April, 2017 Update or…Spring has Sprung!

The weather is beautiful outside and it is great to see the flowers starting to bloom and hear the birds chirping. I always seem to hold my breath though for one more freeze right before Easter.

Mayor Finley ‘s Weekly Update for April 1 – 8:

Good sunny yet windy Friday afternoon.

Hope everyone had a great week and that you are looking forward to an even better weekend.

Here are a few of our high lights from last week:

• Planning has taken the lead in helping the City complete a new Transportation Master Plan.  The seven month project will forecast needed circulation network improvements out to the year 2040.
• Recreation held a conference call with a bubble manufacturer concerning specs for the bubble project.  The specs are now complete, headed to legal to be drafted, and ready to put out for bid.
• Kelly Johnson has confirmed Parks and Recreation partnering with an Ultimate Frisbee league for adults.  She is in the process of confirming dates/locations.  This meets one of our goals of adding adult activities/leagues.  Get you team ready!
• Councilman Overcash and I continued our bi-weekly meetings with Superintendent Parker and Board President Terri Johnson.  We discussed Limestone County tax funding, annexation, redistricting, and our upcoming growth committee among other things.
• I had the pleasure of speaking to a full house at the Huntsville Board of Realtors Thursday.  It was great to update them on our Madison happenings.
• Palmer Park hosted the annual Bob Jones Softball Tournament April 6 – 8.  Over 40 teams came to Madison to participate.
• The new sound system has been installed at the Senior Center.  Madison County Commissioner Steve Haraway funded this project.
• Acting Fire Chief Brandy Williams led a team to go review our new Pumper truck. It looks great and hopefully we will take delivery in 2 weeks or less.  In addition they were able to also view our new Ladder Truck which is scheduled to be completed in July.
• We are set to host a MPO 101 training class next Wednesday.  Our goal is to build relationships and learn how to better utilize the MPO for additional road money.

Please stay safe and have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Mayor Finley

Mayor Finley ‘s Weekly Update for April 16 – 23:

Good Afternoon,

Yesterday got away from me so I wanted to come in and share some of the news and activities that have occurred during the past week.

• There will be a new, almost 12,000 sq. ft., shopping center constructed on the west side of County Line Rd, north of Watterson Way
• Austin Furniture, which was significantly damaged by fire in 2016, has been approved for rebuild by the Planning Commission
• Public Works continued construction of the Dublin Farms/Palmer Park Greenway and trailhead
• E-Mail System Replacement – All data is migrated and live on the new system, we will be decommissioning the old servers in the next few days and the project will be complete.
• NWS 9.5C SP1 Upgrade– Thanks to Chris and Dustin in IT.  They worked through many challenges and obstacles on this project, but the upgrade is complete and we will soon be moving on to the next phase of the project which will be the iPad based inspections and allowing contractors to actually register on the site.
• Our new Fire Department Pumper Truck has arrived.  The team will now fully outfit the truck over the next 2-3 weeks, hopefully bringing it into service soon.  Kudos to all involved in the process starting with Council who funded (and paid cash) for this great new addition!
• Our Fire Department team also assisted on the Ghost town Lea Market Fire this week.
• Madison Police shined this week as Officer Davin Hill was chosen by his peers to be Class President of the class at the police academy and also earned the Leadership Award
• Recreation replaced a basketball goal at Shelton Park.  The original goal was removed several years ago with the goal support pole remaining in the Park.
• The concrete sidewalks have been poured at the Hand-in-Hand Playground in Palmer Park.  This wraps up all the ADA issues brought forward by the MCDAB Board and Councilwoman Wroblewski concerning the playground area.
• Our Recreation staff held the annual Easter Egg Hunt in Dublin Park on Saturday, April 15.   We also hosted a Special Needs Easter Egg Hunt with close to 100 participants.

• I had the honor of hosting LTG Jim Dickinson, Commander of the Space & Missile Defense Command, last week in my office.
• I also was honored to represent Madison and speak at Redstone Arsenal’s Earth Day (attended by our 5^th graders from Horizon) and the Multicultural Symposium (hosted by Huntsville)
• We had our down selection meeting for our Police Chief Friday.  Terri Towry and Captain Terrell Cook worked countless hours to help make this meeting a success.  Interviews could start to happen as quickly as next week.
• We will conduct interviews next week for our Communication Specialist position.

That is enough for now.  Thank to each and every one of you for your efforts.  Enjoy (or hope you enjoyed) your weekend.

