Is a Christmas Miracle on the Horizon in Hoover? Will residents finally get truthful answers on the forensic audit?
Has anyone considered putting the mayor, councilors, and city staff under oath before each Hoover City Council meeting? Having reviewed months of meeting videos and statements related to the forensic audit, the number of inconsistencies seemingly worsens every time it’s discussed. Residents may get honest answers anyway. Kroll has promised the city council they’ll answer questions, but that will also depend on the city’s gatekeepers. The city solicited questions about the audit via the city clerk’s office, with the window of submissions closing yesterday. Now we wait for a Christmas Miracle: Complete and honest answers. Kroll Forensic Audit Questions Please send questions regarding the Kroll Forensic Audit to the Office of the City Clerk at cityclerk@hooveralabama.gov. Questions will be forwarded to Kroll after December 5, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. Before Thanksgiving, Mayor Frank Brocato addressed the City Council, saying, “I felt compelled to get up tonight as the mayor. I want to reaffirm my commitment to taking responsibility and addressing the challenges that our city faces head-on. We’ve had a number over the last years.” He said, “It could have been very easy for me to address the challenges in our accounting department internally. I chose not to do that.” While the mayor’s delivery may have been an award-worthy performance, facts dispute much of what he said. All evidence indicates that the mayor has known about and ignored deficiencies and problems in the accounting department from his earliest years in office, from staffing shortages to the need for software upgrades and many other issues addressed in the Kroll report. Brocato could have asked the council in any one of his previous budgets to fully fund new positions that would have brought stability to the office, but he didn’t, and the City Council failed to exercise the checks and balances needed to hold him publicly accountable for it. Worse than twisting the truth to use his failures as a sign of leadership, the mayor’s remarks included a series of statements that appear to contradict earlier public statements made by him, his CFO, and others. It’s no wonder city leadership has resorted to deleting videos and skimping on the details of meeting minutes in recent years. In his comments, the mayor stated that his door is open to every resident; the question is, can they trust what he tells them when they enter? Will he continue to deflect responsibility, blaming those who report on the problems and those who care enough to reach out or show up to ask about them? As mentioned above, the city clerk was accepting questions, but how will those questions be filtered to Kroll if at all. What about questions directed toward the city council, staff, and officials? Will they answer honestly or hide behind attorney/client privilege Sources tell me that the city clerk is honest, hard-working, and trustworthy but has had her hands tied by superiors, including the mayor and the city attorney. This is the same city clerk whose meeting minutes for the council barely scratch the surface of what is discussed or said, leaving out nearly all discussions and deliberations between council members and giving no context to what is said during public comment. The same City Clerk who produced a public records request that didn’t include any relevant public records after a three-month wait. The mayor and city leadership have repeatedly shown through their words and actions that they want concerned residents to sit down, shut up, and be grateful that we’ve had any answers, but here’s to hoping for a Christmas miracle.
Questions remain after Hoover CFO Jennifer Cornett reports on Finance Department corrective action plan
Last Monday, the City of Hoover held its regularly scheduled city council meeting, during which the city’s chief financial officer, Jennifer Cornett, spoke. In response to a request from Councilman Derrick Murphy, she presented an update and plan for remedying some of the concerns from the secretly commissioned forensic audit conducted by the nationally renowned firm Kroll. The presentation addressed some of the top issues but still left many questions. Residents have been asking these questions in earnest for months now at council meetings, as they’ve come across elected officials out locally and through petitions and phone calls. Yet, week after week, they’ve found that the mayor and council president rebuffs their concerns. Denying them answers or a venue to be provided answers. Three critical questions come to mind: first, why won’t city leadership create an open forum to address start to finish the legitimate questions that have been asked and ignored? This forum has been suggested not just by concerned residents but by Councilman Steve McClinton as well. Second, how can residents be sure these problems will be prevented in the future, not just in the Finance Department but also in other departments within the city? We know from the Kroll report and several former members of the council that the information was known to Hoover’s top, namely Mayor Frank Brocato and Council President John Lyda, yet worse than just being ignored, they were seemingly covered up and denied. Why did the checks and balances between the mayor’s office and the city council fail? How do voters prevent that failure in the future as well? Additionally, no one in the city has addressed the limitations described in the forensic audit, and if additional steps need to be taken to examine this administration and their financial dealings, departmental staffing beyond the Finance Department, and other issues brought to light through this process. Kroll described on Page 1 of their report, “In performing our forensic accounting and review and analysis of the Finance Department operations, we had certain limitations in our scope of review including a lack of accurate financial reports available from Munis and potentially thousands of electronic files that were deleted without any audit trail or definitive indication of who may have been responsible.” The Kroll report was 274 pages long. Cornett’s update included 7 PowerPoint slides. This leaves a lot of ground to be covered by city leadership, one would hope that would include those responsible. The sections in the Cornett report: Erroneous Financial Reporting Deleted, Missing and/or Destroyed Records Understaffed Finance Department Lack of Experience/Training in Payroll and General Ledger Division Lack of Training, Skills & Communication Lack of Formal Policies and Procedures MUNIS Accounting & Software Implementation Fluctuations in Finance Department Budget Budget Presentations Lack of Complete and Timely Reconciliations Unaddressed Payroll Issues Summary Cornett described four of the issues addressed in these sections as having been resolved through subsequent actions, marking them as “closed” in her presentation. Among the issues marked as “closed,” however, are the deletion of files that she and the mayor have said were reported to the State’s Attorney General. When asked, William Califf, a spokesman from Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office, said, “It is the longstanding policy of this office to neither confirm nor deny the possibility of an investigation.” The Hoover Channel, the local YouTube channel created by Robin Schultz and his grandson Jackson Schultz, loaded the video of her full update to its page as a part of its newest segment type, “The Week in Review.” You can also find within the description of the video all of the supporting and backup documents, including the detailed PowerPoint presentation that Cornett gave.
