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Monday, March 23, 2020

Mayor wants to expand sidewalk project to park for school access, delay it a year to make sure of money

The Midway City Council will hold its first workshop to work on the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 via teleconference Monday, March 30, at 5 p.m. The meeting will stream live via Facebook, Mayor Grayson Vandegrift said in an email to the council and news media.

Vandegrift said the availablity of grants has prompted him to propose building a sidewalk not only along West Stephens Street from Brand Street to the Homeplace, but to the north along Brand, "ultimately connecting it to Dudley, and to the trails at Walter Bradley Park." He said that would require a footbridge over Lee’s Branch parallel to the Dudley Street culvert, but that would fulfill a request made by Council Member Sara Hicks and parents and teachers of Northside Elementary School students who use the route. "What that does is open us up to more grant opportunities because it ties into a park, and provides a safer walk to and from school. I’ve already walked this with our engineer and he says it’s very doable."

However, Vandegrift said he would ask that the project wait until fiscal 2021-22, to allow more time to get grants and "more time to assess the economic toll the pandemic will cause. Though I’m hopeful it won’t greatly affect our income projections for FY 2020-21, it might. I’m fairly certain it will, however, affect our current year’s budgeting. While our two largest job providers (Lakeshore and Midway University) continue to operate with the proper precautions, there’s no doubt our current pace of occupational tax collection will decline, and we need to be prepared for that. We also don’t know the long term effects this could have on our economy. Couple that with the fact that we have to make sure we can execute our sewer project this year, I submit my proposal to you."

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