September 2, 2020
By: Dwayne Page
The newly elected Smithville Aldermen will take their oath of office during a special meeting of the city council on Friday, September 4 at 5 p.m. at city hall.
The special meeting will be held in lieu of the regular September board meeting.
Incumbent Aldermen Shawn Jacobs and Danny Washer were re-elected while Jessica Higgins defeated Incumbent Alderman Donnie Crook for the third available alderman seat in the Municipal Election last month. All terms are for four years.
Mayor Josh Miller will then appoint aldermen and citizen members to various city boards and committees. A vice mayor will be named along with commissioners/aldermen to oversee each city department, including police and fire, water and sewer, streets, financial and taxation, etc.
The aldermen will name a successor to city judge Hilton Conger who announced his retirement as judge last week. The candidates for the appointment are local attorneys Gayla Hendrix and Mingy Bryant-Ball. The term is for two years. Since Hendrix is also one of the aldermen, she will have to abstain from voting. If she were to be appointed city judge, Hendrix would have to resign as alderman.
The aldermen will also vote on second and final reading to adopt an ordinance to change the zoning classification of the Mark Wallace property on Miller Road from R-1 low density residential to C-1 local commercial.
The property, formerly known as Mark’s Body Shop, is located adjacent to City owned property where the water tower is located. Although Wallace ran a business for several years on his property, it was not zoned commercial, but residential. The property has now been sold and will be used for other commercial purposes.
Mayor Miller said the Smithville Planning Commission recently voted to recommend that the alderman change the zoning from R-1 to C-1.
Following the meeting, a groundbreaking for the new police department building will take place at the site on the north side of the city hall/police and fire department building on Don Cantrell Street.