| Today's Feature Public Services Begins Parks Oversight.
Public
Service Committee members received orientation
materials from Parks and Recreation Department
Head Alan Bull at their meeting Tuesday night and
had the opportunity to discuss with him what form
their oversight of the Department will take.
"This is
not going to be micro-management," said
Committee Chair J. D. Whitledge. "We’re
not the department head, you’re the
department head. I don’t want to see numbers
on a page on a monthly basis.... All they’re
going to be to me are numbers on a page."
"There
are a few things that the Park Board did
differently from the City," Bull said.
"I just need to see where the City’s at
and make sure that we’re following the
guidelines."
Whitledge
agreed with Bull that the majority of the details
could be worked out between Bull and City
Administrator Tom Short.
Bull was
officially appointed as the City Parks Director,
by a unanimous vote of the Council during their
regular meeting last Tuesday.
Venders in the County Offices.
Western Commissioner Anna Ruth
Crampton asked during Thursday’s meeting of
the Jasper County Commision if they should
continue allowing individuals to sell merchandise
in the county offices.
"I walked into an office
this past week and there was an individual
selling something, with it spread out in front of
three staff members," Crampton explained.
"We had a down time of at least 20 minutes
with those employees and the vender."
Crampton said venders coming to
the courthouse to sell everything from peanuts,
jewelry and cosmetics, is becoming a common
sight.
She asked County Counselor
James Spradling if Commissioners had the
authority to prohibit venders in the courthouse.
"You have absolute control
over the county courthouse," Spradling said.
"If you want to establish a no soliciting
rule, then you are the only ones who can say
so."
Crampton said it will be
difficult to make a distinction between children
selling items for nonprofit fund-raisers, and
other venders.
"I don’t have a
problem with (the children) explained Crampton.
"I just don’t think it’s a good
business practice if we have an hour of down time
each day with venders."
Presiding Commissioner Danny
Hensley echoed Crampton’s concerns, saying
that he often sees venders in the offices on a
weekly basis.
"This is not a problem
that has occurred in the last month or two, but
rather years," explained Hensley. "Some
of the venders are not a problem at all. But
where do you draw the line, you have to say
‘no, nobody’ or ‘yes,
everybody."
Commissioners have postponed
action on this proposal, until they have a chance
to talk with each office holder to see how they
feel about the vending situation.
Crampton said they would also
talk with local business to see how they address
venders as well.
Stephen Holt Reimbursement
In response to the State audit
conducted on the County Collectors office,
Crampton informed those present that the county
needed to reimburse County Collector elect
Stephen Holt $3,000.
Holt repaid the county $130,000
for outside contracted work conducted during his
previous term of office. The official audit,
conducted following Art Wilson’s appointment
as interim County Collector showed the
discrepancy between what Holt returned to the
county and what was necessary by law.
County Treasurer Jeannie Wells
said that with interest, the total repayment to
Holt comes to $3,142.48. Commissioners voted
unanimously to repay Holt, and directed Wells and
Spradling to proceed with the reimbursement
procedures.
In other business, Hensley
presented the Commission with a stack of
petitions received in response to the proposed
opening of the "Precious Movements"
gentlemen’s club. Several hundred signatures
were included on the petitions.
Hensley reported that the
County is still in discussion with Nations Bank
for purchase of the building located on the
Carthage Square. He says that everything looks
good, but they haven't received any official word
back from bank officials.
We're Moooovin' On Up...To
The East Side.
by Robin Putnam, artCentral
WE'RE MOVING!! It's finally
going to happen!! We send big THANK YOUs to
everyone who helped and supported our big move!!
We promise our new neighbors we will be great
neighbors!!
We will be spending the next
few weeks getting the Hyde House 'neutralized'
and our meager possessions moved in. We are going
to take advantage of this move to collect and
sort through things we have been storing all over
town! The crew last Saturday got the garage
cleared out, with some things set aside and the
junk and the broken branches hauled away!! Yeah!!
We now have some space to move things from the
Geranium House to the Hyde House and store them
until we find room for them inside. Whew!
We will be changing our hours
when we re-open...we want to be open MORE and
open at least night until 9 p.m.!! But....we
really need more volunteers to help us keep our
doors open. It's really very easy and we
encourage fun! We're very flexible!! And we
already have a volunteer for the one evening!!
Now we're looking for people who want to
volunteer a half-day here and there or maybe an
afternoon!! Anyway..think about it!! Call and
leave us a message or if you're in the
neighborhood of 1110 E. 13th and we're
there....come on in and say HI! We don't usually
bite.
Volunteers, volunteers,
volunteers....we need more volunteers!! Know
where we can find any?
One of our volunteers, Penny,
has been very helpful in allowing the Wednesday
Life Drawing sessions to be held in her painting
studio in Carl Junction!! We thank her from the
bottom of our hearts!! With the technical
difficulties we've been having at the Geranium
House we have been very grateful to Penny as we
have not had to cancel any sessions!! From now on
we will have a message on our phone by noon
Wednesday as to what's going on with the Life
Drawing that night. Thanks to all of our
dedicated drawers for hanging in there with us!!
We would like to take a minute
to say THANKS to each one of our City Council
members. We appreciate them realizing the need
for a change in the special permit catergories
and for swiftly making the appropriate changes
and following through by approving our request
for such a permit to allow us into the Hyde House
as our new and permanent home!!
artCentral....now (and
permanently) located at 1110 E. 13th!! A dream
come true!! Thank you Katherine Hyde.....you'll
never know how grateful we are to you or how much
you have helped keep this organization afloat!!
More..........next week.
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