The City of Decatur is considering brightening up part of the town.
Decatur mayor David Marshall met with Mississippi Power to discuss replacing the street lights on Highway 15 and also through downtown on Broad Street.
The new LED lights would be an increase of $81.60 a month.
“The City of Newton has already made the change and you can tell the difference,” Marshall said. “If you go look at the lights that Mississippi Power installed at the apartments next to Great Southern National Bank, it made a huge difference there. It really brightened that area up.”
Marshall said he also talked with Southern Pine about changing their lights to LEDs as well.
The first phase will go from the red light at West Broad over the railroad tracks on the west side of town. The next phase would include the rest of Highway 15, Marshall said.
In other action
• The board voted to buy two used trucks for the city use, one diesel to pull city equipment with and another truck that would be used to replace the city dump truck that was totaled.
“We need a dump truck,” Alderman Mark Buntyn said. “But we don’t want to buy something just because it’s a good deal. If we have a purpose for and it’s going to be used, I’m all for it.”
Marshall said there was money in the budget to buy the two trucks.
• The board agreed to move the deadline for water cutoffs to June 23. The board told city clerk Brenda Harper to send a letter to the 26 houses that were on the cutoff list in May. The city will read meters on June 15 and those who are behind will now have until June 23 to pay their bill before their water is cut off.
• The board agreed to increase the pay of new city attorney Jason Mangum. Mangum is also the city judge and makes $700 a month and the board voted to increase Mangum’s pay to $1,400 a month, giving him the pay from former city attorney Mitch Davis.
• The board agreed to a $250 sponsorship for the Turkey Creek Fourth of July fireworks show. The Decatur Fire Department will also be cooking at the event as a fundraiser. Fire chief Raymond Overstreet said they would not be cooking hamburgers this year because of the price of beef but would have pulled pork and hot dog plates that would come with chips and drinks.
• The board discussed moving the annual citywide pickup that generally follows the Highway 15 yard sale, which will be Monday, June 15.
• The city voted to hire Ronnie Adcock as a new part-time police officer. Adcock recently graduated from the police academy.
• The board approved to pay for a new fire hydrant that will be installed by North Decatur Water on the west end of town while they are doing some water work.
• The board agreed to move the next board meeting back to city hall in the month of July.
