Third Quarter 2022

Summer is upon us as the heat would indicate. Please stay cool and well hydrated. And pray for rain! 🙂

Madison on Track 2045

Madison is currently undergoing a Comprehensive Plan update. You can read more about it here and fill out a survey. What amenities would you like to see for our area? What can be improved upon? You can make your voice heard by participating. Madisonontrack2045

Mayor Finley Updates

July 1-24

City of Madison Team,

I hope everyone is having a great summer and that you are doing your best to stay cool.

We continue to get a lot done in and around the city….here are a few of our high lights.

• The Independence Day celebration event took place on Saturday, July 2^nd.   The event went smoothly until a pop-up storm came through at 8:20 p.m.   We were able to shoot the fireworks between storms at 8:45 p.m.  We estimated that 3500 people attended the event. Thanks to everyone at Recreation, Public Works, MPD, and MFR for all your hard work and preparation.
• The Planning Commission approved a BIG project this week: a big box retail store for Town Madison, next to the Duluth Trading Company.  We are excited to see commercial development filling out the area.
• The Publix Shopping Center on Hughes Road continues to fill up as Eggs Up Grill is now open.
• Commercial activity continues: the Planning Commission has approved an 88 room Staybridge Suites hotel for Sullivan Street, north of Spenryn, and a new daycare center for County Line Road ; site work for a Circle K at Hughes Rd and Madison Blvd is underway; construction has started on the Starbucks at Zierdt and Town Madison Blvd; Five Guys and SuperChix have opened in Town Madison; and the Taco Mama sign is up at Town Madison with opening soon to follow.
• On the industrial side, Griffon Aerospace, based in Madison, landed a $401.8 M contract from the U.S. Army.
• During the last three weeks Building reports the permitting division created 271 permits, issued 263 of them, and the inspection division performed 673 inspections.
• Also during the three weeks Code Enforcement performed 104 inspections/re-inspections, created 108 cases, and picked up 72 signs in the R.O.W.

• Madison Fire and Rescue has completed 409 new construction inspections and 822 annual fire inspections to date in FY22.
• During the three weeks Madison Fire and Rescue responded to 354 incidents, 266 of which were EMS related.
• Our Public Works team continues to work on the Oakland Springs greenway, digging out and backfilling over 1500 feet during the three weeks.
• Our Engineering Inspector preformed 177 inspections from 7/7 thru 7/20.
• Engineering is also excited to announce that the final Short Street walkthrough is scheduled for July 27^th.
• Our Madison Police Department has averaged 1026 calls for service during the three weeks.
• Court reports that they had an average of 104 cases opened, 94 cases closed, and 10 warrants issued during the three weeks.
• Engineering also shared that the Hughes Road project is now going full swing, as is our Garner Street project. Also, the Sullivan Street project is close to finished with only and AT&T line relocation left to complete.
• Our plans for the building formally known as Three Springs continue to progress. Kory Alfred and Steve Smith have conducted multiple meetings with the architects and final plans will be ready for review and then bid soon.
• Madison Hospital’s Labor & Delivery department has been unusually busy as they finished the fiscal year with over 1,300 deliveries.
• Our FY 23 budget preparation is in full swing. Department Heads are working to develop their plans for staffing and capital requirements.

I travelled last week with a group from the Huntsville Madison County Chamber for an Economic Development trip. Throughout the week I was involved in multiple conversations centered on Madison and all that we have going. I was (and am) so proud of our team and our city. Madison continues to shine, and you guys continue to make a positive impact for our community. Let’s enjoy our last week before school starts again. Thanks for all that you do for the best city in the state….Madison, Alabama!

Respectfully,

Mayor Finley

August 1-7

City of Madison Team,

I hope everyone has enjoyed a great weekend and the showers only hit when you needed the rain!

Another busy week with lots going on, here are a few of our highlights.

·        Our Madison City Schools started their 2022-2023 school year Wednesday. Traffic was heavy and our team will continue to work with the Madison School team to find ways to improve flow and safety.

·        The City of Madison Bridge Inspection program received positive commendations from ALDOT and FHWA for their focus and compliance. Great job team!

·        Several of us attended Chairman Strong’s State of the County address last week. Big things are happening in Madison County and there is no question Madison is one of the major reasons why. As always we thank the partnership of Madison’s District 2 representative Steve Haraway.

·        Also, several of us attended the Resiliency Summit put on by the state EMA. Over 200 attended with multiple presentations on our communities actions concerning Covid and discussions on how we will be prepared for the next weather or outbreak events.

·        Each departments 2022-2023 budget has now been turned in to Finance. Roger Bellomy will now take a few days to roll everything in and then the Mayor’s office will start the evaluation process that continues through our Finance Committee and eventually to the full Council for approval. Thanks to all of you who supported this effort…much more to come.  

