Jackson City Council votes in new member, approves new trash pickup rules

JACKSON, Tenn. — In Tuesday’s Jackson City Council meeting, council members voted on a new member.

This member will take Gary Pickens’ place, who resigned earlier this year. Sam Turner won the vote seven to one and was sworn in after voting had completed.

Turner says he wants to work hard to understand the needs of the community and use the rest of this term to learn. He plans to run for reelection next May.

Turner also plans to make himself known to the public through various community meetings and getting to know the people in his district.

“I want to listen,” Turner said. “I want to understand what the needs are. Want to answer the questions and meet the needs of the citizens of our community.”

The council also awarded back pay of around $116,000 to a city employee, after the employee was found not guilty of two counts of forgery by the Comptroller’s Office . This back pay is due to the employee having their pay postponed until after their trial.

The city also voted in favor of the new curbside trash pickup rules. Now residents need to schedule their bulk trash pickup with the city.

Mayor Scott Conger says this allows for a more economical way of picking up trash versus trucks having to drive routes. Now the trucks can drive directly to the scheduled location at the correct time. This will not go into effect until January 1.

“Scheduling it helps our people, it helps keep the city looking better, and so it allows us to actually plan for that, we can work our routes a lot better,” said Mayor Conger.

The City Council will meet again on November 1.

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