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Published 2:20 pm Tuesday, April 11, 2023
- Mr. Cat
City, county gear up for busy summer
New letters here
By Thomas Howard thoward@themeridianstar.com
- 6 hrs ago
- meridian city hall
- Warmer temperatures and longer days are signalling the arrival of summer, and Meridian and Lauderdale County are gearing up for a busy time.
In a Council of Governments meeting Monday at Anderson Regional Medical Center, Lauderdale County Tourism Director Dede Mogollon said the Queen City is becoming a go-to destination.
“Where we used to have one event on a weekend, now we have two or three,” she said.
Several major conferences are set to be held in Meridian this year, Mogollon said, and her department was working closely with Downtown Meridian and other organizations to show visitors what the city has to offer.
“Bringing all these folks in from out of town and getting to see what Meridian looks like now, they haven’t been here in 10 or 15 years,” she said. “It’s really pretty exciting.”
Tourism, however, won’t be the only department putting in the long hours. Meridian City Councilman Dwayne Davis said the city’s parks and recreation department has a lot planned for the warm summer months.
Currently, Davis said, parks and recreation is working to hire certified lifeguards for the city’s two pools at Highland and Velma Young parks. The city has struggled amid a national lifeguard shortage to fully staff the pools, but Davis said he was optimistic. The pools, he said, are an important part of summer in Meridian for many children.
“That’s a big plus in the summer for the kids,” he said.
Parks and Recreation will also be working on a $5 million overhaul of the city’s recreational facilities after the City Council passed a bond to fund the work in March. Davis said the architectural firm, Davis and Purdy Architects, is expected to be at the City Council’s work session Tuesday to give an update on the Frank Cochran Center.
Rebuilding the center, which was damaged in a fire in 2019, is a part of the bond plan.
Residents and visitors walking down Front Street this summer will also see work underway at Union Station. Community Development Director Craig Hitt said his office had recently received word Amtrak planned to upgrade its platform at Union Station to make getting on and off the train easier.
“Right now the rail cars are higher than the platform, so they’re going to raise the platform,” he said. They’ll put new covers on the platform, and then there’ll be some repairs to the tracks as well.”
While there would be no cost to the city for the upgrades, Hitt said Amtrak was asking for the city’s permission because part of the work would be done on property the city owns. He said the item would be presented to the City Council at an upcoming meeting.
“It’s all quite frankly in preparation for the new line that we hope will be coming through in the next couple of years that runs from Atlanta to Dallas,” he said. “That will be a huge asset for the City of Meridian.”
