City Commissioners discuss tractor-trailers in the city

The Madison City Commission held their monthly meeting on Tuesday, May 12. There were several items of discussion including tractor-trailers parking on residential property, grants and an Economic Development workshop. City Manager Tim Bennett is starting to crack down on code enforcement. He currently has 63 violations that he is trying to resolve. Two of the violations concern two tractor-trailers parking in a residential zone overnight. The first violation has been resolved by finding a new place for the driver to park. The second one concerns the apartments owned by Steve McHargue on Byrd Street. McHargue allowed a renter to park his tractor-trailer on property that he owned and was unaware it was a code violation until his renter informed him about it. McHargue is not objecting to the enforcement, however, he does object to the lack of communication between him and Bennett. He said he came by City Hall several times to speak with Bennett, who was never available. McHargue then received a cease and desist letter and requested a meeting with the Code Enforcement Board and still never heard anything until he found out he was on the meeting’s agenda. “I just feel like I did not get communicated well with as a taxpayer,” said McHargue. He stated that code enforcement should be handled in person in the future versus administratively. The owner of the tractor-trailer in question is looking for a new place to park. Next, Bennett asked for the commissioner’s approval on using a grant writing service to pursue funds to use for Public Safety (Police and Fire), Parks and Recreation and other projects. This was approved unanimously. Mayor Ina Thompson brought two grant opportunities to the commissioners for approval. Volunteers from the community will help write the proposals. The grants are the Competitive Florida Partnership Opportunity and the Community Planning Technical Assistant Grant. Approval was unanimous. An Economic Development Workshop was scheduled for Tuesday, May 26 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. Allen Cherry, Madison County Economic Development Director and County Coordinator will be there along with Crawford Powell, the county’s Economic Development consultant to speak. This workshop is open to the public. Jackie Johnson spoke with the Commissioners about donating $5,000 to Friends of the Hospital efforts to bring Dr. James Stockwell, MD and his nurse to Madison County Memorial Hospital. His area of expertise is gastroenterology. He will come to MCMH on an appointment basis. The commissioners voted unanimously to find the money in the budget to donate. Chelsey McCoy, of Florida Department of Health in Madison County presented the City of Madison a Healthiest Weight Champion Award for being one of the 65 counties or communities in Florida. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 9 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. A noise ordinance and natural gas rate hike will be considered at the meeting.