City Okays Land Purchase

by Dwight Turner

The City of Ardmore, TN Board of Mayor and Aldermen, meeting in a special called session last Thursday night, approved by a vote of 4-3 the purchase of two additional tracts of land on Main Street.

The tracts approved for purchase lie just adjacent to a larger tract of land purchased by the board in February, clearing the way for the possible construction of a new city hall.

Mayor Bobby Hastings and Aldermen Raymond Crabtree, Garon Hargrove and Vice Mayor Ken Crosson voted in favor of the land purchase. Aldermen Tim McConnell, Laurene Schrimsher and Janice Reece voted against the measure.

The purchase of the two tracts of land has somewhat of a controversial history. After the initial land purchase was approved in February, again by a vote of 4-3 along the same lines, a motion was made at the April board meeting, held on Thursday, April 6, to obtain the two additional tracts. The motion failed to carry due to a tie vote of 3-3. Voting in favor of the purchase of the land at the April meeting were Mayor Hastings, Alderman Crabtree and Alderman Hargrove. Voting in opposition to the purchase were Aldermen McConnell, Scrimsher and Reece. Vice-Mayor Crosson was not present at the meeting due to illness.

The following week, a special meeting was called for last Thursday, April 13, to re-examine the decision on the purchase of the two tracts of land. After a brief discussion of the matter, the board voted to obtain the property.

After the vote was taken, the board also engaged in a somewhat lengthy discussion regarding the need for a storm shelter in Ardmore and even consider the possibility of locating said shelter underneath the new city hall, if and when constructed.

All present agreed that a storm shelter for the community was needed, particularly considering the cramped conditions at the Police Department recently during a spate of stormy weather.

"We do need a storm shelter here in Ardmore," commented Mayor Hastings. "There were over 200 people at the Police Department the other night, some in excess of 80-years-old and some were on walkers."

Others present also raised the problems on that particular night associated with traffic in and out of the Police Department parking lot. The board went on to discuss possible avenues for obtaining funds to build a public storm shelter in Ardmore.

Returning to the subject of the new city hall, Alderman Reece wanted to know the specific size of the proposed building.

Crosson responded that the structure under consideration would be in the neighborhood of 4,000 square feet.

"We have done some preliminary sketches, but haven't done any formal drawings," added Hastings.

"We want to have finalized sketches with cost estimates before we decide to do anything," commented Crosson. "Then we could see if we could gut the current city hall building and expand the library. What I would like to see is a new city hall and a new library."

Hastings also mentioned that in addition to a new city hall and library, it was his vision to convert the existing City Hall Annex into a Senior Citizens' Activity Center. Hastings added that he believed the city had done a great deal to help the young people in Ardmore, especially related to providing facilities for sporting activities. However, Hastings was of the opinion that more could be done for seniors.

"What I envision is a facility that could have activities for seniors both day and night," said Hastings. "It would be a way to get folks out of the house and get them active."

In a final matter, Alderman Schrimsher reported that she was meeting with U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis to discuss possible avenues for finding grant money for city sewer upgrades.