Council approves Kingston fire station

The Birmingham City Council, after weeks of delay due to their budget haggles with Mayor William Bell, voted today 9-0 to approve $3 million in funding for a new, badly needed fire station for the Kingston neighborhood.

A few residents of Kingston and some surrounding areas present at the meeting were overjoyed after the vote.

“I’m happy,” said Kingston resident Marretta Griffin. “It’s about time. Thank the Lord.”

The vote came after Mayor Bell verbally agreed to add a few budget items desired by the council to some budget amendments to be brought before the council next Tuesday.

Those items included additional funding for the renovation and operation of the historic Carver Theatre. The disagreement between the mayor and council in recent weeks regarding the level of funding required for that project had made the Kingston fire house a political football.

“You have my word in front of these people and the media that these items” will be included in the budget amendments,” Bell told the council, as he asked that they vote today on the fire house.

“I will take you at your word,” Councilwomen Lashunda Scales told Bell.

Councilman William Parker, who represents the area, also asked that the council – based on their verbal agreement with the Mayor – have a vote today on the fire station.

 “I’m relieved,” said Helen Davis, a Woodlawn resident. “We were going to get some action today, and the [council] knew it.”

Davis said that she had a stake in the issue because the Kingston station backed up the Woodlawn station.

“I can’t believe that in 2016 I had to come down here and beg for money for a fire station, she said.         

Kingston residents and Parker had repeatedly voiced concerns in recent weeks that delayed response times to emergencies in the area would soon cost someone their life.

The item was on the council agenda for the last seven weeks, and failed to pass last Tuesday by a 4-4 vote.

Pressed by Parker to take action on the fire station, the mayor and council took up a discussion of their areas of difference in the budget. Austin complained that the mayor had not shown up for budget meetings with the council on the previous Friday or Monday, forcing the council to take up the issue today.

The mayor and council had verbally come to terms on the budget on Fri., Aug. 12, but Bell had not yet submitted the new budget ordinances, according to a council news release on Monday.

At Bell’s request, Councilman Marcus Lundy, chair of the council’s budget and finance committee, today listed the items where the council had asked for more money than the administration had proposed.

The council wanted an additional $1.3 million for renovation of the Carver Theatre for a total of $4.3 million, whereas the Mayor had proposed a capital expenditure of $3 million.

The council also wanted $233,000 per year for the Carver’s operating budget.

They also asked for an additional $25,000 for workforce education at Jefferson State Community College and an additional $100,000 – toward a total initial cost of $250,000, according to Lundy – to designate one of the large office buildings downtown as an official world trade center.

After some further discussion – and after Bell consulted with city finance director Tom Barnett – the mayor agree to the additional $1.3 million in funding for the Carver. But he said the money should be added to an upcoming issue of warrants, or bonds, the city is planning in order to purchase some fire and police vehicles and other items – rather than coming from the regular budget.

Council President Johnathan Austin proposed that the council give the mayor and his staff until Wednesday to prepare the new ordinances and then hold a vote next Tuesday.

Austin seemed to signal a cooling of tensions with the administration.

“The mayor has agreed to all the changes we have suggested,” he said. “We should give the administration time to make the changes.”

He said this would also give council members time to review the documents and direct any questions to Lundy prior to next week’s meeting.

Councilwoman Patricia Abbott signaled that she will have numerous questions about the budget, citing what she sees as a failure to properly fund a number of needs – from the renovation of the Birmingham Public Library Central Branch to the maintenance of city swimming pools.

“There are a lot of questions I have not gotten answer to,” she said prior to the council’s vote on the fire station.

In the same meeting, the council also voted to override the mayor's veto and hire a law firm to represent them in a suit with the Birmingham Water Works Board.