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Hoover officials to push for reopening day care facilities

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Photo by Sarah Finnegan

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said the city wants to help day cares start opening again because as long as day cares aren’t open, many parents can’t return to work.

Many day cares are struggling but haven’t gotten as much attention as some other industries because they don’t have an organization lobbying on their behalf, Brocato told the Hoover City Council Monday night. They feel somewhat abandoned, he said.

So the mayor has directed the city’s economic developer, Greg Knighton, to work with that group of businesses and help be a voice for them in Montgomery and with various health departments.

“Folks that need to go back to work — they can’t go back to work til they have satisfactory child care,” Brocato said.

Often times, grandparents are being drafted to take care of the children, and they are one of the groups most at risk of problems if they get infected with COVID-19, he said. “There are no easy solutions to any of this.”

Someone needs to address this issue, and “we’re going to do everything we can to bring attention to it and to help them get open as well,” the mayor said.

REOPENING CITY FACILITIES

Meanwhile, a task force that is evaluating how to safely reopen city facilities such as the Hoover Metropolitan Complex, Hoover Recreation Center and Hoover Public Library is making good progress, Brocato said.

“We’re working very, very hard to get all of our facilities open in a safe manner,” he said.

He expects to have some facilities open by the end of the month, though reopening likely will be done in phases, he said.

The mayor thanked Councilman John Lyda for his participation on the task force. Lyda said the decision to reopen city facilities rests solely with the mayor, but he is deeply grateful for the mayor’s willingness to gather affected parties together to analyze the many aspects of that.

“We’ve had some really good conversations, and I think it’s going to result in a very methodical and careful plan to reopen sooner rather than later,” Lyda said.

While Hoover City Hall has been open, many functions of Hoover Municipal Court have been postponed, including court sessions, driving school classes and court referral appointments. Those functions will not resume until June 2.

Other operations of the Hoover Municipal Court are continuing, however. Warrants may still be obtained through the normal procedures; payments will still be taken at the window, via mail and online; and motions and other filings will still be accepted. Magistrates will continue to be available via phone, email and in person.

Anyone with questions about Municipal Court may contact the court by calling 205-444-7526 and choosing Option 6, or emailing the court at court@hooveralabama.gov.

2020 BUDGET CUTS

Also at Monday night’s council meeting, City Administrator Allan Rice updated the council on the city’s efforts to reduce spending. The City Council had asked the administration to find ways to cut $15 million out of the fiscal 2020 budget, and Rice said city staff members are getting much closer to that goal — having identified  $14 million worth of potential cuts.

That’s an additional $1.1 million of cuts identified in the past two weeks, Rice said.

Most of the potential $14 million in cuts are capital projects that could be postponed, but city staff members also have identified nearly $2 million of cuts from operating expenses as well, Rice said.

Staff members have stepped up to the plate, he said. “They understand this challenge. They’re taking this challenge very seriously,” Rice said. “They came ready to make sacrifices and to make operating efficiencies where possible.”

The administration also has identified more than $1 million that can be saved this fiscal year by waiting to fill vacant jobs, he said. That’s about $270,000 more than staff had identified in personnel savings two weeks ago.

Rice said he will continue to meet with Councilman Curt Posey to add to the list of capital projects that might could be delayed and will come back to the full council with a list divided into three groups, sorted by priority. Of course, that’s just a starting point, and the council can edit that list however it sees fit, he said.

City Council President Gene Smith said he would like to see more cuts coming from operating expenses versus capital projects because delaying capital projects only results in a one-time savings.

“It still looks to me like we have a bit of spending problem that we haven’t overcome yet,” Smith said.

Rice disputed the notion that the city has a spending problem.

“We are continuing to operate this city at a minimum level — minimum purchasing and lots of unfilled positions and actually scrimping and saving every dollar we can,” Rice said.

The city administration doesn’t believe extensive operating cuts will be necessary for the long term because the COVID-19 business shutdown that is impacting city revenues is a one-time event.

“As the economy nationally and locally recovers, we should see a return of our traditional revenue streams,” Rice said. “Now will they be what they were before, we don’t know.”

But another phase of the financial planning is to put together a budget for fiscal 2021, which begins Oct. 1, he said.

In other business Monday night, the City Council:

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