Beauty and the Beasts: Jennifer Cornett vs. Hoover City Leadership
Last Monday, the City of Hoover held its regularly scheduled city council meeting, during which the city’s chief financial officer, Jennifer Cornett, spoke. Ordinarily, the CFO would speak when presenting budget updates, during occasional budget amendments (Hoover has had many this year), and giving general operations information. However, Cornett’s first year has been anything but ordinary. In response to a request during a previous council meeting from Councilman Derrick Murphy, Cornett presented an update and plan for remedying some of the concerns raised in the secretly commissioned forensic audit by the nationally renowned firm Kroll. As previously reported by Alabama Today, Cornett, who started with the City of Hoover late last year, has been in a precarious position since day one. By all accounts, including the Kroll forensic audit, the regular auditor BMSS’s regular audits for years, the Gallagher report, and other internal investigations, the city’s financial offices have been understaffed for years due to the mayor’s lack of leadership in requesting funding or managing his staff. As Cornett detailed in her report on Monday, this understaffing and a general lack of accountability and management over the years have led to a host of problems she is now having to clean up. On Monday, as she has every time she’s addressed the Council, she stressed a commitment to transparency and accountability. A commitment that puts her directly at odds with others in city leadership, including Mayor Frank Brocato, who has seemingly, at every turn during this process, denied that problems existed, sought out the least transparent way forward to cover them up, and downplay them, and who, to this day, refuses to acknowledge it was during his tenure and because of his leadership failures that these problems were allowed to happen and remained for years. Cornett’s commitment to good governance is certainly at odds with the public position presented in word and action by City Attorney Phillip Corley, who has sat back as the mayor, mayor’s staff, and City Council President John Lyda declared publically that they are shielded from their actions, words, and failure to act by Corley directing or allowing them to declare “attorney/client privilege” as if it’s a “Get out of Jail” free card in a game of Monopoly. Anyone who has been to council meetings or had any interaction with the council, be it on the forensic audit, asking questions about the Riverwalk Development or costs related to the Certificate of Need hearings, have seen Corley use his Alabama Bar Association membership as both a weapon and a shield to allow himself and everyone around him to avoid transparency and accountability. When he or his friends don’t want to answer a question or an inquiry, Corley declares “it’s privileged.” Again, public records laws and other laws be damned, though we have heard from both the mayor and CFO recently that the attorney general’s office has finally been called to look into what they want to be investigated. In one instance of the questionable use of privilege, Lyda sent an email to the rest of the council seeking approval for the forensic audit, an email that the city failed to produce in a public records request, even though it was just one councilor to others with no legal counsel included. That didn’t stop Corley from withholding said document from a public records request. Finally, Cornett’s pledge is at odds with the Council, which, under Lyda’s leadership, has been all but ambivalent about developing and maintaining the checks and balances required to correct the multitude of problems facing the city. One could only imagine if, rather than the beasts at city hall deflecting blame and responsibility, hiding plans, cutting backroom deals, picking fights with one another, and all the madness we’ve seen in Hoover since early this year, how beautiful, peaceful and productive growing and governing could be.
