By Myra Bean

The Town of Sardis Mayor and Board of Alderman had a full slate at its regular monthly meeting Tuesday night.

The first on the agenda were a couple of hearings conducted by board attorney Thomas Shuler.

Anderson Boothe asked the board to rezone commercial property at 208 Dunlap St., Sardis from C-3 to R-2 (residential) as he has renovated one house and will renovate another one.

All property on the entire west side of Dunlap is zoned commercial, according to Shuler. The board unanimously approved the rezoning.

Racksh Patel came before the board for his Lake Inn hotel which has been deemed not up to code. The board will continue to work with him.

Businessman Michael Saripkin reported to the board the Fred’s Shopping center had a wonderful car show. Saripkin recently purchased the property. He said Fred’s has seen an increase in sales with the addition of lighting.

Fred’s Pharmacy closing is a done deal, according to Saripkin. It will close within two months. He is working with another pharmacy to open so that when Freds Pharmacy does close Sardis will not go a day without a pharmacy. The pharmacy name will be released when all is in order.

He announced a 24-hour laundromat will be opening in December.

Also, Cooper’s Express Fried Chicken will be opening in March.

The board added $25,857,97 to the claims docket for the MML insurance plan premium for liability. They saved $517.16 paying it all in advance and the money is in the budget. However, the total of the claims docket was not announced in the board meeting.

Juneteenth Board member Justin Pope approached the board with the date of next year’s Juneteenth of June 8, 2019. The committee wanted to reserve the date and the time to have the celebration from noon to 4 p.m. if nothing else is planned for Main Street that day and time.

The date and time were approved.

Slade Martin of Martin and White Mechanical approached the board for approved for a five-year tax abatement as he is located in the Sardis Central Business District. He has a boat storage and restoration business at 419 E. Lee Street. He hopes to move part of his sheet metal business to Sardis. He was advised to talk to Panola Partnership executive director Joe Azar and the Panola County Board of Supervisors for more tax cuts for manufacturing if he moves the sheet metal facility to town. He hopes to have 50 to 150 people working at various times through the year. However, 60 to 65 people will be full time.

The board tabled the water tower project until Nov. 20 when they will also hear an offer from another company. The board will also open bids for the walking trail at that meeting which will begin at 4 p.m.

The town received a $250,000 check as part of the BP Oil spill settlement Oct. 22.

Also, $13,150 was added to the revenue for payments for the building sold to Rev. Martin.

There is a net change of $263,150 change to the budget.

Sardis Police Chief Steven McLarty got permission to use one of the newly purchased vehicles to be an unmarked vehicle to replace the car he drives. The car will now be marked along with the other new vehicle. The police department also got a new printer and the other was declared surplus. The board approved uninsured motorist coverage for two vehicles.

Waggoner Engineering Inc. approved the $22,000 contract. The board agreed with a 5-1 vote with Bonnie Smith opposing. Waggoner agreed to a 99-year lease with the Corps of Engineers.

Bobby West received permission to attend a refresher course for forensic and death investigation. He is nationally certified and trains the local officers. He will pay his travel and the city will pay his per diem of $41 per day and his salary for the five days he is in Las Vegas.

Smith and Mayor Lula Palmer were approved to attend the MML Legislative Conference Jan. 8 -10.

Angela Hayward’s travel to the BBI, Inc. training workshop in Jackson was approved. There was no charge to attend the workshop on Nov. 16.

The board approved the contract with Red Cross to be renewed on a yearly basis.