The Athens City Council unanimously approved a resolution on Monday, Jan. 27, that authorized Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding  agreement with the United States’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations and the Athens Police Department.

“To me, I don’t see anything negative about this,” Athens City Council President James Lucas told The News Courier after the council’s meeting at city hall concluded. “From what I understand, the police department has already done a good job working with them in the past. This just allows them to get reimbursed for it, so I think it’s a win-win situation.”

The passed resolution enabled the Athens Police Department to better collaborate with ICE on future joint operations — authorizing city police officers to act as customs officers and perform certain duties determined by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Notably, the resolution also allows for the city to be reimbursed for overtime expenses related to those joint operations through the Treasury Forfeiture Fund.

“We’ve been working with ICE for little over a year now, they were a huge help in us arresting Bernabe Roman back in December for a murder case that was 27 years old,” Athens Police Chief Anthony Pressnell, who was present at the council’s meeting, said. “That was an ICE operation that we were able to assist on, so having this relationship with them has paid off before. I think this is a great opportunity for us and the city to continue that relationship with them — and it gives us the opportunity to use some information from their sites for day-to-day investigations. Having that as a resource moving forward is extremely important.”

The context of the resolution is noteworthy, as it comes amid a significant increase in ICE raids and arrests across the country since President Donald Trump’s second inauguration Monday, Jan. 20.

In other business the council:

— Approved a resolution that set a public hearing on Monday, Feb. 24, for a rezoning request for +/- 3.93 acres of property located south of West Washington Street and east of Lucas Ferry Road.

— Approved the allocation $2.5 million from FY 2024 for capital expenditures for various departments’ capital requests.

— Approved a resolution for the purchase of a Heil DPHP commercial front loader garbage truck at a cost not to exceed $404,678 from Ingram Equipment Company.

— Approved a resolution that authorized the Mayor’s Office to apply to ADECA for a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant to construct outdoor recreation improvements at Swan Creek Park.

— Approved a resolution that authorized Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks to enter into a contract with Martin and Cobey for construction management services for the Athens Utilities Customer Service Building.

— Approved a resolution that authorized Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks to accept four bid packages for Sunrise Park for civil and utilities, general works, site electrical and landscaping.

— Approved a resolution that authorized City Engineer Michael Griffin to apply for the 2025 Rebuild Alabama Act grant program for improvements along Elm Street, just east of Lucas Ferry Road.