Meadow’s Edge Phase-1 approved

(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.