Wesson library to add pavilion
BY JOE B. COATES
The library in Wesson will be expanding a little more, thanks to action taken by the town’s aldermen last Tuesday evening.
Susan Alsbury, librarian, and several members of the group Wesson Friends of the Library, pitched an idea to the aldermen about constructing a pavilion on the east side of the library in a town-owned lot which has sat vacant for years. The pavilion, Alsbury explained, will be an enclosed structure that could be utilized as early as this summer for the annual reading program. Since the new building will be added on to the existing library, a future project could mean that the entire structure could be placed under one roof, she said.
The approximate cost of the project, around $6,500, includes all labor and materials provided by a local contractor. Alsbury and the Friends were requesting a 50-50 match of funds for the construction.
After a brief deliberation among the group and the board members, Mayor Alton Shaw pointed out that the town has been funding a CD over the past several years that is to be used strictly for library projects. The total amount is “a little over $3,000,” Shaw said.
A motion to approve cashing in of the CD to be used for the project and affirming the request for a building permit was approved by vote of 5-0.
Over the past month Wesson Town Hall has seen its own share of upgrading and repairs. After the last board meeting in May, workers in the facility noticed a buckle in the wooden floor of the facility. A local flooring installer was contacted, and after a test hole was drilled in the floor to allow for expansion of the wood he discovered that the subfloor had been heavily damaged by termites. Further inspection revealed an almost complete breakdown in the subfloor and part of the walls.
Crews were called in to immediately eradicate the termites and to begin replacing the floor. Concrete was poured into the foundation and scoring is to be completed soon. The aldermen approved the work to be done on an emergency basis and accepted a bid of $1,600 to replace wall paneling that was removed during the situation.
The aldermen also passed a resolution to allow the use of the town-owned Sunflower property to be used as a farmers market, after a resident had sought permission for such. The resident wants to get area youths involved with market for educational purposes and to give area growers a place to sell produce.
Delegates for the Mississippi Municipal League convention were approved, as Mayor Shaw and alderman-at-large Van Graham were reaffirmed.
A vote to go into executive session for personnel matters was approved. Upon emergence from the session some 25 minutes later, Shaw announced that assistant police chief Chad Sills was named interim police chief. Sills will fill the spot that will be vacated when current chief Chad O’Quinn returns to active duty overseas on July 31.
And, serving in her final meeting as alderman for Ward 3, Ms. Lura Greer bid farewell to the board. “I have enjoyed every minute of working with you and of serving the people of Ward 3 and the town of Wesson. I will miss this, but it’s just time to go home,” she said. Mayor Shaw thanked Greer for her 16 years of service as an alderman in the town, and he and all the other aldermen gathered around her for one last photo.
The new Wesson board will meet for the first time on Tuesday, July 7, in the center of the community at Town Hall. New aldermen to be sworn in are Mike Douglas, Ward 1, and Billy Ellison, Ward 3. The board meets at 6:00 p.m.
