Gulf Shores City Council members discussed disaster relief services, budget amendments and a proposal to allow golf carts in The Retreat at Bon Secour at a meeting Nov. 20.

Disaster relief services
Anna Franklin, financial services director, presented a motion to approve a contract with Hagerty Consulting Inc. to provide disaster recovery and emergency response services related to damage caused by natural or manmade disasters.

Per the presented documents, if approved, the standby contract would span for three years, assisting the city with formulating and managing projects to repair damage caused by federally declared disasters.

The consulting group would also assist the city in identifying and submitting grant applications that are usually funded after a disaster. Franklin said the city is approaching the end of the previous contract, which helped to aid in disaster relief following Hurricanes Sally and Hurricane Nate.

"They have been a critical and invaluable tool helping to guide us through and prepare documentation for Hurricane Sally and now Nate," Franklin said. "We continue to work with them on the beach process, and they have been great to work with."

"I think this is a great opportunity," Mayor Robert Craft said. "They helped us through Sally, and it was phenomenal watching how we were able to prepare. The reaction we got compared to others who didn't use someone like Hagerty and didn't have Anna [Franklin] and her team running the shop, it was amazing."

Golf cart ordinance amendment
Council members discussed a proposal to allow the golf carts on select city streets within The Retreat at Bon Secour.
Per presented documents, if approved, golf carts would be limited to streets that have a speed limit of 25 miles per hour or less, excluding the Waterway West area.

The golf carts would be limited to the hours between sunrise and 10 p.m. and would be required to have safety equipment including seat belts. Each golf cart would be inspected by police personnel prior to operation, and cart designated streets would be marked with official signage by the city.

2023 budget amendments
Council members also discussed a proposal to amend portions of the 2023 budget. Cindy King, finance and administration director, said that if approved, the general fund revenue will be increasing by a total of $10,555,156 and the general fund expense will be increasing by a total of $10,410,019.

King said that the city previously approved a $150 million loan for school construction that is currently earning interest. However, due to the interest exceeding the projected amount, King proposed increasing the sales, lodging and use taxes and adding those funds to the interest earned to be used as expenditures. King said that doing so would result in less funding needed from the city's general fund.

Per the presented documents, if approved, the proposal details increasing the sales tax by $5.1 million, use tax by $1.7 million, lodging tax by $5 million, business license by $350,000, building permits by $1 million and plan review fees by $160,000. The transfer to the general fund from the capital improvements fund would also be reduced by $2,754,844.

Per the presented documents, if approved the total all funds revenue would increase to $219,517,076, and the total all funds expense would increase to $212,527,787. Additionally, the total revenues will exceed expenses by approximately $7 million.

"This is a lot of stuff, but all in all that's almost $7 million carrying over for surplus going into the next year, entering the reserve," Craft said.

All agenda items were scheduled to be voted on at the next city council meeting on Nov. 27.