Anniston mayor nominates Louis Downey as vice mayor; council to consider order-of-procedure ordinance

Mayor (Speaker 1) opened the meeting by asking the council to amend the agenda to add two items: a standalone resolution to appoint a vice mayor and an ordinance establishing the council—s order of procedure. "I was going to start the discussion by nominating Louis Downey to serve as the vice mayor," she said, then opened the floor for discussion.

The mayor described the order-of-procedure ordinance as the set of rules the council has been following and told members she had emailed the draft for review. She explained that ordinances typically require two readings, but council can approve immediate consideration by unanimous consent if members agree.

Council members discussed the logistics briefly. The ordinance text as cited in council materials includes a provision (section 3) that sets regular meetings to convene at 5:30 p.m. at the meeting center "unless an alternative location is set by appropriate motion of the council," and the mayor said the provision would remain until the elevator at city hall is repaired. No recorded vote or formal second on the vice mayor appointment or on the ordinance was included within this portion of the meeting; the mayor said she would amend the agenda to add the resolution and ordinance for consideration.

Next steps: the nomination and the proposed ordinance were added to the evening—s agenda materials and will return to the council for formal action in the meeting sequence; the transcript does not record a final vote on either item in this preliminary segment.