Covell joins city council

A new council member was sworn in and took is seat during last Thursday’s council work session. Mayor Jeannie Roberts appointed Brad Covell to serve the one-year unexpired term of outgoing councilman Don Johnson.

Johnson resigned from the council unexpectedly several weeks ago. Covell will serve the one-year remainder of the current term as representative of Ward 4. His appointment was made in the form of a resolution approved unanimously by other council members.

During the same meeting council members learned of a new planned apartment complex. The group heard plans for a 14-unit age 55-plus apartment complex proposed for Electric Street near Mineral Area Regional Medical Center. Brett Burgess told the council his company intended to build apartments suitable for older adults. He said rent should range about $500 to $550, and would feature services such as landscaping and routine use of van transportation to and from shopping and appointments.

Members later took up a bill pertaining to the planned unit development, and are set to vote on the apartment complex on June 23.

City Administrator Greg Beavers reported that work is ongoing on the city survey sampling services and municipal amenities. Results from the survey will be made public when tabulation is completed.

During the administrator’s report, it was announced that the Planning and Zoning Commission had requested that a member of the city council be placed on the P&Z board. The reasoning, it was said, was so the member could relay P&Z’s reasons for their actions on topics back to the full council.

Councilman Darrel Holdman was quick to oppose the thought of appointing a council members to the P&Z board. He said it would muddy the waters between the intended separation of the two groups. A Planning and Zoning Commission is intended to be a citizen group which takes up planning and zoning issues and makes a ruling. That decision is then passed along to the city council. If P&Z is opposed to a matter it requires a stronger vote by the council to approve the matter.

Holdman and others questioned why the city’s planner couldn’t relay P&Z’s concerns. His job, as explained by Holdman, was to serve as a liaison between P&Z and the council, and having a council member on P&Z would only be duplicating work.

The mayor passed the suggestion on to the Administrative Services Committee of the council to be debated in their monthly work meeting.

As for bills, the group heard a small assortment of new legislation which included amendments to the city’s dangerous buildings codes, approval of the apartment complex on Electric Street, and a routine ordinance making a mid-year fiscal adjustment to the city’s budget.

All bills were read once by title and will be read again and voted on when the council meets June 23 at 7 p.m.

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