By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
The Cabot City Council met Monday night and quickly worked through a short agenda with almost no discussion and unanimous approval of all items.
The council passed a resolution permitting Eddie Cook, the city’s director of operations and the owner of Cook Screen Printing, to contract with the city for the sale of goods and services.
The council passed a similar resolution when Cook was on the council. Alderman Jon Moore asked if the council needed to rescind that resolution before passing the new one. City Attorney Jim Taylor responded that the second one superceded the first so all they needed to do was to pass the second one.
Mayor Bill Cypert added that Cook would still have to bid work like any other vendor, but the resolution was needed before he could legally bid.
The council also passed an ordinance rezoning property at 1703 S. Pine St. from R-1 to C-2. The ordinance had been read at previous council meetings and no member of the community came forward to protest the rezoning.
Cypert pulled a resolution appointing council members to committees. The committees are already meeting, but Cypert intended to appoint some “at-large” members who are not on the council.
Before he was elected mayor, Cypert, who was the secretary of the water and wastewater commission, served on the public-works committee.
After he was elected, he appointed Gary Walker, vice chairman of the water and wastewater commission, to the public-works committee and he intended to add Glenn Howe as well.
But after he learned that the ordinance didn’t allow for members not on the city council, he pulled the resolution. He said after the meeting that he would like to appoint non-council members to the committees, but to do so will require amending the ordinance.
Banker John C. Thompson was appointed by resolution to the park commission to replace Jackie Clinton, whose husband was transferred out of the country.
For the second month in a row, the resolutions recognizing former Mayor Eddie Joe Williams and former Alderman Lisa Brickell Hardage were on the agenda.
The resolutions were held last month when neither honoree was present. But when neither attended the Monday night meeting, the council passed the resolutions without them.
Considering the lack of discussion and short agenda, the meeting would have lasted no more than 20 minutes except that it started with entertainment by a choral group from Cabot High School.
The group, directed by David Willard and accompanied by Jo Murry, sang “The Star Spangled Banner,” “America the Beautiful,” “In Flanders Field” and “Why We Sing.”
