This week the Poplarville Board of Aldermen had a lengthy discussion regarding unpaid privilege license taxes owed by city businesses to continue operating within the city limits.

The board voted to send a final notice to all business owners who still owe delinquent taxes informing them that if they fail to pay the taxes, the city will have no choice but to take further action.

The board began the Tuesday evening meeting entering executive session for possible litigation regarding economic development. No public discussion was made regarding the outcome of that closed session.

Also, Mayor Billy Spiers said he hopes the city will begin seeing some construction on repairing and repaving streets by the end of the month.

The board discussed the status of the new fire station on schedule for construction later this year. Fire Chief Kris Foster said the city will probably be at the point it can open bids for the project in late April or May.

The mayor asked the board to consider adding parking space to both City Hall and the police station, saying both locations are in bad need of additional parking. The board approved that request and voted to advertise for bids.

The board also discussed extending water to the new Masonic Lodge building under construction. Spiers said he informed the lodge that while the city’s moratorium for adding new taps within the city limits has been lifted, the city cannot run new lines to make extensions to the system. The Masonic Lodge request would require an extra 1,500 feet of six-inch water line in addition to a fire hydrant.

Although the board took no formal action on the request for the water extension, the mayor said that if the Masonic Lodge wanted to pay for the extension itself the city would find out the cost for the project. Spiers asked Sam Hale, city superintendent, to contact The Don Walker Associates, the city’s contracted engineering firm, to get an estimate on the cost for the project.

The board also voted to allow county emergency operations to install an emergency warning siren at the Cumberland Street well site. The county EOC already has a siren located at Pearl River Community College and is wanting to add the second siren in the heart of town with a third located south of the city.

Aldermen also discussed illegally-parked travel trailers within the city limits. The board agreed to send letters to those residents asking them to remove the trailers since sufficient time has passed for which the trailers are needed.

In other business, the board voted to send City Attorney Martin Smith to the Mississippi Municipal League’s attorney seminar. Smith will be one of the speakers for that statewide conference. Aldermen authorized sending Byron Wells to represent the board at a Mississippi Municipal League seminar as well.

The board voted to send four of its volunteer and part-time firemen to an EMT class at Pearl River Community College. With more than 95 percent of all fire calls involving emergency medical incidents, Fire Chief Kris Foster said the emergency medical training is vital to the department.

“They all need this training,” the mayor agreed.

In addition, the board authorized Al Tynes to become certified to teach the DARE program in the Poplarville school district. Tynes is the school resource officer.

Finally, the board authorized hiring Kay Dominguez as secretary for the police department. Dominguez is a certified part-time police officer who attended the criminal justice program at Pearl River Community College.