City Council Meeting, April 3, 2018—Administrator Alvis opened the meeting by referring staff and council to a memo drafted by Planning Department Director Ian Foster. In his memo, Foster cited recent comments made during a 3/27/18 council meeting concerning a parcel of land being considered for a dog park, located adjacent to the Pheasant Meadows neighborhood. Foster’s memo read, in part, “The Planning Department reviewed some of the audio from this meeting and noted that an advocate on behalf of the park implied that the Planning Director endorsed this location. To be clear, the Planning Department did not provide an endorsement of the location but did advise that the location may be considered for the proposed use.”

Police Chief David Towe was on-hand along with Officer Greg Nichols, who has been promoted to Seargent, replacing the post filled by Sergeant Dan Moore, who retired in December 2016. Officer Nichols has been working for JVPD on a part-time basis since June 2017. Previously, he served with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and Medford Police for 31 years and has been a personal friend of Chief Towe’s for 35 years.

Administrator Alvis noted that the City Council met in an executive session prior to the regular meeting to discuss employment agreements for Administrator Alvis, Finance Director Bray and Police Chief Towe. Later, during the regular session, contracts for all three city employees were approved unanimously.

Finance Director Stacey Bray reported on recent grant awards recommended by the Transient Lodging Tax Committee that were then unanimously approved by the council that included:

  • Historic Jacksonville, Inc. – Access History Project – $ 3,200.
  • Jacksonville Community Center – Landscaping Project – $ 3,010.
  • Art Presence – Replacing Art Display System – $ 1,200.
  • Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce – New Website Design and Development – $ 8,000.
  • Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce – Branding Work – $ 3,000.

Mayor Becker reported his plan to form an ad-hoc committee to study the increase in traffic in the city limits. It will be tasked with gathering traffic statistics, analyzing that data, and recommending solutions to alleviate the problem. The mayor suggested that the committee will consist of four people; one Councilor, one Planning Commissioner and two citizens at-large.