For several months, the absence of one city vehicle has been evident along roadways throughout town.
The City of Grenada’s street sweeper has been parked during a time when its needed most – fall. With trees shedding leaves and branches, roadways and especially gutters can quickly get clogged with the dead vegetation, causing flooding and travel issues.
During last Monday night’s Grenada City Council meeting, Ward 4 Councilman Michael D. Smith asked Street Department Superintendent Robert Booker for an update on repairs necessary to get the street sweeper back on the roadways.
“Do you have any idea when you think that the street sweeper will be back up and running?” Smith asked.
“No I don’t,” Booker responded. “We’re trying to find a better price.”
In the meantime, Booker and his crew have been managing to keep streets as clean as possible by raking and blowing leaves and using a backhoe to load them onto trucks for disposal.
“I know that the last couple of months have been difficult without the street sweeper, but I know that you all have been improvising with other devices to try to alleviate some of the leaves that we have and relieve some of the drainage problems that we have,” Smith added. “I want to say that I appreciate that; improvising, doing the best that you can.”
Ward 1 Councilman Warren B. Cox Sr. agreed.
“I would like to thank you too Mr. Booker,” he said. “Y’all have done an excellent job in places where leaves have been knee-deep even though you didn’t have your street sweeper. Y’all improvised, got them up and got them out, and I do appreciate all of the effort.”
Ward 5 Councilman Eric Harris added blighted property cleanup to his compliments of the Street Department.
“Mr. Booker, I just want to thank you and your department for the cleanup that you guys have done in Ward 5 with the condemnation of the houses and getting the properties cleaned up – I appreciate it,” he said.
Shortly after the council expressed appreciation to Booker and his crew, public hearings were held on six properties being considered for condemnation. Only one property owner – Joe Moore – was on hand to plead his case.
Five properties – four of which were located in Ward 3 overseen by Councilman Lewis Johnson – and a fifth in Smith’s Ward 4 were condemned. The condemned properties in Ward 3 included 407 and 408 Lake St., 471 Barbee St. and 446 Gerard St. The lone Ward 4 condemned property is located at 1081 Line St.
Moore, who owns the burned out property located at 404 Futheyville Rd. in Councilman Larry W. Vance’s Ward 6, was given additional time to finish cleanup efforts that he explained were held up after he fell ill and was hospitalized.
“I was tearing it down in October and I caught COVID and pneumonia at the same time and for the past five weeks, I’ve been in the bed and the hospital,” Moore said. “When y’all sent me a notice about it on the (October) 16th, I was in Southaven with tubes running out of my back and out of my lungs, so I couldn’t answer y’all. Since I’ve been out of the hospital, I’ve been tearing it down again.”
Mayor Billy F. Collins sympathized with Moore.
“What do you want us to do?” Collins said.
“There is still a lot of good lumber in it – three of the rooms weren’t even damaged by the fire – and I’ve been getting a lot of good paneling and a lot of good lumber out of it, that’s why I’ve been trying to tear it down by myself,” Moore responded.
“How long do you need?” Vance asked.
“It will take me another couple of months to get it completely down,” Moore responded.
Moore said that he has no plans to rebuild on the property.
“I’m just going to take it down, haul off the burnt stuff and keep the good stuff,” he added.
Vance then granted Moore additional time to clean up the property.
“Well, with you showing some effort, I will allow you to continue on,” Vance said. “But I do want to see progress on a regular basis. I understand, I’ve had COVID and I’ve had pneumonia, I know what you’re going through – it’s not fun. It takes a while to get your energy back. I am going to honor your wishes and give you some more time and as long as you are showing me some improvement, I’m going to honor it.”
The Council unanimously approved a 90-day extension on Moore’s clean up efforts.
Johnson later commended Grenada Code Enforcement Officer Tommie Caldwell for his work helping rid the city of unsightly properties.
“You’re doing a good job,” Johnson concluded. “I know that there are a lot of things out there and I know that we keep you busy. I just want to say that we appreciate you.”
