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Birmingham council sets Oct. 24 inauguration date, caps spending at $35,000 after debate
Summary
After a lengthy exchange about transparency and public participation, the Birmingham City Council amended a resolution to set the council's inauguration for Oct. 24 and capped city spending for the event at an amount not to exceed $35,000; council agreed to a special Committee of the Whole for event details.
The Birmingham City Council voted to amend a resolution setting the council inauguration date to Tuesday, Oct. 24, and to cap the council's expenditure for the event at an amount not to exceed $35,000.
Councilor LaShonda Scales moved the amendment to change the date and increase the cap from $25,000 to $35,000; a second was recorded and the amendment passed by roll call. Council members debated whether the council had an itemized budget for the event and which funding source would cover costs; staff said the likely source would be the council contingency/consulting line and that additional details would be provided at a special Committee of the Whole meeting.
Councilor Valerie Abbott pressed for an itemized budget before approving a larger amount, calling $25,000 (the original figure) already ‘‘an outrageous amount'to spend on an inauguration for ourselves’’ and asking for clarity on what the money would pay for. Scales responded that the increase would allow broader public participation (food, staging, swearing-in arrangements, and vendor payments) and reiterated that the motion established an "amount not to exceed" rather than a guaranteed outlay. Scales said prior inaugurations had included both mayoral and council participation and that public inclusion had been the stated objective.
Council leadership said the council administrator had requested the change to the date and the larger cap to allow time for vendor contracting and payment. The council president indicated the council would hold a special Committee of the Whole meeting where central staff and the council administrator would present detailed plans and a budget breakdown before the funds were committed.
The amendment passed and the council then voted to approve Item 8 as amended. Council clerks recorded the roll-call votes and noted at least one 'no' vote and one abstention on the amendment; the item as amended passed. The council did not adopt an event line-item budget at the dais and directed staff to present fuller plans at the follow-up Committee of the Whole meeting.
Next steps: staff will prepare a detailed event budget and present it at the special Committee of the Whole; the council scheduled Oct. 24 as the inauguration date and set the $35,000 cap as the not-to-exceed amount.
