Greenfield City Council 7/22/2026

Gfld City Cncl

07/22/26

Terry Bynum

Two main items of interest in this meeting. 

First, a public hearing on proposed water and wastewater rate increases. 

Only one citizen spoke–a Mr. Barnes who lives just outside of the city.  He had a number of complaints–he had been forced off his well and  onto city water several years ago when the new jail was built nearby and a water line was run through his property–he was still unhappy about that (even though the city had nothing to do with the new COUNTY jail). The main point he raised was that a cumulative 36% raise over 4 years in those rates was too aggressive. The mayor tried to explain that the city was quite behind in infrastructure improvements due to inaction by previous administrations.  He maintained that Greenfield is still a very affordable place to live and the proposed rates are still quite comparable to other cities our size.   After the public hearing, the council passed the ordinance 6-0 on 2nd & 3rd reading–rates will go up Sept. 1. 

     The other interesting item was a plea by the Police Chief.  He was quite aggressive in asking the council whether they wanted to go ahead with the new police complex.  He said he has had few questions from councilmen, and he is hesitant to go ahead into the bonding process(which will cost about 100K) only to possibly have the council vote NOT to go ahead with the bond and the construction in mid-October (which is when the bond will be available for a vote).  He pointed out that every month of delay in going ahead with this project will cost and additional 150K, or result in 150K worth of items removed from the project. 

    After some discussion, the council voted 6-0 to recommend going ahead with the project(although the council made no promises–pointing out that if something radically changes before Oct 15, the project could be voted down.)