Mayor Frank Brocato takes aim at media and Hoover residents for his leadership failures
Just over a year ago, on September 26, 2023, Jon Anderson at The Hoover Sun wrote about the city’s proposed budget for the 2024 fiscal year—a budget that has repeatedly been amended, sometimes for tens of thousands, adding up to millions of dollars in unexpected or unbudgeted costs. That same news report also described then-CFO Tina Bolt’s response to the BMSS annual audit findings for fiscal 2022. The BMSS audit found material weaknesses and significant deficiencies in the city’s internal controls. Anderson reported at the time, “Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said he was not alarmed by the findings and noted the city had taken steps to address the areas of concern. He commended Bolt for being transparent about issues that are not always talked about publicly and explaining the issues to the council.” Though Brocato was “not alarmed,” ultimately, the current CFO, Jennifer Cornett, expressed that there was enough reason to be concerned she insisted upon a forensic audit. According to Brocato himself, Cornett, led the call for the additional audit. In his first public remarks on the audit after months of his office dodging public and media requests, Brocato acknowledged “significant challenges” that the city’s staff faced with regard to its finances. What he did not recognize in those brief, misleading remarks was his role. As reported by Alabama Today, Brocato was solely responsible for the staffing deficiencies that led to the cascade of problems the city has faced. Multiple people and experts repeatedly informed the mayor of staff shortages, but he only just this year to request additional personnel in his annual budget. Year after year, no requests were made to fix or head off the crisis, even as it worsened. Year after year, city council leadership, armed with information of payroll problems primarily impacting the city’s first responders, aware of staffing shortages in reports given to them and recognizing being told about staffing changes, also failed to provide the appropriate checks and balances required of their duties. Nearly eight months after Brocato blew off, and the council ignored the concerns of the city auditor and downplayed the situation, City Council President John Lyda finally acknowledged the “financial disarray” that the city found itself in. In his email to colleagues secretly asking them to approve the hiring of Kroll, Lyda noted that at the time the city couldn’t rule out fraud. Lyda and the city, seemingly in direct contradiction to state law, refused to produce the above-referenced email in a public records request by Alabama Today. Earlier today, The Hoover Sun ran a story detailing some of the concerns posed by Kroll’s forensic audit report and a citizen-led effort to draw attention to that report. The Hoover Sun again quoted Mayor Frank Brocato, demonstrating his continued lack of self-awareness regarding his failures and the serious issues brought to light in the forensic audit report. Brocato is quoted in the story attacking the integrity of the citizens he was elected to represent, concerned business owners, and the journalists who have covered this crisis, saying, “People raising a red flag are doing so for political purposes with a city election coming up next year.” “It is an organized, well-focused attack against us, and it’s just complete hogwash,” Brocato said. While there are financial problems, “the city is in great financial shape, and it’s hurting their narrative.” “I wanted everything looked at, and it turned out everything was on the up and up.” While Brocato may not believe residents care or should care about the problems they face, the residents who have written, called, attended meetings and otherwise have taken action on their own demonstrate otherwise. Ultimately, the forensic audit showed many problems. Problems that can be traced directly back to the mayors’ actions and/or lack of actions. We have covered some of those issues and will continue to do so.
City Leader or JV Cheerleader: What is Frank Brocato’s role in Hoover’s award-winning mess?
In a dizzying three months, Alabama Today has reported on the curious case of delayed annual audits and the secret forensic audit being done in the most roundabout way using the least transparent process possible. The firm brought in was Kroll, which was the City Attorney’s law firm, seemingly hired to evade public record laws so that the city could claim privileged communication even when there wasn’t. We still need answers on the funding or cost of the report. Mayor Frank Brocato finally addressed the issue in a council meeting on August 5, 2024. At the next meeting, an investigator with Kroll came to speak and laid out the basics of the investigation. The final report was made public in an early evening Friday press release with a headline intended to discourage a deeper investigation. That worked somewhat, as several local media outlets ran the city’s spin as fact. If you’re looking for the cliff notes version of the report, I created a Top 10 List; that said, I still encourage you to review the document in full on your own to understand the significance of what has been bubbling up behind the surface of the city for years. Reading the report, I was struck by the lack of leadership and accountability from the mayor in the city’s tone-deaf response (which, in all fairness, is better than silence). The ongoing problems were not a secret to anyone in the building. Filling the staffing levels cited in the report would fall under the purview of the Mayor and yet in his annual budget requests he never sought to do so. Instead, he repeated the line of how great things under his watch are and have been. This begs the question: Who runs things at the City of Hoover? Has the mayor abdicated his role to the CFO and City Manager while he’s been busy being a ribbon cutter, cheerleader, and sweetheart deal maker for his pet priority projects? There are strong contradicting messages from the Kroll report and Brocato and BMSS, the company responsible for the city’s annual audits throughout the years. Brocato stressed in his update that “the annual audits have been sound and thorough.” Every CFO has touted winning the GFOA award for 41 years in a row. According to their website, “GFOA established the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Program (COA) in 1945 to encourage and assist state and local governments to go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles to prepare annual comprehensive financial reports that evidence the spirit of transparency and full disclosure and then to recognize individual governments that succeed in achieving that goal.” Here’s the last sentence of the description, “The goal of the program is not to assess the financial health of participating governments, but rather to ensure that users of their financial statements have the information they need to do so themselves.” If it took one of the world’s most qualified and sought-after firms over three months to begin to make sense of the City of Hoover’s financial mess, one has to question how the Mayor can say with a straight face that the city has met the program’s goal. In order to receive this award, there is a forty-four-page checklist that has to be completed by the city attesting to a strict adherence to best practices in financial reporting. Kroll’s report details years of staffing, software, and policy problems that led to misinformation being presented in many ways over the years. Perhaps there’s an award out there for hiding information and finger-pointing that the city could win, given this report. At the last council meeting, the current CFO touted that Hoover had won yet another award for its financial practices, and in fact, it did. Still, that award and others were awarded during Tina Bolt’s time there. So, which was it? Were things a mess and disaster because of her actions? Did she inherit the mess and pass it down, or was it a combination? Hopefully, this is the beginning of the light being shed on what’s going on behind the scenes in Hoover, and the revelations will continue.
