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BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR STAFF
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com 
The Elizabethton City Council will be meeting Thursday evening at 6 pm for their regularly scheduled July meeting in City Hall’s Council meeting room.

With no old business on the agenda, Council will be directing their attention to new business for the month as they begin a new fiscal year after approving the 2021-2022 fiscal year budget in a specially called meeting on June 30th.

After approval of minutes from their June 10th meeting and the special called meeting, the Council will move to the proclamations and special recognition of citizens by Mayor Curt Alexander with a proclamation and a recognition slated during the meeting.

Mayor Alexander will present a proclamation to honor the 50th Anniversary of the Watauga Valley Art League which would have been in 2020 had it not been for COVID. The Art League just completed their annual Art Show and Sale at Sycamore Shoals State Park.

Also, Mayor Alexander will recognize Richard and Norma Tetrick for their donation of Kiwanis Park playground equipment.

Comments from citizens will be entertained after the recognition portion of the meeting as citizens can come before the Council with any comments they wish to make to the Councilmen.

City Manager Daniel Estes will then share monthly department reports as well as any miscellaneous reports that is deemed important for the Council to be made aware of.

There are no board appointments to be made for the month of July allowing the Council to entertain reports from committees, members of the council, and other officers.

The new business that Council will be entertaining for July includes the following:
– Request for qualifications award and contract for Engineering services for Surf Betsy.
– Rate consultant contract – Chris Mitchell.
– Permission to open a bank account and a Local Government Investment Pool (LGIP) account for the newly created American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Fund (Fund 127).
– Disbursement allocation approval to Non-profit agencies.
– Resolution to consider approval of Dude Solutions SmartGov Community Development software.
– Elizabethton Police Department – Elizabethton City School Resource Officer agreement.
– National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA) Mentorship Grant MOU: Amendment II: Payment schedule modification.

The Council will also consider the approval of the purchase of an Alamo 22″ Machete to be mounted on a John Deere 610SE tractor.

Immediately following the conclusion of the regular meeting, the Council will go into a session as the Beverage Board where they will be considering a request by Jiggy Ray’s for permission to serve alcohol in the Bicentennial Breezeway during outdoor music festivals – JiggyPalooza on Saturday, July 31st and Jiggyfest on Saturday, September 4th.

Also, the Beverage Board will be asked to grant a temporary beer permit request for the Bonnie Kate’s BBQ, Blues & Brews Festival at the Covered Bridge Park.