Mississippi State University Rated #18 on Forbes.com Best College Buys

This is really great news for MSU and another reason why this University stands out.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/02/best-buys-colleges-opinions-value.html

JULY 2009 CODE ENFORCEMENT REPORT

VEHICLES REMOVED OR UPDATED-13
OFF SITE SIGNS-10
BANNERS W/OUT PERMITS-9
SIGNS REMOVED FROM R.O.W-36
BANNER & SIGN PERMITS SOLD-8
OVERGROWN LOTS-20
DEBRIS-2
SNIPE SIGNS-3
IMPROPER SIGNAGE-1
IMPROPER DIRECTIONAL SIGN-1
HEALTH CODE VIOLATION-1
IMPROPER SNIPE SIGN-3
BUSINESS W/OUT PERMIT-1
IMPROPER POST SIGN-1
NO SIGNAGE PERMIT-1

TOTALS- 107

May 2009 Building Permits

Here are the building permits issued during the month of May. Of note is that this report is the first generated using some new software in the building department. (Click to enlarge)

Four More Years

First I want to thank everyone who voted in the 2009 municipal election and also those who supported me even though they didn't live in Ward 4. I look forward to taking the knowledge and experience I've accumulated over the past four years and use it to help lead the board and the city towards becoming even better than it already is.

Electronic Packets

Sometimes people ask me what the packets look like that the board of aldermen use for their meetings. These packets are a matter of public record and to help facilitate ease of access for the general public as well as making our city hall more sustainable by reducing paper waste. Long term I would love to see some members of the board rely on electronic packets entirely. Below is a link to March 3rd's packet and below that is another link for the section of our website that has the agendas, minutes, and e-packets.

Board of Aldermen March 3rd E-Packet


Agenda/Minutes/E-Packet webpage

Starkville Shooting

Really bad news. There was a shooting incident at the local McDonald's following a high school basketball game between Columbus/Starkville. One comment I heard was "you know we're a big city now when we start having shootings at the local McDonald's." Jokes like that aside, this is really a terrible incident and really should be a warning to all of us that Starkville is not immune to the serious types of violent crimes that can plague any city.

Full story here.

MSU/Starkville Recognized As Green Community

The community is mainly being recognized for efforts made through Starkville in Motion in regards to working to provide alternatives to transportation. Not mentioned in the article should also be Starkville's adoption of LEED standards for all future public buildings, starting with the new Starkville Electric Department building.

Full story here.
http://www.msstate.edu/web/media/detail.php?id=4429

November 2008 Code Enforcement Report

Our code enforcement officer, Jeff, provides a report every month regarding the total number of code violations he has worked on. I thought I would start providing those numbers for anyone who is interested:

• VEHICLES REMOVED OR UPDATED-6
• OFF SITE SIGNS-2
• BANNERS W/OUT PERMITS-3
• SIGNS REMOVED FROM R.O.W-131
• BANNER PERMITS SOLD-10
• PERMANENT SIGN PERMITS SOLD-3
• TRASH VIOLATIONS-4
• BUSINESS OPERATING W/OUT PERMIT-1
• TRAILER PARK REINSPECTIONS-13
• 
  
• TOTALS- 173

I imagine the large number of signs moved from right of way are probably related to clearing up the mess left after the elections this year. It's always discouraging to see how many signs are placed everywhere, littering the sides of the streets and often left long after the election is over.

100th Post, 2009 Elections

This is my 100th post since starting this blog. While not as many posts as I would have liked, I have enjoyed the opportunity to spread some information about what's going on with the city with various readers.

On another note, some people are already talking about the 2009 municipal elections. In fact, some people have been talking about it since 2006. While qualifying papers aren't due until the beginning of the new year, the forms are now available online via the Secretary of State's office and are posted on the city website.

2009 Municipal Election Forms

As If I Had to Remind You...

Go vote!

Campus Shooting Incident

There was an unfortunate incident at 4am on November 1st, 2008, involving an attempted abduction of an 18 year old girl. The good news is she got away; however, she and her friend both heard a gunshot as they were fleeing the scene.

