West Memphis Councilman tips his cap

West Memphis Councilman tips his cap

Taz Tyrone marks last council meeting before leaving office

news@theeveningtimes.com

It was a special called meeting of the West Memphis City Council, the last for Aldermanv. The meeting where a new port lease holder and developer of the city’s new inter-modal facility were approved under the TIGER grant was the last time for Tyrone to vote on city business.

Tyrone held the Ward 3 position 2 seat on for two terms.

After the meeting Tyrone remarked on his time in office.

“I thoroughly enjoyed on serving on the council these last eight years,” said Tyrone. “I say this from the heart.”

For the most part it was smooth sailing under the Mayor Bill Johnson Administration.

“The vast majority of it has been pleasant,” said Tyrone. “It was great learning experience for me. I’ve learned a lot from the mayor about how municipalities work and operate.

It’s different from running a business.

Tyrone is a businessman with a West Memphis based pest control and termite business. That business expanded into Jonesboro. The demands of the additional location drove his decision not to run for re-electon.

“The time constraints have gotten to be where I don’t have time to do the City Council job as well as it needs to be done,” said Tyrone. “I’ve missed some meeting because I opened another office in Jonesboro. It required a lot of my time and that is not fair to those that voted me in.”

Tyrone, a member of the budget committee during his entire tenure in office, pointed to the biggest issue during his time in office.

“It’s been raises for the city employees,” said Tyrone. “It’s been too long since they had a significant raise. You can only squeeze so much blood out of a turnip and we cannot give what is not there. Hopefully the economy continues to improve and sales tax revenue increases, then we’ll have the money to budget those raises.”

The outgoing Councilman gave a positive nod to his successor Wayne Croom.

Croom will be sworn in on New Year Day.

“If I can’t do it the way it needs to be done, then it was time to let someone else do it,” said Tyrone.

“The seat is going to be in great hands with Wayne Croom. He has been involved in the community for years. He is retired and will have a lot of time to dedicate to the position and the committees that he will be appointed to. He is a great, fine, honest, human being.”

By John Rech