Gainesboro Considering Expanding City Limits

Gainesboro Aldermen are considering a proposal to annex multiple properties outside the city’s boundaries to expand the city limits.

Gainesboro Aldermen Tom Goetz said he thought of the proposal after riding through Gainesboro with Police Chief Micahel Smith. Goetz said the city-limit boundaries would make more sense if the properties were annexed by the city.

“We have some really strange boundary lines in the city,” Goetz said. “Whereas you are going up the road up the hill here as you know it’s in the city limits but your house is not and the same on this side of the town. You can go along there and there are three or four houses that are in the county and then this one is in the city.”

MTAS has two processes that the city can go through depending on whether the property owners want to be a part of the city or not. Mayor Lloyd Williams said the city annexed property when he became mayor but since then the process to annex properties has become more difficult.

City Attorney Kayla Collins Cantrell said if the properties are within the urban growth boundary set by the state then the process would be much easier. Goetz mentioned that potential legislation has been floating around to make the process easier but Cantrell said every time it has been brought forth, lawmakers have not acted on the legislation.

“I think it has been proposed and they say it’s coming,” Cantrell said. “But I think it’s just dead every time.”

Aldermen Beth Young said she supports the city in pursuing the process of annexing properties.

“We have to think about providing additional services or something that would make the people happy to say yeah,” Young said. “Whether it’s a sanitation service or making the streets better. I don’t know what we would need but we need to talk about it along the way because it is something that we need to do.”

Goetz said after some conversations with a couple of people who live outside the city limits some people would be willing to be annexed and pay city taxes with the tradeoff of being able to vote and have cheaper insurance. Goetz said the properties are already receiving city services.

“One of our former aldermen once said they are getting city water, they are getting services, and if a fire breaks out at your house we know that we are going to respond to it because it is the right thing to do,” Goetz said. “It seems like they would want to be a part of the city.”