By Nathan Prewett
MOODY – During a meeting at City Hall on Monday, Aug. 24 the Moody City Council approved a request from Mayor Joe Lee to provide the city’s chamber of commerce with funds for Oktoberfest this fall, although concerns were raised about the potential for COVID-19 to complicate the event.
A request from Lee was approved by the council to give $3,000 to the Moody Chamber of Commerce for the annual event on the first Saturday of October. The occasion is an arts and crafts festival that also features food, children’s activities, and music.
But whether or not the festival will happen is uncertain due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation.
“That’s up in the air about whether Oktoberfest is going to happen or not happen,” Lee said.
Attorney James Hill voiced concerns for the potential of the virus’s spread with multiple people from the city and those coming from outside attending. The festival’s occurrence will remain to be seen as the situation evolves.
At the beginning of the meeting, the council heard from Rayna Irby, a Girl Scout who proposed implementing a plan to place more recycling bins and places to drop off materials for recycling throughout Moody.
“The ideal thing would be to have recycling at home while they’re picking up garbage,” Lee said. “And that will have to be worked into the contract that the landfill has with the city.”
Hill said that the city has to bid out the contract every three years and can implement a recycling plan in it. However, he said that there would be a challenge with the value of recyclables.
“Recently the value of recyclables has gone down, which means the cost to the companies has gone up, so when we put these out for bid, we have to approve a contract that is contemplated citywide and it has a tendency to drive up the costs of these services,” he said.
In other business the council:
- Approved the purchase of new tires on an F150 public works truck from Goodyear for $700,
- Approved the purchase of hand tools and tool supplies for $600 from Lowes,
- Approved the purchase of one case (210 pieces) of N-95 masks from Boundtree Medical for $780,
- Approved the purchase of a fire alarm communicator for the Moody Civic Center for $1,130 and enter into a contract for $47 per month with Prestige Alarm,
- Approved ordinance M2020-08-24 to amend ordinance M04-01-26 that requires “building and construction permits and establish fees” with the city of Moody,
- Approved a 2020-2021 fiscal year contract with the St. Clair County Commission for Central Dispatching at $93,880.38,
- Approved a 2020-2021 fiscal year contract with the St. Clair County Commission for juvenile detention for $21,794,
- Approved a 2020-2021 yearly payment of $1,230.25 to the the St. Clair County Commission for the Emergency Management Agency,
- Approved Resolution R2020-08-24 City of Moody Holiday Resolution 2020-2021,
- And approved an amendment to the appointment of Kyle Cherry to the Zoning Board and Adjustments to change his status as a regular member to a supernumerary member.