DAPHNE, Ala.—The City Council 5-1 approved a motion to authorize Mayor Fred Small to enter a statement of intent with an unknown corporate financial services center; the measure means that Small can offer rent assistance in the form of an incentive package, to lure the business to the Jubilee City.

Councilman August Palumbo cast the lone dissenting vote; Councilman Greg Burnam was absent from the special-called Tuesday meeting.

Palumbo expressed concerns about the company withholding its identity from the council.

“I do not like clandestine deals,” he said. “I do not like secret deals with companies who we don’t know who they are.”

At issue is a medical billing center in New Jersey that requires companies to give its employees 60 days’ notice before relocating its operation to a new site.

But the company can’t give public notice until it’s selected a new community to move to; Daphne is one of three choices, with the other two locations in Florida.

The company awaits word on what kind of incentive package Daphne will offer before it decides to move here.

The city has pledged a total sum of rent assistance not to exceed $10,000 up to a six-month period.

Palumbo, opposing the measure on protocol, cited the Alabama Code of Law, which requires a company to publish notice in the city’s newspaper of record—in this case, the Daphne Bulletin—seven days before a public meeting.

“This law requires them to make a public notice,” he said.

Small noted that the company plans to notify its employees Feb. 1.

“The statement of letter of intent still has to come back to the council to formally act on,” city attorney Jay Ross said.

“Of course, there will have to be a public hearing on this,” Small said.

A date for the public hearing has not been set.

Read the full report in Saturday's Daphne Bulletin.