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Light agenda greets newest city council

Justin Addison, Editor/Publisher
Posted 4/19/23

Fayette City Clerk Judy Thompson swore in three incumbents and one new member to the Board of Aldermen at the council’s most recent meeting last week on Tuesday, April 11. The new council …

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Light agenda greets newest city council

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Fayette City Clerk Judy Thompson swore in three incumbents and one new member to the Board of Aldermen at the council’s most recent meeting last week on Tuesday, April 11. The new council approved three business licenses, heard updates regarding Fayette Main Street and the Community Improvement District (CID), and signed an Arbor Day proclamation.

Stephanie Ford (East Ward) and Peggy O’Connell (Northwest Ward) took their oaths of office to begin fresh two-year terms. Southwest Ward Alderwoman Bekki Galloway was sworn in for one year to finish out the seat’s term to which she was appointed last year. New to the council is Marsha Broadus, who received 24 write-in votes for the seat on the Southwest Ward that was vacated by longtime incumbent Grafton Cook.

Mr. Cook received a certificate of appreciation from Fayette Mayor Jeremy Dawson for his near decade of service on the Board of Aldermen. He then stepped away from the council table for a seat in the audience so that he could update the new board on the CID.

“This is strange,” he quipped when it was his time to address the council. “It’s been wonderful on the council, and I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart. It’s been a great experience, and I want to wish you all the best of luck. There still is a lot of work to be done. These are exciting times.”

Mr. Cook updated the council on projects the CID board, on which he also sits, expects to undertake. The first is a traffic study around the Fayette courthouse square. He also said the board wishes to conduct a study of the city’s electric grid downtown to discover the feasibility of adding electric vehicle charging stations.

“I feel like that could benefit the community greatly, downtown especially,” he said.

Toth and Associates, the company that recently conducted an electric rate study for the city, will investigate the possibility of adding EV charging stations.

“We’re going to look at the whole gamut as far as traffic downtown,” said Mr. Cook. “It’s going to be parking. It’s going to be [traffic] direction [around the square]”

The council gave unanimous approval for the CID board to move ahead with both studies.

Also appearing before the city council was Deanna Cooper, Board President of Fayette Main Street, Inc. She asked the city to once again contribute to the organization in the amount of $10,000. The council has yet to vote on the annual contribution.

Mayor Dawson signed a proclamation from the city signifying Friday, April 28, as Arbor Day in the City of Fayette. 

The city recently regained Tree City USA status from the National Arbor Day Foundation. The designation allows the city to obtain grants to help pay for tree trimming and other tree maintenance. 

“We did get our Tree City USA status, so we’re getting ready to do our Arbor Day program at school,” said Alderwoman Galloway, who spearheaded the effort. “This is all very exciting.”

The council gave unanimous approval to add Fayette resident Matthew Klusmeyer to the city’s parks board.

Klusmeyer also asked the city to partner with the Fayette Disc Golf Organization so that it may help maintain the disc golf course located at the city park. The organization was formed about a month ago as a 501c3. It held a tournament there on July 4 of last year and expects to host more in the future. The FDGO also plans to hold a disc golf camp for new players.

“The overarching goal is to provide more opportunities for the youth of the community to get out and learn the sport,” he said.

Now that the organization has 501c3 status, it can apply for grants to help pay for course upgrades and renovations. 

In other business, the council approved three new business licenses. The first is for SBH, LLC, which owns the Fayette Dairy Queen that re-opened Friday after extensive renovation (see related story on Front Page). Another is for Boricua’s South Street, a Puerto Rican restaurant that hopes to open soon on South Church Street in the building most recently occupied by Paisley BowTique. The third license is for Sun Solar, LLC, a company that installs solar panels.

The city council regularly meets at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month at City Hall. Meetings are open, and the public is invited.

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