City Council approves Firehouse funding, Woodfin recaps first year

The Birmingham City Council, at its regular meeting for Tuesday, Nov. 27, voted to help Firehouse Shelter — one of only two emergency shelters in the city — pay for its long-desired new facility downtown.

Members also heard Mayor Randall Woodfin, in his weekly report to the council, highlight what he called “a few milestones or accomplishments” of his first year in office.

FIREHOUSE FUNDING

The council voted 6-0-1 to pay the nonprofit Cooperative Downtown Ministries Inc., which operates Firehouse Shelter, a total of $1 million over five years in annual payments of $200,000 to help build a new $5.6 million facility.

Councilor Steven Hoyt abstained. He vigorously opposed the funding agreement when it came before the council previously on Oct. 23.

The yes votes came from City Council President Valerie Abbott, President Pro Tempore William Parker and councilors John Hilliard, Hunter Williams, Darrell O’Quinn and Wardine Alexander.

Mayor Woodfin, in response to questions from O’Quinn, Hoyt and Abbott, said that the funding from the city is to be used solely for the new construction.

The new facility, to be located in the 600 block of Second Avenue North, would replace a small, antiquated facility located at 1501 Third Ave. N.

Anne Wright Rygiel, executive director of Firehouse Shelter, said after the vote that construction could begin by the end of December and could be completed in about a year.

MAYOR’S FIRST YEAR

“We are off to a great start with a whole lot more work to do,” Woodfin said in summing up his first year in office since ousting former Mayor William A. Bell Sr. in the city’s 2017 municipal elections.

Woodfin said that his administration has attempted to increase “transparency” in the way the city does business. He cited such examples as the adoption of the Open Checkbook portal on the city’s website, which documents the city’s budgeting and expenditures.

The city’s fiscal year 2019 budget was the first city budget passed on time since 2014 and the first one passed early since 2006, according to the mayor.

Woodfin also touched on the theme of helping neighborhoods, a familiar refrain in his campaign speeches from 2017.

He said that establishing a new city Neighborhood Revitalization Fund “is “one of the things I am the proudest of.”

The projected city revenue increase from the expansion of the BJCC is not the only source of money for the fund, according to Woodfin. “Any additional revenues we can create or find, we will add to that fund because neighborhood revitalization is a priority,” he said.

For example, Woodfin cited the $1.4 million that went into the fund during 2018 from the city’s sale of its portion of the former Trinity Steel property in Titusville to tech company DC BLOX and its sale of a downtown parking deck to the local tech company Shipt.

Regarding neighborhood revitalization issues, Woodfin said that his administration — during his first year in office — “wanted to (demolish) as many properties as possible that were beyond repair.”

The city tore down 294 homes in 249 business days during his first year, according to the Mayor. “That is very aggressive,” he said.

In year two, the administration will continue to be aggressive in tearing down houses, according to Woodfin. However, the city must also examine the effectiveness of the city's Land Bank program, he said.

“We have to be aggressive and creative in how we get single-family homes and affordable housing on these lots,” Woodfin said.

“It's not just about what we tear down but what we can build up as well,” he said.

Woodfin mentioned several steps his administration had taken to improve public safety, including the hiring of 40 more officers for an understaffed Birmingham Police Department.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” he said.

He promised efforts to use neighborhood watch and the citizens police academy to empower citizens to help the police control crime.

Regarding city employees, Woodfin said his administration had restored COLAs and longevity pay.

He also touched on the controversial issue of the city’s underfunded pension fund.

Woodfin announced in mid-November that the city needs to make up $378 million over the next 30 years to prevent it from running out of money. “The can has been kicked down the road for many years,” the mayor said today.

However, Woodfin said that while some tough choices may be necessary, there has also been a lot of “fear and misinformation” over the issue since he made his announcement.

“As one of nine (pension) board members, I will not support anything that affects or hurts retirees or jeopardizes public safety employees, particularly fire or police,” Woodfin said.

There will be a pension board meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 27, at 3 p.m. in the council chambers, according to Woodfin.

The mayor said that holding the meeting there will allow for more attendees.

This is because any discussion of pensions should be done with “transparency,” Woodfin said.

Woodfin also said that he has nearly completed assembling the people he needs in his administration, a process that he said took many months.

“I’m pretty excited about the team we have in place,” he said.

CORRECTION 11-29-18: The post previously referred to Councilor Darrell O'Quinn as Randall O'Quinn. We apologize for the error.