Constituents in Ward 1 turned out Thursday night at the Townsend Park Community Center for an informal meeting with the ward’s councilman, Gene Taylor, city department heads and other city officials.
After an invocation by Rev. Glen Wilson, Mayor Robert Smith addressed the mostly female crowd on recent city council actions as well as future projects for the city.
“One of the things we have going on is the amnesty program for people who owe fines,” Smith said. “We try to run the program from January until April — we know that’s when people have their tax money and can pay their fines.”
Smith then asked municipal court clerk Lou Dudley to explain the program.
“If you owe fines or if you have outstanding warrants, you can come to the municipal court building and pay your fines without getting arrested,” Dudley said. “You also pay a $100 court fee and the contempt charge is retired. We will work with you in any way possible. If you can’t pay all of your fines, we will schedule an appearance before a judge so that a payment plan can be worked out.”
Smith also discussed the recent bids for the Old Highway 82 bridge project, which is funded by MDOT, the city, county and the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“The lowest bid for the project was $2.5 million,” he said. “We will have to take the issue up at Tuesday’s board meeting. The MDOT has committed $2 million. The rest of us are paying $133,000 a piece.”
Smith encouraged the constituents to visit the future soccer complex site as well as other events in the downtown area.
“The soccer complex will have 12 regulation fields for soccer,” Smith said. “We have been assured that it will be completed by May. We will be the fourth city in the state to host soccer tournaments. We will join Oxford, Tupelo and Hattiesburg. There’s also going to be a football field on the Seventh Avenue side behind Little Dooey’s. If you haven’t been to the Farmer’s Market to see the Tuskeegee Airman exhibit, it is really something. The city put up $1,500, the school district put up $1,500 and Mrs. Nancy Carpenter with the (CLCVB) was nice enough to get $3,000 for the presentation.”
After presentations from other department heads, Taylor said he was satisfied with the event and its turnout.
“The meeting went very well,” Taylor said. “We discussed a lot of good information tonight. I try to do this at least twice a year. It’s a good way to keep the neighborhood informed and a good way for them to get involved.”
Taylor said his next ward meeting would take place in the final quarter of 2012.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 31 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
