Fulton’s Park Board appointments made

After lying dormant for over a year following official support from the Fulton City Commission for reinstatement, the city’s Parks Board may now convene with the appointment of eight members Monday night.

Fulton Mayor David Prater presented a list of names to Commissioners Martha Vowell, Elaine Forrester and Darcy Linn, noting he and Linn had communicated in regard to those on the list.

Commissioner Linn had volunteered to spearhead the Parks Board reinstatement previously, and while she abstained from voting on the new board members because of her seat on the board, she agreed with the recommendations.

Appointed to serve with Linn were Ashley Grissom, Kim Jobe, Teresa Johnson, Linus Pulley, Kenney Etherton, Tommy Cabral and Sam Dluziewski.

Another appointment was made by Mayor Prater, with the receipt of a resignation from April Gallimore, who has served for a number of years on the Fulton Tourism Commission board, and most recently as chairman. Prater commended Gallimore for her service, and appointment John Gambill to replace her seat on that board.

Tyler Nolan was hired as a Fulton Police Department officer and Nathan Lamb was hired as the city’s new Code Enforcement Officer, with unanimous approval from the commission.

City Manager Mike Gunn reported to the officials that Lamb had been a contractor for the city’s building inspections and has years of experience in the areas of inspections and code enforcement.

A Municipal Order was approved to authorize Gunn to purchase an Excavator, in the amount of $55,123.46. Gunn said he was able to secure a discount of over $17,000 on the purchase, through utilizing the state’s regulated bid process.

He also updated the Mayor and Commissioners about actions taken on a request from property owner Steve Ross, who owns property adjacent to the area of Fulton’s McDonalds, and asked the city to consider the closure of an alley between the properties, in the vicinity of Wayside Drive. Gunn said he had acquired costs for surveys and provided that information to Ross, who said he would approach McDonalds about possibly sharing the cost for the closure process.

The City Manager reported the city’s trash pick up provider, Freedom Waste, had been bought out by Waste Corporation of America. Gunn said there should be no change in service, with the probability of improvements with the resources available through the new ownership.

Gunn explained to the officials that 20 new parking spots, two of those handicapped parking spaces had been added to the area across the street from Lake Street businesses, adacent to the caboose.

He urged city residents to adhere to time frames regarding special pickup times on the second and fourth Monday of each month.

He noted any items to be placed at the streetside are not to be placed there anytime prior to 72 hours before those dates.

The prohibition of grass cuttings in the street, as well as furniture and applicances made for inside use displayed outdoors was emphasized as an issue at this time in the city, with a warning to citizens to comply with regulations already in place.

Commissioner Linn inquired as to the availability of community service hours for the local Girl Scouts, specifically at the city’s animal control facility. City Attorney Allison Whitledge proposed a high level of liability would be involved with Girl Scouts actually interacting with animals at the facility. Other commissioners suggested possibly the Girl Scouts could volunteer at the community food bank, or at one of the four monthly free lunches provided to area residents by local churches.

During the portion of the night’s regular session agenda designated for comments and concerns from visitors, Wendy Puckett, Executive Director with the Fulton County Hickman County Economic Development Partnership provided a report to the commission as to recent industrial announcements, as well as prospects.

Also during that portion of the meeting, Johnny Lucy, who owns property in the city of Fulton, requested the commission speak with him directly as to issues they may have with the condition of one of his properties, the former Quality Inn motel.

He said he had experienced acts of vandalism at the location of the vacant structure and had installed security cameras. He also reported vandalism in the form of a broken window at one of his properties on Main Street.

Commissioner Elaine Forrester and Mayor Prater, as well as Commissioner Martha Vowell, urged Lucy to begin to take action in cleaning up the property. Lucy requested communication between himself and the city would be a start as to making the property more desirable for purchase for a commercial business.

Commissioner Jeff Vaughn was absent from the meeting.