Street to honor the late Emmy Stidham
At the recent city council meeting a motion was made by Councilman Jay Hayes and passed by the entire council to move forward with renaming Enterprise Ave to “Emmy’s Way” after the late Ms. Emmy Stidham.
“My first job was mowing Ms. Emmy’s lawn when I was eight years old,” Hayes said. “So I had the honor of knowing her almost all my life.
There was no doubt that Ms. Emmy was Checotah’s biggest cheerleader. The fact that she was the inaugural recipient of the McIntosh County Democrat’s Citizen of the Year Award in 1986 and that she won the award again in 2022 when she was 93 years old speaks for itself. In reality, Ms. Emmy could have won that award just about every year because no matter where she went she was always promoting her small town.
“After her passing last year, I was determined to honor her in some way Then one day I was driving by the Katy Depot and admiring the new ornate street signs that the city had placed at the Paul Carr Drive and Enterprise Ave intersection, and I had the thought that Ms. Emmy would have really liked how nice they looked. I guess it was then that I was struck with the idea of changing the non-descript “Enterprise Ave” to “Emmy’s Way” to honor her. How befitting it was that it ran beside her beloved Katy Depot that she worked so tirelessly for!
“Emmy’s Way is both a tribute to her and a reminder to all of us to honor her legacy by living and doing things the way she did – by always thinking of others before ourselves, always working to improve Checotah for the betterment of us all, and always treating everyone with love and kindness.”
In other business:
• A motion was approved by council to allow the city attorney to turn Section 20-3. Abandoned, Junked, Discarded Vehicles into ordinance form.
• A motion was approved by council to allow the city attorney to turn Article II. Nuisances, Section 20-26 illustrative enumeration, item P. Regarding Abandoned, Junked, Discarded Vehicles into ordinance form.
• A motion was approved by council on payment of invoice # 223017-7 to Myers Engineering in the amount of $1,201.00 for the Gentry and Broadway Street Light Project.
• A motion was approved by council on renewing membership with AirMedCare Network Group.
• A motion was approved by council on applying for a CDBG Community Revitalization Grant ($300,000) for resurfacing of Broadway.
The city council tabled acting upon any amendments on proposed commercial zoning designations, addition for the new employee handbook and any amendments to reappoint or not appoint CIDA Board members with a length of term.
City Councilmen, Mike Key and Hayes, spoke about the charging station grant the city applied for back in the summer of 2023 and the employee committee is also working on an employee pay scale.
The meeting adjourned after an hour.
