Efforts to promote Laurel as a retirement destination are paying off according to Laurel Planning Development/Hometown Retirement Director Linda Reinholtz.

Speaking during the Laurel council meeting Tuesday night, Reinholtz said interest from retirees, often well-educated people with disposable incomes to contribute to sales tax collections, is increasing. She said there have been 592 inquiries through websites and magazine advertising recently. The highest interest, she said, come from Florida with 78 inquiries. That number was followed by New York and Massachusetts with 47 each, California with 37, and 31 inquiries from Texas.

There are 21 Certified Retirement Cities in Mississippi. Laurel and Brandon received the designation in 2005.

“We are getting inquiries from all over the nation,” Reinholtz said. “There are other towns that wanted to be certified and they did not make it.”

Reinholtz said Laurel is one of 21 cities highlighted at www.visitmississippi.org. There is a section for Laurel under the “Retirement” heading, including a commercial and facts.

Ward 5 Councilman Manuel Jones said he attended the public hearing at the Jones County Board of Supervisor budget meeting to once again discuss road and bridge money. Jones said supervisors aren’t sharing Laurel’s fair portion of the money with the city. He said car tags in the city are much higher than they are in the county, and a portion of that money should be invested within the city limits. He also said many Jones County residents work and shop in Laurel, using the city’s streets and bridges, without contributing a fair amount to maintenance of those same roadways.

“It’s steadily dropping,” Jones said of the amount allocated to Laurel’s streets and bridges. “I questioned them about road maintenance. We’re still not getting as much money as we should be getting. I have a problem with the way things are going on. It’s not right. I didn’t get elected to make friends. We have got to start communicating with each other — the county and the city.”

Jones said Laurel residents are forced to help pay back a $5.5 million bond “but the city doesn’t get any of the money.”

As reported by the Leader-Call, there was much discussion during the council meeting about pay raises and the public works department. For details from that story, see Wednesday’s edition of the Leader-Call.

After the discussion about raises, the meeting moved very quickly with little discussion. Council action included:

• adopted an order authorizing the mayor to sign agreements and contracts necessary for the planning of the Main Street Festival. Vote: 6-1, Ward 6 Councilman Johnny Magee against.

• adopted a resolution giving authority to advertise for bids for a Soda Ash Feed System at Water Treatment Plant #1. Vote: 7-0

• approved the first reading of an ordinance changing the zoning classification of land belonging to Plainway Baptist Church located on Highway 15 North and further described hereinafter from R-2 and R-3 to C-2. Vote: 7-0

• approved the first reading of an ordinance amending certain sections of the City of Laurel Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance. Vote: 7-0

• approved the second reading of an ordinance changing the zoning classification of property located on N. 14th Ave. and W. 6th St. from R-3 to C-2 in order to sell to Mark Jones for the location of a seafood establishment. Vote: 7-0

• approved the second reading of an ordinance to increase the commercial dumpster rates in the city limits of Laurel. Vote: 7-0

• adopted an order granting special exception to Horace Cochran to allow the operation of a hand car wash and detail shop at 1538 N. 1st Ave. Vote: 7-0

• adopted an order granting a variance to D’s Interiors located at 1514 W. 10th St. in regards to regulations on the maximum size of a wall mounted sign in a C-2 zone. Vote: 7-0

• adopted a resolution authorizing the finance director to proceed with a construction loan agreement with the Miss. Development Pool Loan for the purpose of borrowing funds for the Parks and Recreation Department. Vote: 7-0

• adopted an order amending the Fiscal Year 2008 budget. Magee did raise questions with this item.

“I’m going to start at the top,” he said, “and work down.”

Magee asked about overtime for public relations, recreation and maintenance, swimming, and landfill. He also asked about increases for council insurance.

Ward 3 Councilman Tony Thaxton also mentioned that there were many of these items during the last meeting. He said council members should be totally informed of the outcome of these increases because they could impact the budget that is required by law to be approved Sept. 15.

The order passed with a 6-1 vote with Magee against.

• adopted an order authorizing the city clerk to advertise for bids for property insurance coverage and broiler and machinery coverage for the city. Vote: 7-0

• adopted an order approving lot cleaning assessment bills. Vote: 7-0

• adopted a resolution declaring the City of Laurel invoking its rights pursuant to 47 United States Code Section 546 and pending the resolution of the Franchise Agreement negotiations with Comcast of Laurel will commence proceedings within a reasonable time pursuant to law. Vote: 7-0. The City of Laurel is preparing to begin negotiations with Comcast, the cable provider within the city limits.