By John Howell

Alderman Stan Harrison wants to say “thanks” to the “thanks-but-no-thanks” lot behind the old Shackeroff’s building on the downtown Square.

The small lot was unexpectedly donated to the city last November by owner Patricia Traylor.

In December, after city officials determined that an easement on the property for a gas line underneath gives them legal authority to maintain the property without incurring the risk of environmental or other liability that might come with acceptance, the property was deeded back to Traylor. 

Last month, Betty Jane Billingsley, who lives nearby on Lomax Street, urged the city to accept the lot and clean it up. Billingsley also said that she could not find the record for the city having deeded the lot back to Traylor.

City plans to clean up the site based on their authority as holders of the utility easement had been thwarted by ongoing rainy weather, aldermen said during their June 3 meeting and when they met again July 1.

“I want to accept the land,” Harrison told the mayor and fellow aldermen at the July 1 meeting. “If we want to do that today, two weeks or four weeks, I want to accept that land.”

“I don’t want to do it today,” Alderman Eddie Nabors said. “I went to three different sessions this last time (during the recent annual meeting of the Mississippi Municipal League in June) based on the issue of receiving property and what needs to be done and the steps you need to go through to get it done.”

“I don’t mind reconsidering it, but if we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it by the book,” Nabors added. 

The lot discussion, including the question of whether the city owns the alley behind the row of buildings on the Square, consumed several more meeting minutes.

City officials asked city engineer Blake Mendrop to determine the boundaries of the lot and asked assistant city attorney Colmon Mitchell to determine if the deed back to property owner Traylor had been recorded.

On Thursday, during a special called meeting consider a budget amendment, Mitchell gave them the answer: “It’s not the city’s.”