DECATUR — During its Feb. 13 meeting in the conference room at city hall, the Decatur City Council approved the renovation of the community room, the main entrance and city offices at the Decatur Municipal Building.
Before the vote, Decatur Mayor Bob Tharp gave council members and city officials a tour of the areas involved in the renovation projects.
An incident in the community room Jan. 21 prompted city officials to review the condition of the room, the former Decatur High School gym. Decatur Police received a non-emergency call from the parties using the room that one of the restrooms was flooding. Police notified city officials, who arrived in time to turn off the water, preventing water from spreading onto the original oak flooring of the basketball court. This incident prompted city officials to close down the community room until further notice and re-evaluate the use of this historic treasure.
Tharp, with the help of several council members, devised a plan to resurface the court, replace the existing kitchen with new counter tops and appliances, put down new flooring in the kitchen and restroom area. The work was deemed necessary to improve the look and feel of this piece of Decatur history.
The tour ended with a look at the front entry to city hall. Tharp wanted to enclose the foyer with a double set of glass doors.
The main entry supports a lot of business traffic coming in and out of the city offices, the water department and state revenue office. The existing set of doors creates a loss of heated and air conditioned air, causing the city to pay higher utility bills. In addition to the draft, anytime a LifeFlight helicopter lands on the pad next to the fire station, debris blows into the front hallway of the city offices when the doors are open.
Tharp researched the effects the enclosed entry way might have on the historic value of city hall and found that it would be minimal.
The entry will be left unlocked to allow Decatur water customers the opportunity to use the drop box inside the foyer to pay their water bills
Total cost of the project will be $5,300.
The city council also approved a new system to monitor and prevent overflows to the city's water storage tanks and well system.
Over the past several years, the million-gallon water tank near Decatur High School has overflowed, sending water running down the north side of the hill and flooding homes and property as far away as the gas line distribution center between east Roller, Peterson and School Avenue in Decatur.
James Boston, Director of Public Works, found a new system that would alleviate the problem and save the city money. The new system, called the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition or SCADA, would monitor water levels in the city storage and well systems and would automatically shut off the flow should the water levels rise over capacity. It would also alert water department employees to any flow situation at the wells and tanks. The cost for this project was expected to be $51,000.
In other council business, Tharp said he received a letter from Decatur's police chief, Terry Luker, formally announcing his intent to retire, effective May 1, 2017. Rumors of Luker's leaving the force circulated through the city council meeting in January but were not confirmed until he submitted his formal request. The city of Decatur will begin searching for a new chief of police immediately, according to Tharp.
The city council approved, on its third reading, an ordinance that would change the amount the Decatur Fire Department would charge for services to non-fire department members and calls outside the city limits. A copy of the ordinance is available at the Decatur city office.
The council approved the appointment of Virginia Davis to the Decatur Housing Authority.
The Decatur City Council meets every second Monday of each month at 6 p.m. in the conference room at City Hall. The first 30 minutes of each meeting is open for citizen comments. For more information, contact the Decatur city offices at 479-752-3912.
General News on 02/22/2017