V. Hugh Lewis/Jefferson Jimplecute
The Mittie Stephens tragedy will be officially remembered as Jefferson Mayor Rob Baker proclaimed February 12 as Mittie Stephens Day.
Alderman Hollis Shadden came up with the idea to honor and remember the tragedy with a special event and at the same time recognize how the City “was built on and benefited greatly from Steamboat traffic.”
Shadden said the ceremony will be at the Port Jefferson Nature Center, “near the bears” and will have Mitchel Whitington tell the story of the Mittie Stephens. He said more details will be released as it gets closer to the eventful date when the steamboat caught fire and sank with “great loss of life.”
Tuesday nights meeting was a rescheduling from the regular meeting due to last week’s ice storms.
The remainder of the almost 3-hour meeting focused on various quarterly updates from different organizations and City Boards.
The Jefferson Police Department kicked off the updates with their 2023 in Review report. JPD Chief Florentino Perez said the department “focused on maintaining and strengthening our relationships with the community” through their implementation of Community orienting Policing and Problem Orienting Policing, both “techniques have been used to identify issues facing everyday citizens and developing solutions.”
Perez’s report indicated and overall reduction in crime in the City Limits in all areas except Criminal Mischief and Theft.
Perez also expanded on the departments new and continued programs including the Vacation Watch, ETBU Criminal Justice Internship, reporting of street light outages, Project Life-Saver, the Law Enforcement Explorer Program, the anonymous reporting online form, and JISD School Safety Implementations and procedures.
The Planning & Zoning Board continued the reports with outlining how the board has spent their first year and how they were working on defining new building requirements for the City.
Later in the meeting P&Z asked for direction from Council on how Council would prefer new building restrictions be submitted to them – either all at once, or by sections. Council elected to receive smaller, more frequent updates to act upon.
JEDCO provided highlights of their last quarter activities including a closing bank balance of $1.85 million dollars available for economic development. JEDCO is currently considering funding a portion of the City’s sewer line improvements.
Tourism Board’s Colleen Taylor told Council Hotel Occupancy collections were down from this same time last year and she hoped that was not an indicator for 2024.
Friends of Jefferson Animals showed Council how their $4,000 funding was put to use helping with the cat and dog issues in the City and County. President Sharon Goolsby told Council FOJA around $18,000 in expenses last quarter of which $12,000 was veterinary services. She said FOJA has 60 dogsand 16 cats in foster care. She also said they transported 44 dogs and 15 cats for adoption in other areas of the country.
Goolsby also thanked the community members who stepped up with donations of food, blankets and funding for the animals discovered at the first of the month. “With the situation in the County last month, we had fosters step-up like they have never done in the last 5-6 years of doing this, and we’re so thankful as we couldn’t have done it without them,” she said.
The Marion County Community Center gave their first quarterly update to Council outlining the types of events and activities which take place at the Haywood Street center, as well as how the board is working to bring the facility back into shape over the next several months.
A 23-item consent agenda was approved with only one comment from Alderman Robin Moore who reminded event organizers who have events that have alcohol sales to have their liquor liability insurance and turned into the city along with their normal insurance.
Mardi Gras Upriver spokesperson Kay Cannon requested the City provide some tree trimming along the parade route to help ensure rider safety.
Other events receiving approval were East Texas Burn Run, Outlaw Nationals, Ark-Tex meetup, Pilgrimage, Battle for Jefferson and Street Skirmish, Jefferson Cruise Night, and the Senior Class Parade.
Building permits were approved for Robert and Leah Cooper, Laura Anna Mendoza-Fry, three cabins along Big Cypress Bayou by Randy and Alisa Pilkington, and a new sign for Dairy Queen.
Alderman Bubba Haggard resigned his position on JEDCO as promised in May, and appointed David Westbrook to the board.
Council issued a Resolution of Commendation for the Jefferson Volunteer Fire Department for the work they do in protecting the City. A resolution was also approved for the City to apply for financial assistance from the Texas Water Development Board for water system improvements – specifically as they relate to lead-pipe infrastructure replacement.
The City decided to just have one Marion County Chamber of Commerce Membership at the $1,000 level for 2024. Haggard asked Chamber president Mike Chandler if the City was just “throwing good money after bad” referring to the City’s $5,000 grant last fall to help the Chamber continue operating. Chandler said the Chamber was in a good position and growing.
Haggard also inquired if the Chamber was working with Tourism as their appeared to be a lot of overlap between the entities. Chandler said he’d love to work closer with both Tourism and JEDCO to help Jefferson and Marion County.
Baker suggested the Chamber and Tourism form a small group to explore the possibilities and propose a synergy to work together to Council.
The Port Jefferson History and Nature Center parks are almost ready for improvements to the trail entrance behind the Marion County Courthouse following a lengthy discussion Tuesday night.
The City has received two bids for around $12,000 to repair, upgrade and mitigate drainage and safety issues on that portion of the trail. However, Jefferson resident Jeff Sofich looked at the area and provided additional research and information. Sofich said he talked with a “dirt and gravel guy in Woodlawn” and felt the work could be done for about $3,000 less than proposed.
“This part of City property brings in no revenue and gives no benefit to the City,” Sofich said.
He then went on to tie back to his Public Comments on how Richard Collins, who’s organization oversees the park, does nothing for the City or the park as Collins does not pay property taxes. Collins’ non-profit foundation owns several properties in town which are tax-exempt, and Collins oversaw and provided over a million dollars in funding and development for the land of the park now resides in. The foundation also spends $30-50,000 per year on maintenance of the park at no cost to the City, according to the Foundation.
Council also reviewed their progress on various initiatives.