We're live at the April board meeting of the Tupelo Redevelopment Agency, which is a city-created board charged with overseeing the development of Fairpark.
We're in the board room of the Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association.
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Disclaimer: I'm typing as people are talking. There may be typos. People also have a tendency to talk at the same time, so I can't always hear everything.
And, I'm not typing every word. Think of this more as the highlights of the meeting.
Something doesn't make sense? Corrections? Have questions? Ask.
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Meeting called to order at 4:04 p.m. Chairman John Oxford presiding.
Pay bills:
• Mitchell, McNutt & Sams (general legal & family entertainment tax) $476.35; $130; $167
• Ten Oaks Consulting (monthly maintenance) $6,902.62
• Marketing Alliance (3 years of website hosting) $206.58
• Transport Trailer (3 big signs and several small ones that show the plans for Fairpark to help sell property - already installed) $1,075.50
• Trugreen (herbicide application, including residential) $170
• Trugreen (herbicide and other apps) $400
• Tupelo W&L $89.73; $83.02; $10.75; $10.95; $82.64
Bills approved.
Proposal to buy hanging flower baskets in Fairpark
Debbie Brangenberg of Main Street: Hanging baskets go up around Fairpark. Boyd (from Ten Oaks) is putting them up May 3-4. They last all summer. We've done this three or four years.
Oxford: They look good. They are in the budget. We need them up and looking good before people come down for events.
$3,200 approved for MidSouth Nursery
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Question from board member Reed Hillen: What's the update on our marketing efforts?
Oxford: Like to get the website updated.
Brangenberg: We're going to update brochures. Daphene Hendricks is going to design them.
Oxford: BBQ Duel was good for Fairpark.
Brangenberg: Event was very successful in Fairpark. Lots of people who had never been to an event in Fairpark came. Lots of good comments. Plans to continue to make this an annual event. We got a lot of good press and comments from people out of town.
City COO Darrell Smith: I was there when people were leaving and all of them were saying, "We'll be back. We've never been treated this way before."
Board member Jim Collins: Where is the mayor getting this that we're out of the tunnel?
Guy Mitchell (board attorney): I think he's basing it on things like sales tax.
Collins: Well, I'm just not seeing it.
Collins: What's the latest on restaurant (Mugshots) down there?
Brangenberg: He (Johnny Robbins) is still working on it. Last he said was 9 months or so.
Collins: Vacancies in homes?
Brangenberg: We've got one.
Meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m. Questions?
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Update after the meeting from Brangenberg:
Our cash mob was featured at the National Town Meeting in Baltimore last week. Gave out 29 stickers to mobbers. Barbara from Main Attraction was mobbed. Had about a $2,400 day (mob & other biz).