Here is an official MSU press release regarding the incident:

http://www.msstate.edu/web/media/detail.php?id=4404

WCBI Rumor

Normally I try to avoid dealing in rumors; however, I wanted to share one I had heard. Basically it was that WCBI is considering opening a satellite office in Starkville, similar to what the Commercial Dispatch does for their paper. That could be really interesting and makes me wonder if competition for coverage of the Starkville market is heating up between WCBI and WTVA.

Anyone heard anything?

Roadway Improvements

Posted on the city's website is a copy of the planned roadway improvements for the '08-'09. If you're curious whether your street is listed please feel free to review the document.

http://www.cityofstarkville.org/cosdocs/FY_08-09_Roadway_Maintenance_Projects-_Priority_1.pdf

Starkville in Motion Meeting Overview (9/8/08)

Devon opens
Mentions "Darius Goes West" movie.
Treasurer Report: Just under $2000 in account.
Membership Report: 48 paid members. 300 on email list.

Introduction of Day One students who will work with SiM. 3 present, 4 more who were unable to attend.

Robbie Ward announced the upcoming Johnny Cash festival. Looking for volunteers. pardonjohnnycash.com has a link for volunteers.

I gave a presentation on beautification regarding the 182 corridor based upon a similar presentation given to the Beautification Committee. Currently the city has approved regular street sweeping of 182, which was one of the nine recommendations. Other ideas discussed included plantings and entryway markers. I will be working with Ben Griffith and others towards establishing a working ordinance to begin to require sidewalks in new developments and Ben is trying to write a unified building ordinance that would incorporate a lot of the recommendations from the Comprehensive Plan that the city approved.

Question about mass comprehension plan and zoning ordinance. 182 sidewalk and bike lane. As that area redevelops people are talking about wanting to have buildings moved forward (this only makes any sense if the building is demolished). Two separate sidewalk ordinances were suggested. One residential and one commercial. People want a timeline/deadline on when the new ordinance will be in place. At least 30 days from the draft because it needs two hearings. Ideally I would like to have it in place before the end of the year.

Patrik Nordin recommended a Sidewalk Beautification day and mentioned that Lynn Spruill is a good contact for having brush/garbage cleared from existing sidewalks. Jim Gafford recommended adding it as a rolling action item for the sidewalk committee.

Ron Cossman talked about Lynn Lane progress. Board of Aldermen looked at it on Tuesday, had a public hearing on Thursday. Public hearing including a one hour lecture on the conceptual plan for Lynn Lane project. Issue with right of way (ROW) on Locksley Way. City Engineer proposed compromise regarding reducing traffic lanes to allow for sufficient ROW. Will come back before the board at the first October meeting.

Kate Fabel is organizing a Wheel-A-Thon through 52 Moms and SiM. Sept. 27th is the date with Board of Alderman approval and we're have worked out the providing of city resources for the event. Entry cost will be $10 per person. Two roadblocks: $312 is the insurance cost. Partnership was unwilling to suppliment the cost. Secondly, permission must also be sought out from OCEDA. SiM will have a table at the event. Asked for a volunteer to have SiM t-shirts printed at University Screenprint. Kathy volunteered. 50 or more were the suggested number to order. Motion to provide $200 was made and unanimously passed. Devon Brenner and I volunteered to man the table for the event.

Lois was not present to speak to the Safe Routes to school coordinator position; however, Devon mentioned a promising candidate was interviewed.

Kathy mentioned that the Starkville Area Arts Council awarded grant towards the Starkville Arts Walking tour. Fall/Winter is the approximate time of year. I volunteered to work with Kathy regarding compliance with the city's public event policy.

Hamp Beatty volunteered his name to chair the sidewalk committee. Officers will be nominated by October and elected in November.

Ron Cossman brought up the proposed Southern entrance to MSU. Phase 1 would just be a 2-lane road. Phase 2 would have 4 lanes and bike lanes/sidewalk. SiM representatives at the public hearing requested to have sidewalks/bike lanes at the first phase.

