6.2

The city council voted against a rezoning petition which would allow a supermarket to be built in the center of the town and voted for a sales tax increase at the March 1 meeting.

The March 1 city council meeting saw a large number of citizens come to express their concerns about issues being brought to business with a 200 person overflow. After beginning the meeting with orders of prayer and minutes review, the first order of business, rezoning of the Peaceful Rest Cemetery to allow a supermarket was called to review. Bobby Thompson, chairman of the Zoning Commission, and Carl Erskine, a local developer spoke first, advocating for the rezoning petition.

Thompson then spoke of traffic patterns, stating that a supermarket would have no serious effects on it.

“We’ve studied the traffic patterns along Forbes Street, and we don’t believe the supermarket will cause any problems.” said Thompson

The townspeople, which was also a majority of the people there, felt differently about it. For almost an hour, twenty citizens spoke, expressing their concern about the supermarket being built. Only two out of the twenty were in support of it. Two of the people against the supermarket were Early Winn and Dick Groat, they spoke of how it would cause noise and bring in unneeded traffic.

When it came to vote, the rezoning petition was blocked, with a 5–2 council vote against it. When it was announced, a large cheer was heard and most of the crowd cleared out.

Also brought to topic was a proposed one cent sales tax which would cost each family about $75 per year. Mayor Sadecki advocated against it, saying another tax was unnecessary. Even with the mayor’s concerns, the tax was passed by the council 5–2.

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