The Mobile City Council voted to move forward with lighting upgrades at Hank Aaron Stadium this month despite renewed objections from a council member who argued the city was extending favorable treatment to a tenant behind on rent.
Council members approved a $105,630 contract with Moody’s Electric Inc. for the stadium lighting work, with District 6 Councilwoman Bess Rich casting one of two dissenting votes. Rich reiterated concerns she had raised the previous week, saying the private investor responsible for stadium upgrades had stopped making lease payments more than two years earlier and owed the city over $150,000, which she said was presumably tied to the city’s failure to complete a separate list of requested improvements. “My job as a City Council member serves as a check and balance with my one vote,” Rich said. “I can’t vote to release additional taxpayer funds to be used by a private investor without a new contract before me addressing the future commitments of the city and BayBears.”
Council President Gina Gregory joined Rich in voting against the contract, but the measure passed 5-2 as the city worked to prepare Hank Aaron Stadium for the Mobile BayBears’ April season opener.
In other business, the council tabled a proposed ordinance that would have created a Citizens’ Municipal Judge Selection Committee, with District 5 Councilman Joel Daves casting the lone vote against setting the measure aside. Members also unanimously approved a new city code governing the sale of puppies within Mobile city limits.
The council additionally approved two historic preservation grant applications to the Alabama Historical Commission: a $5,000 request to document the Lafayette Heights Historic District with photographs and architectural descriptions, and a $10,000 request to conduct re-surveys of the Church Street East and Africatown historic districts while preparing National Register nominations for the Automobile Alley, Lewis Quarters and South Oakleigh neighborhoods.
Council members also renewed the city’s lease with the Richards-DAR House on North Joachim Street and postponed for a week a resolution that would have supported creating and funding a Civil Rights Monument and Park in the city.
The stadium lighting vote capped a two-week dispute over the city’s financial relationship with the BayBears’ ownership, illustrating the tension between preparing the city-owned ballpark for the coming season and holding the team’s private investors accountable for unpaid rent and stalled contract negotiations.