Resident raises concerns about project cost overruns and election irregularities; city staff respond

During the Sept. 30 Mobile City Council meeting, resident Kathy Odom used the public-comment period to raise concerns about municipal project cost overruns and election administration. Odom cited specific amounts she said were overruns and urged more transparency and accountability.

Odom said she was ‘‘not happy with what has happened in my city,’’ and listed examples: ‘‘We have had $9,000,000 overrun on parking garage, $2,000,000 overrun on the Civic Center demolition, 400,000 on a bronze Jimmy Buffett statue. How can we have drag queen shows in front of the old Catholic cathedral in Mobile with children in attendance? And how can we still have pornographic and gender grooming books in the children's section and teen section of the Mobile Public Library?’’ She also said the recent city election ‘‘had too many glitches and errors’’ including precinct changes and tabulator breakdowns that left some voters unable to cast provisional ballots, saying she felt ‘‘my vote and many others' votes did not count.’’

Finance Director Collins addressed the cost concerns and distinguished estimates from budgeted funds. Collins said in part: ‘‘There were some estimates that were put out. The term budget was used, but there really were no budgeted funds until the estimates came in and the bids came back. I think specific to the arena and the demolition, those conversations were that the budget would be about $8,000,000. The, the estimates were about $8,000,000. That budget come in came in around 4. That left the remaining $4,000,000. As we go through that process, there were change orders that were made, but they did not exceed the the budgeted amount of the $8,000,000.’’ Collins said contingency funds and unforeseen engineering items contributed to some overages on the parking deck project and that such items were included in contingency funds in the construction budget.

On the election issues, the assistant city clerk attributed an ‘‘inactive status’’ for some runoff voters to the Secretary of State’s system, saying that the Secretary of State addressed the matter at a news conference. The clerk said district-line differences affect city elections and that voters did receive notification cards listing polling locations. ‘‘Every registered voter did receive a card in the mail Yes. Of their polling location. Correct?’’ the clerk said in the exchange recorded on the transcript.

The council followed the public-comment exchange with staff clarifications; no formal action was taken in response during the session captured by the transcript. The resident’s allegations about specific project overruns and library content reflect claims made in public comment; several of the numerical claims and programmatic assertions were answered with administrative explanations during the meeting, and the transcript does not document independent verification of the numerical figures cited by the speaker.