At its regular meeting on April 10, 2012, the Eutaw City Council discussed developing a ‘Gun Buy Back’ program to deter and reduce crime. The proposal was made by Police Chief Derick Coleman. “ We are suggesting set aside funds to buy back guns for $50 to $100 each, to get these dangerous weapons off the street and reduce the crime rate in the city,“ he said in a statement to the Council.

Council members said they were generally in favor of the idea but felt it should be a joint activity of the City of Eutaw and the Greene County Commission and Sheriff. The Council passed a motion allowing the Chief of Police to discuss the idea and a proposed budget with the Sheriff of Greene County.

The City Council discussed a proposal by Councilwoman Sheila H. Smith to use funds from the charity bingo tax to fund summer jobs in each Council district for young people. Other Council members wanted more clarity and specifics of the projects to be undertaken, supervision and liability issues. Councilwoman Smith was instructed to develop a clear written proposal covering all details of the program.

The Council then discussed the status of the airport. Attorney Mike Smith presented a report recommending creation of an Airport Authority to administer and manage the airport similar to one in Marion, Alabama. This structure would allow pilots, plane owners and others with an interest in aviation to participate in running the airport.

Smith indicated that the city had $40,200 in funds on hand in the budget for airport repairs. The estimated cost of repairs to make the airport runway useable in daylight hours would be $120,000. Federal funds are available on a 1:1 matching basis for needed repairs – so $60,000 will be required to secure the necessary Federal funds. The City needs an additional $20,000 in matching funds to make the repairs required for the airport to be useable in daylight hours. Additional costs and investments would be needed to refurbish the runway lights for nighttime use and to make other improvements to the airport.

The Council passed a motion to support repair of the airport if pilots, plane owners and other interested parties help raise the remaining matching funds needed to secure a Federal grant for repairs.

Mayor Steele announced that the engineering company had started working on the Boligee Street Sewer Repair Project to preserve grant funds from Delta Regional Authority for this project. ADECA has put a deadline of June 16, 2012 for the City to commence work on this project or lose the grant funds.

Councilman Powell asked the Council to consider using funds in the budget that were set aside for making repairs to the roads in Branch Heights utilizing a process of taking up the road materials, reconstituting them and putting them back. Other Council members suggested that the first step was to get specifications on the road improvements needed and then have these bid and see how far the funds would go based on different road repair processes.

Branch Heights residents in attendance at the Council meeting said they had begun repairing the streets on their own and wanted the Mayor and Council members to hold a meeting in their community to deal with this pressing issue.

The Council discussed and approved payment of outstanding bills. They asked the Mayor to resubmit a travel request to attend a meeting of the National Conference of Black Mayors in Atlanta in May because his request was incomplete and not submitted on the proper forms. There was also a discussion of the fees for use of the city parks, bus and National Guard Armory building which was inconclusive and will need to be resolved in a future meeting.

The Council agreed to hold a working meeting of the Finance Committee to review the budget at 5:00 PM before the next regular City Council meeting on April 24, 2012.