On Oct. 22, upon recommendation of the Planning and Zoning Commission, West Jefferson Council approved a site plan for a FedEx terminal to be built in the village’s industrial park.
FedEx plans to construct a 152,901 square-foot facility in MTB Corp.’s section of the industrial park. The facility will employ 144 employees, including truck drivers and officer, maintenance and loading workers. FedEx will lease the property from a private developer.
In other action, council passed a resolution authorizing the village to become members of the Madison County Chamber of Commerce at an annual cost of $239.
Darlene Steele, council president, said this is the first time in her memory that the village has been a member of the Chamber. However, Mayor Tom Phillips has been a member of the Chamber for several years. Steele said joining the organization is a step in the right direction.
“The Chamber has been very helpful to the village in many ways, including its recent work in helping to bring Restoration Hardware and Kellogg’s to our community,” Steele said. “And the Chamber has also been very helpful in promoting our West Jefferson Business Council which has become a very active group. The whole influence of the Chamber on our village has been very, very good.”
Council also held second and final reading on an ordinance to raise the number of compensation hours allowed for village employees from 40 to 80. Through the ordinance, village employees will be allowed to build up to, but not over, 80 hours towards a future payout whenever those hours are needed by the employee.
A council work session has been set for 7 p.m. Oct. 29 in council chambers. The purpose is to come up with a conceptual plan regarding future industrial, commercial and residential land uses within the village.
“We want to come up with a pretty good conceptual plan of what the best land use is for various areas of development so other councils down the road will know what we were thinking at this time,” Steele said. “We also need a good plan like this that we can hand to developers when they come into the village. They will know what we are looking for and where we are at on development.
“We want to be much more proactive in our planning and not reactive to development once it is here.”
