Second Quarter 2021
Second Quarter 2021
Welcome to Spring!
Mayor’s Update April 5-18
Good Sunday Morning,
Hope everyone has had a great weekend….looks like next week will have cooler temperatures, and hopefully less pollen!!
As always our team has been busy in multiple areas taking care of our citizens and employees, here are just a few of the highlights;
· Our tiger team conducted the first round of Police Chief interviews with several fantastic candidates. There is no question our City Council will have a tough choice when the finalists are announced and they conduct their interviews Saturday May 8th.
· The City Council will also be busy this Wednesday the 21st as they will conduct interviews for the Madison School Board position. Without question this is one of the most important duties our Council has.
· Tuesday night our City is finally able to officially “cut the ribbon” on the new Ballpark. How neat to be able to cut the ribbon and then watch Bob Jones play James Clemens in their annual baseball classic afterwards. Activities start at 5:00…come on out and celebrate with us and enjoy a great game too.
· We also have scheduled a Town Hall meeting Thursday night April 22nd for a review and discussion on the Balch/Gillespie round-about project. We will start at 5:30 in Council Chambers with an overview of the project, the expected timeline, and a review of what we will do for traffic control in the impacted neighborhoods when the intersection is shut down mid-summer.
· The newly renovated shopping center across from city hall continues to add businesses with Fleet Feet the latest to hold a ribbon cutting. Others including Absolute Nutrition, Bicycle Cove, Interiors by Design, and Madison Monogram are already open with others including Eggs Up Grill and Just Love Coffee coming soon.
· Madison Fire reports that they had 217 incidents during the two weeks with 166 of them EMS related.
· IT reports that a major project is coming to an end as all of our patrol cars have now been migrated to the new VPN system.
· Court has had a busy two weeks with 106 cases opened, 149 cases closed, and 64 warrants issued.
· Spring Adult Sports leagues have begun. There are 16 Volleyball teams and total of 136 players participating. Softball has 18 teams participating and total of 284 players participating.
· The Mill Creek Dog Park had a leak in the water line that provided water access to the park. The leak has been repaired and there is now water access to the park. However, the water fountain needs to be replaced. Staff has ordered a new fountain and will install as soon as it arrives.
· Our Building team was extremely busy with 166 permits created, 180 permits issued, and a whopping 307 inspections completed.
· Madison Police addressed 2102 calls for service during the two weeks.
· Recreation Staff and Steve Smith met with Nola/Van Peursem Architects concerning the activities and layout for renovation of the Three Springs building. The architects are going to develop different layouts for the building and present the concepts to us in two weeks.
· Exciting news for our Senior Citizens as the Senior Center staff is planning for a limited reopening on Monday, April 19, 2021.
· The Public Works team completed two projects, the turn lane at Jetplex/Madison Blvd. and the guard walls over the Bradford Creek Bridge.
Dust off the pollen, layer up for our ever changing weather, and let’s go enjoy a big, big week!
Appreciate each of you for all that you do for Madison and so proud to be your Mayor!
Respectfully,
Mayor Finley
Town Hall
On April 22nd I hosted along with Council Member Spears and Seifert a Town Hall to discuss and provide information for the upcoming roundabout at Gillespie and Balch. We were joined by Engineering Department Head Gary Chynoweth. If you missed it you may watch it here: Roundabout Town Hall My very special thanks to I Vote Madison who archived the Town Hall for future reference. This is very much appreciated!
Mayor’s Update April 19 to May 2
Good Monday Morning,
I spent the weekend enjoying our beautiful weather and like many of you, graduating one. Our youngest Kyle received his Nursing degree from UAB and will start this summer in their emergency room as a nurse. To all of you who had one graduate from college…Congratulations!
As always we had a great deal happen over the past two weeks, here are just a few of the high lights;
· The right in-right out at Town Madison is open! We cut the ribbon Thursday morning and now turn our attention to Phase 2, the fly-overs. The Breland team is still responsible for securing the funding and we will be working multiple opportunities with them to help make this happen.
· The Trash Pandas are in town. The team arrived Friday and had their first practice Saturday. The season starts tomorrow night and opening day at Toyota Field will be Tuesday May 11th at 6:30.
· Total sales tax collections for the month of April, 2021 are up 20.22% over collections for the month of April, 2020 and year to date collections are up 16.27% over the same period last fiscal year.
· We announced our four finalists for our open Police Chief position and interviews will be held next Saturday morning May 8th starting at 8:00.
· We conducted a couple of ribbon cuttings but none were more fun than The Yard Milkshake Bar in Town Madison.
· Public Works is now finished with the improvements to the Police entrance/exit at City Hall. This will improve safety for our officers.
· Court is busy planning for their municipal court seminar on May 7th. We have approximately 45 attendees that have paid and registered this year.
