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By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

HOOVER – On a busy night in the penultimate meeting for the current body, the Hoover City Council made some big decisions that have major impacts on important places within the city.

During a regularly scheduled council meeting on Monday, Oct. 13, the Hoover City Council officially approved resolutions that are helping to put electrical repairs at Hoover Sports Park East into full motion.

The council approved three resolutions within the regular agenda pertaining to the repairs. The first one authorized Mayor Frank Brocato to execute an agreement with Alabama Power Company for a utility easement. Meanwhile, the second one authorized Brocato to execute a prepayment of goods and services for the park’s power restoration, while the third one amended the budget for the 2025 fiscal year for the repairs.

The park’s electricity has been shut off since early in the year due to multiple reports since 2024 that electrical currents were being detected in fences around the park. As a result, the city hired Dewberry Engineering to investigate the issue, who found that damaged cables were causing electrical cables to be sent into fences around the park, not just in one area.

In August, the council approved an amendment of the city’s budget for about $350,000 to pay for the identification of the problems, and in September, approved for $500,000 to be spent on the first phase of the project.

At the Oct. 13 meeting, the Hoover City Council voted to approve a spending amount of about $3,675,000 in order to replace the lighting at the complex, helping to complete the second phase of the project and finish the full redesign of the park’s electrical layout.

“We’ve been working on this for several months,” said Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato. “It was an incredible problem. It was a dangerous situation, and we had to just be very, very sure before we made any type of move, and that’s why it’s taken so long. We had to bring in consultants, engineers, electrical engineers; we had to evaluate the entire park.”

With the investigation to find out the problems complete and the prices for this project approved, the city will now move forward to get this project done so the complex can get back to hosting games in the evening hours.

“It isn’t just isolated to one spot. It was very unusual and it affected the entire park,” Brocato said. “Now that we know what the problem is, we can make some incredible improvements that are going to be special. It’s going to be worth the wait the way I see it, because the lighting system will be much better… It’ll be a great improvement, and as far as the city is concerned, it’s will be quite a savings on our electrical bill as well, so it’s a good project.”

Brocato added that the new electricity improvements will help bring better lighting to the dugouts at the park, as well as better electrical outlets so that parts of the park that were not receiving as much of the electricity and lighting could now do so.

In addition, the Hoover City Council also approved a change order for an Alabama Department of Transportation project of the new interchange near Exit 9 on Interstate 459 for $232,000. The change order comes as a result of some items were recommended as improvements that were not included in the initial design.

Brocato heavily discussed the project during his State of the City address back in January, in which he said that the “diverging diamond” concept will affect Bessemer, Helena, Hoover and Birmingham and would cost $120 million, which is a price being split with ALDOT.

The council also approved a resolution to authorize Central Alabama Water to install fire hydrants at multiple locations in The Foothills of Blackridge.