The city council approved the tax rate of the city of Quitman at $0.4882 cents per $100 valuation of property at last Thursday's meeting. The taxes are due and payable beginning October 1, 2015 and shall be payable not later than January 31, 2016 and will become delinquent on or after February 1, 2016. Mayor pro-tem Toni Cole led the meeting in the absence of Mayor J.R. Evans.

In his motion, Alderman David Dobbs said, "I would like to move the the adoption of the tax rate at $.4882 which is effectively a 1.41 percent increase which is exactly the same tax rate we had last year." The vote was unanimous for adoption.

The council approved the city of Quitman's contribution of $3,187.10 in an inter-local agreement with Wood County regarding economic and tourism services with the Wood County Industrial Commission (WCIC). Other county cities contributions to the WCIC are Alba 791.28; Hawkins $2,006.46; Mineola $7,088.55; Winnsboro $5,391; and Yantis $609.16. The contribution totals are derived by city population numbers.

In other action, the city renewed their contract with Wood County for library services. The library services contract calls for Wood County to pay the city of Quitman $8,000 for those services. It was noted in Library Director Delene Allen that the Quitman Public Library had a total of 6,750 members with 4,418 of those members from outside the city limits of Quitman.

Another resolution approved was the Quitman's contribution to Wood County's Emergency Management Plan. Quitman will pay $3,189.10 while Alba will pay $693; Hawkins $2,136; Mineola $7,260; Winnsboro $5,617.50; and Yantis $523.50 for an overall total of $19,419.

A resolution for a contract with Wood County regarding fire protection and emergency services by Quitman Volunteer Fire Department calling for Wood County to pay the city of Quitman $49,830 for services rendered to unincorporated areas within the county adjacent to Quitman.

During the mayor's report, Mayor pro-tem Cole praised the Code Red system in place in the city and county. "I want to take just a second to talk about the Cod Red emergency alert system we have. The city uses it, the county uses it. It was utilized last week with a situation of the man hunt that originated in Smith County and eventually moved into our county. We used the emergency alert system to let citizens know what was going on.

"They were encouraged to lock their doors and not leave keys in their vehicles.

What I would like to do is encourage everyone that if you reside in Wood County, sign-up with Code Red. Go to the website and sign yourself up. You will receive notifications of emergency situations, general information, if a ban has been lifted or something as serious as the manhunt with weapons involved," she explained.

In routine matters, the financial report, budget report, previous minutes and departmental reports were all approved.

Police Chief Kelly Cole reported