The Winston County Journal

The Louisville Board of Aldermen aced plans for new tennis courts according to Parks and Recreation Director Jody Fulton.

Fulton noted at the recent ribbon cutting for the tennis courts that the new courts where as good as in any in the state especially for a city the size of Louisville. He added the courts were a great investment and gave the city an opportunity to host tournaments with the improved courts.

Louisville High School Tennis Coach Sheila Hickman agreed the new courts were a good investment and would help not only the LHS tennis team but also many others who understand tennis is "a lifetime sport".

Winston Academy Tennis coach Beverly Ballard added that both schools had excellent players and the new courts would enhance their teams and encourage younger players to be involved in the game.

Fulton expressed his thanks to the community, city engineer Kenny Morris and board of Aldermen for all the support provided on the project.

The Board of Aldermen in their August 21 meeting authorized the final $55,340 in payments to Australian Courtworks for the project. The brand new four full courts and resurfaced courts cost almost $200,000 with the city street department aiding the project in several areas including completing the landscaping and walkway to the courts.

In celebration of the completion of the project Mayor Yarbrough and the Board of Aldermen with personal funds provided a cookout for the recreation and street department works.

In other matters, the board of Aldermen completed in the August 21 meeting included:

€ approved applying for Mississippi Development Authority 2006 Katrina Supplemental GO Zone Community Development Block Grant in the amount of $685,000 with the city matching up to 10 percent in funds or in kind work.

€ Approved Airport Board to seek bids on the extension and improvement of present hangers using funds the airport group has in its budget.

€ Approved $2,500 to match a grant from Wal-Mart for playground equipment at Academy Park.

€ Approved new Cellular South contract lowering the city's charges to $39 a phone from $45 a phone.

€ Approved City Clerk to make payments for the land at 100 Ivy in the amount of $25,000 a year plus the 4.5 percent interest.

€ 148 Baremore Street still deemed unclean and give 10 additional days to cleanup before city implements a cleanup.

€ 108 Nearway Drive found to be no longer unsafe and cleaned to satisfactory conditions.

€ 201 Polar Flat Road found to be cleaned to satisfactory conditions.

€ Approved Sue Daniels to attend Municipal Court Clerks seminar.

€ Approved Mayor Yarbrough, Alderwoman McLeod and Alderwoman Ball to attend Small Town Conference in Philadelphia.

€ Approved the payment by the city to cover a lunch for visiting Environmental Protection Agency Officials and Mississippi Department of Environmental officials after recent visit concerning the American Creosote Property. See related EPA article.

€ Hired Patrick Estes as Patrolman 2nd class for the Louisville Police Department.

€ Approved two LPD officers to attend training in Gulfport for two days in October.

€ Hired Frankie Jackson as part-time cemetery worker.

€ Corrected two erroneous tax sales.

€ Approved Heritage Group to do Historic Preservation survey at the cost of $6,000, which will be reimbursed by the local Historic Preservation group.

€ Approved contract with Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force for reimbursement of overtime to LPD officer working on cases connected to the task force.

€ Approved Louisville Fire Department to spend $7,757.47 of fire grant funds for equipment.

€ Approved $215,072.17 payment to Century Construction on the new landfill cell.

€ Approved Albert Cole resolution (See related article).

€ Recessed until August 28 at 5 p.m. for budget meeting. (Coverage of this meeting in next week's newspaper due to deadlines.)

In the a previous meeting on August 7, the board:

€ Accepted a bid for garbage collection from Southern Waste Disposal who had the lowest bid and who under bid Golden Triangle Waste by almost $100,000. City engineer Kenny Morris noted to the board that even with the new contract it was an increase over last year's charges and that the city was looking at a possible deficit of $111,000 between payments and cost to pickup. Morris added the city should be charging each household $12.50 a month rather than the $10 in order to cover the deficit.

Southern Waste anticipates keeping the same schedule once it begins collecting the city's garbage October 1.

€ Accepted bid on 312 Short Hight in the amount of $5901.

€ Heard budget request from Winston County Librarian Beth Edwards that included what was described as an $8,000 nominal increase for the library.

€ recognized an anonymous donation of $25 to the Louisville Police Department.