Hearings set for city’s 2020-2021 budget

Two public hearings are for next month concerning the city of Philadelphia’s Fiscal 2021 budget.

Mayor James Young said the city is expected to operate on 19 mills as they did last year. There is an expected 1.5 mill increase for the Philadelphia Municipal School District for debt service.

A hearing on Sept. 8 will give the public a chance to ask questions about the proposed budget. The board and mayor will come back Sept. 10 to seek public input on the millage. Both meetings start at 5 p.m.           

City leaders discussed the upcoming Ellis Theater construction project. The mayor said part of Byrd Avenue in front of the Ellis will have to be closed while the roof is being worked on. Yates Construction will be the contractor for the restoration project. This is part of Marty Stuart’s Congress of Country Music.         

In other matters, aldermen voted to:

• Approve the minutes from the previous meeting and the claims docket;

• Approve to pay Hancock Whitney Bank $17,600 out of the Water and Sewer bond account;

• Approve to amend the state infrastructure account to reflect the following receipted accounts: $45,107 and $54,721 which totals $101,025;

• Approve moving $45,107 from the General Fund to the Fire Prevention Fund account;

• Approve Waggoner Engineering’s recommendation to accept Tony Watson Electric Inc.’s bid on the AWOS Airport project;

• Approve a request from the Street Department to declare two dump trucks surplus and put them up for auction;

• Approve the rezoning of a property on 511 Church Avenue from C4 to R1 after there was no objections at a public hearing;

• Approve moving $100 from the Building Department to petty cash;

• Approve for Building Department employees to attend the Winter Conference December 1-4 in Natchez;

• Accept the resignation of Steven Copeland from the Fire Department;

• Accept the resignation of Patrick Burt from the Police Department and the hiring of TyKeria Harris as Patrolman First Class; and,

• Approve for Pierce Clark and Richie Creekmore to travel to Pelham, Ala, for dive certification.

The mayor and aldermen went into executive session to discuss a personnel matter. They voted 3-2 to remove an employee but the mayor pledged a veto. The mayor told the Democrat no action was taken. The city attorney was unavailable.

A proposed fireworks ordinance was not on the agenda and did not come up.