Jackson Free Press

At the Aug. 24 Jackson City Council meeting, council members took the following actions:

• Voted to approve a grant application to the U.S. Department of Transportation to widen Lynch Street. The federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant could widen a section of Lynch Street to four lanes with a median, and could reconstruct the Highway 18/Lynch Street interchange. The $32 million grant requires $8 million in matching funds from the city.

• Approved the purchase of software that could eventually allow Jackson residents to log and track complaints and service requests to the city including complaints of potholes, police behavior or barking dogs. Cityworks software, produced by Utah-based Azteca Systems, costs $170,000 and will generate service requests for the city department overseeing the type of complaint, from public works to the police department. A second, $126,000 software package, Timmons GIS' Request LoGIStics, allows residents to report problems using the city's website.

• Approved the appointments of Jackson residents H. A. Beau Whittington and Beneta Burt to the Jackson Redevelopment Authority. Burt replaces John Wicks, who retired this year. Whittington replaces departing board member Jay Schimmel.

• Passed a new ordinance that adds a petition requirement for renaming streets and public facilities. The council removed a requirement earlier for a petition requiring 75 percent approval from neighbors of the street or facility. Ward 2 Councilman Chokwe Lumumba led the effort to remove the petition, saying the 75 percent requirement acted as a deterrent to renaming. He added a new petition requirement mandating "50 percent plus one" last month, which the council approved last Tuesday.