Devon Brenner brought up that if you notice areas that have bikes being locked up to things other than bike racks to notify SiM and the University to bring attention to those areas.

Joe Fratesi made motion to give the board permission to spend up to but not over $100 for any one event. Unanimously approved.

Meeting adjourned.

Sidewalk Ordinance

For a while, people have mentioned to me a desire to see more sidewalks in town. Having visited other cities, I've noticed many cities with an extensive sidewalk infrastructure. Upon researching it a little more, and going back to the Comprehensive Plan the city adopted back in 2006, I've decided to look into pursuing an ordinance to begin requiring sidewalks as a part of new development. This is also a long-term goal of the building department, so enacting an ordinance now could give us a chance to test it out and make any appropriate changes when the building department is ready to release their overall new series of building ordinances. One complaint I can anticipate receiving is that it may create sidewalks that "lead nowhere" but given enough time they eventually will and it will make it easier on the city to fill in the gaps as a part of its own street program.

I plan to speak to this effect at tonight's Starkville in Motion meeting; however, I need a little more time to work on a complete draft ordinance.

Special Called Meeting Today at 1:30pm

In a bit of an emergency, a special called meeting was issued for today at 1:30. The reason is that the third party company provider of financing for our police and court software has been negligent in sending in the appropriate payments to our software provider and now the software has been shut off. Obviously this has to be rectified immediately. More as it develops.

Cowbells Featured in WCBI Article

So there has been a lot of talk lately about the opening of the new bar, Cowbells, which is in the county and has resort status, allowing it to serve alcohol on Sunday and stay open as late as they want. My current understanding is they'll be open until 4am.

Here's the article by Steve Rogers.

http://wcbi.com/article.php?subaction=showfull&id=1220129244&archive=&start_from=&ucat=8&

Thoughts?

Board Meeting Tonight (9/2/08)

Tonight we have a number of interesting items on the agenda. There is a request for in-kind support (closing of streets, police presence) for the Johnny Cash festival. Robbie Ward has done an excellent job on that and should be commended. Also, Kate Fabel is presenting a similar request for a project the 52 Moms organization is hosting. Their event is called the Wheel-A-Thon and will involve a race around the research park for people using anything with wheels (but no motor) such as bikes, skates, unicycles, etc. Should be interesting and proceeds go to McKee Park.

There will be a presentation regarding the roadwork to go around the new Cotton Mills mall development. Their proposal does involve the boulevarding of Russell Street with the addition of bike lanes and improvements to Spring St.

There is a presentation from Kevin Stafford from Neel-Shaffer regarding the Lynn Lane bike path project. This project, which I've touch on before in this blog, will involve a bike path, seperate but parallel to the road, that will extend from Blackjack Rd/Sororiety Row to the Sportsplex on the other side of town. Long term, if we could find a similar path along the northern half of Starkville we could potentially form a bike path loop around the entire city.

There will be a second public hearing on the proposed budget. Action on adopting that budget most likely will not occur until around Sept. 15, the deadline.

I've made a request to have 182 regularlly swept. This is in accordance with the wishes of the Beautification Committee and one of the points in their 9 point plan.

Office Depot Part 2

I followed up with the investment firm working to bring Office Depot to the area. The good news is I was able to confirm they are still locating in the old Winn-Dixie shopping center. The bad news is they have pushed their opening date back to first quarter 2010. The reason for this was stated to me as being due to the national economy and a need to slow down growth.

It's discouraging, but at least they are still coming.

Office Depot/Sears

I have been asked before about the arrival of an Office Depot to the area. There has been one slated to arrive as the anchor store for the center where Corky's and Little Caesar's is currently located. Sears is also set to move in between the Office Depot and Little Caesar's and will remain the smaller hardware focused franchise (compared to the larger Sears located in Columbus). Office Depot is still supposed to arrive; however, due to national economic issues, they have slowed down their rate of growth and have their project here delayed until sometime this fall/winter. In the meantime they have floor plans submitted to our building department and have a hold on the property in question. To those still unsure, consider that if Office Depot weren't coming there would have already been a lease sign out there in an attempt to find a new tenant.