City approves permits

Jacksboro City Council hosted a public hearing at its regular meeting Monday to consider requests for three conditional use permits to allow for three businesses to offer salon and spa services including microblading.

Microblading is a semi-permanent form of tattooing to enhance eyebrows.

With no input from the public and recommendation for approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission, the council voted to approve all three permits for the businesses to be located at 522 S. Main, 106 E. Belknap and 112 E. Belknap.

“I don’t know any reason why we shouldn’t,” said Councilman Gary Oliver.

The council also approved the addition of a social media policy to its personnel manual.

City Manager Mike Smith said the policy will give employees direction of how they are to use social media while at work.

“It gives us a little control over who can or cannot post items on any city-related social media like websites, Facebook, whatever,” Smith said. “The police department has a Facebook. The fire department has one. The City has one and if we establish any others in the future we have some more control over what can be posted and who can do it.”

Secondly, the policy gives the city some authority concerning what employees post on their personal social media if it relates to the city.

The council approved a resolution pledging all sales tax revenues attributable to the sale of alcoholic beverages within in the city to the construction, maintenance, replacement, repair, upgrade and/or removal of city streets.

Smith said if the local option election for the sale of alcoholic beverages slated for November in Jacksboro passes, it will be difficult the first year to determine how much sales tax will be attributable to alcohol sales.

“The first couple of years, it will be tough to gauge what we can put in the budget,” he said. “But I think it would certainly go a long way towards helping improve some of our streets.”

Mayor Pro Tem Joe Mitchell said it is likely the receipts from the sale of alcohol will have to be determined after the fact.

“At the end of the year we earned this much, let’s put it toward streets,” he said. “That will be an ongoing issue.”

Gary Oliver made a motion to accept the resolution with Jason Nash seconding and a unanimous vote with Mayor Alton Morris and Councilman Jeff Miller absent.

Smith reported some cuts made to the draft budget which had an approximately $400,000 deficit.

The city is working with an effective tax rate or a rate that will generate the same amount of revenue as the previous year.

To read the complete article, see the July 29 edition of the Herald-Gazette.