Retrofitting delays paving on Grand

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

If you blinked you may have missed it.

It took the Mt. Pleasant City Council just 13 minutes Wednesday night to take care of business.

Naturally a brief agenda aids in expediting the process and arguably the most newsworthy item was not on the agenda.

Engineer Jim Warner of Warner Engineer Associates Inc., the engineering firm for the Grand Avenue reconstruction project, told council members that paving has been delayed temporarily due to retrofitting of the paving machine to accommodate the width of Grand.

?They will be doing some paving by hand,? Warner said. ?The Baker Street intersection (with Grand Avenue) will be closed Tuesday and shut down for about a week. The pace (of paving) will be slowed until the paver is back.?

Tall residential grass also drew some commentary. Police Chief Ron Archer said his department is receiving a lot of complaints about tall grass in lawns around the community.

Mayor Steve Brimhall said some of the properties referenced are in foreclosure. ?We will try to get in touch with the banks and have them take care of it until they (properties) are sold. If people would just help out and mow their lawns, we would appreciate it,? Brimhall said, reminding residents that clippings are not to blown into the street.

The council did host a public hearing on amending the fiscal 2012-13 budget and following the hearing which drew no comments, passed a resolution amending the budget.

City officials said the amendment was more or less a precautionary accounting move. A city cannot exceed its budget and officials want to ensure that all fund balances are adequate. The amendment does not mean the city will spend the additional amount and does not increase property taxes.

Included in the amendment is allocating an additional $1,446,837 to numerous city accounts. The departments and their respective increases include:

Public safety, $57,983; public works, $190,093; culture and recreation, $21,321; community and economic development, $397,818; general government, $26,528; transfers out, $952,783. The business type/enterprises account appropriation was reduced by $209,689.

?We are basically realigning all expenses and making sure we don?t overspend,? explained Florence Olomon, city clerk. ?We looked at each department?s budget and tried to determine where they will be at on June 30 (end of the 2013 fiscal year). We think we are in good shape.?

In other agenda items, the council set a June 20 bid letting on a sanitary sewer lining project. The bid will be awarded during the June 26 council meeting.

Permission was granted and the rental fee waived for Main Street Mt. Pleasant to use the grandstand at McMillian Park for a June 15 fund-raising concert for the Union Block Building.

Council members meet again in regular session Wednesday, June 12, at 7 p.m. in City Hall.