The city of Adairville will soon begin the process of taking up any of its sidewalks which could be seen as dangerous.

At last week’s city council meeting, the council voted 6-0 to start taking up any sidewalks in town that could cause a person to fall and sustain an injury.

Mayor Jim Wilkerson presented information to the council stating that anyone who fell because the city did not properly maintain its sidewalks could turn around and sue the city for any injuries.

“If someone falls on one, we could be held liable,” council member Tracy Gunderson said.

After some discussion, it was decided that the city employees would start taking out the worst portions of sidewalk first during any free time they might have.

“I don’t think this is something we need to have them working overtime on,” Wilkerson said.

After the pieces of sidewalk are removed, the city will then level off the dirt and put down grass seed and straw.

“I don’t think you should remove it and just leave it dirt,” Gunderson said.

Councilman Tony Nichols said the city should look into getting grants to replace the portions of sidewalk that had to be removed.

Wilkerson said the city could look into that, but that state and federal funding for projects will likely be hard to obtain because of the current state of the economy.

Also at the meeting, the council voted unanimously to make Martin Luther King Day a paid holiday for the city employees.

Nichols said he was shocked to learn that the city did not already observe the federal holiday.

“If we don’t honor that, what are we telling the youth?” Nichols said.

The only paid holidays city employees had prior to last week’s meeting were New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Nichols also made a point to explain why he was the only council member to vote no at last month’s special called meeting.

On January 19, the council voted 5-1 to sell two lots on Holman Avenue to Jerry and Keith Hoover for $6,000.

The Hoovers currently use the building on the north side of city hall for the purpose of their business, but they are selling the land to Houchens Industries as part of the deal which will bring a new Crossroads IGA to Adairville.

The land on Holman Avenue is currently empty grass lots, which are zoned industrial and mowed by the city throughout the summer.

“I voted no because that is in a residential area – even though it was zoned industrial,” said Nichols, who lives near the property the city voted to sell. “We should have given the people that live there the common courtesy of asking how they felt about that and if they want something coming in to their neighborhood.”

Also at last week’s meeting, Wilkerson informed the council that the $150,000 the city was promised from the state has not been appropriated yet.

The money, which was used to make improvements to the city’s water tank, will not be available until some time after July 1.

The total cost of the water tank restoration was $189,500. The city has already paid for the work and now will have to wait to be reimbursed for the majority of the cost.