By By Paul Keane
Publisher
In what turned out to be the final meeting of 2002, the Atmore City Council took care of minor details and offered thanks to staff members during Monday afternoon's meeting.
One of the measures on the agenda included cancelling the final scheduled meeting of that calendar year, that being Dec. 23. The reason for the cancellation was the date's close proximity to Christmas Day.
Mayor Howard Shell and other councilmembers also relayed their thanks to city staff members for their work during the past year.
"I would like to compliment this Council for all its work during the past year," Shell said. "These have been some challenging times, but you've all stepped up to offer input, suggestions and work to meet those challenges. I am looking forward to working with all of you in making 2003 a brighter and better time for our city.
"I would also like to thank all of our department heads and all of our staff and employees for their efforts during the past year. There has been a lot of hard work involved, and we appreciate those efforts."
The mayor also added a late item to the agenda, saying that action on accepting some donated land needed to be acted upon quickly.
The land in question is 3.8 acres near the old Kmart building. Owners of the property originally had tried to sell the land to the city, but just this week called Shell and offered to donate it to the city.
Shell told the Council that the donation was obviously for tax purposes, and that approval of the measure needed to be made at Monday's meeting so the owners could make the transfer in this calendar year.
The Council approved the measure pending approval of all legal documents by the City Attorney.
The Council also approved the use of Tom Byrne Park on May 16 for the Annual Relay for Life Event. Edie Jackson, chairperson of this year's event, said the date for this year's event was moved up to avoid the rains that have plaqued the event.
"We are also looking to recruit three of four more teams for this year," Jackson said. "We've like for the city to have at least one of those teams, and I'd like to challenge everyone to form a team for this year's event."