· Court was also busy during the two weeks as they opened 88 cases, closed 160, and issued 70 warrants.
· Our Madison Fire and Rescue reports they responded to 203 incidents of which 163 were EMS related. Also, YTD they have conducted 1448 annual business inspections and 398 new construction inspections.
· MPD conducted the “Drug Take Back” event last weekend at City Hall.
· MPD also supported 1975 calls for service during the two weeks.
· The Senior Center had a limited reopening beginning Monday, April 19, 2021. This was the first time the building has been open since March 13, 2020.
· Building reports that during the past two weeks the permitting division has created 157 permits and issued 146 of them, the inspection division has performed 317 inspections, and Code enforcement has performed 63 inspections/re-inspections, created 41 cases and picked up 36 signs in the R.O.W.
· IT reports that Friday morning around 1:00am we had both an air conditioner failure and a fiber optic circuit failure. They had everything back up and running around 5:00 that morning with minimal impact to municipal or public safety operations. Thanks you guys!!
· The air supported structure over the Dublin Park outdoor pool was dismantled and stored for the summer season.
· Recreation Staff is planning for the Independence Day celebration scheduled for July 3, 2021 at Dublin Park.
Let’s have a fantastic week, thanks to each and every one of you who help make Madison a great place to live!
Respectfully,
Mayor Finley
Mayor’s Update May 3-16
Team,
Happy Monday Morning!
Several items from the last two weeks, here are just a few of the high lights.
· Our Rocket City Trash Pandas enjoyed a fantastic first week. The six game home stand (in which they won five of six games) had around 35,000 attendees. There are still a few kinks to work out but all in all, a great start to the season.
· The City Council has narrowed our Madison Police Chief search down to four and interviews were held Saturday the 8th for the finalists. The interviews are available for viewing at https://www.madisonal.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1209 and Council’s final decision should occur soon.
· Court reports that they opened 68 cases, closed 149, and issued 42 warrants during the two weeks. They also held their annual training last week with almost 50 participants in attendance.
· Building reports they created 177 permits, issued 174, held 161 inspections, created 80 new code enforcement cases, and picked up 73 sign in the right-of-way.
· Madison Fire and Rescue responded to 193 incidents, 128 which were EMS related. In addition they conducted 92 fire inspections, bringing their YTD total to 1535.
· As I read our Public Works report two items stood out, clearing visibility problem areas and cleaning out drainage areas. As bushes, trees, and shrubs grow our PW team gets ahead of the game, addressing problem areas for better visibility…..much appreciated!
· Recipients of “Madison Employee of the Year” awards from the Madison Rotary Club are Jason Colee, City of Madison Information Technology Department; Kenneth Howard, Madison Fire and Rescue Department; and Shannon DeFazio, Madison Police Department. All three are well deserved, congratulations!
· Nola/Van Peursem Architects submitted several schemes for conversion of the former Three Springs building. Staff along with Steve Smith met and they continue to narrow down our choices. Steve will discuss this at our upcoming work session Wednesday.
As we roll into this week I would like to thank each of you for your service to our city. Madison was recently named the 2nd best suburb in Alabama (behind Homewood) and you guys are a major reason for the ranking. Let’s continue to focus on proactive customer service…..proud to be your mayor.
Respectfully,
Mayor Finley
Mayor’s Update May 17-June 6
Team,
Hope everyone has enjoyed our “short week” and that you are ready for a nice weekend.
Here are a few of the many activities that we have accomplished or done in the last few weeks.
· Our Trash Pandas had another very successful home stand, bringing in another 35,000+ during their next six games for a total of over 75,000 to date. Most of the “kinks” have been worked out and it has been so enjoyable to see all of the smiling faces each game.
· The city also completed our audit of the 2020 Ballcorps season and presented a clean audit to City Council.
· Our Madison Fire and Rescue started their annual hydrant maintenance program May 3rd and they have already completed 950 of the needed 3000 to date.
· Our Madison Fire and Rescue has already conducted 1677 annual safety inspections and 447 new construction inspections since October 1st.
· Our Public Works team jumped into action and quickly completed the support road at Toyota Field for the VIP parking.
· Our Madison Police Department supports our community in many ways, one of which is attended HOA meetings. Thanks to Acting Chief Stringer, Lieutenant Anderson, and Captain Cook for their support at Bradford Farms and Bridgefield.
· Due to a lack of lifeguards this upcoming summer, staff is planning on reducing the number of swim lessons and operational hours at the outdoor pool. Right now we have 27 guards. Normally we have between 45-50 lifeguards during the summer. Lifeguard certification classes are being offered every weekend to get more guards hired. We have put on a media blitz and hope to increase our numbers which in turn will increase our offerings.
