Giles County board approves rezoning, authorizes bids and recognizes new hires

The Giles County board on March 10 approved an ordinance rezoning a parcel on East College Street from R-5 to R-4 in its second reading, authorized bid advertising for additional fire-department pagers and approved several routine procurement and personnel actions.

The board closed a public hearing on the East College Street rezoning after no speakers appeared and voted to adopt the second-reading ordinance, following a planning commission recommendation. Ricky Keith told the board the parcel was listed on the map as "map 97 b r partial 007" and that the rezoning was from R-5 to R-4; the motion to approve came from Gentry and was seconded by Worsham.

Board members also authorized staff to advertise for bids to buy additional pagers for the fire department, a need Chief Ayers had raised at a prior work session. The motion to advertise bids was moved by Bryant and seconded by Miles and carried on roll call.

On procurement for turnout gear, staff reported the county received a single bid from NAFCO of Decatur, Alabama, totaling $22,800 for six suits. The board voted to delegate authority to the city administrator and Fire Chief Harris to evaluate and act on that single bid so the department could proceed, following a motion by Massey and a second by Brown.

Council members approved certificates of compliance for a liquor-store ownership change; the record named Nikunji Prakash Patel and Rajesh Patel as the new owners. Staff reminded the board that the new owners must apply separately for the beer-license change necessary to complete their licensing.

The board discussed travel and training payments after the recent TML conference and approved creating a dedicated travel credit card to be held under controls managed by the city administrator or the chief financial officer, with review of charges by the CFO after travel returns. That motion passed on roll call.

City official Ricky Keith introduced new staff: Troy Bryant as public works director (formerly with the city of Murphysboro; holds wastewater Class 4 certification), Alan Fuller returning to the water plant with Class 4 water-treatment certification, and Morgan Witt, who will join the wastewater plant but was absent for family reasons. "Troy is our new public works director," Ricky Keith said when introducing Bryant. The chair additionally recognized two local volunteers, saying they had "brought in so much positivity for Giles County," and asked staff to circulate their contact information and arrange photographs for the local paper.

An announcement closed the business portion of the meeting: nonprofits seeking appropriations were told that March 31 is the deadline to submit requests. The meeting then concluded without further action recorded.