Hope Hull, Alabama

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Incorporation Update – June 6, 2026

⏳ June 29, 2026

🚨 FINAL DAY TO REGISTER TO VOTE

✅ Voter registration deadline

✅ Poll workers appointed

⚙️ June 30, 2026

Tabulator Testing Begins

📴 July 2, 2026

Absentee Voting Ends

🎓 July 9, 2026

Poll Worker Training

📌 Last day for absentee ballot processing

🧪 July 10, 2026

Public Testing of Voting Equipment

🚚 July 13, 2026

Voting Machines Delivered

🗳️ ELECTION DAY

📅 July 14, 2026

📍 Stay informed. Be prepared. Make your voice heard.We’ve had several important developments as of this morning, and we need your immediate help if we are going to keep this effort moving forward.

What We Need

To proceed, we need support in two areas:

  • Additional funding: We need a minimum of $6,000 more to move forward. We currently have about $14,000 remaining from initial donations.
  • Community outreach: We need strong and immediate contact with County Commissioner Carmen Moore-Ziegler to demonstrate clear public support.

Contact Information:
Email: carmenmoore-zeigler@mc-ala.org
Phone: (334) 832-1210
Office: Montgomery County Commission, 101 S. Lawrence Street, Montgomery, AL

What Changed

As shared previously, we were given a tentative election date of June 30, 2026, pending completion of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

We received the MOU for the first time today, and the estimated cost is now:

  • $18,929.89 total
    • $17,127.00 – Vendor services
    • $1,802.89 – County expenses

Timing Has Shifted

We now have two major timing constraints:

  1. Absentee voting requirement:
    A minimum 35-day window is required to properly administer absentee ballots.
  2. County Commission schedule:
    • The next meeting is June 2
    • The following meeting (June 16) conflicts with the local runoff election
    • This means the MOU must be approved on June 2, or it will likely be pushed into July

Based on these constraints:

June 30 is no longer a realistic election date.

Any delay beyond June 2 will almost certainly push the incorporation election several weeks, if not months, further out.

Why the Cost Increased

The primary driver is absentee voting administration:

  • Approximately $13,000 is tied to staffing and administering absentee voting
  • The ballots themselves cost only about $22
  • This cost is largely fixed, regardless of the election size

Additionally, the MOU requires that we:

  • Pay all election-related costs
  • Reimburse the county for any additional or incidental expenses

This is not a capped amount, meaning the final cost could increase.

New Requirement: County Commission Approval

The MOU now requires a third signature from the Chairman of the Montgomery County Commission, meaning it must be approved at a Commission meeting before moving forward.

This makes Commission support critical, especially given the limited meeting window.

Our Position

We believe these costs are higher than expected and that the added requirement for County Commission involvement is questionable. However, attempting to challenge these issues now would only delay the process further.

That delay creates real risk. The longer this process is pushed out, the greater the opportunity for outside entities to pursue annexation in the areas we are working to establish—potentially preventing the formation of the town altogether.

Bottom Line

We are facing unexpected hurdles and a tightening timeline.

  • June 2 is now a critical date
  • Missing that window likely pushes this effort into July or beyond
  • Additional delays increase risk to the entire initiative

Please Help

If you want to see Hope Hull incorporation move forward:

  • Contribute toward the funding gap
  • Contact Commissioner Moore-Ziegler immediately and express your support

We are close—but the timeline has shifted, and now every day matters. Let’s keep this moving.

I share the frustration with how this has unfolded, but I also think it’s important to recognize what’s driving it. From the many meetings I’ve had with different officials throughout this process, I still feel that this is less about resistance and more about inexperience with an incorporation of this type. They are trying to make sure everything is done correctly the first time, and they are not moving with urgency—they are simply working through their standard process and timelines.

On absentee ballots specifically, once the question was formally raised and opinions were requested from the Secretary of State and others, that effectively settled the issue. Whether we agree with it or not, there’s no realistic way to walk that back at this point. We’re better off accepting it, accounting for the cost, and continuing forward.

As for the County Commission, their role here is largely procedural. They are not in a position to stop the incorporation effort itself—they are reviewing the MOU for compliance and execution. This is a necessary step, but not a decision point on whether incorporation happens.

If you choose to reach out, I would recommend keeping it simple and factual—express support for moving the process forward and for timely approval of the MOU so the election can proceed. This step is just one part of a larger process, and getting through it efficiently is what matters most right now.

At the end of the day, this is part of doing business in the capital county. It may not be as fast or as simple as we hoped, but it is manageable—and most importantly, it’s still moving forward.

Austin Overman

Your Hope Hull Incorporation Council is extremely pleased to share this information with you.  We all (the council and many community supporters) have been working months now to get to this election.  It truly has been a community effort; and your hard work and support have paid off.  Now, the voters will decide the future of our community.  The Montgomery County election office (of the County Probate) has tentatively set the date and time for our incorporated area citizens to vote on Hope Hull’s future.  While it is not yet definitively locked in, as there are several details we continue to work out with them to ensure this is when the vote will happen, we are confident enough in this time and location that we decided to share it.  Details we are still working on include a Memo of Agreement and accepting Fiscal responsibility for the election—we (the petitioners) must fund the cost — but believe it is most likely this will be the date.  We currently believe this is the day WE decide the future of Hope Hull.  

