Alexander street repair plan moves forward with minimum votes needed

The Alexander City Council was able to approve amending an ordinance that was keeping the city from accepting $250,000 in state Street Aid funding. Six of the eight aldermen were needed to achieve the required two-thirds vote and six attended the special meeting held Tuesday evening, September 29. A new version of the resolution accepting the street repair plan was also passed to correct an error in the original resolution.

Absent from the meeting were Andrea Bearden and Jeff Watson. Present were Stephanie Beck, Lonny Chapman,, Dan Church, Louis Hobbs, Andy Mullins, and Melissa Ratliff. Mayor Paul Mitchell was also in attendance. All six aldermen voted “Yes” on each motion.

The purpose of the meeting was to suspend the required second and third readings of a proposed ordinance that will amend Ordinance 2008-02, passed June 16, 2008. The amending language adds Autumn Cove and the end of Magnolia Glen, located in Phase-7 of St. Joseph’s Glen, to the city street system without including any of the other streets in the subdivision.

The first reading of the ordinance was done during the council’s regular monthly meeting Monday, September 21. Only five aldermen were present at that meeting. By state law a two-thirds vote is needed to suspend the requirement that an ordinance be read three times at three different meetings; in this case six “Yes” votes.

The original 2008 ordinance was needed to establish the "Alexander Municipal Property Owner's Multipurpose Improvement District 86." The ordinance was a legal requirement by the state in order to form an improvement district around the proposed Phase-7 of St. Joseph’s Glen prior to construction. The end of Magnolia Glen and all of Autumn Cove are in Phase-7. A separate improvement district was formed prior to the construction of phases one through six.

The ordinance forming the improvement district for Phase-7 was submitted by St. Joseph's Glen developers Michele Baker, Darren Baker and Travis Baker. The original version of the ordinance, written by the developers and their attorney, did state, "[T]he improvement district shall continue to exist for the purpose of preserving, maintaining and operating the improvement(s).” But, it also included language that would require the city, and other appropriate entities, to take over maintenance of all utilities in Phase-7 if the developers decided to “dissolve” the improvement district. According to minutes of the 2008 council meeting council members sent the ordinance to the city attorney for his opinion.

The attorney replaced the “dissolve” clause with, "The City of Alexander shall not have any obligation to assume the responsibilities for the continued existence, maintenance or control over the improvement(s)."

At the September 21 regular monthly meeting Mitchell said he and an AHTD engineer did a walk-through of Phase-7. According to the engineer Mitchell said the two streets were built with, “One inch of asphalt.”

The problem with including Autumn Cove and Magnolia Glen is a clause in the AHTD resolution which states, “The City agrees upon completion of the project to assume the maintenance of the right-of-way by City Forces.”

Knowing the city isn’t responsible for the streets in St. Joseph’s Glen Alderwoman Andrea Bearden wanted to know how Alexander can be forced to provide future maintenance to streets it doesn’t own. She E-mailed AHTD officials asking that very question. The bid letting was put on hold, missing the September deadline, until the issue can be resolved. The next deadline for submission of bids is October 1.

Besides Autumn Cove and that end of Magnolia Glen the other streets to be repaved are Brookwood Road from Don Parker to the railroad tracks, all of Cornerstone, Kelli Place, and a portion of 2^nd Street. In the original resolution, provided by AHTD, the distance of Brookwood Road to be repaved was more than originally requested. Because of that needed change the resolution had to be amended and approved again. Fortunately, resolutions only need to be read once at a public meeting and become effective immediately.

The next regular meeting of the Alexander City Council will be held Monday, October 19. The meeting will be held at 6 PM in the courtroom in city hall. The public is invited to attend.