Sincerely,

Mayor FInley

We had a month of great news! Madison was named one of the safest cities in Alabama by The National Council for Home Safety and Security. Along with this great news our own MPD released their Annual Report. You can read it here: 2016 MPD Annual Report

Construction is complete on the Hughes Road overpass. My thanks to Engineering and Public Works for their efforts in getting the Bridge stabilized and repaved. They did a fantastic job!

Upcoming Events

The Madison Chamber of Commerce will be hosting their annual Taste the Spirit of Madison on April 8th at Insanity Complex on Hughes Road. The daytime festival will be from 10 am to 3 pm and is “family friendly” with a variety of goods and services of local businesses and food trucks. The fun continues in the evening from 6 to 10 pm with Bites & Brews. There will be samples from over 25 local restaurants and craft breweries. For more information you can reach the Chamber at 256.325.8317 or Madison Chamber of Commerce

MCDAB (Madison City Disability Advisory Board) will be having their Special Needs Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 15. Registration begins at 1:30 with the hunt starting at 2 pm. Games and snacks will follow the hunt. If you would like to be involved or have questions, please send an email to Tina Beacraft.

The Madison Police Department will offer a Community Drug Awareness Program. This event will feature a presentation concerning current drug trends in the City of Madison. There will be opportunities for parents to gain insight into ways to recognize and address drug use occurring in the home and at school. The program is scheduled for Thursday April 20, 2017 at 6:30pm at the Madison Police Department. Space is limited so please email Teresa Taylor-Duncan.to reserve your seats.

Fire Chief/Police Chief

On Saturday, March 25th we held interviews for three candidates for Madison Fire Chief. These interviews were open to the public. On Tuesday April 4th Council met to pass a Resolution selecting Mr. David Bailey. Mayor Finley will enter contract negotiations and we hope to have him on Board in May. Mr. Bailey brings a wealth of knowledge and experience. Mr. Bailey has a B.S. in Safety & Risk Management and Masters of Public Administration. He has been a Firefighter and both a Paramedic and Battalion Chief, the Deputy Coordinator of Risk Management, and Fire Chief. We look forward to welcoming him to the Madison family!

The process for Police Chief is continuing on the same successful path that we had for Fire Chief. We have received over 70 applications and that has been down selected to ~27. We hope to have interviews for the final 3 to 5 by the end of April.

School Rezoning

Mr. Robby Parker, MCS Superintendent spoke at our March 27th City Council meeting. You can read more about rezoning here Madison City Schools Rezoning One issue I would like to clarify is that your City Council Representatives have no input in the school rezoning process. That decision is made at the Board of Education Central Office meetings. I don’t want this to sound like we are passing the buck but there were several members of the community that spoke at our last City Council meeting about rezoning issues believing that we were the deciding authority on the issue. While we commiserate with your plight I would encourage that conversation be held at a BOE Board meeting. Here is the link to the Madison City School Board of Education website: Madison City Schools.

Retail Update

We on Council are asked frequently for an update on Fresh Market. Fresh Market will be going in to the old Star Market location on Highway 72 near the new Marshalls. In December, their plan was to put the tenant improvements out to bid in January and be under construction on April 3rd. Planning talked with the project manager earlier this month and learned that they did put the project out to bid and are in the process of qualifying the bids. He expects that construction will slip to later in the month of April but does not yet have a definitive date.

There will be a new 17,250 sq. ft. Shopping Center called Sycamore Row. This will be on the east side of County Line Road north of Redstone Federal Credit Union. Construction is set to begin next month and identification of tenants should follow closely after.

There will also be a new Wendy’s Restaurant located near James Clemens High School, also on County Line Road. Construction has begun and they should open by summer.

Getting Involved

I would love for you to consider getting involved in Madison Government. We have a number of Boards and Committees that are Madison City resident driven. There are two key Board positions that will soon need to be filled. There is a vacant Board of Director’s position that is open now and will be filled until September 1, 2018 with Madison Utilities. Madison Utilities is a separate entity from Madison City Government. Lastly one of the most important areas of responsibility City Council has is to appoint residents to the Madison City School School Board. There are five members of the Board of Education that serve a five year term. This is a very important decision that we take very seriously. To read more about the various Boards and Committees or to fill out an application for any Board position click here: Board Application Applications for the Board of Education’s position with Madison City Schools must be received by the City Clerk’s office by April 17.

In closing, I hope you and your family have a Blessed Easter! 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!