(Correction made in paragraph six.)
The
Alexander City Council has approved the final design of Phase-1 for the new
Meadow’s Edge subdivision. Planning Commission Chairman Bob McKeon told council
members the commission approved the design with a recommendation that the
council do the same.
Phase-1
includes 60 lots. Developers estimate the subdivision should have around 300
homes when completed in four to five years.
Development engineer
Joe White told council members housing construction is expected to begin in May
with completion on some of the houses in August. He also said a $100,000 bond
has been established to guarantee completion of the streets. The first section
of the main street entering Meadow’s Edge off Highway 111 is completed.
The recommendation passed by a vote of five to three. Present at the
meeting were aldermen Louis Hobbs, Farren Wadley, Andy Mullins, Andrea Bearden,
and Melissa Ratliff. Absent were Stephanie Beck, Lonny Chapman and Dan Church. When
an alderman is absent it counts as a “No” vote.
In other business at the April 18 meeting;
Chief of Police
Robert Burnett reported that 12 citations had been written by the city’s new
code enforcement officer Nick Johnson. Johnson was hired last month to work
full time in code enforcement, plus as a trained police officer he will be
available to backup other officers during the day.
Burnett also
announced the hiring of two new police officers; Chance Priest and Richard
Harper. Priest has worked in law enforcement since 1993. He is a former Shannon
Hills police officer and comes equipped with his own K-9 partner named Rocco. Harper
was hired last month as the new assistant police chief. After working about two
weeks he was sent overseas by the military but is expected to return within the
next month.
Alexander’s prosecuting attorney Pat
Marshall has asked for an increase in her monthly salary due to an increase in
the work load. Marshall is currently paid $500 per month and is asking for an
increase to $750.
Before
approving the increase Alderwoman Andrea Bearden wants to know how many hours she
spends in pre-trial preparation. According to Bearden’s research a part-time
prosecuting attorney earns around $34,000 per year. Alderman Farren Wadley said
he isn’t concerned about how many hours she’s working as long as she’s doing
her job well she deserves the increase.
During the discussion of Mayor Paul
Mitchell’s veto of the “Organization of City Council” (OCC) Bearden suggested
the 2015 version is still in effect. She proposed a workshop meeting of council
members be scheduled to draft a new document. Mitchell said he will work on
that.
In a five-to-three
vote the OCC was approved at the March 21 meeting. The mayor vetoed it two days
later. Council members could have attempted to override the veto but it would
have required six votes (two-thirds) to do so.
In his veto
Mitchell states, “Changes made (in the OCC) will do nothing but cause
disruptions in the City Hall front offices which is contrary to the public
interest. Some of the actions taken by the City Council have nothing to do with
organizing the City Council for their meetings.”
The document
included language that gave council members full access to city hall and office
equipment, “the same as the mayor.” Mitchell has set a policy requiring only
office staff can operate office equipment and anyone wanting inside city hall
must have an appointment.
Now that the ABC Adolescent Center is
no longer using the community center for its after-school program Mayor
Mitchell asked if he should return to renting it out as before. The program was
ended due to a lack of participation. Council members agreed the center can
once again be made available for rental during weekdays.
The next meeting of the Alexander City
Council will be Monday, May 16. Meetings are held at 6pm in the courtroom in
the City of Alexander Municipal Complex on Highway 111. The public is invited
to attend.