Jackson leaders prepare for upcoming city council meeting

JACKSON, Tenn. — Thursday night, Mayor Scott Conger and city council members met at City Hall in preparation for next week’s city council meeting.

Up first on the agenda is the city’s debt.

Mayor Conger says when the budget was laid out for fiscal year 2020, the city was looking at a variable rate on the debt. Now the city has switched to a fixed rate.

The council is considering a budget amendment to transfer an amount no higher than $500,000 from general funds to the debt service fund.

“When we switched to a fix rate refunding of our debt, that raised the payment a little bit,” Mayor Conger said. “Equals it out, saves us money in the long run, so had to make a contingency to make sure we had the funds in our debt service account to pay for that.”

The council is also considering a contract with Alexander Thompson and Arnold regarding the city’s 2020 audit. The contract was first established in 2010 and has 2-year renewal options.

“Right now we are in the second year of one of the 2-year renewals, so that will be ending this year. We have to have a contract signed for the comptroller and send it in, so this is what the vote is for, that the council approves the contract,” Mayor Conger said.

Plus, there’s good news for dog owners. A new dog park in the Hub City is almost ready to open.

The park was completely paid for by a grant from the Boyd Foundation and is just waiting for its finishing touches.

“This is the last draw down of the funds, so we have some things to order to put in there. They’ll set them up, they’ll anchor them to the ground and then pour some concrete and be ready to go,” Mayor Conger said.

Jackson’s next city council meeting will be held next Tuesday at 9 a.m.