Candidates Emerge For University Beach Capital Improvement Cooperative District Board

NORTHPORT, AL — The Northport City Council on Monday will hear the first reading of a resolution to establish a Capital Improvement Cooperative District to oversee the distribution of city sales tax revenue to the developers of the proposed University Beach resort project.

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This comes after Patch previously reported that the City Council voted 3-2 in late September to create the University Beach Improvement District, which was part of the initial public-private partnership agreement the city entered into earlier this year.

The Council also voted in favor of appointing a trio of developers and investors to head up the three-member University Beach Improvement District Board of Directors: Texas developers Kent Donahue and John Hughes, along with investor Katie Le of San Marcos, California.

District 4's Jamie Dykes and District 5's Anwar Aiken were the two votes opposed to the creation of the University Beach Improvement District.

While the University Beach Improvement District Board will be tasked with shopping out the property to other interested developers, the Cooperative District, simply put, would manage the city's side of the public-private partnership agreement.

If the partnership agreement goes the distance, it will see the city provide the developers with up to $61,058,171 or regular payments until the 30-year term established in the agreement is reached, whichever comes first.

Like the University Beach Improvement District Board, the Capital Improvement Cooperative District Board will consist of three members appointed by the Northport City Council.

Sources confirmed that the three proposed candidates for the Capital Improvement Cooperative District Board will be Elite Recruiting CEO Steven Fikes; group home operator Shaferris Porter; and Allison Rush, who works as the clinic manager at Pickens County Primary Care.

No action is expected by the Council following the first reading of the resolution but it's possible, in theory, that the Council could move to suspend the rules to go ahead and vote on the creation of the Capital Improvement Cooperative District.

Monday's regular meeting of the Northport City Council is set for 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers at Northport City Hall.

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