TYLERTOWN — Aldermen edged closer to getting the town out of the real estate business by approving plans to sell downtown buildings to businesses now leasing them from the town.
Thomas Dozier, owner of Cardio World, and Shannon Ellis, owner of Monarch Mercantile, both addressed the board about their plans to undertake the purchases of their buildings soon.
Dozier told the board that he is operating Cardio World under his limited liability company Precision Pressure Washing, but he wants to purchase the building through another LLC he operates, T. Dozier Properties.
“If the board allows the assignment (to the new LLC), we will deliver the deed to the closing agent and finish the final paperwork for the sale,” board attorney Joseph Stinson said.
Ellis said he is in the process of selling another piece of property, but he “underestimated how long it would take.”
He said his buyers’ lenders told him the process should complete in three to four weeks, after which he would like to complete purchase of the Monarch Mercantile building.
Board members approved the timelines for the eventual sale of both buildings unanimously.
The buildings are among seven properties the town now owns and leases to various businesses, including Marketplace Antiques, American Printing, Luter’s Supply and Miller Propane, as well as a building in the industrial park now occupied by Red Land Cotton.
In other business, the board:
• Heard a request from Casey Ward Hamilton to consider adopting an ordinance to become an officially designated smoke-free community, with smoking prohibited in public buildings and businesses and within a certain distance outside building entrances.
She noted that 173 communities, including nearby Magnolia, Summit, Gloster and Centreville, have become smoke-free communities, as have seven counties.
The board took the request under advisement.
• Approved an Eagle Scout project by Luke Massengale to clean and paint a number of fire hydrants around town. Town officials said they would provide the materials so Massengale could supply the labor.
• Acknowledged receipts of $333,096, including $258,271 to the general fund, $13,882 in lease payments, $26,239 to the sanitation fund and $34,703 to the water and sewer fund.
• Paid bills of $332,248, including $270.000 from the general fund, $22,062 from sanitation and $40,186 from water and sewer.
• Noted receipts and payouts of $32,099 from the sewer improvement grant and payouts of $90,363 from the frontage road grant. Both grants are being used to improve the area around Plaza Drive, the U.S. 98 frontage road.
