My First Week

As I begin my four-year term there are goals that I hope to achieve for Madison and specifically, for District 1. It is my hope and prayer that I will make a difference in District 1 in the next four years. My goals are to effectively and efficiently communicate events and activity such as traffic concerns to District 1 specifically, and for anyone in Madison who may desire the information. I will be using this website as a tool to provide information that hopefully will be as current and up to date as possible. My plan is to be available and accessible to you. You will be able to reach me via email, cell phone and social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).

Mayor Finley has committed to giving weekly updates to City employees and I will share them with you here. Here is the first one hot off the press!

Mayor Finley’s Weekly Update for November 14-20 2016

Good Friday Morning,

There is no question it has been a busy, busy week for most of us at City Hall.  Thanks to all of you for everything you are doing for our citizens.  I wanted to share some of the efforts that we completed this week including:

• Led by Engineering a host of departments worked together to communicate and then close the right lane of the Hughes Road overpass.  Great job team!
• Representatives from Police, Fire, and Public Works attended a Winter Weather exercise where information was shared on winter weather preparedness.  I am very confident Madison is well prepared should bad weather arise.
• Our Code Enforcement team picked up 2.5 truckloads of signs (about 200 total) from the median during a sweep.  Using this information I was able to contact the Realtors and Builders liaisons to ask them for help in policing their members.  This supports what our council asked for and hopefully will clean up our city during the weekend.
• In our Madison Police Department Sergeant Greg Dees received “Employee of the Month” award for October 2016
• Recreation changed out the lighting ballast at the Senior Center.  The new LED ballasts will save on energy costs at the Center while improving lighting.
• Recreation hosted the Veterans Day swim meet for about 400 swimmers and their families.
• City staff held a kick-off meeting for construction of the new library on Wednesday, Nov. 16^th.    Turner Construction, consultant for the City; Pearce Construction, the general contractor; most of the subcontractors; and Madison Utilities staff joined staff from Planning, Building and Fire to discuss inspections, communication protocols and schedule.   Expect to see a construction trailer and the beginning of site mobilization next week.
• Finance and IT meet with representatives from “Cabinet Paperless” to discuss a document management system that we believe could streamline and better organize the years of paper archives and documentation throughout the City.   This was an informational meeting only.
• Revenue passed on that we now collect over 80% of our total revenue via online filing.  Cameron and his team started this practice years ago, making it easier for both our business owners and for his staff.
• HR held a Veteran’s Day Event for our employees on last Thursday, with a slideshow of our employees from their years of service.
• In the Mayor’s office we accomplished a couple of things also:
  • I represented Madison at a UAH Roundtable discussion that included the Chancellor of the Alabama System, the Board of Regents from both UA and UAH, and community leaders.
  • I was the featured speaker at the Madison Chamber of Commerce November lunch where I was able to share our mission and game plan for success going forward.
  • I attended my first Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce Directors meeting where I was able to lay the groundwork for improved inclusion and communication.
  • I represented our Madison City Council and spoke at the Madison City School Board meeting to discuss the areas we as a city will support their efforts.
  • Taylor conducted multiple 1 on 1 meetings with our Department Heads.  Primary focus was to learn what areas each department had going and how we could support you better in our efforts.

Lastly, Mayor and Council kept in constant communication throughout the week.  Each of us worked hard to share information as needed.

Let’s finish our week strong and enjoy our weekend!

Sincerely,

Mayor Paul Finley

I had the pleasure and opportunity to speak to many of you while I was running for this position. The issue of Madison not having a proper Animal Shelter was mentioned again and again. It is my hope we can develop and implement a plan to have a proper animal shelter and administrative space for Madison Animal Control within the next four years.

Another goal is to help to increase greenway space, walking trails and sidewalks within the Madison City Limits. I believe we are a walking community which can be witnessed by driving around Madison. For instance, you will see people walking along Hughes Road, Old Madison and County Line Road any time of day. I hope we will be able to plan and develop more natural green space for our residents.

I have also had the privilege to meet Alex Riley with Madison Up! Madison Up is a non-profit organization whose mission is to give back to the community. We are working together to see how we can best support Madison Up in their desire to build an enrichment center and playground at the corner of Wall Triana Highway and Giillespie Road. This is not Madison City property so at this time our role is limited. However, I have been able to introduce Alex to a local grant writer who may be able to help him secure future funding. In publicizing a promotion with a local fence company, that company is now working with Alex to replace the dilapidated fence on the property. I hope to continue to be a source of information and encouragement for Alex. This is a picture of the two of us at the new Kroger where we met to exchange ideas. I applaud Alex and his organization for their commitment to give back to the community of Madison.

On November 9th , I attended Ethics Training and an Orientation Conference with the other three new Council Members. This was a very informative day of training and educating which gave us insight as to how we can best serve our community under legal mandate. It was a very informative day with a lot of material to digest. I am thankful to the Alabama League of Municipalities for their day-long presentation of information.

On November 12th, I had the privilege of speaking to Boy Scout Weebelos at Asbury UMC. These four young men were working on their Arrow of Light Adventure: Building a Better World. While small in number they were a very engaged group and I really enjoyed our discussion.

And that was my first week! As always if you have any questions or concerns I can be reached at Email Maura. or 256.337.2408. Thank you for your continued support!