On March 11, the Centerville Board of Mayor and Aldermen unanimously approved a resolution authorizing Mayor Gary Jacobs to sign an interlocal agreement with the county to recreate a joint economic development board.
Per state criteria, counties are required to create a collaborative board in order to apply for grants from the state ThreeStar program, and grants in general. “We don’t have one,” said county economic development director Carla Moore.
The board will consist of 11 persons, including the town and county mayors, local business owners and private citizens, who will meet once a quarter to “just talk about the health of the economy in the city, county together,” Moore said. County commissioners approved the agreement on Feb. 24.
Six additional resolutions also received unanimous approval from the Centerville Board:
— Resolution 2025-08 authorizes the mayor to sell two items listed as surplus property.
— Resolution 2025-09 awards a bid for a leak detection survey on 50 miles of water lines at Shady Grove to Rye Engineering PLC of Erin for $39,000. The company was the only bidder.
— Resolution 2025-10 awards a bid for the installation of playground equipment at C.A. Thompson Memorial Park to Playground Boss of Allen, Texas for $93,032. The company was the only bidder. The equipment has been erected on the site of the former swimming pool.
The new equipment includes two structures complete with slides, rock walls and monkey bars, plus the installation of a metal bench.
“I think it’s a good move for the town, it’s a good move for the kids,” Jacobs said. “It takes a bare spot and puts something in it that people can get some enjoyment out of.”
Funding will come from the town’s budget, after the board discontinued its share of a state grant fund at last month’s meeting.
— Resolution 2025-11 adds Presidents Day to the town’s list of official paid holidays for full-time employees.
“The most recent Presidents Day, all our employees were here, the county was closed, (we) couldn’t run trash pick-up because the city landfill was closed, the state was closed, our accounting programs and our links to the state were down, we couldn’t do anything,” Jacobs said.
— Resolution 2025-12 awards a contract for the state infrastructure planning grant to Goodwyn Mills Cawood, for assessment of the town’s sewer system.
“All our efforts so far have been in the Fairfield area . . . the Defeated Creek Drainage Basin,” Jacobs said. “This will be in the downtown area that feeds into the Indian Creek Drainage Basin. It’s just the first step in addressing that potential problem.”
— Resolution 2025-13 purchases a Weir Wolf automated cleaning system from Ford Hall Co. Inc. of Kentucky for the Centerville wastewater treatment plant for $30,000. It also approves the rehabilitation of existing cleaning systems.
Two ordinances also received unanimous approval on first reading:
— Ordinance 900 amends the town’s municipal zoning ordinance relating to legal non-conforming mobile home parks.
According to building inspector Josie Blystad, legal non-conforming properties refer to property that was “here prior to our zoning ordinance, and it became non-conforming when we adopted our zoning ordinance.”
— Ordinance 901 amends Ordinance 606 and rezones property located at Atys Way from an R-1 low density residential district to a C-2 general commercial district. The owner of the property requested the change to pursue the opening of a farmer’s market.
In other business, the board:
— Heard from town auditor John Poole regarding the town’s audit for fiscal year 2023-2024.
“The town, from a financial standpoint, is doing good, and it’s certainly doing really good the last few years,” Poole said.
“We didn’t find anything related to the way that the town is purchasing money that gave us any concern.”
— Heard from Centerville Mainstreet director Brenda Brock regarding the signage part of the wayfinding and branding study.
Brock unveiled several signs the organization is developing to direct visitors to various parts of the town.
“When people come up Highway 50 . . . they’ve probably already been on the interstate for 20 minutes at least,” Brock said. “So when they get to Highway 100 they can go right to Columbia, which is another 30 minutes, or they can turn left and go a quarter-mile and come up and shop and eat.”
The meeting lasted more than an hour.
