Magnolia officials on Tuesday continued their push to clean up blighted properties around town.
Board members accepted Zoning Administrator Smithie’s Buie’s recommendation to notify four property owners of the town’s demand for clean-up.
“These properties are a danger to public welfare,” Buie said.
All of the properties on Clark Street, which is Highway 51 within the town limits. Three of the properties are on North Clark, and one is on South Clark.
Board attorney Barbara Blackmon will draft letters to the property owners notifying them of the city’s demands and letting them know a public hearing on their properties will be set if the owners do not respond with a satisfactory remedy.
Buie, also tasked with checking privilege licenses for businesses, said all those he had checked are up to date, and he has four businesses left to visit.
Public Works Director John Wilkinson told board members that the pick of limbs and other yard debris is going lowly because the landfill where such stuff is taken has been closed frequently or too busy to accommodate Magnolia’s deliveries.
“We just have to let the trucks sit full till we can get in the landfill,” he said.
Wilkinson also asked the board about the possibility of restarting a flashing caution light near the post office.
The board also:
• Scheduled National Night Out Against Crime 5 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 30.
• Approved installing cellular communicators at town hall and the municipal court building to restore functionality with the town’s new phone system. Barclay Security will install the communicators for $250 each and monitor the buildings for $20 each monthly.
• Set the town’s Christmas parade at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 2. Cars, ATVs, motorcycles, walkers and other methods of joining the parade are $25 each. Floats will cost $40 to participate in the parade.
• Approved a resolution honoring the life of the Rev. Carl Hughes. “He’s still living, but his church is going to have a celebration for him,” Mayor Tammy Witherspoon said.
• Allowed Brent Mullins to sell back a week of vacation time in December.
• Approved a payment of $119,665 on the Quinlivan Road sewer extension project.
• Planned to discuss updating the town’s zoning ordinance at the next work session and at December’s meeting.
• Received Police Chief Sonya Woodall’s October activity report, which featured 286 incidents. She highlighted 35 disturbance reports, 10 cases of damaged property, 16 auto accidents, four juvenile complaints, three calls to 911 and a disorderly conduct. Among 54 traffic stops, 43 citations were issued, including 10 for disregarding a traffic sign or signal and seven for careless driving.
• Heard Fire Chief Terrell Bell’s report of 36 incidents, including 13 grass fires, six woods fires and three car wrecks. He also told the board that the county’s burn ban was allowed to expire.
• Noted town’s receipts of $28,793 and court fines and fees of $2,844.
• Noted town hall will be closed Nov. 11 for Veterans Day and Nov. 24-25 for Thanksgiving.
