City council members and the mayor plan to stay within budget in the upcoming 2018 fiscal year. “You have to have a budget. If we don’t have a budget starting October 1, you can’t pay bills, you can’t make payroll, you can’t do anything.” Last night, council members, the mayor, and city department heads met longer than normal to approve an operating budget of roughly $55.4 million dollars. “We are now adding more police officers; it made our budget increase a little more tha

There’s quite a few empty and overgrown lots scattered around the city, but residents may soon have a chance to put them to use. “We’re developing a plan right now, so that if you live next to that lot, for a little bit of nothing you can possess that lot,” said Ward 4 City Councilwoman Kim Houston. It’s called the Adopt-A-Lot plan and city council members discussed putting it into effect in yesterday’s work session. Council members said the plan is a way to address vacant an

Thursday evening, the city threw a big celebration for Councilwoman Barbara Henson. “Working with Barbara Henson has been such a joy. It’s been a thrill. It’s been enlightening. It’s been a lot of different things. She’s such a sweet heart and she’s so knowledgeable,” said Councilwoman Kim Houston. Henson was first elected to the Ward 3 city council seat in 1989, and after 28 years of service, she said she’s ready to retire. “What I’ll miss are the meetings and the work s

In yesterday’s city council meeting, council members responded to residents’ concerns about pot holes in the Bonita Lakes shopping area near Walmart. Council members said the city was not responsible for repairs. “It’s important for our citizens to know that if you do have some type of complaint on private property – whether that’s at the mall, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s – if you do have some kind of issue or concern about the pot holes, you need to contact those property o

In yesterday’s city council meeting, council members approved a bid to replace the drainage structure next to IHOP. “We received bids from five different contractors. Malouf Construction out of Greenwood was the lowest bidder. Today we recommended an award and the city made an award to Malouf Construction,” said Brian Nettles, the senior project manager at Wagner Engineering. In total, the project is costing nearly $5.1 million. The city paid $1.2 million last year to stab

Lauderdale County has conducted most of Meridian’s municipal elections. But in yesterday’s city council work session, the question was whether the county will conduct the one coming up. “We have not heard from the city of meridian for quite some time. Today we wanted to come and make it public that we’re here to help to offer our services. We kind of got off on some other tangents while we were in there,” said Election Commissioner, Jeff Tate. The issue wasn’t a matter of

During yesterday’s city council meeting, Tree City USA presented an award to the City of Meridian for being a Tree City for 26 years. To become a tree city, a city must be committed to planting and maintaining trees. “The city feels really good about receiving this award. A lot of cities were nominated, and Meridian, Miss., won the award. So we’re very, very happy to win this tree award with Tree City USA,” said Mayor Percy Bland. But city council members say the award ove

Today city leaders broke ground today for the new Velma Young community center in the east end. “It’s going to promote the ability for our youth to get their homework done, get assistance with their homework. It’s going to allow adults to job search, do some self- enrichment, probably take some courses online. And it’s also going to serve as a business professionals area where citizens can come in and get their needs met. Copies, notarization of forms, everything they need.

Meridian will soon have a new city logo. During today’s city council work session, council members and the Leading Edges advertising agency discussed the details of the latest design. Meridian’s last city logo was used 25 years ago. Since then the city has adopted the logo used by the county and the EMBDC to identify meridian. But city council members think it’s time for a change. “We asked the advertising agency to come forward and bring us an idea that could represent the

In this week’s City Council meeting; more information has surfaced about the proposed Walmart Neighborhood Marketplace opening in Meridian. Bunky Partridge with the city says after some resolutions we should be much closer to seeing the store. Soon to be located at 39th Avenue and 33rd Street near Harry Mayer; Partridge says the store has been in the workings for close to nine months; but believes will be worth all the hard work that’s been put into it so far. #WalMart #CityC