A Million Dollar Meeting

 

A MILLION DOLLAR MEETING

(Florence City council meeting review)

It was a long agenda for the 11/07 meeting. The consent agenda (all items voted on together with one Yes or No vote by each council member with no separate discussion) started with “A” and ran through “Z” then to double letters (aa) through (rr). The “doubles” were all appropriations for the year. In total, the appropriations totaled $919,000.00. Most were to non-profits. Small to medium donations ranging from $5,000 to Shoals Community Clinic to $20,000 to The Caring Place. It was beyond questioning the amount of good the money would do. Then there were the larger ones: $65,000 to Downtown Florence Alliance, Inc., $66,000 to the Community Action Agency of North Alabama, Inc. DFU puts on First Friday each month and the Community Action Agency helps poor and disabled people in a variety of ways. Even when the dollar amount goes north up to $100K it is to the Shoals Entrepreneurial Center which incubates small business. They offer in some cases free rent and professional advice on building a business. All very worthwhile organizations and certainly a beneficial use of charity with taxpayer dollars. It is doubtful the average taxpayer would mind a portion of their sales tax go toward helping these organizations. Even at 9.5%, the highest in North Alabama! Then there was the last of the appropriations. “RR” was a resolution to approve a contract with the University of North Alabama, in the amount of $500,000.00, to be paid from budgeted funds, sponsored by Mayor Andy Betterton and the City Council. It was announced in the work session rather hurriedly that this item had been moved to the regular agenda. Evidently, someone thought “separate discussion was desired” on this item.

There is a segment in each city council meeting labeled “Business from the floor pertaining to items on the consent and regular agenda”. Dick Jordan in his capacity as council president points to each section of the auditorium and if someone has a remark they go to the podium. David Carson approached. For those of us who have followed the meetings of the council for years, you cannot watch Mr. Carson at the podium and not think of Miss Elizabeth Romine. His delivery is smoother, but his earnestness matches that of Miss Romine. I hope he does not follow her fate as being jailed for speaking at a Florence City Council meeting! That really happened to her! He is controversial himself and has some ideas that I personally do not agree with, some I wholeheartedly denounce. But despite his misguided opinions on certain subjects, he is laser focused when he gets an idea for improvement in city government and questioning the council’s actions. He is responsible for several technological improvements concerning the council including the live streaming of the work session. He is fighting tooth and nail for transparency and has won on several fronts. Mr. Carson stated immediately he was against making a gift in this amount to UNA. He stated that the money came from sales tax paid by mainly blue-collar people. Carson said UNA had gotten way too “cozy” with the city of Florence and that if the council wanted to donate their own money to UNA, fine with him but he wanted to at least know what this money was going for before he saw his tax dollars spent blindly. He noted the tuition increase this year at UNA and the expense of Division 1 football. In short, HE DISCUSSED!

Of course, votes were taken, and everything was approved. Groundhog Day as usual when it comes to approving whatever is on the agenda. And when it came time for Council member reports and/or comments, the “gift” to UNA was a hot topic. Michele Rupe Eubanks serves as Director of the office of Media and Public Relations at UNA. Mr. Carson pointed this out and asked why she did not recuse herself from voting to which she replied she had a letter from the ethics commission of Alabama stating that if she did not receive personal monetary value from a resolution benefiting her employer she was permitted to vote. She went on to sort of backhand his comments in a snarky way and praise higher education, but Eubanks has a “let them eat cake” aura about her anyway so I doubt she knows much about punching a time clock. Jimmy Oliver defended promoting education the loudest with the usual line about the amount of money spent by UNA faculty and students in the city. While this is true, a greater amount is spent by the rest of the population which has no relationship to UNA whatsoever. There seemed to be a general consensus on the council that opposing this “gift” meant opposing education. Mr. Carson did not state that. The prayer was said, and it was all over. My personal opinion is I had rather see any appropriation in substantial amounts such as the one EACH YEAR to UNA go for education that benefits those who need it the most. Why not help with improvements to Florence city schools? How about Head Start? If the council absolutely MUST spend money on some appropriation, at least, let’s DISCUSS IT!

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔽𝕝𝕠𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝔻𝕖𝕥𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