Hoover Council President John Lyda describes “financial disarray” and notes fraud possible
A month ago, Alabama Today submitted a formal public records request to the City of Hoover, copying City Councilors John Lyda and Curt Posey on that email. While City Clerk Wendy Dickerson acknowledged receipt of the request, so far, the city has failed to produce a single record, return a phone call, or give a status update about it. An email exclusively obtained by Alabama Today sheds light on some of what the city is hiding by withholding the requested public documents. Lyda emailed the rest of the council on April 9, 2024, with the subject line “Hoover Forensic Audit- Kroll Proposal.” Good afternoon, Wallace Jordan has researched several options and vetted various individuals and firms for the completion of a forensic audit on city finances. Attached is a proposal from Kroll Investigative Analytics. I know there is a shared desire to get moving on this ASAP so that we can get assurance that the recent discovery of financial disarray is due to human error or carelessness rather than fraud. The cost is estimated to be between $145k and $177k and is expected to take between 60 and 90 days. Please let me know ASAP if you believe there’s sufficient reason not to move forward on this. Phillip will also be happy to provide any info on other firms and individuals they spoke with in finding the right fit for our needs. Thank you! John According to Lyda’s email, the forensic audit was expected to take 60-90 days. That was 92 days ago. Two sources tell Alabama Today that the forensic audit includes an investigation into unconfirmed reports of documents protected by the state document retention laws intentionally deleted by a former city staffer. Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office has a Special Prosecutions Division that has prosecuted ethics violations by city officials in recent years. Their website states, “This division prosecutes mainly public corruption and complex economic crimes. The special prosecutions division works with federal and state agencies to conduct joint investigations and prosecutions. In addition, the division assists various commissions and agencies with prosecutions.” It is unclear if the City of Hoover has yet been in contact with investigators for the state about Lyda’s concerns. As reported first in 1819 News, City Councilwoman Khristi Driver revealed the forensic audit publically for the first time in sworn testimony during the hearings contesting the Certificate of Need that the Hoover City Healthcare Authority has asked the state for. On May 30, Driver testified, “My understanding of the purpose of the audit would be to take a look at all of our financials to make sure that everything is in order and to follow up on some of the observations that were made in our most recent audit from our regular auditor.” According to the Hoover Sun, the last audit report for fiscal 2022 noted “some material weaknesses and significant deficiencies in the city’s internal controls. The material weaknesses included insufficient segregation of duties over financial reporting by an outsourced contractor at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex and errors and problems related to implementing a new business software system. The significant deficiencies dealt with the recording of accounts receivable transactions and the holding of checks for vendors.” An examination of publicly available records by a financial expert indicated that internal control weaknesses were found rather than material weaknesses, as described by Hoover Sun. Despite the concerns in the audit report, the Sun reported at the time that Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato “was not alarmed.” City officials have not publicly addressed the forensic audit, how it is being paid for, or how it impacts the timing and delivery of yearly annual audit from the city’s longtime auditor Barfield, Murphy, Shank & Smith (BMSS) Advisors and CPA. Earlier this year, the City of Homewood announced that it retained an independent forensic certified public accounting firm to investigate the theft of city funds and notified the Jefferson County district attorney and the FBI. A city employee was then arrested and charged with misappropriating city funds for allegedly stealing over six figures.
