Photo from Indian Ford Fire District website
A Jefferson County judge on Tuesday ordered the city of Hoover to refrain from starting the annexation process for any property in the Indian Ford Fire District for at least 10 business days, giving a partial victory for the city of Helena.
Helena on Friday sought a restraining order to keep Hoover from annexing property in the fire district because Helena already had scheduled an election for Aug. 8 for residents of the fire district to vote on coming into the Helena city limits.
In a hearing before Jefferson County Circuit Judge David Hobdy on Tuesday, Helena argued that Hoover was trying to usurp Helena’s annexation efforts by offering tax breaks and other financial incentives to property owners in the Indian Ford Fire District to get them to come into Hoover — after Helena had accepted a petition to annex the entire fire district and set a ratification election.
Helena attorneys argued that a Jefferson County trial judge in 1977 ruled that “it is well recognized that once a municipality has officially commenced proceedings directed toward annexing certain territory, that municipality retains full and exclusive jurisdiction over such territory until the conclusion of said proceedings.”
Albert Jordan, an attorney representing Hoover, argued Tuesday that the state statute Helena was using to call an annexation election had been declared void by the Alabama Supreme Court and by the Alabama attorney general’s office.
Furthermore, Helena did not follow all the guidelines set up under a more general law regarding municipal annexations, Jordan said.
Helena’s attorneys argued that while the Alabama Supreme Court reversed the 1977 trial court ruling in 1986, the reversal was due to other grounds.
Hobdy, in his order Tuesday, said Helena and the Indian Ford Fire District could suffer irreparable harm without the restraining order being put on Hoover. He noted that the people of the Indian Ford Fire District requested, by petition, to be annexed into Helena and that the Helena City Council accepted that annexation request, starting the annexation process.
Hobdy said a conflict exists between two separate state statutes and said he is putting the restraint on Hoover for 10 business days “in the interest of justice and to allow the citizens of the entire Indian Ford Fire District to have their voices heard.”
Stephanie Weems, an attorney representing Helena, argued that if Hoover were allowed to cherry-pick commercial property it wanted to annex in the district, Helena may not be able to afford to annex the residential homes in the district, and those homes could lose fire coverage.
Hobdy, in his order, said Helena has 10 business days to file proper paperwork for its annexation election, and if Helena does not file that paperwork, Hoover can request that its restraining order be lifted.
Helena Mayor Brian Puckett said Helena and the Indian Ford Fire District are happy with Hobdy's order "for preserving the rights of the people of the Indian Ford Fire District to vote and have their voices heard."
Hoover’s city attorney, Phillip Corley, issued a statement Tuesday night as well.
It said “We disagree with the Court's ruling today that restrains the City of Hoover from proceeding with the annexation of any property within the Indian Ford Fire District for a period of 10 days. Despite the ruling of the Court, we maintain our position that the statutory process in which the City of Helena is attempting to annex the entire fire district has been declared void by the Alabama Supreme Court and so recognized by the Alabama Attorney General. We will seek all available remedies to ensure that this ruling is overturned."
This article was updated at 9:18 p.m. with a comment from Helena Mayor Brian Puckett.
