DEMOPOLIS &045; Although the proposal for a central voting place for city elections was on the table for discussion, the council agreed to table the issue until they had received more input from their constituents.

Councilman Charles Jones said he had received six calls from residents of District 2, all of whom were against the idea of a central voting place. Councilman Thomas Moore received 10 calls from District 1 constituents also apposed to the idea. But other councilmen had different responses.

Councilman Jack Cooley’s only call on the matter was concerned about the feasibility of parking and being able to move through the polling place in a timely manner. Councilman Woody Collins’ only call was in favor but expressed concern over the constant changing of polling place, which he said leads to confusion and frustration on where to actually vote.

City of Demopolis

Comprehensive Plan

The city’s comprehensive plan is back in the hands of the city council after a series of public meetings and work sessions with the planning commission. Although the council did not take any action on it at their meeting Thursday, the plan is in its final stages of approval.

Larry Watts, planning consultant, and a representative from the planning commission came before the council and recommended the council hold a work session to look over the draft of the project and then hold a public hearing before voting on its approval.

The plan, which has been in the works for several months, is intended to outline the growth and expansion of Demopolis by having a plan for all sectors from the schools, to downtown business, to the zoning of individual properties.

After the results of subsequent meetings are gathered, if any changes are proposed the plan will need to go back to the planning commission and then back to the council for approval.

Riverwalk project

An inspection of the recent work done at the city landing as part of the Riverwalk project shows progress but not completion. According to Cooley, the time that lapsed between the third week in November &045; where work was presumably halted in response to the Christmas on the River festivities in the following weeks &045; and when work began again just a few weeks ago is too much.

Other issues have come up with the work, such as the construction of the new landings on the north side of the landing to replace the one boat launch on the west side of the landing.

Mark Pettus, director of Parks and Recreation, said a temporary landing that is not up to construction specifications has been used in the interim. Although one landing is in the process of completion, some boat owners – pontoon boat owners in particular &045; have said their crafts cannot land on the nearly complete boat launch.

Mayor Cecil P. Williamson said they are planning a meeting with the architects on the project to determine what has held up the project and what next steps need to be taken to deem it complete.

In other business the council:

4approved a list of surplus items of city property. The list is compiled by the city’s department heads who determined they were either no longer usable or they had been replaced with other equipment.

4approved the architect contract with McKee and Associates for the expansion at the Theo Ratliff Center in the amount of $26,383.

4appointed Willie Moore to the Cemetery Board.