Birmingham City Council delays two key agenda items

The Birmingham City Council, at its regular meeting for Tuesday, July 24, voted to delay action on what were likely the two most important items on its agenda for the day — a large expenditure to help support the annual Magic City Classic football game and an ordinance that would create a new city department and rename another.

The Council agenda contained an ordinance submitted by Mayor Randall Woodfin that would create a new department, the Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity, to supplant the current Office of Economic Development.

The same ordinance would also change the name of the Traffic Engineering Department to the Department of Transportation.

Councilor Lashunda Scales voiced concern that the proposed name of the new Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity had not been changed to include the word "diversity." 

Councilor Steven Hoyt raised the same concern at another recent Council meeting and today, along with Scales, initially refused to vote to approve unanimous consent to consider the ordinance, which was having its first reading.

After some discussion, members voted to approve unanimous consent, but they also referred the ordinance back to the Committee of the Whole.

Since the agenda for the July 25 meeting of that committee is already full, according to City Council President Valerie Abbott, members voted to consider the ordinance at a special called meeting of the committee — date to be determined — and then take it up again at the regular council meeting in two weeks.

The Council also voted to refer a resolution authorizing the city to spend $800,000 in hosting services for this year’s Magic City Classic and related events back to the same special called meeting of the Committee of the Whole.

The resolution was submitted and recommended by Councilor William Parker. However, Parker said he realized that it had not yet been approved by the Budget and Finance Committee, and asked that it be referred back to that body. 

He subsequently changed his motion and asked that the item be taken up at the special called meeting.

The Classic, the annual meeting between the football teams from Alabama A&M and Alabama State, will be held at Legion Field on Oct. 27.

It is the largest game in the country between Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) drawing sell-out crowds and generating an economic impact estimated at $23 million by the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau.

UAB football

In preparation for the upcoming football season, the Council voted to allow UAB to install 21 directional or wayfinding signs at various locations in the city to provide game day directions to Legion Field, where the Blazers play their home games. The council vote authorizes Mayor Woodfin to enter into a right-of-way encroachment license agreement with the UAB Board of Trustees.

World Cup invitation

As part of their consent agenda, the Council passed a resolution to encourage FIFA North American Soccer officials to play some games at Legion Field, as well as the new stadium to be built at the BJCC, when the World Cup comes to the U.S., Mexico and Canada in 2026. This resolution was also submitted and recommended by Parker.