Hugh Lewis/Jefferson Jimplecute
Council gave the OK on the official application to be on the Quiet Zone Committee and established the time period available for residents to sign-up during Tuesday night’s special meeting.
The form is available on the city website under the “Transparency, Documents, and Forms” tab, as well as at City Hall.
Applications will be accepted through April 10, after which Council will review them and select seven to serve on the committee.
Public comment brought out a concern by both David Echols and Jeff Soffich over Soffich feeling he was being harrassed by the Jefferson Police department.
According to Soffich, he has been targeted by JPD over his parking in downtown, and others are not being told to move their vehicles when they are illegally parked.
According to one JPD officer, Soffich has been told several times to not park in the “no parking” striped areas near 1852 on Austin. Officers recently went into 1852 to request he move his vehicle.
Soffich said he passed on purchasing $85,000 worth of unpaid taxes property on Tuesday morning due to his concerns over this issue.
Echols, the owner of 1852 on Austin, said he understood the issue, but wanted to stress that everyone needs to be treated the same and if that wasn’t happening, it needed to be corrected.
Echols mentioned that a sticker had bee placed on Soffich’s vehicle indicating he needed to move his vehicle or it would be towed.
According to JPD, Soffich has not been issued a ticket or a formal warning prior to the sticker placement.
Soffich has submitted FOIA requests to JPD and to the Sheriff’s Office, who handles dispatch, to try a nd determine who has been reporting his parking to police.
As it was done during public comment, Council was not allowed to respond.
The City received preliminary feedback from TxDOT on two grant applications they recently submitted. Both involve replacement or construction of sidewalks.
The first, is a proposed sidewalk along MLK between the Jefferson Elementary School and the Jefferson High School. The grant would fund sidewalks as well as a pedestrian bridge to keep walkers out of the street. The total grand would be for $1,141,830 with a 20% match from the City.
The second, for $1,266,355, is for replacement of sidewalks between Lion’s Park and downtown. It also has a 20% match requirement.
Council indicated if it could only do one of the projects, the MLK project must take priority.
Baker also told Council that the City Employee Handbook was being postponed until further notice due to scheduling on the city’s part, and other commitments by Joann Stacey who’s volunteered her time to assist in the rework of the handbook.
In other business Counciil approved the April 1 Miata Madness event application in downtown.