Published: November 03, 2009 11:51 pm      

Downtown park makeover

Highland Park Zehler Monument will get new home

Highland Park's Zehler Monument will soon be moving closer to its original location.

The monument, which was first used as a fountain in the middle of Fourth Street and 23rd Avenue, will become a fountain once again when it is moved to a small park at the corner of those same streets.

The park itself will be completely redesigned and named Monument Park as part of a downtown beautification effort by the East Mississippi Business Development Corporation's Image Committee.

Along with the Zehler Monument fountain, the plans for the park include a vegetable garden, brick walkway, and extensive landscaping.

The Zehler monument honors F.W. Zehler, Meridian's first fire chief, who was killed in the line of duty in 1901. It is thought to have originally been used as a horse trough, and was moved to Highland Park in the 1920's because of roadwork.

The makeover of the park will be funded mostly by financial and in-kind donations, with work done on public volunteer work days.

The city will contribute about $1,200 for electrical wiring that will be used for christmas lighting, among other things, Meridian Mayor Cheri Barry said. Barry said the money was included in the original Community Development budget for FY 2010.

The city has also contributed in-kind services to the project through the service of engineers in the Community Development department. Because the park is city property, Barry said, Community Development is making sure the work done by the image committee is appropriate.

The city will continue to be responsible for maintenance of the park once the beautification effort is completed.

Materials and other necessities for the completion of the project are being provided by donations made through the image committee.

The first volunteer work day for the project will take place Saturday, Nov. 14 beginning around 8 a.m. Volunteers will work on the fencing, stone work, and brick work on the first work day, and will work on landscaping on subsequent work days. So far, an estimated date of completion has not been determined.

"We're real excited about this and we want to make sure that everyone comes and participates in this and helps us complete the project," Barry said. "Church groups, youth groups, singles, anyone who would like to help us."

The work day will be coordinated by the Image Committee. Those who would like to volunteer should contact Danielle Winningham, public relations coordinator for EMBDC, at (601) 693-1306 or dwinningham@embdc.org.

Winningham said the project already has many volunteers, but is still in need of donations. Monetary donations can be made by contacting Tom Maynor with First State Bank at (601) 693-6404. Material donations can be made by contacting Kevin Locke with Community Development at (601) 485-1892.



Meeting Minutes



The Meeting: Meridian City Council. November 3, 2009



What Happened:



• The council tabled a motion to add a surcharge to hazardous violation fines that would be used to purchase wireless communication devices for the Meridian Police Department. Ward 1 Councilman Dr. George Thomas moved to table the motion because he felt some of the violations that were considered hazardous, such as failure to dim headlights, did not warrant an additional surcharge.

• E-911 Director Jared Stanley, who began the job in August, introduced himself the council. He said he hopes to improve the response time for 911 calls by using the same software for both city and county calls.