By Crystal McGough, Associate Editor
IRONDALE – The Irondale City Council unanimously approved Resolution 2022-R-188 on Wednesday, Oct. 5, authorizing Mayor James D. Stewart Jr to execute an agreement for the purchase of property located at 1080 Grants Mill Road for the construction of a new location for the Irondale Public Library, for the price of $1,000,000.
“I would like to speak to at least three things concerning this purchase,” Stewart said. “Number one: people want to know why we are paying a million dollars. The reason that we are paying a million dollars is because we had an evaluation that was done by a reputable real estate company to determine a fair value of what the property would cost. The property would list at $1.3 (million) if it was being sold, but wholesale, the high-end was somewhere between $950,000 to a million dollars. So, I wanted to say that first to let people know that we didn’t just pull ‘a million dollars’ out of a hat. It has nothing to do with what somebody paid for something five years ago, because we’re dealing with today-dollars, and we’ve also had a professional to be able to do that evaluation, to be able to give us that number.
“The second thing is, I’ve heard there is a lake – that is to capture runoff water – everything was thrown into there, and you won’t be able to build on it. But all of these people that are speaking to that, I don’t believe any of them have PE behind their name, which means that they are (not) a professional engineer that can make that determination. We also had what is called an environmental study and a Phase 1 study that was done, again, by a reputable engineering company – although it was done in 2017 – to tell us exactly what the soil looks like. We’re also doing this due diligence period that we have because this is not where the city is automatically going to purchase this property. We have a due diligence period of 60 days, and at least 90 days to close. So, we will do our due diligence by having another Phase 1, and we’ll also have another environmental study done to determine the condition of the soil and what we can and what we can’t do with the piece of property.
The third thing has been ‘why don’t we just allow (the library) to stay where it is?’ Well, if you know where the library currently resides, you don’t really have a lot of space for parking if you are getting ready to develop another building. And if we decided to go up a floor, you’d still have to tear it down, but you’re limited in the amount of space that you have for parking.”
In other business, the council approved the following:
- Resolution 2022-R-185, approving the 2023 holiday schedule for city employees
- Resolution 2022-R-186, increasing the city’s portion of the Local Government Health Insurance Premium for the City of Irondale Employees by 7% from the amount currently paid
- Resolution 2022-R-187, authorizing the allocation of public funds to AT&T Alabama Pioneers in the amount of $1,000 from the 22-23 Fiscal Year Discretionary Fund of Councilor John London to be used for the KIDSPARK 10th Anniversary
- Resolution 2022-R-189, amending Res. 2022-R-167 to modify the purchase price of two Ford Transit vans for the Senior Activity Center from an amount not to exceed $57,505/van to an amount not to exceed $59,675/van
- Resolution 2022-R-190, declaring weeds and other vegetation a nuisance for the property located at 775 Abigale Lane and ordering its abatement
- Ordinance 2022-24, amending Ordinance 2007-47 to modify the business license issuance fee to $14 beginning Jan. 1, 2023
The next meeting of the Irondale City Council will be Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022, beginning at 6 p.m., at Irondale City Hall.