Therefore, we need your help more now than ever.  Talk to your neighbors.  Make sure everyone understands what’s at stake and who can vote.  Ensure each eligible ‘yes’ voter finds the few minutes it will take June 30th to stop by our polling location to cast their ballot.  The time has come.  We can choose to represent ourselves, with our friends and neighbors that we elect to determine the future of our community…..OR….we can stand by and watch as other entities impose their desires and their will on what was once the community we called Hope Hull. 

Important Note:
We also need to begin identifying who will serve as the mayor and the initial five council members. These individuals must be selected from the town-at-large, as required by Code of Alabama, 1975,

EMPOWERING OUR COMMUNITY FOR A BETTER TOMORROW

And finally, as a reminder; IF the vote to incorporate is successful, there will be another election in a few months to select a Mayor and 5 Town Council representatives.  Like the voters in this yes/no vote, the mayor/council must come from the town limits.  So, be thinking about who you’d like to see in these positions and let’s select the best of us as our representatives.  Then, once these folks are in place, our annexation initiative can ensure each one of us in the larger Hope Hull area who prefers Hope Hull over other municipal entities that may well ‘gobble us up’ can petition the Hope Hull Town Council to annex into the newly established municipality. The following article provides an update to the Hope Hull Incorporation initiative.  It appeared in the recent edition of the Pintlala Ledger.

IF town residents vote to establish the town, then setting up town government begins. First, we must elect a mayor and five council representatives.  They become the town’s governing body and will establish city processes and procedures to include town government structure, services, ordinances, and financial management.  One of the most important authorities this group also sets up is planning and zoning—local control over what may come into our our community.  This one factor is a key driver behind this effort. The realistic choices are creating our own town having local zoning authority or we stand by and allow another town (where we have no representation) zone the area we call home. Significantly, the representatives MUST live within the town boundaries.  They are not paid positions. They, based on the desires of those who elect them, will decide how the new town is governed and managed. Also, significantly, once the mayor/council is established, the town may grow through annexation, which potentially includes many of us, if we so choose. Those of us who want to be in the Hope Hull town simply petition to annex, and a council vote allows annexation. Pike Road gives a notable example of how this process might work in Hope Hull, allowing rapid growth in a short time.  For the majority reading this update, this offers a way, if you so choose, to become part of this newly established town—and prevent acquisition by another nearby city you would rather not be governed by……all by the people, for the people. Your choice.

Section 11-43-2.

Consider donating to the Hope Hull Inc. Initiative Fund. Checks can be dropped off at Mosley’s Store or sent to the listed phone numbers. Please make checks payable to: Hope Hull Incorporation.

For additional information regarding the Hope Hull Incorporation please contact

Austin Overman – 334-312-3225 hopehullal@gmail.com

Your Municipality and you!

FAQ

WHY IS NOW THE TIME TO INCORPORATED TOWN?

The City of Montgomery plans to absorb Hope Hull: 

  • They’ve expanded their city limits already.  Even call the “PJ” their ‘planning jurisdiction’. 
  • They’ve grown their budget by taking our farmland.  AND they want more. 
  • How do you feel about Montgomery’s leadership and management?
  • Do they have Hope Hull’s best interest in mind?  Are they good stewards?
  • Just drive the bypasses—Southern, Northern, Eastern or West.  See the abandoned store fronts, acres and acres of land they could develop–sitting vacant.  But they want ours. 
  • Did you know Montgomery has more land than Denver, Tampa, & Las Vegas?
    • Police, Fire, and Maintenance city services already stretched too thin
    • Yet they want more
  • Daily shootings.  Innocent people shot in their cars on city streets. And they are coming! 

DO WE WANT MONTGOMERY RUNNING HOPE HUL?  OR IS IT ENOUGH?

It’s time to form our own town, elect leaders from among our neighbors, and stand against a city that doesn’t value our way of life. Don’t we want local leadership—people who cherish our small town, our farmland, and our country lifestyle—or do we want more of Montgomery?

IT’S TIME FOR HOPE HULL TO STAND UP. 

It will take a lot of work.  It will take all of us.  But let’s pass the HOPE we know and love to our children and grandchildren. 

Here is what it takes to get it done:

  • Present a map—boundaries for the initial town
  • Have a surveyor prepare a legal property description of the town’s boundaries
  • Have 300 residents in a contiguous community; with landowners on-board
  • Gather signed petitions and required affidavits
  • Present these to the Probate Judge
  • Hold election (all the above to GET TO a vote—where the majority rules)
  • AND, SIGNIFICANTLY:  All of Hope Hull is affected, not just those in the initial formation area.  If you are outside the initial proposed town area, you can annex in once the town forms.  For others within the area the benefit is the Town of Hope Hull will form a barrier between you and the City of Montgomery.  Please read all the information provided in this site carefully.  Talk with your neighbors.  Join us as we stand up for rural living, a slower pace of life, rolling pastures, and the continued safety afforded country living..

We can vote to control our future—or let the City of Montgomery do it for us.

What do we need you to do?

  1.  Read through the pros/cons.  Support the HOPE HULL Incorporation initiative.
  2. Spread the word
    1. Volunteer to call/visit your neighbors—let’s inform everyone!
    2. Pass out flyers
    3. Make sure everyone knows about upcoming meetings and votes
  3. Sign the petition/affidavits; encourage everyone to sign the petition and drop them off at Mosley’s Store
  4. It will take us ALL
  5. STOP MONTGOMERY FROM ABSORBING HOPE HULL
  6. OUR FARMS, OUR FREEDOMS, OUR FUTURE
  7. A FUTURE OF HOPE