By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–Meeting in busy session Thursday evening, the Paris City Commission officially called for an upcoming city election, voted to remove the residency requirement for city employees, and changed city rules on issuing temporary beer permits.
The City Commission also received an early look at the prototype for the new mural “1822-1922 People-Places-Progress” which will be installed on the west alley in downtown Paris. The mural depicts the first 100 years of Paris history, with buildings, homes, people and modes of transportation.
The painting is created by Paris Artist Dan Knowles and was displayed at the meeting by Kathy Ray, who applied for the Tennessee Art Commission grant. Another mural which depicts the second 100 years of Paris history also is planned.
The city also received a donation of $550 from Dale Miller of the Kingdom of God, which represented the tithe collected at a recent event. Another Men’s Encounter will be hosted by the Bridge of Hope May 14, he said.
City Manager Kim Foster noted that the city will need to hold an election for three City Commission seats that are currently held by Mayor Carlton Gerrell and Commissioners Sam Tharpe and Gayle Griffith.
The resolution approved by the commission requests that the Henry County Election Commission set the municipal election for November 8 on the general election ballot.
As to the residency requirements for employees, Foster said, “We are currently in an employment environment like one we haven’t seen in a very long time. An extremely low unemployment rate, the ability to telework and the lack of available and affordable housing has led staff to re-evaluate our Henry Co. residency requirement, and its effect on our ability to hire the best person for a position. Because we feel like our current residency requirement is causing us to miss out on being able to hire good employees, the following resolution, presented for your consideration, would remove the residency requirement from our Personnel Rules and Regulations.”
The request was approved by the commission.
In other business:
–The commission approved changes to the ordinance governing temporary beer permits. Foster said due to some issues that have arisen lately regarding the number of temporary beer permits being submitted, an ordinance was recommended that expanded the definition of a non-profit to better define who is a qualified applicant and to remove the limit of two permits a year.
–Upon recommendation from Parks and Recreation Director Tony Lawrence, a new job position for Recreation Program Coordinator was approved. The department has been down one employee since the departure of Jay Hosford last summer and the position is already in the budget, but it is a new job description.
With the growth of the local parks and the public’s interest in recreational programming, Foster said the city would like to offer more opportunities in the parks and rec department. The new position would develop and coordinate programming.
–Construction began mid-March for the sidewalk installation along Wilson and Patriot, Foster said. Sidewalk is complete on a small portion of Lankford at this point.
–The city is waiting for TDOT to issue the contract for the Multimodal Access project for the Tyson/Mineral Wells intersection upgrades and sidewalks.
–The city has submitted an application for a Sidewalk project along Fairgrounds and Royal Oak.
–The city has executed contracts on 13 of the 18 projects slated to receive Downtown Improvement Grants.
Photo: Kathy Ray and Kim Foster display the prototype for the new downtown mural. Shannon McFarlin photo.