·        Our Public Works CIP team continues to work on the Oakland Spring Branch Greenway, finishing putting the base on grade and starting the digging of the ditch on the east side.

·        Sidewalk repairs, fallen tree cutting, drainage improvements, and trench failure repair topped the list of the duties our PW team focused on this week.

·        Our Building Department shared that this week the permitting division created 104 permits,  issued 103 of them and the inspection division performed 299 inspections. In addition Code Enforcement performed 44 inspections/re-inspections, created 14 cases, and picked up 20 signs in the R.O.W.

·        IT continue to battle issues with the door lock systems around city facilities.  The vendor was out here on Monday and rebuilt a database which seems to have corrected the issues for the moment, but they are working on finding ways to either make this system more reliable, or replace the system in the near future.

·        MPD has made a move from Verizon to FirstNet which has required IT to roll out to “mifi” devices to all Patrol Cars.  Toby Jenkins has been leading this charge in addition to working on the RMS and Axon body camera implementation.

·        Major kudos to Jason Colee and the IT team as the first bill after our switch of our legacy telephone system showed up this week.  The bill has now been reduced from $9133.30/month to $590.08/month.  This will save the city over $307,000 over the next three years.

·        MPD responded to 925 call for service last week, had 41 arrests, issued 29 citations and 59 warnings.

·        Madison Fire responded to 108 incidents, 80 of which were EMS related. In addition the shared that 2,300 of our 3,000 fire hydrants have gone through our annual maintenance inspections.

·        The Dublin Park fountain stopped working following the amount of rain received this week.  The electrician believes the filter is clogged.  We have lined up someone to come out with a boat next week and unclog the fountain.  Until then, the fountain will not be operational.

·        Recreation shared the robotic field liner is operational.  It has lined the fields at the Palmer Extension and is in the process of lining fields in the rest of Palmer Park.  The robot can line a soccer field in 20 minutes.  The same field would take an hour and a half with a crew of three people. 

·        MARS Completed 188 trips this week.

·        The recreation staff met with landscaping contractor concerning the maintenance of Neighborhood Parks and greenways.  They fell behind due to staff shortages and are working to get caught up.

·        Our Court team shared that they opened 137 cases, closed 69, and issued 32 warrants during the week.

·        Our City Clerk team stayed busy this week with a focus on purging outdated files and papers, finalizing their training on our new agenda software (which will roll out soon), and chasing the USPS for our city mail.

Thanks to each of you for your focus on our citizens and employees. Let’s have another great week!

Respectfully,

Mayor Finley

August 8-21

Happy Rainy Sunday Morning,

Madison has had a very busy two weeks with multiple activities, events, and day to day production occurring. Here are just a few of the highlights;

·        At Monday night’s City Council meeting Council will vote on HR Resolution 2022-227-R.  This resolution, strongly endorsed by HR, will extend the steps on our class plan from 21 to 25 starting in the 2022-2023 budget.  

·        Speaking of the budget the 2022-2023 budgets have been passed on to the Mayor’s office and we are actively meeting with Department Heads as we work to prepare our recommendation to our Finance Committee.

·        I attended the installation ceremony for Dr. Jimmy Hodges as the new President of Calhoun Community College. This is Calhoun’s 75^th anniversary and Dr. Hodges is the 6^th President of Calhoun.

·        Downtown Madison is experiencing some notable business investment.   Construction is beginning on a new three tenant building on Martin Street to be located behind Madison Antiques; Holtz Leather Co., a Huntsville business, is opening a Madison location in the building at the corner of Sullivan and Main; Lemon and Lavender, an existing downtown business, is expanding and will move into the former Jacklyn’s once building remodeling is finished; and a new food establishment will be moving into 20 Martin Street in early Fall.

·        During our last two weeks our Madison Police Department supported 2061 calls for service, issued 76 warnings and issued 54 citations.

·        The final “concert in the park” took place on Thursday, August 18, 2022, at Homeplace Park.  The Zooks preformed.  In addition . the Shoppes of Downtown Madison Third Thursday event was held…attendance at both events continues to grow!

·        Our Madison Community Center project (the building formally known as Three Springs) continues to move along as the designers are set to submit the 90% drawings for the building.

·        Pickleball continues to explode as three pickleball clinics took place at Dublin Park this week.  Staff added pickleball lines on additional tennis courts and purchased portable netting to help meet the increasing demand for pickleball. Our internal team is working on multiple additional sites for expansion.

·        Our Building Department shared that the permitting division created 191 permits, issued 226 permits, and the inspection division performed 558 inspections during the two weeks.

·        Code Enforcement performed 77 inspections/re-inspections, created 55 cases, and picked up 31 signs in the R.O.W.

