By V. Hugh Lewis II, publisher
Update: Alderman for Ward 3, Victor Perot, has reportedly told an event coordinator not to worry about this matter and the policy is not changed at this time.
Original:
The Jesse Allen Wise Garden Club, and other businesses, must now give their approval of street closures for events before City Council will approve Event Applications, per a new policy set by Mayor Charles “Bubba” Haggard at Thursday night’s Special City Council meeting.
“We started talking to the Excelsior House ladies and they wanted us to start looking at permits to close streets in front of the Excelsior,” said Haggard. “We may need to take an action on that to add to the permit that whenever someone wants a permit, they have to check with the businesses first.”
The consent agenda portion of the meeting included two event applications for car shows in March and June of 2020. The March event, put on by Hollis Shadden, was approved with no further requirements. The June event, Shadden’s 10th Annual Big Cypress Corvette Classic, was tabled until Shadden received permission from the Garden Club and to close the streets.
The Garden Club raised concerns over street closures in early November at Mayor Haggard’s Town Hall Meeting. The Club was represented by President Bobbie Hardy and Mary Keasler at the Town Hall. They expressed concerns over possible loss of business at the Excelsior Hotel due to guests not being able to get their cars to the hotel for loading or unloading due to street closures. During the Town Hall Meeting they specifically cited the Antique Tractor Show and the Taste of Jefferson’s closure of that end of Austin Street having affected the hotel’s business as an inconvenience for their guests.
In other business, council members interviewed an unnamed applicant for the City Administrator position.
The Herald has issued an FOIA request first tot he City and then directly to the Mayor for copies of the applications for the City Administrator and Chief of Police positions. The City has responded that “if there were any applicants they were sent to him.” The Mayor has yet to respond to the request. Per FOIA guidelines, he has until Janury 17th to respond.