Honestly, the most compelling thing to point out on the agenda this morning is the fact that depending on what happens this evening, it could be the last time Carole Smitherman leads the pledge of allegiance at a Birmingham City Council meeting. Why? She’s a candidate for Circuit Court judge, Place 13.

Other important highlights for today’s meeting include Item 2, one that would create a local historic district out of a portion of the city’s Norwood neighborhood. Item 43 brings the city one step closer to determining what its smoking policies in public places will look like; it would set a public hearing for April 17. We also learn about an upcoming fundraising running event in Pratt City on April 28, the Legends of the Iron Bowl run for Recovery 5K, via Item 15.

Items 29 – 35 are pretty interesting considering they’re calling for approval of contracts for construction equipment – but the version of the agenda on the city’s website as of late last night didn’t include the name of the lowest bidder for any of these items.

Missing from the agenda in its current form, last week’s proposal from potential developers in the city’s Smithfield Estates that was rejected by the council. It had been thought the mayor would place it back on the agenda for this week.

As always, the fun starts at 9 a.m. with the pre-Council meeting, with the scheduled start time for the actual meeting being 9:30 a.m. You can follow along via the live stream available on the city’s website.