City Council helps tenants
By Peg Kenyon / Editor / pkenyon@jacksonvillepatriot.com
Friday, December 26, 2008 11:08 AM CST
The Jacksonville City Council conjured up some Christmas spirit by coming to the aid of 11 tenants facing eviction from Manor House Apartment Complex, which is now in bankruptcy receivership.
Although it was not on the Dec. 18 council agenda, Jacksonville Mayor Tommy Swaim advised city aldermen about the apartments’ financial woes and of city employees working feverishly to come up with a way to assist the tenants.
Swaim said the tenants could lose not only their homes but also their deposits. Without those deposits, these tenants could possibly be without sufficient funds to find another home.
“It is Christmas and we would not like to see people put out,” Swaim said.
According to Theresa Watson, director of the city’s Community Development Department, three or four of those possible 11 tenants who will need assistance are living on disability benefits.
City Administration Director Jay Whisker said a management company had ultimately been brought into the equation but that “Fannie Mae” is involved with the apartment complex, which is located nearby Dupree Park off Redmond Road.
City aldermen chose to free a maximum of $4,000 to assist those tenants, should they be forced to live without a refunded deposit.
According to Swaim, the city’s Code Enforcement began receiving some complaints within the past two or three months. One of those complaints dealt with having no water.
After a city alderman raised a concern over possibly setting precedent for others who face hard times to come and request money from the city, Swaim assured that this would be only a one-time endeavor. Swaim also explained that Community Development Block Grant funds have also been used in the past to help people living in residences where the heating system no longer works.
Swaim also announced another Christmas event at Thursday’s meeting. City planner Chip McCulley’s wife, Brooke, gave birth to a baby boy earlier in the week. He was 21 inches and seven-and-a-half pounds at birth. His name is David Joe McCulley III, but he will be known as “Tripp,” according to City Hall sources.
The City Council had struggled to get a quorum for the meeting to approve an ordinance on all three of its readings instead of just leaving it up in the air on its first reading’s approval.
At about 7:10 p.m., Alderman Reedie Ray showed up to garner a sufficient enough number on board so the meeting could address two proposed ordinances. However, those ordinances appearing on the agenda were only able to undergo its first of three readings and its initial vote. A proposed ordinance must undergo three readings and three votes in support of it before becoming part of the city codes and regulations.
“Since we only have six city aldermen, we can only pass the ordinance on the first reading,” Swaim advised.
Between 10 to 15 minutes later, Alderman Gary Fletcher arrived and two ordinances were ultimately approved on each of their final two readings. Those ordinances dealt with abandoning and closing the street easement on Chapel Hill Road. The real property rights described in the ordinance will revert to the current adjoining property owners identified as Michael Wilson, Phillip Young, Denise Whitman and Garland Harris.
The other ordinance allows the city to waive competitive bidding for equipment and services pertaining to copier/printer maintenance. Finance Director Paul Mushrush advised that two projects were intertwined to allow the city to go environmentally green.
“By the end of next year, we will have gone paperless,” Mushrush said.
This ordinance will allow the mayor or city clerk to enter into a contract with Little Rock-based Datamax-Micro for the purchase of specific maintenance and support services, software, related equipment and training at a “cost not to exceed” $86,502, “together with any applicable tax. Datamax-Micro is the city’s “current value-added retailer,” according to the ordinance.
City aldermen also approved the final plat of Cavin Estates for Lots 1-3 as well as approving the reappointment of Art Brannen and Susan Dollar to the Jacksonville Planning Commission and the appointment of Phillip Keaton to the Jacksonville Water Commission.
The first scheduled January 2009 council meeting was canceled because it fell on New Year’s Day. The council will meet Jan, 15, beginning at 7 p.m., unless a special meeting is called.
