By John Howell Sr.
Batesville city officials meeting last Tuesday took their first official step to become a Certified Local Government, adopting an ordinance to create a seven-member historic preservation commission.

The vote came during their regularly scheduled First Tuesday meeting after recessed meetings held that morning had heard CLG discussion as well as a presentation from a retail economic development strategist.

The Certified Local Government program is a federal-state-local partnership established in 1980 through amendments to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. The program assists local governments in preserving historic and architecturally significant structures and sites.

The mayor and aldermen will advertise for seven people to serve on a historic preservation commission. Their responsibilities will include monitoring and regulating certain changes owners propose for homes and buildings in the older section of an area from Panola Avenue to Boothe Street and from Broadway to Bates Street as well as a portion of Eureka Street and the Public Square.

North Delta Planning and Development District (NDPDD) representative Lillian Morris and Batesville Main Street Manager Colleen Clark met with city officials to answer questions about the CLG during the morning’s recessed meeting.

Mayor Jerry Autrey asked if work on a structure in the historic district could result in delays waiting for a “certificate of appropriateness” from the historic preservation commission.

His question prompted discussion among aldermen about whether a historic preservation commission could meet jointly with or immediately following the monthly meetings of the Batesville Planning Commission. Consecutive meetings would allow a property owner or contractor to accomplish permitting requirements without an additional step.

“That would be the thing to do, because they work together,” Alderman Stan Harrison said.

Decisions of both the planning commission and the historic preservation commission come with recommendations for approval or for disapproval to the board of aldermen for final decision.