Birmingham City Council committee endorses two for Water Works Board seat

Published: Tuesday, November 30, 2010, 6:57 PM ??? Updated: Tuesday, November 30, 2010, 7:49 PM

A Birmingham City Council committee tonight endorsed two people for one vacant slot on the Birmingham Water Works Board.

The Utilities?Committee named Fultondale Mayor Jim Lowery, a current member of the board, and Ann Florie, executive director of Leadership Birmingham as their choices. The full council is expected to vote Tuesday.

While other council members were present, the only members of the committee to vote were Maxine Parker and Steven Hoyt.

Committee chairwoman Carole Smitherman has abstained from the endorsement process or the upcoming council vote because her husband, state Sen. Rodger Smitherman, is a lawyer who works with Charlie Waldrep, whose firm represents the utility.

Eleven candidates are seeking a six-year term on the board currently held by Lowery, whose term expired but continues to serve until a new appointment is made.

Parker and Hoyt could not agree on a single name for a recommendation, with Hoyt favoring Florie and Parker saying she favored either Lowery or Mountain Brook Mayor Terry Oden.

The council is not bound to accept the committee's recommendation.

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Birmingham council panel to re-interview 5 candidates seeking seat on Water Works Board

Published: Monday, November 29, 2010, 5:45 PM ??? Updated: Monday, November 29, 2010, 6:05 PM

A Birmingham City Council committee on Tuesday is expected to recommend a candidate to sit on the Birmingham Water Works Board.

The Utilities Committee this afternoon narrowed down the list of 11 candidates for the Water Works Board to five?and will hold a second round of interviews Tuesday before voting on a recommendation.

Candidates are seeking a six-year term on the board currently held by Fultondale Mayor Jim Lowery whose term is expired. The council's Utilities Committee agreed to re-interview Lowery, Mountain Brook Mayor Terry Oden; Ann Florie, executive director of Leadership Birmingham; VeLinda A.J. Weatherly, a community corrections coordinator for the Alabama Department of Corrections and lawyer Desiree Celeste Alexander.

Water Board members are paid $285 per meeting and decide on major contracts with engineers, lawyers and consultants for the utility. There are five member on the authority.

Tuesday's meeting is at 4 p.m. The committee will forward a recommendation to the full council which could vote as early as next week. However, the council could set aside that recommendation and also nominate candidates directly from the dais, as has been done in the past.

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Birmingham City Council interviews 11 candidates for Water Works Board seat

Published: Monday, November 15, 2010, 11:15 PM ??? Updated: Monday, November 15, 2010, 11:16 PM

Members of a Birmingham City Council committee tonight made no immediate recommendation to fill an open seat on the Birmingham Water Works Board after interviewing all 11 candidates.

The candidates are: Fultondale Mayor Jim Lowery, whose seat has expired; Mountain Brook Mayor Terry Oden; Ann Florie, executive director of Leadership Birmingham; Edwin Revell; David Russell; Herbert Patterson Jr.; Robert Smith; VeLinda A.J. Weatherly; Anje Roney; Anthony A. Johnson and Desiree Celeste Alexander.

The council's utilities committee consists of Carole Smitherman, Steven Hoyt and Maxine Parker. Smitherman has recused herself from the process. Her husband, state Sen. Rodger Smitherman, is a lawyer who works with Charlie Waldrep, whose firm represents the utility.

Water Works Board members are paid $285 per meeting and decide on major contracts with engineers, lawyers and consultants for the state's largest public water utility. A seat on the five-member authority is among the most sought after and debated city appointments.

Seven of the nine council members attended the interviews and several asked questions. Smitherman, the committee chairwoman, attended the meeting but didn't question candidates. Hoyt chaired the meeting.

The committee will meet again to discuss the interviews and vote on a recommendation to send to the council. A date has not been set. The council is not bound to accept the committee's recommendation.

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Shelby County School Board requested a commission special election on the extension of the tax

Published: Monday, October 25, 2010, 9 H 25 updated: Monday, October 25, 2010, 9: 26

Shelby County Commission was invited to call a special election on the extension of a tax 30 schools mill that has defined item to expire in 2017.

County School Board asked that an election is set for 8 February 2011.

Tonight, Shelby County School Superintendent Randy Fuller has applied an election to the Board on behalf of the Commission scolaire.

"We not asking for an increase in taxes," said Fuller, who recommended that the application of the school board election.

30 Plants means that a person who possesses a $100,000 House pays $300 in annual property taxes that go to the school system, which does not change, he said.

If the commission agreed set an election, County School Board would ask voters to expand 30 plants in school property taxes year 2041.

Commission comtée vote at the request of the school system to an election in its meeting of 8 November.

Fuller told Commissioners "" this decision is one of the most important in the history of our school system.""

"Without renewal, we cannot build any new schools or to make additions or renovation plans to our existing schools," he said in a prepared statement."By organizing a special election, we will ask the Shelby County residents make an investment of 30 years so that we can maintain the high level of education that we all came to expect lekeage include our ability to finance essential capital improvement projects in some of our higher growth areas."

Bond companies will not that the school system to any new links with school taxes expire in six years, says Fuller.

He said Commissioners school system increased by 8,000 students in the last décennie.Le system is expected to add a further 3,000 students over the next six years, he said.

Calera, Chelsea, Helena and alabaster are areas of growth in the county where the system looks to build new schools or add additional classroom tax should be extended, Fuller said.

The system would also make "improvements and upgrades" in schools in other areas in the County, he said.

Fuller said money generated by the tax is used to pay for music, art teachers and other courses as well as the conseillers.Il serves also to pay for other things such as utilities and repay the obligations taken by the system during the years, he has dit.La tax of 30-factory generates 75 million per year for the school system, which is 28% of the budget of the school system.

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