The Newton Board of Aldermen was recently informed that they will be receiving a $1 million grant to renovate city hall.
Mayor Murray Weems told the aldermen on May 7 that state has provided funding to be spent between July 1, 2019, and July 1, 2020, to help renovate and restore City Hall. Currently, there are multiple roof leaks throughout the building, which has been listed as one of Mississippi’s historic places.
“We’d like to thank Sen. Terry C. Burton for helping us get the funding to do this project,” Weems said. “There’s no way we would have had the funding to do what we needed to do to renovate City Hall and keep it a historic landmark.
In coming weeks, Weems said they would be advertising for bids on the project to help move the project along so that they are ready to go once July begins.
The first order of business will be to replace the current roof. Weems said that they would need to dry out the building completely before they could do other projects to restore the building.
In other business, the board heard from Doug Whittle about fixing a storm water drain that runs under his mini storage building. He told the board of aldermen that he would be willing to take down a vacant storage building to allow the city to come onto the property and fix the city’s storm water drains.
Whittle was concerned that continued erosion around the storm water drain could cause a sinkhole to form.
Another resident also addressed the board about loud music in town. The board directed the resident to call the police when loud music was heard so that it was on record because the city recently updated its noise ordinance giving the city more teeth to enforce the ordinance.
The city also entered several surplus items for the Hollingsworth Auction this past Saturday in Forest.
Police Chief Harvey Curry said the sheriff’s department has asked the police department to provide a receipt book for Newton Police inmates who bond out at the jail. Curry was reluctant to do that and informed the board that he is investigating other options.
