Rison City Council Mulls Truck Routes

RISON - Loaded semi trucks traveling along city streets that are off the truck route were a topic of discussion at Tuesday night’s Rison City Council meeting, but the council decided to tabled any action to give members more time to consider as course of action.Mayor Charles Roberts said he has been informed by others and had observed himself seeing semi trucks driving along city streets that are not designated as the truck route. Those trucks have been seen traveling down Main Street and some were driving down residential streets. Roberts said he saw a log truck drive driving down Elrod Street.Many of those trucks driving down Main Street are doing so to make deliveries, especially to those businesses on the east side of the street. The mayor said the solution would be open the alley that runs behind those businesses but there is currently a dumpster sitting in the middle of the alley that would block traffic.It was pointed out during the discussion that some of the large trucks using Main Street have damaged the patch job covering the water leak area in front of the grocery store.“I don’t want to be a hindrance to anyone but we need to protect our streets,” Roberts told the council. “Eventually, we’re going to get some new pavement.”There was also discussion about log trucks parking along some of the streets with the mayor noting that one truck recently damaged the canopy while trying to park at the old Quik M convenience store.The council discussed some possible solutions to both the truck route and parking issue but never came to a definitive conclusion. Roberts eventually suggested that the matter be tabled so the council members could consider some solutions for the next meeting.State Law ChangesRoberts and City Attorney Thomas Burns both went over some changes related to Act 505, which modernizes the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) of 1967. The new law puts an emphasis...