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At the March 3 Demopolis City Council meeting, the Council revisited several ordinances that had been postponed at the last meeting.

The first ordinance passed concerned security requirements around the apartment complexes in the city. The initial wording of the ordinance said that rules would apply to apartment complexes with two units. Councilman Charles Jones, Jr. questioned whether he had to follow the ordinance guidelines as he is currently renovating a duplex that has a third unit in the attic, but the building has two entrances. The Council amended the ordinance to apply to complexes of three or more units.

Mayor Woody Collins spoke on the confusion that public hearings were a requirement before and ordinance could be passed by the Council. However, looking into the issue, Collins said that hearings are only required to raise taxes, change zones, or provide money to private entities. As a result, no further action is required for the ordinance to allow food trucks within the city.

The Council went on to pass two resolutions involving the tax renewal election on March 22. The first resolution was to appoint election officials, while the second was compensation for the absentee election manager.

The last topic of the meeting was construction at the City Landing. Collins said that Demopolis was originally tasked with contributing $200,000 towards the $1.2 million project. After bids came in, the price of the project increased to $2.9 million. Thanks to the seven governmental entities contributing money to the project, construction will continue. The city will now have to pay an additional $75,000 for a total of $275,000.

Items approved by the Council:

• Approved the Mayor’s request to hold a public hearing on the rezoning of the brickyard from R-3 to R-4. Collins asked the Council to allow residents to have a say in the rezoning and to have an opportunity to request a variance. The public hearing will be held at the next Council meeting.

The Demopolis City Council meets on the first and third Thursday of every month at 5:15 p.m.