Magee leaders heard from Brother Jeremy Smith, who recently leased the city’s former satellite prison facility to offer shelter to the homeless.
Mayor Berry told the Magee Board of Aldermen at their last meeting that they may need to adjust rent for the mission that Smith is operating because of costs of getting the facility to the point that it could be occupied.
Smith informed the board that the program is currently housing 30 males, 30 females and 15 children, and he anticipates being able to offer shelter to another 50 people once the former jail area is renovated.
Smith also reported that his ministry is partnering with a program that shares funds locally through the purchase of Christmas trees. Fifty percent of proceeds will go to the international program and 50 percent locally to fund his ministry. The Frazier fir trees will be on sale from November 19 through December 22 in an area adjacent to Jose’s Restaurant at the edge of the Walmart parking lot. Smith said they plan to have Santa Claus available for photos as well as local vendor displays.
This comes despite recent conversations from the city board about restricting outside sales of Christmas trees to local businesses. The board called a work session for Monday, November 8, for additional discussion about non local vendors and food trucks in the community.
The board heard from Fredrick Payne about a new program called Hope Missions of Mississippi that collects textiles from old clothes and shoes and exports them overseas. They are sold, and the proceeds are then split between their program and a local charity as determined by the city.
The city agreed to allow the placement of four bins in Magee to collect the textiles, one outside the Magee Police Department, one at the fire station, one at the senior citizen community center in Eastside and one at Voice of Calvary Church.
Ricky Anderson reported on behalf of the Cemetery Committee on progress that had been made in the Magee City Cemetery. The committee was re-organized, is meeting monthly and is considering getting a 501 C-3 designation so they could accept donations. The board then discussed adopting standards for appropriate maintenance at the cemetery. They also discussed increasing the cost of a cemetery plot.
Traveling the streets of Magee hasn’t exactly been “smooth sailing” lately.
The good news from the board is that the situation is going to improve.
The city is investing for the purpose of paving 1.6 miles of some of the most urgent road issues during the next paving term, which is planned for next spring.
The $300,000 paving project will include the following streets:
*Washington Street-580 linear feet and the cul-de-sac
*McLaurin Drive-1,500 lineal feet
*3rd Ave. S.W. -from 5th St. SW to Frontage Road
*9th Ave. S.E.-from 2nd St. S.E. to 4th St. S.E.
*End of 4th St. S.E.
*5th St. S.E.-between 9th Ave. S.E, and 8th Ave. S.E.
*2nd Ave. N.W.-dead end section
*4th St. N. W.-from 1st Ave. N. W. to Main Ave N. W.
*3rd Ave. S.W.-from Choctaw St.. W. to 1st St. S. W.
*1st St. S. W. to 2nd St. S.W.
The city will be working with Joe Worrell and Goodwater Church to provide a Veteran’s Day celebration at 11 a.m. on November 11. Berry said another planned event will follow at Simpson Academy at 12:30 p.m.
Berry also noted that on November 14 at 1:30 p.m. an event at the Ural Everett Park will honor Coach Ernest Jaynes for his service to the community through the Simpson County School System.
Some confusion has been expressed about whether or not residents can place large wooden garbage bins and plastic agricultural cubes on streets in front of residences permanently. Initially, city restrictions stated that no permanent structures would be allowed to remain in place in front of homes. Residents were to use containers that were taken off the streets after being emptied.
Alderman Patrick Brown stated that the restriction was due to possible contamination of chemical substances. Aesthetics were also an issue. The bins are reportedly prompting loose garbage and unsightly material piled up in the community.
The mayor had told the city sanitation department to continue to pick up garbage, even though the bins were not regulation. This was another one of those issues to be discussed at the work session on Monday night.
Fire Marshal Charlie Valadie, who is in charge of city permits, reported that Shane Steele and Philip Magee, who have responsibilities for building inspection and property maintenance, were not present for the board meeting but that everything was proceeding and there were no issues.
Alderman-at-large Sue Honea took issue with Valadie over the statement and said everything is not fine and that at a minimum she expected a written report as well as those employees in attendance so that issues could be addressed and corrected.
Honea was able to make her point clear to Valadie, and he said they would be at future meetings and would be specific about what they were doing in regarding to property maintenance as well as building permits. Honea also mentioned non-operational vehicles parked in front of residences.
The board discussed hiring a parttime person to manage the city’s web page account and Facebook page. Honea told the board that what is currently posted is inadequate and not current.
Police Chief Chris Jones reported to the board that the recent Halloween event for which The Vault restaurant had requested closing the street had presented no issues or problems on that Saturday night. He reported that there was no alcohol or trash on the streets as per the agreement on the front end.
Jones also talked with the board about traffic issues on Choctaw Street at the Magee Middle School location when classes were being released in the afternoon. Jones is to work with Magee High School Principal Bill Broadhead to devise a workable plan. The street may be made one way at certain times of the day.
The board voted to hire Austin Bray, Daniel Rankin and Ryan Fairchild to work in the street department at $11 per hour on a six-month trial basis.
