City Council Minutes 02/21/2023 with Updates in Red

City of Margaret

February 21, 2023

6:09 P.M.

Councilman Matthew Tortorice made the Motion to table the Council Meeting minutes from 2-07-2023, due to grammatical errors and the omission of discussions (live streaming council meeting, financials, and forensic audit) from Councilman Matthew Tortorice. Councilman Jonathan Ray seconded the motion. The motion failed for lack of a majority.

Councilman Matthew made a motion to approve the minutes after corrections. Motion died from lack of second.

Councilman Matthew Tortorice made the Motion to table the Pendley Plat (Pleasant Valley Properties Plat Phase 4 Woodland Ridge Subdivision Lots 1 & 2) Councilman Chapman seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Councilman Matthew Tortorice added the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham to the agenda as old business. Councilman Matthew Tortorice made the motion to renew the City’s membership with the RPC of Birmingham/or an amount up to $3100.00. Councilman Jonathan Ray seconded the motion. The motion carried with a vote of 3-1 abstaining, with Mayor Pro-Tem McIntyre abstaining.

Councilman Tortorice made a motion to allow the RPC of Birmingham to redistrict the district lines for the City of Margaret for an amount up to $5000.00. Motion not carried with a vote of 2 to 2, with Councilman Tortorice and Councilman Ray voted Yay, and Councilman Chapman and Mayor Pro-Tem McIntyre voted Nay.

Councilman Tortorice read the results of the initial district counts for the city.

Those are listed in the table below:

Councilman Matthew Tortorice made the motion to allow $1000.00 to purchase an IPAD, a tripod and an external microphone and to have a city employee live stream the council meetings. Councilman Jonathan Ray seconded the motion. Motion not carried with a vote of 2-2, with Councilman Tortorice and Councilman Ray voted Yay, and Councilman Chapman and Mayor Pro-Tem McIntyre voted Nay.   

Councilman Matthew Tortorice made a motion that the City Council be given monthly   financial reports naming the Cash Flow and Profit and Loss reports as well as the checks that were written. Councilman Tortorice also asked that the same be published on the City Website except for the checks after a correction from Erskine Funderburg.

Councilman Jonathan Ray seconded the motion. The motion was not carried with a vote of 2-2, with Councilman Tortorice and Councilman Ray voted Yay, and Councilman Chapman and Mayor Pro-Tem McIntyre voted Nay.

Councilman James Chapman made a motion to table the Century Homes Plat (Phase I Stephens Cove Subdivision Lots 45 and 51. Councilman Matthew Tortorice seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Interim Chief Anthony Fields asked the Council to consider allowing the Margaret Police Department to purchase two surveillance cameras to set up in the police property room. Councilman Chapman made the motion to allow the police department an amount of up to $4000.00 to purchase the cameras. Councilman Tortorice stated that we needed to vote to suspend the rules since this was the first time the topic was discussed. The vote to suspend the rules failed with a 3-1 vote, with Councilman Ray voting No. Interim Chief Fields will get an updated quote for 2 cameras because the first quote was for 1 camera.

Fire Chief David Parrish informed the Council of the P25 System which will provide radios for police and fire departments. Chief Parrish will gather more information to bring to Council. Councilman James Chapman would also like the city to look into getting a grant for the P25 system.

Councilman James Chapman made a motion to allow the city clerk to change the language as deemed necessary by the State of Alabama for insurance business licenses. Councilman Matthew Tortorice seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Councilman James Chapman suggested that the Council table the discussion of the amendment of sewer reservation until the Council has researched it more.

Councilman James Chapman made a motion to delete all city-related Facebooks. Councilman Matthew Tortorice seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

The council authorized Dona Abrams of add Business & Marketing Strategies to migrate the hosting and change the template of the city’s website.

Councilman Matthew Tortorice would like the entire council to sit down and discuss their council priorities. Councilman Matthew Tortorice made the motion to table council priorities for discussion at the next council work session. Councilman James Chapman seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Timothy Barrett addressed the council’s lack of a quorum to appoint a person to the mayor’s seat. Timothy Barrett informed the council of his views of why there was not a quorum. Timothy Barrett also informed the council that broken leadership will not fix, broken problems.

Brett Gray informed the council that he thinks Interim Chief Fields is doing a great job. And that the lack of presence at the council meeting has been noticed. He expressed concern over the lack redistricting of the voting districts as the city is growing. He would like to see us focus on bringing businesses to Margaret.

Citizen Janice McIntyre questioned why Councilman Tortorice was recording the meeting. Councilman Tortorice explained the Open Meetings Act and that any citizen can record any public meeting.

Citizen Randall Ragland attempted to inform the Council of two people, Justice Carter and Isaac Howard, who witness a current sitting councilman who had used an inflammatory word while addressing a former councilman. The inflammatory word had supposedly been used by Councilman Jonathan Ray.

Citizen Christopher Lake asked “why y’all don’t want the black police chief that we have”. Erskine explained that the council wants to go through a normal hiring process.

Citizen Randall Ragland asked what the council was going to do remove Councilman Ray. Erskine explained the legal recourse of the action.

Councilman Jonathan Ray addressed the Council about various issues. Councilman James Chapman made a Motion to adjourn.

Meeting adjourned at 7:09 PM.