Gov. Kay Ivey announces $300 million in three interstate widening projects in Jefferson County
On Thursday, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey and a group of legislative and local government leaders held a press conference in the Hoover city council chambers to announce three major interstate widening projects in Jefferson and Shelby Counties. The Governor announced three major road widening and access improvement projects. On Interstate 459, the project will connect Hwy 150 and Shades Crest Road as well as add lanes and options for motorists. Ivey also announced the widening of Interstate 59 in Trussville from the I-459 junction to the Chalkville Mountain Road Exit. The third project is the widening of Interstate 65 in ShelbyCounty from Alabaster to Calera. “It was exciting to think about this announcement as I drove up 65 this morning, seeing the progress we are making around Clanton and the progress we have already made around Alabaster,” said Gov. Ivey. “And folks, let me tell you, this is just one of many Alabama roads benefiting from our Rebuild Alabama effort,” said Governor Ivey in her remarks. “We are all familiar with the phrase ‘no man left behind.’ Well, Rebuild Alabama seeks to ensure we have no road, bridge, or area of our state left behind.” The Shelby County widening of I-65 from Alabaster to Calera, which runs from Exit 238 to Exit 231, will be especially costly as this project includes six bridges over rail tracks and two bridges over County Road 26. The Shelby County Commission, the City of Alabaster, the City of Calera, and 58 Inc. are providing a total of $20 million in local matching funds, with the remaining funds coming from the state of Alabama and ALDOT’s funds. The federal government will then provide dollars to finish the project. In Hoover, ALDOT is constructing a new interchange to connect Interstate 459 to Highway 150 and South Shades Crest Road in Hoover. The new Hoover Interchange will be located about one mile from the current Exit 10. The City of Hoover has put forward much of the matching funds to draw down federal transportation dollars. The project will cost $120 million. The widening of Interstate 59 from I-459 to Chalkville Mountain Road will involve six laning four miles of interstate. This project will provide additional capacity in this congested area and accommodate future traffic volumes, including those generated by the Birmingham Northern Beltline. This project has an estimated cost of approximately $80 million in ALDOT funds. “We have been working a long time to make these announcements possible –projects totaling about a half a billion dollars,” said Gov. Ivey. “These are wise investments to Rebuild Alabama, and I am proud to get dirt churning on these all within the year.” Ed Austin is the Chief Engineer at the Alabama Department of Transpiration (ALDOT). “It was her leadership, as well as many of the legislators here today, that led to passage of the Rebuild Alabama Act, which allowed us to do what we are doing,” Austin said. “This is just one of the many projects we are doing through Rebuild Alabama.” “I am proud to have dirt churning with these projects in the next year,” said Ivey. “I told ALDOT to finish these projects as quickly and expeditiously as possible.” Austin said that all three of these projects are sections of interstate where more than 65,000 vehicles a day travel. “The surveying has already begun,” Austin said. “The design has also begun.” Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said, “It is an exciting day for those of us in Hoover.” “The vision for this project began 20 years ago,” Brocato said. “We split the cost with ALDOT approximately 50:50 (on the Hoover project),” Brocato said. “When local government and state government work together, we can make great things happen for citizens.” Brocato warned that there will be “significant risks for motorists” and slower travel times beginning next year as all three of these projects will be underway at the same time. “The interchange will alleviate congestion at our existing ramps,” Brocato said. “This project will also allow for further economic development opportunities for both Jefferson and Shelby Counties.” Trussville Mayor Buddy Choate said, “Trussville has been the fastest growing city in Jefferson County for the last ten yearswith over 26,000 residents. 65,000 cars a day are driving on a two-lane road.” Jefferson County Commissioner Joe Knight is also the President of the Association of County Commissioners of Alabama. Knight warned that construction will impact motorists’ commute times in the next year but, in the long run, will improve transportation times in Jefferson County and across the region. “That (widening of I-59) will also be very important when that Northern Beltline reaches around there,” Knight said. The Chairman of the Shelby County Commission, Kevin Morris, thanked Gov. Ivey for “all the small projects that have already happened.” “It was under your leadership,’ Commissioner Morris said of the Rebuild Alabama Act and the tax increase in fuel taxes that funded that. “We have missed opportunities because of that bottleneck on I-65,” Commissioner Morris said. “It will generate huge opportunities for our area, but also all of Alabama. Each of these projects will benefit every resident of the state of Alabama.” In 2019, Governor Ivey signed into law the historic Rebuild Alabama Act, her legislative plan to address the state’s pressing infrastructure issues by raising fuel taxes in order to generate more than $170 million dollars in state transportation funding. Rebuild Alabama has allowed the state to resurface 400 miles of roadways and fund 234 new road and bridge projects spread across all67 counties. “Improving Alabama’s infrastructure is one of my top priorities as governor,” stated Governor Ivey. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Gov. Kay Ivey signs ‘The Game Plan’ legislation
