Homeless shelter, library expansion among topics discussed in city council meeting

JACKSON, Tenn. — It was a packed house during the Jackson City Council meeting on Tuesday morning.

Not only were the seats filled, but the agenda was as well. One of the first items discussed was an update regarding the Jackson-Madison County Library expansion.

Mayor Scott Conger spoke with us about this.

“I think that started in 2019. The library board and foundation paid for a consultant to look at a space needs analysis based on population and serving. They looked at the numbers of what the downtown library needs to be, keeping the branch and expanding that,” said Jackson Mayor Scott Conger.

Reports given Tuesday morning stated that 15,000 people per month come to the library and they had 1,000 events this previous year.

“I want to say in 2020 or 2021 the city and county purchased two properties next to it. They were two old houses, tore those down and get it ready. So they were going through still kind of that preliminary analysis of it so they were giving updates on that. They’ve been working on that for a couple of years now,” said Mayor Conger.

Also, the city council unanimously approved in its first reading money to be allocated for a homeless shelter.

“The City of Jackson will transfer the approved allocation of $600,000 to CRA. They will assist Tennessee Homeless Solutions with purchasing a building and then the renovations of the building to operate a short term 90 day shelter,” said Mayor Conger.

CRA stands for Community Redevelopment Agency.

The council also passed an amendment to the city code to allow the purchase and sale of fireworks in Jackson. They also approved a contract with Delta Contracting Company to begin street repaving.

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