The new Alexandria Mayor and Aldermen met for the first time Tuesday night and took the oath of office to begin their new terms.
City attorney Vester Parsley administered the oath of office to the new aldermen-elect as a group and then to newly elected mayor Bennett Armstrong.
Armstrong was elected to fill the remaining two years of an unexpired mayoral term in the Alexandria Municipal Election on Thursday, September 3.
Kelly Pyburn, David Cripps, and John F. Suggs were each elected to four year alderman terms while Danny Parkerson and Matthew Boss were each elected to fill two year unexpired alderman seats.
Tuesday night’s meeting was the regular monthly session of the Alexandria Mayor and Board of Aldermen.
The group addressed a variety of issues during the meeting including zoning.
“What they voted to do tonight is create a temporary fix for a zoning ordinance issue by restricting new residential construction to 1500 square feet for a period of 120 days until a more permanent ordinance is in place. The city’s zoning requirements haven’t been updated in a long time and current enforcement provisions are vague,” said City Attorney Vester Parsley.
The issue was raised by Alderman Danny Parkerson who made the motion to adopt an ordinance establishing the new residential zoning provision. The motion was seconded and passed by the aldermen. Second and final reading will be considered at the next regular meeting, which has been rescheduled from Tuesday October 27 to Tuesday, October 6 at 7:00 p.m. to be preceded by a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. at city hall.
The aldermen also authorized application for a community development block grant which if approved would fund the purchase of a new fire truck. The grant amount is $331,580 including the town’s matching requirement of $16,580.
Although no action was taken, the mayor and aldermen also discussed changing the city charter regarding the city election, possibly having it to run in conjunction with the County General Elections in August in order to save the city money. Any change in the city’s charter would have to be approved by the Tennessee General Assembly.
(Pictured Above:
Seated: City Recorder Stacey Baker, Mayor Bennett Armstrong, Alderman Danny Parkerson; Standing: Aldermen Pat Jackson, John Suggs, Kelly Pyburn, Matt Boss, and David Cripps)