On Thursday, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a package of four bills to extend and expand the economic incentive tools available to state financial planners. The Alabama Legislature passed the package of bills on Thursday morning, promising that the four “Game Plan” bills are the “plays” Alabama needed to call to have a bright future. “I am proud the Alabama Legislature has officially passed all four bills in The Game Plan package – my plan for our state’s continued economic success,” Ivey said in a statement. “I commend both the Senate and House for their incredible work on this timely legislation that will, no doubt, be transformative for our state and, more importantly, for our families. We are creating stability for our economy and are going to keep Alabama winning for many years to come.” “The Game Plan will give Alabama’s team the tools it needs to extend our winning record in economic development and help us unleash a new wave of growth and innovation across the state,” said Gov. Ivey. “From our rural areas to our big cities, this is going to benefit every corner of Alabama.” Senate President Pro Temp Greg Reed said that passage of the package was a victory for the state and its future. “The Game Plan is a multi-pronged approach to strengthen Alabama’s economy from all angles,” said Reed. “The four ‘plays’ are effective pieces of legislation that will help Alabama’s local communities thrive by attracting high-quality employers, creating jobs, and stimulating economic growth.” Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter said that the package would benefit Alabamians by better positioning the state to compete for the best jobs in the country. “Industries across the nation and globe are trying to come here because of our great employees, our low taxes, and our unbeatable quality of life,” said Ledbetter. “We want to make sure that, from a competition standpoint, we have the tools needed to bring companies here and keep them here.” Greg Canfield is the Secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce. “The Game Plan will serve as our next-generation strategic economic development framework as we work to build a more dynamic economy for Alabama and its citizens,” said Secretary Canfield. “Neighboring states are aggressively escalating their economic development activities, and this will allow us to keep winning the projects that trigger lasting impacts.” The Alabama Big 10 Mayors praised the passage of the economic development Incentives bills. Passing the economic incentives legislation was item number one on the Alabama Big 10 Mayors’ 2023 legislative agenda. “These incentives programs are critically important to our cities and the entire state of Alabama,” the Alabama Big 10 Mayors said in a joint statement. “For our cities to be successful, we need to have the tools to attract new industry, businesses, and high-quality jobs. These bills give Alabama the ability to not just remain competitive, but also increase our ability to attract the world-class businesses and developments that improve the quality of life across our state.” “We thank Governor Kay Ivey, legislative leadership and their members, the Department of Commerce, and the many stakeholders who worked tirelessly to make this happen. We were proud to support this package of bills, and we look forward to seeing the impact that these incentives programs will have on each of Alabama’s ten largest cities.” The Mayors representing Alabama’s ten biggest cities work together to address the state’s most important issues and make Alabama a safer, better place for all its residents to live. The Alabama Big 10 Mayors include Auburn Mayor Ron Anders, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling, Dothan Mayor Mark Saliba, Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, Madison Mayor Paul Finley, Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, and Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox. The Game Plan includes four bills — or “plays” — focusing on economic development issues such as incentives, site development, small business support, and transparency. Play 1: The Enhancing Alabama’s Economic Progress Act renews the Alabama Jobs Act and the Growing Alabama program and extends their sunset dates to 2028 while adding strategic enhancements to increase their effectiveness. The Jobs Act is the state’s primary incentives platform, while Growing Alabama primarily speeds development of shovel-ready sites. Play 2: The Site Evaluation and Economic Development Strategy Act (SEEDS) will allow the State Industrial Development Authority to accelerate the development of industry-ready sites at a time when available sites are scarce, and other states are expanding their site programs. Play 3: The Innovation and Small Business Act aims to supercharge growth in Alabama’s innovation economy and support underrepresented businesses and enterprises in rural areas, transforming the state into a hub for technology and innovation. Play 4: The Enhancing Transparency Act will amend the Jobs Act to require the Alabama Department of Commerce to publish certain incentivized project information on its website. Transparency around important information related to companies receiving incentives will serve a valid public service and increase confidence in the process. Critics of the idea of economic incentives to lure industry and projects argue that it is corporate welfare and picking winners and losers, but there were no critics in the Alabama Legislature as the plan sailed through both Houses. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Senate Committee advances legislation to bar protests at individual residences
On Thursday, the Alabama Senate Veterans and Military Affairs Committee voted to advance legislation prohibiting protests and picketing outside individual residences. Senate Bill 199 is sponsored by State Senator Arthur Orr (R-Decatur). Orr said that this legislation was inspired by the protests outside of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s house following the release of a draft opinion overturning the Roe v. Wade decision. Orr said, “Protesters come out to the house and protested on the sidewalk with bullhorns and created a nuisance.” Orr said that he felt that the state of Alabama did not want that, so he drafted legislation to ban such tactics. “I showed it to Judiciary Chairman [Will] Barfoot, and he had some ideas,” Orr said. Sen. Will Barfoot said, “No person at or near a person’s residence. I think that is pretty vague. I think we need to tighten that up.” Sen. Andrew Jones is the Chairman of the Senate Veterans and Military Affairs Committee. The synopsis states, “This bill would prohibit a person from picketing or protesting at or near the residence of any individual intending to harass or intimidate. This bill would require law enforcement officers to ask a person who is protesting to peacefully leave the premises before placing that person under arrest.” This offense would be a class C misdemeanor. If local law enforcement can’t or won’t enforce this statute, it authorizes the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency to do so. This legislation would allow municipalities or counties to adopt ordinances or resolutions to regulate the time and noise level of any picketing or protesting in a residential area and provide criminal penalties for violations.” The committee voted to