Lanett council member Zachery reports on League of Municipalities conference

BY JOHN BRICE

THE LAFAYETTE SUN

LANETT — Having recently returned from the Alabama League of Municipalities conference in Montgomery, District 1 Council Member Denise Zachery reported on her experiences there during the Lanett City Council meeting on Monday, May 4. Zachery explained that while her time there was productive, she has returned with concerns over the way the city of Lanett conducts its official business.

“Last week, I was privileged to go to the Alabama League of Municipalities,” she said. “I would like to give some little excerpts of while I was there. It was very informative, I learned a lot as far as the city council meetings. We are conducting the meetings, but we are not conducting them properly.” 

Zachery shared information she learned regarding agenda approval. 

“They had an attorney’s booth, I talked with several attorneys,” she said. “The agenda that is before us and has been before us, before the agenda is approved there is supposed to be the mayor, council and city clerk. If the council members have a resolution or anything that they need to put on this agenda, they should have the opportunity to do so. We should approve this in a work session so that we can discuss any resolution or anything that might come up. This work session is not to be held on the day of the city council meeting. This work session needs to be held a day or two before that.”

Zachery said she also learned helpful information regarding city funds and finances.

“Also, in those sessions pertaining to city funds. The money that is being spent and grants that are being written is not solely in the mayor’s hands. The council members have the right to approve or disapprove anything, any type of heavy equipment. Any type of grant money that is being written, we are supposed to have a work session. We are supposed to sit down and discuss the pros and cons. A resolution is supposed to be made before any of this takes place.”

Zachery said she plans on researching and working to apply some of what she learned at the sessions.

“I had an opportunity also to sit in on the annual business session of the voting of the Alabama League of Municipalities,” she said. “It was an experience for me the first time to be able to vote in a business session of that magnitude. I also talked with Mayor Hoyt Sanders, he is the mayor of Pinson. It was a round table discussion. We were talking about the animals which we have that problem. He asked me about did we know anything about the Alabama Emily’s Law act. I will be researching that, if someone else wants to do it also feel free to do it because we do have that problem also.” 

In other business

• Ordinance 05-26-01 approval of franchise agreement with Charter Spectrum received its first reading.

• Ordinance 05-26-02 approval of franchise agreement with Wide Open West received its first reading.

• Resolution 05-26-01 annual municipal water pollution prevention program was approved.

• Resolution 05-26-02 resolution for the mayor to sign a non-disclosure agreement was approved.