VOLUNTARY DRUG TEST RESOLUTION EXPECTED TO PASS

The Birmingham City Council is expected to pass today a resolution calling
for the nine council members and Mayor Bernard Kincaid to take voluntary
drug tests.

The resolution had been delayed for the past three meetings because all
council members were not present to vote on it, said Councilman Don
MacDermott, the proposal's sponsor.

"I'd like to have all of us there so everyone can formally vote in public,"
said MacDermott, adding that he introduced it after the Jefferson County
Mayor's Association members decided last month to recommend the idea in
their towns.

The voluntary testing "sends a good message to our employees, and it sends
a message to the general public that we're showing leadership," said
MacDermott. The proposal has the backing of a majority of the council
members and the mayor, he said.

Councilman Jimmy Blake has missed the last three council meetings, and
Councilwoman Pat Alexander missed two of those meetings.

Blake, unaware that the item had been on the agenda for the past three
weeks, said on Monday he would attend today's council meeting. He said that
he intends to support MacDer mott's resolution, which he called a form of
"pandering."

"I'm always for anything voluntary," said Blake, adding that he'd missed
the meetings in part because he was tired of the bickering among council
members and between the mayor and the council.