The Jefferson City Council met Tuesday night in regular session.

The meeting started with Pat Zmolek being sworn-in as a new council member.

During open forum, resident Mark Lang addressed the Council. He asked the Council how they could keep spending money without having the money to spend? He pointed out as a citizen considering moving to town, he would not because of the new high school and high property taxes. The Council did not respond to Lang’s comments.

The Council approved hiring Melody Larson as an accounting clerk and adm

inistrative assistant with an annual salary of $40,000 and she will start March 19th. The Council then approved the city’s insurance policy for the next year as presented, replacing a valve on a filter at the water plant to not exceed $10,000, along with a $9,085 purchase of new computer equipment for City Hall and a $12,039 computer equipment purchase for the Greene County Community Center, with both expenses to be paid for through the City’s general fund reserves. 

Additionally, the Council approved replacing the showers at the swimming pool for $39,000 by Teeples Heating and Cooling with payment to come from local option sales and services tax, a facility use policy that includes an appeal process, and set a public hearing for April 14th at 5:30pm for a water main improvement project at Chestnut and Adams streets. 

Finally, the Council heard a presentation on the merger of Jefferson Matters: Main Street and Jefferson Area Chamber of Commerce. Following the presentation, the Council instructed City staff to work on a formal agreement with the City and to utilize $70,000 from hotel-motel tax to pay for the new city employee position of a combined director. 

To hear more from last night’s City Council meeting, listen to today’s Community State Bank in Paton Let’s Talk Greene County program with Jefferson City Administrator Mike Palmer.