By REID TUCKER
The Paxton Town Council quickly took care of some pre-holiday housekeeping at its regularly scheduled Nov. 19 meeting, including hearing an update on construction at the city’s new the mobile Health Department clinic.
Mayor Hayward Thomas informed the Council members of progress at the clinic, which, though it does not yet have electricity hooked up as yet, is slated to open by the first week of December, with an official ribbon cutting to follow on the 12th. The mayor also told the board that the recently completed wheelchair access ramp at the site did not pass a state inspection and would have to be removed and altered before the clinic could open for business. Finally, the Council voted 5-0 to have Thomas draft a letter to the Florida Department of Health expressing the city’s support for the clinic in light of the benefit to area residents, many of whom are low-income citizens previously without easy access to healthcare.
Next, since state law forbids municipal governments to award bonuses to employees on the city payroll, the Council voted 5-0, as it has in past years, to give employees a one-time raise equal to an extra week’s pay in time for the holidays. The board also cast a unanimous vote to have the county machine shop repair one of the city’s pickup trucks that had been causing problems for water department crews.
Lastly, though most of the Council members had to abstain from voting on the matter, a motion to allow the mayor to use some of his discretionary funds to provide a turkey and other fixings for a Thanksgiving lunch for area senior citizens on Wednesday at Town Hall.
