Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Kris Harrell

During the Greenville City Council’s Dec 9 meeting, the council members discussed and approved different resolutions, including the Greenville Housing Authority’s five-year plan, and the purchase of land to create more parking in the downtown area. 

One of the resolutions adopted and approved Monday night was the purchase of property on 72 East Commerce Street in Greenville. The lot is currently vacant, and the council aims to use the lot to add parking. 

“It’s right across the street from the hardware store,” said Dexter Mclendon, the Mayor of Greenville. “We’ve got a lot more going on downtown than we used to, and we could definitely use the additional parking.” 

The lot was purchased from Debbie Martin, the $9,000 cost split amongst the city and the Butler County Commission. The city and county commission will also be collaborating on the construction of the lot. 

Additionally, the Greenville city council approved the Greenville Housing Authority’s five-year-plan, which details how it will continue to provide low-income housing for the people of Greenville. 

“Most of it is saying that we want to continue to provide access to families in Butler County to have safe, sanitary and affordable housing for everybody through the Housing Choice Voucher Program,” said Tammy Smith, the director of the Greenville Housing Authority. “I think providing safe and affordable housing is probably the first step for most people to improve their quality of life, so that the first priority is always to try and provide affordable and safe housing for our families.” 

Alongside these two resolutions, there were other issues discussed and approved during the city council meeting: 

* The Greenville city council approved the purchase of a $4,700.05 brake motor for the city’s bucket truck. 

* The council approved $4,770 for a new alarm system for the Edge theater. They also approved $3,822 in labor costs to repair the air conditioning units inside the theater.

“There’s four units up on the roof [of the Edge theater] and they needed work done,” Mclendon said. “We got Lee’s Electric to come out and help us, which ended up saving us a lot of money.” 

The next city council meeting will be Dec 23 at Greenville City Hall on 119 East Commerce Street. Greenville city council meetings are scheduled for the second and fourth Monday of each month.