The Eupora Board of Aldermen has done away with restrictions on when the former Garan parking lot can be used for yard sales.
City Clerk Gail Newton asked the board on June 12 to amend the ordinance regulating transient/commercial vendors citywide and yard sales on city property. She first broached the issue last month, but after discussion and the need for further research the item was tabled.
The ordinance, adopted 6? years ago, limited sales on city property to the first and third weekends of each month from dawn to dusk Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Four years ago, aldermen amended the ordinance to stop the $5 setup fee that had been established.
“They’re basically using it anytime,” Newton said last week in reference to flea markets/yard sale on the city-owned lot on the south side of Government Avenue off Highway 9 South. “People call and ask when they can go down there but they go whenever they want to.”
Mayor Lamar Dumas told aldermen, “The county said they’re not stopping folks from using their lot,” referring to the county-owned lot across the street beside the Department of Human Services building. The county does not have setup fees either.
Police Chief Gregg Hunter said if the city left the ordinance as is, “We have to enforce it. … If you want us to enforce it — when they can be there — we will.”
However, Hunter said he supported amending the regulations by not limiting the days the lot can be used and therefore matching what the county does. Responding to concerns about the potential danger of motorists speeding through the lot or driving dangerously there, Hunter said, “If they violate the law, that’s where we come in.”
After further discussion, James Shaw (Ward 1) made a motion, seconded by Robert Gibbs (Ward 4), to change the ordinance by not limiting the days the Garan lot/city-owned property can be used for yard sales, excluding Sundays. The board unanimously approved the motion, which also stipulated that a “SLOW” sign be placed in the middle of the lot’s entranceway.
Park director
job description
Also last week, Gibbs distributed copies of a new job description he has proposed for the park director, with added responsibilities he has suggested.
He said now that Park Director Rusty Bowen is full time (since March 5), “We need to maximize what we can do.”
Some of the proposals Gibbs mentioned included determining the most effective ways of fundraising, whether enough tournaments are being held and what incentives can be offered (such as to churches) to have tournaments, program development and comparing growth to previous years.
“These are ideas the park director should come up with” and should help with grant opportunities, he said.
Gibbs also said he is a “numbers guy” and that he needs to see if there’s growth in the Park and Recreation Department. Stating that a monthly analysis of these programs is needed, Howard Rumore (Ward 2) said, “It’s in the package every month.”
Jerry Gary (at-large) said he visits Gary Park to keep up with how it is doing, but he and other aldermen did agree the board needs to beef up its expectations for the park director.
“These are just suggestions,” Gibbs told his fellow aldermen.
Mike Ford, who was not on the agenda but was present, also made comments during the discussion and asked various questions about the Park Department. He said Toby Brantley Park is dangerous because of needed repairs and that children have been hurt there. He also said the city spends nothing on a basketball program.
When Ford said the department has gone $60,000 over budget, Rumore replied, “I don’t know that the park program has ever been a revenue generator.”
Ford said, “We’re spending zero on the teenagers. … “These are some areas that need to be addressed.”
Ford also asked the city into look into possible grants for a building to train and help young people, teens mainly, that could include a basketball program. Dumas said such a project is in the works with donors lined up, and asked Ford to contact him later about it.
Bowen was working at Gary Park that night and was unable to attend the meeting. No action was taken, but Dumas told Gibbs his suggestions were good and that, “We will definitely look into it.”
Beginning
Project Hope
James Townsend introduced Manager Thomas Jones Jr. and Coordinator Misty Shane of Beginning Project Hope in Maben, which helps people in need.
BPH is located in a house donated to it by the town of Maben at 10005 MS Hwy. 15 in Webster County. Jones said it has been transformed into a homeless shelter that is like a transitional home. It has been open two years and started at the former O.L. Wicks Elementary School, also on Highway 15.
Jones said the organization, which is not funded by the government, has helped 12 families so far, with four people from two families living in the home now. It provides clothes to those who need them, a van to take participants to church and tries to get help for those on drugs through Community Counseling Services, according to Jones.
“We try to rehabilitate them and get them a job,” he said.
BPH has an outreach ministry for children in the area in an effort to curtail gang activity, Jones said. This includes a summer reading program at the old elementary school for children ages 3-18, and Jones said he is trying to get teachers involved to help tutor them during the summer. Children are also provided meals there, and plans are to turn some of the classrooms into bedrooms.
Jones said any assistance is welcome, including donations of clothing and twin beds, or providing transportation to children in need to the school building for meals and its programs. For more information, call Jones at 662-341-1507.
Industrial Park
grant, Tilsatec
Lara Bowman, director of The Enterprise, informed the board that the city has been awarded a $500,000 grant to extend utilities in Industrial Park via the Appalachian Regional Commission.
She also reported that Tilsatec is reluctant to move forward on any grant application on its behalf that has job requirements. The Golden Triangle Planning and Development District had submitted an application to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration for a grant to partially fund needed air-conditioning repairs at the city-owned building. Based on Bowman’s report, the board authorized the mayor to sign a letter withdrawing the grant application.
Other business
In other business June 12, the board:
• designated Dumas as voting delegate and Gary as alternate at the Mississippi Municipal League’s annual conference, which begins Monday in Biloxi.
• approved requests for cash on the lagoon stabilization project upon receiving grant funds from the state. Payments were approved for the contractor, Bigbee Valley LLC, the GTPDD for administrative costs and Calvert-Spradling Engineers.
• voted to accept three people into the Senior Community Service Employment Program who have qualified to work part-time for the city through the federal program, which is targeted to help low-income older workers.
They are Vickey Patterson, who will work at City Hall; former city employee Joel Johnson, who will work for the Street Department; and Robert Tate, who will work for the Park and Recreation Department. Each will work a maximum of 20 hours a week and will be paid by SCSEP, not the city. Most participants are with SCSEP for about six months before the agency helps them find a more permanent job, according to the National Council on Aging’s website.
“I think it will be a great thing,” Shaw said.
• accepted a check for $3,600 from the Mississippi Department of Public Safety for reimbursement of Officer Deangelo Liggins’ police academy training. The money will be placed back into the Police Department’s training fund.
• set budget work sessions for 5:30 p.m. July 9 and 10.
• voted to remove the floating boat dock at Whites Creek Lake because of safety concerns. Rumore has been attempting to obtain the necessary two written quotes to repair the rotting dock but has only been able to acquire one so far.
The board discussed the possibility of replacing it entirely with a plastic dock because they are safer and more durable. Hunter said collections from boat launching fees (which were increased in April) are up and recommended using those accumulated funds from over the years to pay for it.
Hunter also said the lake has been having big crowds, and that having an officer from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks patrolling there on a regular basis checking compliance with regulations has been helpful.
“It’s a really great thing,” he said of MDWFP’s management of the lake.
Hunter also said he is still working on animal control issues. Dumas said Grenada’s animal control officer has offered to come over and help anytime he is needed.
The regular monthly meeting, which would have normally been held June 4, was canceled and rescheduled for June 12 because of an expected lack of a quorum.