· The MLB Pitch, Hit, and Run competition took place Wednesday, May 19, 2021. The event was sponsored by the American Legion, MBA, and Parks and Recreation. Over 40 children participated.
· Nearly all Parks and Recreation Adult Sports leagues are at capacity. Lack of facility space is prohibiting additional teams from participating. For example, there is a four team waiting list to participate in our summer Adult Basketball league.
· Summer Day Camp will begin June 1, 2021. Right now we are at 70% of capacity due to COVID. We may add additional spots depending on COVID numbers declining.
· A new, three tenant restaurant building has been approved for Town Madison on Zierdt Road. Anticipated tenants include Five Guys, Super Chix and a new-to-market bar concept called Prohibition complete with a roof top deck. Site work is expected to begin this summer.
· Total sales tax collections for the month of May, 2021 are up 34.99% over collections for the month of May, 2020 and year to date collections are up 18.51% over the same period last fiscal year.
· Our new Citizens Advisory Committee has already met twice. Thanks to John Stringer and Megan Zingarelli and the support MPD officers for all of their hard work in getting us started in the right direction.
· Our MPD School Resource Officers are in final preparation for their three weeks of Kid’s Camp.
· During the last few weeks I have had the honor of presenting the Mayor’s Award to students at Discovery and Liberty Middle Schools and to the winning students from Bob Jones and James Clemens at our City Council meeting.
· Also, rather than our typical “thank you pizza party” we had a “thank you popsicle party” for Mrs. Williams class at Horizon Elementary. They are the ones who made the Birthday Cards this year….Cherry-Mango flavor was the runaway favorite!
· We held the groundbreaking for the J Alexander’s in Town Madison. In addition to their normal layout they will have a large porch seating area, able to see and hear the stadium.
· I attended our Memorial Day program downtown put on by our American Legion Post 229. The grounds looked great and it was a very somber yet professional program.
· I joined many of the local representatives at Mazda-Toyota as they unveiled the new Corolla Cross, a smaller SUV that gets 33 MPG. Great looking vehicle.
We appreciate all that you do to help make Madison the number one zip code (35758) to live in in the State of Alabama.
Have a great weekend.
Respectfully,
Mayor Finley
Mayor’s Update June 7 to 20
Happy Father’s Day and hope everyone has had a safe and productive weekend.
There was a lot going on during the past two weeks, here are just a few of the high lights;
· Building reports that during past two weeks, the permitting division has created 171 permits and issued 172, the inspection division has performed 241 inspections, and Code enforcement performed 56 inspections/re-inspections, created 17 new cases and picked up 32 signs in the R.O.W.
· Building services was also busy and they have replaced one HVAC unit that supplies Finance and are waiting on another to arrive that supplies Court.
· Court reports they opened 54 cases, closed 161, and issued 75 warrants.
· Swim Lessons began this week. These are the first swim lesson classes Parks and Recreation has offered in over a year.
· The Dizzy Dean State Baseball Tournaments will take place in Palmer Park June 18 -29, 2021. This will be the largest Dizzy Dean State Tournament hosted in Madison with eight age groups participating.
· Summer Day Camp is averaging 55 participants per day.
· The MPD command staff along with Megan Zingarelli and Councilwoman Denzine conducted their 3rd Citizen Advisory Committee.
· Sgt. Dawe and the School Resource Officers hosted the 1st Week of Kid’s Camp and enjoyed 133 Students
· MPD conducted 1801 calls for service during the two weeks.
· Madison Fire and Rescue finalized the fireworks permit for the July 3rd event at Dublin Park. They are now working with PD, PW, and Rec to draft the IAP (Incident Action Plan) for this event.
· MFR also conducted 177 incident responses, 131 of which were EMS related.
· Permits to renovate the building at the southeast corner of Main and Sullivan Streets have finally been pulled by the property owner. Renovation is expected to take about four months. No tenant has been identified at this time. We are looking forward to this entrance into the downtown improving!
· Building, Engineering, and Planning staff and I attended the Huntsville-Madison County Home Builders Association round-table this week and were pleased to that Madison’s Building Department was “the best in the region” to deal with.
· Outback restaurant is under construction in Town Madison, with a planned opening for the end of 2021, which is also when J. Alexander’s is planning to be finished.
· The Planning Commission and Historic Preservation Commission have approved a new commercial building for Martin Street, which is expected to have up to three tenants.
Madison truly is a fantastic place to live, thanks again to each and every one of you for your continue efforts and focus.
Let’s have a great week!
Respectively,
Mayor Finley
In Closing
As always, I will be updating this blog every couple of weeks. Please check back during the the first quarter of 2021 for new information. You can also provide your email address in the box below for a subscription and be notified when the blog is updated I can be reached at Email Maura or 256.337.2408. Thank you again for your continued support!