The Council of Greenville met Monday, August 10 for their monthly meeting at Greenville City Hall. To begin the meeting, the council approved to . Town Manager Tim Day informed the council for the current CDBG Waste Water Project and requested that the council approve Parrish & Associates as Grant Administrator. “I can tell you that [Jim Parrish] has worked so hard,” said Day. “He's put so much into this that I had no idea of all the detail and work that he had done until this past week.” The council approved the motion to have Parrish & Associates as Grant Administration. Next, the council discussed possibly declaring the property at SW Old Mission as surplus. Tim Day announced that the property was knocked down and removed from the site. The council approved the SW Old Mission property as surplus. The property was also approved for bidding. Councilmember Kovacherich Arnold was concerned about the value of the property due to the fact that it is a commercial property. The council approved the sale of surplus and agreed to take the bids for the property at a later date. Day scheduled two days to go over the 2015-2016 Budget Workshop Schedule. The workshops will be held Wednesday, August 19 at 6 p.m. and Wednesday, August 26 at 6 p.m. To finish off the agenda, the council discussed an amendment previously added to the agenda, The 51 Percent Letter. The Sherriff's office permission to use their funds obtained from the Edward Byrne Memorial Grant to supply one communications officer's salary and benefits. The grant is a contiuation from the last four years. The 51 Percent Letter was motioned and approved by all council members. After the agenda, the department reports began.
The Lee County Fire Department revealed that they scored a nine on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) management standards due to lack of fire protection. The Department hopes to get re-graded by the end of next year when things improve. Day urged the public to get involved with the fire department. “We need more people to get out there and provide more services for us,” said Day. “It could benefit everyone.” Day asked that anyone interested should contact the fire chief. Recreation hopes to have free kickball on Tuesdays and Thursdays and softball games on Monday as soon as school starts. Day hopes to have sponsors and advertising. “The thought is [to have them] a couple days a week and every week on a Saturday,” said Day. Day hopes to have activities for kids of all ages. He and the Recreation board are planning to meet with the principal in order to push for this community activity. Next, Town Manager Day announced that the new library has minor electrical issues being worked on as well as some housekeeping. It is expected to be finished in the next two weeks. Day hopes to have a ribbon cutting event when the repairs are finished. Day also announced that there will be an ATM installed at Greenville Town Hall in the next week or so. The ATM is for Farmers and Merchant Bank and was funded by a private company. The council then approved a motion to use a grant to re-pave Main Street.
The last thing on Day's reports was the issue of Jim Spradley's property. Many members of the community in Greenville view this property off of 221 as an “eye sore.” Spradley's property is an old hardware store that contains what he considers merchandise rather than “junk.” “I'll tell you what,” said Spradley. “I'll sell y'all that piece of property.” Spradley declared that he would only clean the property if his offer of $10,000 was accepted, but the council declined. “Just clean it up,” said Vice-Mayor Elesta Pritchett. “I don't see nothing wrong with it,” said Spradley. After many minutes of back-and-forth between the council and Spradley, the discussion was intercepted by Day. “I didn't mean this to evolve like this,” said Day. Day declared he would meet Spradley at his property the next day and assess the condition of the property “piece-by-piece.” After this procedure, Day told the council he would send any updates back.
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1. Greene Publishing, Inc. Photo By Selina Iglesias, August 10, 2015 The Council of Greenville discussed many city improvements in their monthly meeting on Monday, August 10. Pictured from left to right, are Calvin Malone, Barbara Dansey, Alfonso Young, Elesta Pritchett, and Kovachevich Arnold.