TYLERTOWN — Aldermen expect to upgrade a town-owned industrial building later this year.
Mayor Ed Hughes told board members Tuesday night that Tylertown was approved for a $150,000 state grant to improve the air conditioning system in the town’s building in the industrial park next to Tylertown High School.
The 34-year-old building is occupied by the newest industrial tenant in the county, the Red Land Cotton textile manufacturer.
The availability of the grant funds is contingent on the results of bond sales later in the year, Hughes said.
Aldermen accepted the grant unanimously.
Board members also heard from Cynthia Smith of Jobs for Mississippi Graduates, who promoted the organization’s GED, employment skills and financial literacy offerings.
She said the organization now has a work-based learning program, in which JMG will pay for 80 hours of work if employers will hire the target 16 to 24-year-old program participants to learn on the job.
JMG has also opened up some of its services to participants older than 24, and is offering many of its classes through the Zoom computer application.
The board also made moves to join county efforts to combat litter.
Alderwoman Stormy Jefferson asked to make sure that town workers would pick up bags of collected litter soon after citizens perform cleanups.
“The town will do its part to pick up the bags.” Hughes said.
“That’s going to be a good thing,” Alderman Fred Lambert said. “We have a problem.”
In other business, the board:
• Boosted pay for election workers to $125 for training and election-day work.
• Learned from board attorney Joseph Stinson that closings should be completed on the sale of two town-owned buildings in the next week.
• Accepted receipts of $263,731 for February, including $202,728 to the general fund, $5,167 in lease payments, $24,485 to sanitation and $31,351 to water and sewer.
• Paid bills of $210,533, including $147,758 from the general fund, $19,660 from sanitation and $43,115 from water and sewer.
The town also made payments of $58,115 for work on water and sewer improvements along Plaza Drive that are funded by a grant, making total payouts $268,648.
