At their May meeting, the Ackerman Board of Aldermen heard from Mike Slaughter concerning Phase 1 of the annexation study. Slaughter stated that the annexation of the proposed study area would increase the population by approximately 500 residents, which would bring the Town’s population near 2K which is the official definition of a city. Slaughter reported that the Town should see an increase of around $130K in ad valorem tax. The Board agreed to table any further action to allow time to study the data.
Engineer Marty Crowder spoke to the Board concerning the sidewalks along Main St., noting the lack of ADA compliance; Crowder pointed out that not many sections along the street are compliant. He presented the Board with diagrams of a plan that would help to bring the sidewalks into compliance.
In other action, the Board:
• Voted 5-0 to grant a mobile home permit exception for 35 Pine St.
• Voted 5-0 to grant an exception for a storage building on Pickle Ave.
•Voted 5-0 to change the July meeting from July 2 to July 9.
• Voted 5-0 to approve a 30% match on a First Impression Grant.
• Voted 5-0 to appoint Mayor Tim Cutts as an MML voting delegate, and Alderman Bill Taylor as an alternate.
• Voted 5-0 to appoint Terry Teer and Danny Reed to the Airport Board with Teer’s term expiring in February 2023, and Reed’s term expiring in February 2024.
• Voted 5-0 to move Ben Chambers to the Police Dept. part-time roster and to add new hire Bert Jimenez to the full-time roster.
• Voted 5-0 to purchase two police cars with 55% of the cost coming from grant money, and 45% from Town funds.
