The Laurel City Council elected its president and vice president for a new one-year term during its most recent meeting. Each year during the first meeting in July, the council conducts elections to determine their president and vice president.
Following some discussion on Tuesday, the council with a 4-3 vote agreed to re-elect Ward Three Councilman Tony Thaxton as the president of the council. Ward Five Councilman Stacy Comegys was also nominated for the president’s position. However, Thaxton received the majority vote. Also, the group elected Ward Four Councilman George Carmichael as vice president of the group.
Thaxton and Carmichael thanked the group for their vote and support.
Thaxton said re-election to the council president position is a privilege.
“It’s an honor to be on the Laurel City Council, and I’m humbled to be elected to serve as its president,” Thaxton said. “My goal is to make this city the best city possible.”
As a part of his nomination of Thaxton for the president’s position, Ward Four Councilman George Carmichael praised Thaxton for the work he has done as the council president in the previous year and how he has worked well with the council and administration.
Following the election, the council handled several city matters.
In the presentation portion of the agenda, Mayor Johnny Magee presented his executive order on removal of the state flag from all city property, with said order to be spread across the minutes of the Laurel City Council. No discussion was conducted.
In other business, the council set August 4 as the public hearing date for 25 pieces of properties in the city to determine whether or not the properties are in such a state of uncleanliness so as to be a menace to the public health and safety of the community.
In a separate matter, the council voted to adopt a resolution to authorize publishing a request for proposals for administrative services for CDBG grants and projects during Fiscal Year 2021 and Fiscal Year 2022. The council also adopted a resolution authorizing advertisement for request for proposals for engineering services for CDBG grants and projects during FY 2021 and FY2022.
With a unanimous vote, the council wasted no time to adopt an order to enter into an agreement with Mississippi Court Collections, Inc. for the collection of delinquent Municipal Court fines for the city of Laurel.
Also, the council approved the Laurel Police Department’s request to participate in a fundraiser to sell calendars for the purchase of public relations material.
The council also approved some lot cleaning assessments; voted to adopt an order ratifying the publication of notice of hearing for the July 14, 2020 Historic Society public meeting ; voted to adopt an order ratifying the publication of notice of hearing for the July 16, 2020 zoning public hearing and approved the claims docket.