Second Quarter 2024

Hello friends and welcome to spring. The season of sneezes and pollen. We’ve been busy, let’s get to it!

Mayor Finley’s Updates

March 25th to April 7

Since my last update we have celebrated Easter, weathered potential bad storms, watched a lot of basketball, and accomplished a lot for our city. To all our Alabama fans…..good luck Saturday!

Here are just a few of the highlights from the past two weeks. 

• The annual Easter Egg Hunt took place at Dublin Park last Saturday, with approximately 3000 children attending an over 30,000 eggs collected.
• The City’s new Mural Advisory Board and the Historic Preservation Commission have approved two murals for the downtown area. Installation is expected to begin in April and be complete by May. Coordination of these projects was led by Madison Visionary Partners who obtained funding to make the murals possible.
• Madison’s Civic Awareness Academy has kicked-off with two of the six sessions complete. The 30 participants attended session on “Our City at Work” and “Our City is Protected”.  
• Our Facilities and Grounds crew has been busy, completing over 60 work orders in the last two weeks. Some of their activities include fixing plumbing issues at Palmer Park and the Wellness Center, landscape replacements at Fire Station 2 and the Library, and HVAC issues at City Hall. They also helped with setup and takedown for the special election voting and our Civic Awareness Academy.
• Our Fire Marshal’s Office shared that they have now permitted 337 new construction inspections in FY24 while also completing 657 out of 3000 fire hydrant inspections. 
• Our Madison City Council held School Board interviews, giving them insight into whom to choose as the best fit for their yearly appointment.
• Madison Fire and Rescue shared that they responded to 225 incidents throughout the two weeks, 181 of which were EMS related.
• Our Building team shared that they created 109 permits, issued 96 permits, and the inspections division performed 468 inspections last week.
• Code Enforcement performed 22 inspections/re-inspections, created 16 new cases, and removed 23 signs out of the right of way last week.
• The stairs to access Rainbow Mountain at the end of Kensington Drive have been completed and are ready for use.
• The repairs to the backstops at the Westco Softball complex are complete, and Westco is back in full swing (pun intended).
• MARS completed 161 trips during the week.
• Dublin had 801 paid/member visits during the week.
• IT received 147 work orders during the last two weeks, as well as multiple calls and in-person requests.  
• IT has improved the connection between MPD and the 911 center by implementing a direct fiber circuit between these two locations, eliminating an extra step.
• IT has also implemented a new link in New World Systems enabling the Building Department to verify if a contractor has a license with the state of Alabama.  
• Our Court team shared that they opened 446 cases, closed 362 cases, and issued 59 warrants throughout the two weeks.
• Our Revenue team shared that the total amount of sales tax collected in March 2024 increased by 6.48% over the amount collected in March 2023. Moreover, the year-to-date collections have increased by 7.84% as compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year.
• Our Madison Police Department shared that they responded to 2813 calls for service, made 102 arrests, issued 204 citations, and gave 297 warnings in the past two weeks.
• Our Madison Police Citizens Advisory Committee led by Chairman Marc Highsmith met and discussed mental health/illness with special guest speaker Adina Peyton with GRAMI.
• Our Public Works CIP team continued driveway and parking lot builds at Sunshine Oaks. In addition, they started installing silt fencing while also bringing in dirt for the pavilion, bathroom, and playground.
• Our City Prosecutor Tim McFalls managed 207 cases since the last newsletter.
• It looks like we will have a new Madison City Hall NCAA “pick-em” champion. Top four spots going into this weekend are held by Sean Gallagher, Chris Lund, Jason Tidwell, and Kelly Rolin.

Thanks for all that you do for our city and our employees. Let’s have another fantastic week!

Respectfully,

Mayor Finley

April 7 to 14th

Happy Friday! After a few days of rain, we will be rewarded with a beautiful weekend. I hope everyone enjoys it!

Congratulations to our 2024 Madison City Hall Cup winner Sean Gallagher of Public Works. The trophy handoff will occur next Tuesday…..congratulations, Sean!

 We had another busy week throughout the city, here are just a few of the highlights: 

• Our Building Department shared that they created 113 permits, issued 110 permits, and the Inspections department performed 387 inspections.
• Code Enforcement performed 31 inspections/re-inspections, created 12 new cases and removed 18 signs out of the right of way.
• We had the bid opening for the Public Safety Annex demo this week and hope to bring it to the next City Council meeting.
• Our Facilities and Grounds team completed 31 work order requests this week, including plumbing issues at the Wellness Center, Fire Station 1, and the Library and HVAC issues at Public Works and MPD,
• Our Civic Awareness Academy met for their 3^rd session focused on “Our City is Maintaining”. 
• MARS completed 171 trips and Dublin had 474 member visits and 284 walk ins throughout the week.
• Our Madison Police Department shared that they responded to 1236 calls for service, made 39 arrests, issued 109 citations, and gave 80 warnings last week.
• The adult Pickleball league started this week using both the Dublin and Town Madison courts, and shade structures were added next to the Town Madison courts.
• Our Court team shared that they opened 134 cases, closed 170 cases, and issued 34 warrants during the week.
• Palmer Park was busy last weekend hosting 32 teams and this weekend they will host the USSSA baseball and softball tournaments.
• Our Parks and Recreation Summer Day Camp registration signed up 125 slots in less than 10 minutes. Our new registration software worked as promised.
• The softball/baseball fields and fencing are complete at Town Madison and grass is growing. We should be able to use these fields in 2-3 weeks.
• Our Community Risk Reduction Team supported a mock trauma drill at James Clemens that involved four classes and over 60 participants.
• Madison Fire and Rescue shared that they responded to 117 incidents last week, 97 of which were EMS related.

 Thanks again for everything that you do for our city and employees. I am truly proud to be the Mayor of Madison, Alabama!

Respectfully,

Mayor Finley

In Closing

As always, I will be updating this blog every couple of weeks. Please check back during the the second quarter of 2024 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!