City of Fairhope Work Session October 12th, 2026

The City of Fairhope work session, identified in the meeting title as October 12, 2026, reviewed upcoming agenda items; no votes or motions are captured in the transcript. Procurement and infrastructure items included a budgeted annual purchase of water meters totaling about $600,000; annual water-treatment chemical supplies, whose prices have increased and for which staff said they obtain three quotes when required by internal procedures; and an award to Jim House & Associates for reusable aeration-diffuser equipment for the wastewater plant, with no amount stated. Staff also requested an award to Lindsey Landscape for K-1 Center landscape materials and irrigation: its $59,380.60 quote was the lowest of three. The city discussed accepting a $2.5 million GOMESA grant for phase three of Flying Creek Lake Preserve, renewing its financial-advisor contract with PFM at the existing rate, and refinancing more than $30 million in debt. Other items included an annual citywide large-tree-removal contract with Looks Great Services, auctioning surplus equipment through GovDeals, and purchasing transmitters for phase three of cast-iron replacement. The transcript does not state award amounts for several of these items.

The council also discussed proposals with potential budget or policy effects: passing a 2.75% credit-card convenience fee on utility payments to customers, which staff estimated could save the city about $330,000 annually while retaining free ACH/electronic-check options; and replacing the 12.5% food-truck fee at parks with a $50 flat fee. Neither proposal is shown as adopted. A traffic-calming request for North Ingleside was also discussed, with residents able to pay for a speed table instead of a bolt-down speed hump; its approximate cost was cited as about $5,000. The chief requested approval to add three temporary part-time police-dispatch positions to cover vacancies.