The Aragon City Council took on several items of business during their September session this past Thursday, including the approval of their FY 2021 budget, tabling a decision on a new storage facility proposed within the city limits and giving a yes vote to put in place a Review Panel to decide on Aragon Police Department hires in the future.

The Review Panel will have to consist of three police officers and two city employees to determine whether new hires will be recommended to Mayor Debbie Pittman for approval. Council member Daniel Johnson made the motion to require that the panel be setup in such a way that has both police and city involvement to ensure that, as Johnson put it, they fit in with the city and the police department culture.

Aragon’s council also approved an FY 2021 budget, decided to appoint Gary Shindelbower to the Zoning Board of Appeals, placing the chipper and leaf vacuum on Govdeals with minimum pricing to sell the equipment, voted yes to remove speedbumps on city roadways, and sold several surplus items put up last month when sealed bids were opened.

That included phones, lockers, office chairs, and a floor buffer that went to several sellers, but the council decided to not take bids on printers and a Ford Explorer put up for surplus.

Council members also decided that overtime more than five hours for all departments will now be paid out in comp time rather than as additional cash on a paycheck as a cost-saving measure to go along with the approval of the budget.

One item that required tabling to straighten out issues on paperwork versus a request from the city’s planning and zoning board to allow for mini storage buildings to go up on West Fifth Street and Highway 101.

The question over the entrance was unclear, and Roy Crumley asked to speak out against the mini storage buildings before the council. Some confusion on where the entrance was going – whether it be West Fifth Street, Belk Drive, or on Highway 101. The request was to have the entrance go up on West Fifth Street and not Belk Drive, to avoid having further issues with traffic and already problematic roadway conditions.

Crumley added that the city already has several storage facilities, and asked that it not be put up in front of the residences on West Fifth or Belk Drive.

The city council decided to delay a decision on approving the storage facility construction until October when the question over the entrance can be worked out.