The City of Linden will have to drastically change its voting districts based on the 2000 census, said City Administrator Cheryl Hall.

Reporting to the city council Monday evening, Hall said three districts in particular would see major changes to meet approval of the U.S. Justice Department. District Two will gain 17 percent of voters; District Three will gain 14 percent; and District Four will lose 40 percent.

Hall and City Clerk Pam Duke had recently returned from Montgomery with information on the redistricting.

The city will have to draft an ordinance for the changes, and the U.S. Justice officials needs to approved by February 2004, Hall said.

A public hearing on the district changes will be held at 6 p.m. on November 3 before the regular council meeting in Linden City Hall.

In other action from Monday’s council meeting, the project to pave the three-and-one half to four miles of dirt roads remaining in the city has been completed, Hall said.

A new drug dog will be purchased from the North Mississippi Canine Service, said Linden Public Safety Director Jeff Laduron. The K-9 officer Harry Huckabee will go into training with the two-year-dog on November 10. Payment for the dog and training will cost approximately $6,000 and will come out of the city drug fund.

The dog chosen is "not a vicious dog," Laduron said, and will be used in demonstrations at local schools.

The installation of new lights for the city tennis courts were approved. The cost for the lights is $3,000, said Midge Peppenhorst of the Parks and Recreation Board, and they will take four to six weeks to be installed. The courts have already been repaved. New nets will also be purchased.

Councilman Butch King said he had received positive feedback on the improvement of the tennis courts.

Melanie Hinson was appointed to the Nursing Home Board.

There have been complaints about the condition of a house that recently burned on Mobile Street. City Attorney Alex Braswell will send a letter to the owners telling them to clean up the property in 30 days or be fined $1,000 a day while the city cleans up the property.