball and tennis complex at Veterans Park. They needed more time due to the rainy weather. In remarks from the public, one commenter made the statement that as far as he was concerned the Craig crew could take a break from working on the project until after the election is held on August 26th for new representatives and the mayor. Even better if they just stopped work altogether until after a new government is sworn in on November 1st 2025. In a perfect world the taxpayers could get off the hook for the $9,997,000.00 the project is costing. Nonetheless, the city council gave Craig a 90-day extension by a unanimous vote.

Then there was the matter of Eugene Sak and his “Days Inn” project, the Hard Rock Reverb Hotel. He made a presentation at the work session. All I can say is there was some reference to the state creating an entity called “Sweet Home Alabama” and Sak was trying to get money from the state but first the city had to amend part of the resolution passed. Or something to that effect. Which shell is the pea under? With Eugene Sak and the “Reverb” hotel, who knows? A citizen put it quite well when he quoted from the parable of the old woman and the snake. “Take me in oh tender woman, take me in for heaven's sake, take me in oh tender woman cried the snake” Sak wanted an agenda item approving his request put on the agenda and a resolution voted on in this session! NOW! And it looked like one or two on the council were willing to go along. But the wiser and wearier, and in this group, I definitely include Michele Eubanks, insisted they have time to study the new proposal. Sak said they had until April 28th.

Of the remarks from the public, River Zurinsky made the most compelling and impassioned speech. He started off with saying how glad he was to see that it seemed some on the council were being more keenly aware of how much money was being spent on projects. Especially in “overruns” These are added cost that a contractor submits on a project as it is being constructed. Jimmy Oliver kind of summed up the way the council had been considering “overruns” “$4 million does not necessarily mean $4 million” Sometimes, as in the cost of the “new” parking deck, overruns can total nearly $1 million dollars over the original bid on a project. River wondered if this newfound thriftiness from the council was due to this being an election year but whatever the reason, he applauded them for paying attention to how taxpayer money is spent. He went on to say that if the city had not approved the “pickleball park” there would have been almost $10 million dollars to build 2

fire stations with. A new one for District 2 and one in District 4 which currently has no fire station. PERIOD! River is a SKYWARN storm spotter and he livestreams severe weather coverage for Lauderdale and Colbert county. He proposed building a storm shelter in the downtown area. Currently there is not one available. He also proposed that the city create a list of shelters in each district. River is actually quite an impressive young man in this writer's opinion. He is even running for city council representative in District 2!

That about sums up the works session and city council meeting as I witnessed it on 03/18/2025. It was rather tame with undertones of confusion from the work session. The best advice? Beware of snake bites!