Photo by Sue Watson
Repaving of Van Dorn Avenue (Highway 178) east of downtown Holly Springs moves full speed ahead on a sunny day last week.
Photo by Sue Watson
City Streets, Buildings and Grounds employees begin the work of setting out cherry trees along North Memphis Street last week. The first ones were installed along the Mississippi Industrial College campus from West Valley to the red light. The project is in line with the design plan set forth by the Main Street Association charrettes conducted in November of 2008.
City projects pick up in good weather
The City of Holly Springs is hopping with activity as good weather has allowed some work on projects.
The overlay of Van Dorn Avenue, starting at Chesterman and leading east to the city limits is underway. It is part of the city’s street improvement project.
Public works director Clay Moore said Lehman Roberts paving crews are applying a leveling layer of asphalt and will come back over with an inch or more lift to finish that section of Highway 178 leading east out of the city.
In the parks, new pavilions have been built at Spring Hollow Park and Henley Park. And new cherry trees were installed on North Memphis Street from Valley to the traffic light. Streets, Buildings and Grounds employees are also rebuilding curbs and sidewalks around the city.
An attractive retaining wall was installed at the Eddie Lee Smith Multi-Purpose Building last week by Mendz Construction, a subcontractor for Lawn Works LLC.
The board of aldermen approved several additional projects at the March 20 meeting. The city will purchase garbage cans for the city parks. School children in grades K-3 will help paint the cans in attractive patterns that will add a touch of personality to the parks.
Mayor Kelvin Buck said the involvement of the youth in educational projects of this sort will hopefully translate to a cleaner city.
Children often provide the enthusiasm for getting their parents to develop better habits concerning litter. The city is promoting a plan to confront littering in the city. It includes urging Adopt-A-Street groups to pick up trash, a Team Up to Clean Up campaign and other methods to get the public on board in keeping the city bright and clean.
Moore said the intent is to use the newly-painted cans for one year, paint over them and start the paint project in the schools the second year.
The board of aldermen also approved the purchase of white jasmine to place on the fences enclosing the city’s water wells at Spring Hollow Park. The greenery will shield the equipment from view and provide a more natural appearance in the parks.
The board also gave its permission to advertise for the cleaning and repairing of broken monuments at Hill Crest Cemetery. The work will include leveling of stones. The work is being done under a Historic Preservation grant from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
The city also opened bids on surplus equipment. Bidders included Donald Street, Mark Jones, Teresa Frost, Larry Pitts, James Pitts, Tracy Shaw and James Mason. The board approved a motion to look over the bids and offer the items to the highest bidders.
The board gave its permission to advertise for a gas serviceman, a water/wastewater treatment operator, and a police officer. The board also hired four people at entry level positions as groundsmen in the electric department and a full-time employee in the street department.The board also accepted the resignation of Dalton Foster at the utility department.
Other board actions included:
• payment of $75,000 to the Mississippi Development Authority on a debt incurred by the previous administration at the Holly Springs Commons.
• payment of $30,000 to Retail Strategies to help study possible new business development in the city.
• payment of $19,075 to ASCO Sanitation for household garbage collection.