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At the February 21 Demopolis City Council meeting, the Council approved the tax abatement for Stellar Power to construct a solar farm near Demopolis. A portion of the area is within the Demopolis police jurisdiction and the city has the ability to give a tax abatement on the area.

At the February 2 council meeting, members discussed how the abatement would not apply to education taxes and that if the solar farm was approved, the next 20 years would see approximately $3.6 million of education tax paid. Of the percentage of distributions of taxes for education, Demopolis would receive 55.24879 percent, basically 56 percent of the taxes.

During that meeting, Mayor Woody Collins said that approximately $100,000 a year of additional revenue would go to Demopolis. The community will go up on taxes for the abatement, but with the project here, the schools will benefit greatly.

The Council held a public hearing on the rezoning of property next Bama Auto on 204 S. Cedar Ave. Collins said they have requested to build a shed for golf carts, four-wheelers, and other equipment that has been displayed outside. There were no objections during the public hearing and the council approved rezoning the property from B-3 to BL-I with suffix C.

Collins also reported that there is a serious piping issue at the SportsPlex. A pipe underneath the road going into the SportsPlex is broken and is washing out on the south side.

“If we don’t do something with it, we will lose the road and that will shut down the SportsPlex, Wallace Community College, and everything else out there,” said Collins.

Collins declared the situation an emergency and has already spoken with a company to fix the pipe. The cost of the project is $48,704.56 and will be taken out of the reserve fund.

Other items discussed/approved by the Council:

• Approved a request from LeTonya Williams for entertainment district on June 3 at Theo Ratliff Activity Center for Alumni Picnic
• Approved a request from Betsy Stephens for entertainment district in the downtown square every Sunday in April
• Approved a request from Aggie Scott and Barbara Raymond blocking off streets for a block party on July 29
• Appointed George Durbin to the MCEDA (Marengo County Economic Development Authority) board
• Appointed Jimbo Ward to the Cemetery Board

The Demopolis City Council meets on the first and third Thursday of every month at 5:15 p.m. The work session begins at 4:45 p.m. The public is invited to attend.