Tupelo council approves grants, MOUs and appointments; schedules code reviews for March work sessions

The Tupelo City Council on Feb. 17 approved a package of routine ordinances, grant applications, memoranda of understanding and appointments while advancing several building- and fire-code items to upcoming work sessions.

Presiding official (Speaker 1) opened the meeting and led the council through the action and routine agendas. The council adopted an ordinance amending Code of Ordinances chapter 23.5 on solid-waste collection, addressing contract holders, permitting fees and penalties. Speaker 4 moved the measure and it was seconded and approved by voice vote.

Council members approved several grant submissions. The presiding official described a Mississippi Office of Homeland Security state and local cybersecurity grant for $212,000 that requires no local match; the council authorized staff to submit that application. The body also authorized submission of certified local government grant applications related to Spain House and to Spring Hill Missionary Baptist Church; the transcript records the motions as approved but the specific award amounts for the Spain House application were unclear in the spoken record.

The council accepted memoranda of understanding formalizing cooperation between the Tupelo Police Department and two partners: the Mississippi Attorney General's Human Trafficking Task Force and the United States Capitol Police. The MOU with the Attorney General was described as formalizing multi-jurisdictional investigative…