LANETT — Mayor Kyle McCoy was the guest speaker at Wedneday’s noon hour meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Valley and reviewed what went on in the City of Lanett in 2018. He was accompanied by Chief Johnny Wood and Patrol Commander Richard Casner of the Lanett Police Department.

“We’ve had a very good year with major work being accomplished on some important projects,” he said. “We’ve completed Phases I and II of our streetscape project, and we’ll be continuing with Phase III in the spring. We have some new Christmas lights up in the downtown area, and I am very pleased with the look.”

Jeff Ward of Rocks N More will soon be putting in a new fountain on the downtown triangle. “Hopefully he’ll be getting started once the weather clears,” McCoy said. “He did an outstanding job with the final sidewalk work we did downtown.”

The mayor thanked Tedrick Colley on donating some land in the downtown area. It runs from First Street to the Jane Farrar Event Center and can be developed as a park area. The Chandler & Lee Funeral Home was on that site at one time.

Phase III will run from the bridge over Tanyard Creek and proceed along the west side of North Lanier Avenue to the intersection of Cherry Drive. Phase IV will be on the east side of the street when the funding becomes available.

McCoy said he’d been well pleased with North Lanier’s new look with wider sidewalks and vintage lighting. He said he’d like for it to continue along the entire length of the street, all the way to the state line at North 12th Street.

A second major project that’s been taking place this year is the installation of a new runway at Lanett Airport. It’s approximately 4,400 feet in length and replaces one that’s 3,300 feet in length.

“We’ll be reopening it in a few months,” he said. “We think it will be a major asset for the local area. We don’t have a lot of available property on our side of the Interstate, but we do have an airport. Making improvements there is something we can do to promote economic development in Chambers County.”

A total of 14 hangars are filled at the airport, and this number could easily expand to 24. The city will have a 165-acre site to maintain once the airport reopens. There will be lots of grass cutting going on there in the spring and summer.

McCoy said it’s critically important for Lanett, Valley, LaFayette and the Chambers County Commission to work together for the common good of everyone in the county.

Lanett got a good bit of street paving done this past year and has plans to be doing more in 2019. Altogether, close to two miles of street improvements took place.

“We have a lot of streets to take care of,” McCoy said. “We have 80 miles of streets in Lanett. Can you believe that? That’s the distance from the Valley to Montgomery. It takes a lot of work to keep that kind of mileage in good condition.”

McCoy said that the city’s code enforcement department has a big job in taking down dilapidated properties and cleaning up lots. A good bit was done this year, but there’s a lot more than needs to be taken care of.

The mayor said he’d gotten lots of positive comments about the lighted street signs near major intersections.

“The pizza delivery guys really like it,” he said. “It makes it a lot easier to find places at night.”

Work is now under way to finish the new Domino’s store on Broad Avenue. Despite some rumors that have been going around, the long-time closure is not because the new building is too close to the road. The problem, McCoy said, is that all Domino’s buildings have to be built the same and this one wasn’t. It’s now being modified to be consistent with the others.

“Domino’s has standard plans for all its buildings,” McCoy said. “This one will be that way when it opens. It’s going to be really nice. There will be plenty of space to sit down and eat a meal.”

A member of the club asked McCoy if he had an opinion on school consolidation.

  “We don’t know right now if it’s feasible,” he said. “There are lots of questions and we need to find out first if it’s feasible. There are lots of opinions and lots of rumors. No one has all the answers. What would it look like of Valley, Lanett and LaFayette combined into one new school and can we all live with that? There is an opportunity to change the face of our community. We should consider it very carefully.”