give SB199 a favorable report. It could be considered by the full Senate as early as Tuesday. While the protests outside of Supreme Court Justices’ homes made national news, there have been instances of protests outside of individual residences in Alabama. Protesters protested outside the home of Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato following the shooting of Emantic “E.J.” Bradford Jr. in the Galleria Mall by a Hoover police officer. In the case of the Supreme Court Justices, legal experts generally agree that targeted, stationary protests outside of a justice’s home are already prohibited under federal law — an effort to protect judges from undue pressures or influence. U.S. Sen. Katie Britt and other Republicans maintain that the Biden administration ordered the federal marshals to protect the judges but not to remove the protestors. Tuesday will be day 11 of the 2023 Alabama Regular Legislative Session. The Alabama Constitution limits the Legislature to no more than thirty legislative days during a regular session. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Big Ten mayors host annual breakfast
On Wednesday, the Alabama Big Ten Mayors hosted legislative leaders at a breakfast on the Sixth Floor of RSA Plaza. The mayors thanked the legislators for their service and asked them to support their 2023 legislative agenda. Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said, “There are a lot of great things happening in this city and across Alabama.” “We had a record year in economic development in the city,” Reed said. “It could not have happened without great help from the state of Alabama and our elected representation.” Reed said that the new $90 million waterpark would be an “economic lynchpin” for the city. “Gen Z picks the place and then picks the job,” Reed said. “That is a little bit different from what I was used to. We found the job and then went to the city where it was.” Reed said the water park would feature whitewater rafting next to a walking trail on the Alabama River and Maxwell Air Force Base. “It will definitely be a destination,” Reed stated. Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson is the Chairman of the Big Ten Mayors. “This started in 2014 as the big 5,” Stimpson said. “We started meeting on a quarterly basis. We found out that we had the same problems.” “That morphed into the Big 10 Mayors in 2019,” Stimpson. “Rebuild Alabama was our first focus. Rebuild Alabama has been great for the state.” Stimpson said that the mayors next got involved in Anaiah’s Law. “There was a repeat offender who had already shot a couple of people,” Stimpson said. “We asked the judge: Don’t let him out. The judge said: I have to. If you don’t like it, change the constitution.” The Mayors then got behind Anaiah’s law, which was sponsored by State Rep. Chip Brown. That amendment to the Alabama Constitution passed the Legislature and was ratified by the voters in the 2020 election. Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox said that the Mayors are urging the Legislature to pass the Simplified Sellers Use Tax. “Small business is the heart of our cities,” Maddox said. “We know it is not easy, but these are the people borrowing the money and taking the risk to build our communities, and they are the heart of our downtowns.” Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth said, “The big ten mayors play a big role in our state. Thank you for your support of our incentives package.” Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Reed said, “We will be looking at a four bill incentives package,” “We have had great success in Alabama with incentives,” Reed said. “We have created tens of thousands of jobs.” Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter said, “Our state is growing at a pace that I have not seen in my lifetime.” Ledbetter credited the incentives package for contributing to this growth. “The incentives have led to $40 billion in investment in the state and created 60,000 jobs,” Ledbetter said. “Rebuild Alabama has changed Alabama’s economy. All over the state, you see (road construction) barrels wherever you go. It used to not be that way.” “Ports are hugely important,” Ledbetter said. “We are expanding our port and building a new one in Montgomery.” Stimpson said, “75% of the people in Alabama live in the state’s metropolitan areas, and most of the economic growth occurs in the metropolitan areas.” The Alabama Big 10 Mayors include Auburn Mayor Ron Anders, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling, Dothan Mayor Mark Saliba, Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, Madison Mayor Paul Finley, Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, and Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox. Wednesday will be day 8 of the 2023 Alabama Regular Legislative Session. The Alabama Constitution limits the regular session to no more than thirty legislative days during a regular session. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Alabama Big 10 Mayors announce their 2023 Legislative agenda
On Friday, the Alabama Big 10 Mayors released their legislative agenda for the 2023 Alabama Regular Legislative session. “Policy decisions made in Montgomery have a direct impact on our cities,” the ten mayors said in a joint statement. “And with nearly three out of four Alabamians living either in or around our state’s ten biggest cities, legislation that creates jobs and improves public safety in our communities benefits the vast majority of Alabamians. That’s why we have joined together to collectively advocate for important, common-sense legislation that will make our state a better place to live, work and raise a family. We look forward to working with our state’s dedicated elected lawmakers to make Alabama a safer, more prosperous state.” The Alabama Big 10 Mayors include Auburn Mayor Ron Anders, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling, Dothan Mayor Mark Saliba, Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, Madison Mayor Paul Finley, Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, and Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox. While 75% of the state’s population lives in the state’s largest metropolitan areas, just 25.1% of Alabamians actually live in the city limits of the ten largest Alabama cities. They range in size from Huntsville at 215,006 down to 56.933 for Madison in the 2020 Census. The mayors listed their key legislative priorities for the Alabama Big 10 Mayors for the 2023 legislative session. These policies, if enacted, will make Alabama a safer, more prosperous state. The Alabama Big 10 Mayors support the reauthorization and accompanying