The first Duck Hill Board of Alderman meeting of the 2025-year Monday evening was opened with an invocation from newly elected Alderwoman Likisha Small. Following the invocation, the Board immediately jumped into business beginning with reviewing condemnation cases up for hearing from the last meeting. To begin, Board Attorney Adam Kirk called Grenada Railroad Representative Jason Childress who would be phoning into the meeting. Representative Childress consulted with the Board about the building next to the caboose which was to be condemned. He requested a hearing continuance for 90 days from the present meeting for the railroad to have time to deal with the personal effects that were left in the building and to have the building demolished. The Board moved to approve his 90 day continuance on a motion made by Alderwoman Morgan Eskridge and seconded by Alderwoman Small with all in favor. Representative Childress stated that Grenada Railroad would bear all responsibility in dealing with the personal property in the building as well as the demolition of the building itself.
On the same topic of condemnations, the Board moved on to discuss the second property which is to be condemned, the service station on Highway 51 across from Highway 404. Board Attorney Kirk stated that he had not been in contact with the owner of the property. He then advised the Board that the next steps to condemn the property would be to vote in favor of continuing the process at the current meeting. After this vote, the Board would then need to wait 30 days until the next meeting to give the property owner time to clean it up. If no progress has been made by the next meeting, the Board could then vote to take bids on the cleanup of the property and have the costs assessed to the owner’s property tax. The Board voted to move forward with the process on a motion made by Alderwoman Eskridge and seconded by Alderman Chris Caldwell with all in favor.
The next major matters of business discussed by the Board were brought up by members of the audience. Firstly, Resident Kim Cooley requested an update on the Town’s position on speed bumps being placed around town, specifically in residential areas. Cooley reported that she had emailed Board members information on two grants which may apply to road work such as speed bump installation. While the matter was not deliberated immediately, Alderwoman Small gave her opinion on the matter later on in the meeting.
“The speed bumps, it’s a necessity. When you have people in the community getting their belongings destroyed… something has to be done. We need to look into the grant. We need to find something, a resource, somewhere - because all these other things - they’re good to have looking at roads and stuff like that and we have other agendas - but at the same time, not just that, someone could’ve lost a life. So, we’ve got to think about that before we overlook the possibility of that happening. We don’t want to wait till that happens - We need to do something. Look into some resources, really pay attention to it and don’t look over it. Because at the end of the day, she lost her property,” Alderwoman Small stated in regards to a recent vehicle accident which resulted in a resident’s shed and property being damaged by a speeding vehicle.
She continued, “I think we should really look into that. Look into someone reaching out with a grant that can help, or the county resources. Something to slow down traffic, cause they just don’t care. Something needs to be done.”
In other news the Board:
• Agreed to apply for the Community Development Block Grant with North Central Planning and Development District acting as project lead.
• Approved an engineering contract with Cook Coggins Engineering pending attorney approval.
• Accepted the docket of claims.
• Approved the minutes for December 2024.
• Accepted the written monthly report from Police Chief Tim Gholston.
• Heard and reported that the Department of Archives and History would be at the Binford school building on Jan. 29 for a site inspection.
• Agreed to the use of the gym for a rest spot for the annual Duck Hill Mountain Climb on the 8th and 15th of Feb.
• Accepted Cook Coggins proposal to become city engineer.
