The Hope City Board met last night for their first March meeting. You can watch the full meeting at SWARK.Today by clicking HERE, but here are just a few highlights of the actions taken by the City Board of Directors.
City Manager Catherine Cook presented the issue of redistricting, which is required every ten years after the census. Consultant Rob Middleton was introduced and he presented maps and four options for the board’s consideration. Mayor Don Still said they would look over the information and revisit this issue in a few weeks to discuss and decide.
Charles Lester, who owns a business on 106 South Main, made a request to the board to use the public parking lot behind the Senior Citizens Center to place a food truck, Oak-Lan Food Truck. Questions were asked by the mayor and board members regarding power, the possibility of other food trucks wanting to use public property, and a possible time limit for this allowance. After discussion, the board said they would agree to six months after the city attorney reviewed the issue.
Residents from the Timbercreek Addition were present to make a request that their private drives be accepted into the city street system. Since the edition’s beginning, the roads have been maintained by the Timbercreek Improvement District which is funded by an additional tax from each resident, $435 a year. The residents agreed that if the city would accept this request and take over maintenance of these streets, then they would give the city all the money in the Improvement District’s bank account, as well as continue to pay that additional tax for another five years to assist in the cost of the street overlay. The Board voted on and approved the acceptance of the Timbercreek private drives into the city street system.
The Board approved three bids. The $2.74 per yard bid from the Dustrol Company for street milling was approved. The $109.80 a ton bid from Tri-State Aphault for hot mix overlay was approved. The $10,615.20 bid from Chempro Services Inc. for herbicide spraying was approved.
Rezoning was on the agenda for the night but had to be postponed for a later date.
The Board approved the contract of Jeremy Stone for engineering services related to the Downtown Pocket Park. These services are not being paid for by the grant, but by funds donated by Hope Downtown Network.
At the end of the meeting, a citizen asked about how to get the process started for improvements on streets on the north side of the community. The city manager and board members informed her about the yearly plans dedicated to fixing street issues, as well as info about the Hope Beautification Committee, a planned city-wide cleanup in April, and the Citizen 311 Report Portal, a web portal designed to report any concerns regarding issues around the city.