expansion of the Alabama Jobs Act and the Growing Alabama Act. The Mayors claim that the incentive programs established by these bills are critical to keeping Alabama’s economy globally competitive as we work to attract new businesses and new jobs to our communities. The Alabama Big 10 Mayors support efforts to make online sales tax distribution data from the State available publicly. If Alabamians are required to pay taxes on items purchased online, they deserve the right to know where their tax dollars are going. The Alabama Big 10 Mayors support legislation that would make it easier for local governments and land bank authorities to seize vacant, abandoned, and tax-delinquent private properties from landowners and address them in a way that would allow those previously unusable properties to contribute to and improve communities in Alabama cities. The Alabama Big 10 Mayors supports legislation enabling more expedient prosecution of unlicensed persons found to have any “trigger activator“ device, such as a “Glock switch.” These devices are federally illegal and not authorized by gun manufacturers. They effectively turn a semi-automatic firearm into a fully automatic firearm. These devices increase the number of rounds that a handgun can fire per second and decreases the amount of control that the shooter has over the firearm, increasing risks to bystanders and law enforcement. A state law would allow offenders to be prosecuted for having the unapproved device in the state and federal courts. The Alabama Big 10 Mayors support legislation that prohibits and provides criminal penalties for “exhibition driving“ – when a driver purposefully drives intentionally to create unnecessary engine noise, tire skid, burnouts, and other dangerous and dangerous and damaging driving techniques. This is a growing problem across Alabama cities that creates a public safety hazard for pedestrians and other drivers while draining limited law enforcement resources. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Steve Flowers: Alabama’s big 10 mayors are influential
Students of Alabama political history will rightly remember the 2022 midterm election. This election saw the majority of Alabama voters cast their ballots for Katie Britt, who will be the first woman elected to represent Alabama in the U.S. Senate. Governor Kay Ivey easily coasted to victory to gain her second full term in office, continuing her reign as the first Republican woman to serve as Governor. Republicans from the top of the ballot on down cemented their control of the state government by huge margins. On top of all this, I suspect that students of Alabama politics will also note 2022 as the year that a new political force emerged on the scene. For the first time this cycle, the Alabama Big 10 Mayors – as the name suggests, the mayors of the state’s ten biggest cities – flexed their political muscle and put their support behind the Aniah’s Law constitutional amendment, which received a staggering 1,018,004 “yes” votes, more than any other item on the ballot. For those who are not aware of this emerging new group, the mayors of Alabama’s ten biggest cities joined together to use their collective influence to advocate for public policy positions that they believe will make Alabama a safer, more prosperous state. If you happen to live in the metro areas of Birmingham, Huntsville, Madison, Mobile, Montgomery, Auburn, Tuscaloosa, Dothan, Hoover, or Decatur – you live in the orbit of this group’s sphere of influence. While these mayors have been meeting regularly for several years to discuss issues like crime, infrastructure, and economic development, this election cycle marks the first time they have weighed in on electoral politics. Through a focus on local media, these mayors were able to ensure that this popular proposal stayed top-of-mind for Alabama voters. In fact, the late push against the referendum from both the far left and far right of the political spectrum was likely a reaction to the media coverage and public support that these mayors generated. Their advantage is not just in the media. They are a bipartisan group with credibility on both the right and left sides of the aisle. They are popular, and many are serving their third or even fourth terms. They are geographically diverse, with representation from Huntsville to Mobile to the Wiregrass. Finally, they represent a whole lot of Alabamians – approximately 75% percent of the state lives in one of their metro areas. As our state works to attract new residents and grapple with brain drain, policymakers would do well to listen to what these mayors have to say. It is clear that the future of Alabama depends on successful cities that can attract and retain the types of people who work in our booming space, medical research, and advanced manufacturing industries. Ignoring our cities is a recipe for decreasing competitiveness across the state. If you think we are a rural, small-town state, you are mistaken. In case you missed my earlier statement, a clear three-fourths of all Alabamians now live in one of our ten major cities in the state. Most of the real governing in the state is done by mayors. Being mayor of a city is where the rubber meets the road. It is the governmental constant where everyday problems are resolved. The gentlemen who comprise the group of the Big 10 mayors are hardworking, true public servants. They are doing their job day-in-and-day-out without fanfare and without an eye toward moving up statewide or to Washington. They love their cities and are governing them well. Representing the largest cities in Alabama, the Big 10 mayors include Auburn Mayor Ron Anders, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling, Dothan Mayor Mark Saliba, Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, Madison Mayor Paul Finley, Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, and Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox. It is interesting and noteworthy that two of the Big 10 cities are suburban enclaves of two of our large metropolitan areas. Hoover is one of the largest cities in the state and is an outgrowth of Birmingham. If census trends continue the next ten years the same as the last, Hoover may be a larger city than Birmingham. It more than likely will be in 20 years. However, if those same trends stay in place, Huntsville will continue to be Alabama’s largest city. One of the most revealing things to note is that Madison, a suburb of Huntsville, is one of the ten largest cities in Alabama. The Big 10 Mayors should have a big story for a long time to come. See you next week. Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at: www.steveflowers.us.
