Mobile city officials are vowing to fast-track an annexation process that could lead to a public vote by March that would determine if the Port City’s overall population will rise by 26,000 new residents.
“We want to avoid making this so cumbersome that we push this out into the spring of next year,” said James Barber, chief of staff to Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson. “We want to complete this process and come to the public with legal descriptions of the proposals to be annexed in.”The council, Barber said, could vote on whether to allow for a special election on annexation sometime in February.
A vote on how to pursue is expected to occur next Tuesday. It takes a supermajority of five of seven council members to vote in support of either a resolution or an ordinance for either one to pass.Councilman William Carroll said that an ordinance “puts teeth” into issue and gives future councils and city leaders guidance on how to proceed with annexations.
Mobile City Council President Levon Manzie holds up a flyer that was mailed out throughout his council district that he says contained misleading information about a plan to annex 13,000 residents into the city of Mobile. Three years later, Council President C.J. Small is citing the misleading campaign information as a reason why he wants a third-party study completed on annexation's feasibility before the city pursues it. .
Councilman Cory Penn said the ordinance puts “something in place” that provides guidance on how city officials should pursue annexation.Council members who support a resolution over ordinance say there could be instances in which a deep dive analysis is not warranted. Barber also argued that council members who back the ordinance over the resolution are asking for information that is unavailable, such as a listing of zoning outside the city limits that he said does not exist. He also said that information about septic tanks and sewer line connections is also outside the city’s purview.A third-party study is also expected to produce some revenue details that were missing during the 2019 annexation talks.
Also of concern is whether an annexation plan will be allowable under federal law. The 2019 plan crumbled amid concerns from the city’s Black community that it would change the city’s demographics. At the time, the city’s demographics were 50.4% Black-45.4% white, but the proposal would have changed the city to 48.8% Black-46.7% white.
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