Sand Mountain Reporter

The Boaz Planning Commission has at least four public hearings scheduled for tonight’s meeting.

The session is set for 6 p.m. at the Boaz Public Library.

Hearings on the agenda include zoning for three recently annexed properties at 1872 McVille Road, 524 Willow Road and 1734 Martin Road. The owners are requesting the properties be zoned R-1, a low-density detached residential district generally designated for single-family homes.

A fourth agenda item involves approval of the preliminary plat for a 19-lot subdivision located on Martin Road and Old Crossville Highway.

Committee changes

With arrival of the new fiscal year Thursday, Oct. 1, council members shuffled to chair new committees as they embark on their second year of the term that began in 2008.

A quick list of the new committee chairs for FY 2010 (with the committees they chaired in FY 2009 in parentheses):

• Police Department: David Dyar (Fire Department)

• Fire Department: Tim McRae (Parks and Recreation)

• Street Department: Billy Faucett (Police Department)

• Parks and Recreation: David Ellis (Library and Senior Center)

• Library and Senior Center: Jerry Don Sims (Street Department)

Council members also rotate as members of the Finance and Personnel committees. Mayor Tim Walker chairs both of them throughout the four-year term.

Park and Rec news

Two Boaz Parks and Recreation Department employees plan to attend the National Softball Association-Baseball Players Association Convention at the end of the month.

“Darryl Parrish and Josh Moon will be attending,” McRae said. “They will go to line up national tournaments for the 2010 season.”

The convention is located at Panama City Beach, Fla., and runs Oct. 31 through Nov. 5.

McRae also said the rec department continues to make improvements to the park in the recently annexed Mountainboro community and announced a new policy regarding senior citizen admission at youth basketball games.

“We have just finished taking registrations for basketball for boys ages 7-12 and girls ages 9-12,” McRae said. “We are no longer charging senior citizens admission to youth basketball games.”

Funeral escort

Dyar expressed concern about the inability of the city to provide police escorts for all funeral processions.

The councilman said he’d heard comments from people in the funeral home business who could not get escorts because of a lack of manpower in the police department.

“This goes back to the character of the community,” said Dyar, who believes the city should honor all escort requests for funeral processions.

The mayor said the city honors “95 percent” of requests, but sometimes the police department is busy with calls.

“I think that’s very rare that happens,” Walker said, referring to denial of requests.

Downtown question

Resident Jeff Owen asked the council about the upcoming renovation of The Mall downtown, which will create a one-way street through the shopping district.

Owen asked if procedures are in place for the upper level of the shops to be used for residential and the lower level for business.

Walker said the district already has “split zoning” for those purposes.

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Publisher: Ben Shurett

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