·        Our Court team shared that they opened 87 cases, closed 135 cases,  and issued 39 warrants during the two weeks. Also, major kudos to Beverly Jeffers who did a fantastic job of running the front office by herself during Court’s recent “covid episode”

·        The Adobe Pro implementation project is drawing closer to completion and we anticipate all necessary departments and machines to be on the new Adobe Pro DC software by the end of August. Thanks for your continued patience as IT accomplishes this change over.

·        Our Public Works CIP team made significant progress on the Oakland Springs greenway, paving from Shale Rock south to the creek crossing and pouring the concrete ramp.

·        Our Madison Fire Marshall’s office has been busy adding 14 new construction inspections this week (for a total of 448 in FY22) and 23 annual fire inspections (for a total of 946 in FY22).

·        MFR has also completed Phase 1 of their annual firefighter physicals, with 57 out of 65 certified firefighters participating.

·        Madison Fire also shared that they averaged 120 incident responses during the two weeks, with an average of 87 related to EMS support.

·        Our Madison Chamber of Commerce held their quarterly Lunch and Learn with Joey Ceci, President of Breland Companies, presenting on all that is happening in Town Madison. The highlight was a discussion of the “big box” store that was submitted (and approved) to our Planning Commission Thursday.

·        Lastly, our Rocket City Trash Pandas won again last night, bringing their record to 18-3 on Friday/Saturday nights at Toyota Field.

It is an exciting time to be in Madison, Alabama and I am so proud to work with our City Council and employees to support our city each and every day. Let’s have another great week…thanks for all that you do to help make good things happen.

Respectfully,

Mayor Finley

August 22 – September 4

Happy Labor Day Weekend Monday Night,

While I know it has been a rainy weekend, I hope all of you were able to enjoy yourself with whatever activities you had planned.

We had a lot going on during our last two weeks…here are just a few of the highlights.

• We start on a sad note as we have learned that former Mayor Burwell “Sonny” Wilbanks has passed. Please keep the Wilbanks family in your prayers.
• The Kid’s Kingdom #1 will be closed through the fall/winter to develop the new inclusive Kid’s Kingdom #2 playground beginning September 6, 2022.  Plans are to open the new playground in the spring of 2023.
• Registration has begun for the Youth Basketball program.  Due to uncertainty of gym space, we have capped the number of players in each age group.  554 players are already registered with 24 on the waiting list as of September 2^nd.  We are short 15 coaches as well so please let anyone who might be interested in coaching know we need them!
• Our Building team shared that during our last two weeks the permitting division created 216 permits and issued 200 of them. In addition, the inspection division performed 565 inspections.
• During the two weeks Code Enforcement performed 87 inspections/re-inspections, created 50 cases, and picked up 18 signs in the R.O.W.
• Our Court team shared that they opened 99 cases, closed 146, and issued 66 warrants. 
• Our Rocket City Trash Pandas won five of the six games last week, including the team’s first ever no-hitter. They improved their record to a season-best 24 games over .500 at 75-51 and their Southern League-leading home record to 45-18. They have one more home series left….please let Samantha Magnuson know if you are interested in going to another game.
• Our Madison Police Department supported 2102 Call for Service during the two weeks. They also did a great job of keeping our Madison Bowl Football game between Bob Jones and James Clemens safe and enjoyable.
• Huge kudos to our Public Works team during a major rainstorm two weeks ago. In Town Madison they had 3.25” that fell in 47 minutes. Our gang was on the scene in 20 minutes and worked that night and most of the next day to get the Mountain Brook neighborhood cleaned up.
• Thanks to Roger Bellomy, Steve Smith, and all our Department Heads for their support in putting together our 2022-2023 budget. It has now been sent to our Finance Committee for their review.
• Our Engineering team shared some updates on a few of our current road projects.
  • Short Street- Rogers Group is working thru Punchlist Items. Concrete crew anticipated on site next week 9/6.
  • Shorter Drainage- Final end section to be installed next week 9/6.  Punch list to follow.
  • Garner Street- Working on slope grading along Garner.  Waterline installation is about 80% complete. Wiregrass anticipates finalized grading preparation to start next week 9/6
  • Sullivan Street- Meadow paving and Manor Driveway modification complete, punch list items being compiled,  concrete crew anticipated on site next week 9/6 to finish up headwall/ sidewalk on West side of creek crossing.
  • Hughes- Carcel & G is working on finalized grading silt fence removal, anticipate paving to start later part of next week subject to weather, signal work at Eastview also anticipated to start next week 9/6.
• The City Clerk’s office is finalizing the schedule for rolling out our new agenda software. Two training classes are upcoming…stay tuned.

As I close, I wanted to again thank every one of you for all that you do for our employees and our community. Let’s enjoy our short week which includes the Bob Jones Homecoming parade Thursday.

Respectfully,

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!