By: Eddy Gifford, Publisher

The Trenton City Commission held its regular monthly meeting Monday at City Hall with a light agenda except for the appointment of someone to fill the unexpired term of Parks and Recreation Commissioner Chuck Cannon who resigned his seat last month.

Trenton Mayor Anthony Emmanuel stated that originally nine people had shown interest in the position but two had dropped out leaving seven city residents interested in taking the position. That came as somewhat of a surprise since in the last few city elections candidates for any position had been hard to come by.

The commission went into executive session to discuss the applicants and came out to vote on the new commissioner.

Commissioner Tommy Lawson nominated Terry Powell to fill the unexpired term and the commission unanimously approved him.

In other business at the meeting Mayor Emmanuel reported that the New Year is off to a good start as general fund revenue was $10,000 over budget. Also licenses/permit revenue was some $25,000 over budget as well.

Some expenses are paid quarterly and even some annually which left the city in the red for the first month but those expenses will balance out over the course of the year. The Mayor was very pleased with the way the year started, much different from some of the past years.

In other business the Dade County Public Library made a presentation about the library and what a vital part it is of the community. They showed two short videos about activities at the library and interviewing patrons about why they use the library.

After the presentation Mayor Emmanuel recommended to the commission that the city fund the library at $2,000 per month, retroactive to Jan. 1 for a total of $24,000 annually.

Last year the city cut library funding to $5,000 due to budget issues. “I am comfortable we can get back in line funding the library. This is not where we were but it’s a good start,” Emmanuel stated.

The city also entered into an Intergovernmental Agreement with the county in reference to elections. With the agreement the county will hold all city elections at City Hall thus saving the city money and time.

The Dade County Chamber of Commerce, Tree City, and the Arts Council gave reports during the meeting with everyone reporting a good start to 2013.

The Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet is scheduled for April 20 at the Trenton Civic Center and Debbie Tinker encouraged everyone to get his or her tickets early.

Each commissioner reported on their departments with Police Commissioner Sandra Gray reporting her department answered 131 calls in January and collected fines and fees of $3,204.83.

Commissioner Tommy Lawson reported the fire department responded to 14 fire calls and 68 medical calls during January. He also stated he didn’t have a sewer report this month but would bring everyone up to date at the next meeting.

Streets Commissioner Greg Houts had nothing new to report at this time.

Without a parks commissioner everyone had been chipping in and things seemed to be running smoothly during this slow time of year for the park.