The old Kilmichael town hall was small, and there wasn’t much room to house everything under one roof. Tuesday night, the board held their first meeting in the town’s new town hall.
Work is still being done to the outside of the building, but inside, there are two cubicles for Town Clerk Pauline Hall and Deputy Clerk Patrice Truly. There are offices for Police Chief David Eldridge, Public Works Director Johnny Pearson, and Fire Chief Dave Eldridge.
Toward the back, there’s a conference room where meetings will be held, and the area is a lot bigger than their original area with seating for Pearson, Eldridge and Eldridge -- something they didn’t have before.
In the old town hall, the Eldridges would either stand near the clerks’ desk or sit with residents, if anyone came to the meetings, and Pearson sat in a corner near the board. In the new town hall, there’s more room for everyone and a bigger table for the board, board attorney and clerks.
Before the meeting began, Mayor Bobby Howell wanted the minutes to reflect that the board of aldermen held their first official in their new facilities.
The first thing aldermen discussed is a $1,700 bill from the Winona-Montgomery Consolidated School district for the town’s sewage lagoon, which is on 16th section land, and its ballfield. Hall said the lease for the lagoon went into effect in 2013 and the lease for the ballfield went into effect in 2014.
But, at the time, the Montgomery County School District was over the lease. So, when the school district was absorbed, the Winona-Montgomery Consolidated School District took over the lease.
“We’re stuck,” Alderman Bryan Lott said. “We need the lagoon.”
The rest of the board had the same sentiments as Lott.
Howell asked Board Attorney Lane Greenlee if the town sent over a resolution for the school board to consider lowering the lease, adding that with the loss of the school it had a deleterious (or a harmful) effect on the town.
Greenlee suggested sending the lease to the Secretary of State’s office to see if it’s a fair amount but warned that it could be a double-edged sword, and Delbert Hosemann’s office may suggest the amount be higher.
Howell said he will draft a letter to send to the school board for them to consider.
“I think they’ll talk it over and consider it,” Greenlee said.
In another matter, the board agreed to change the town’s current dog ordinance to help with the town’s stray dog and cat problem. Howell said officials pulled a 1980 town ordinance about the care of animals that had not been updated and compared it to what the state had.
Pearson said the town just had to update its current ordinance to be in line with the state.
Howell said that when a dog is picked up, the town has to give notice to the owner of the animal.
Pearson said the original ordinance stated that an animal had to be five months in age before vaccinations and tested for rabies and suggested changing that to three months.
He also suggested increasing the first offense fine from $5 to $15, if the town picks up the animal. The second offense fine would go from $10 to $50 and the third offense would go from $15 to $100.
“Are we running a pound now?” Lott asked.
“We will if we have to,” Howell said.
“And who’s going to be over it?” Hall asked.
“The public works department,” Howell said.
The fee is $10 a day for an animal to be housed at the pound.
“We can consider that on down the road,” Pearson said.
