The Greenwood City Council said goodbye to a loyal city employee Tuesday at its final meeting of the year.
Anne Marie Gregory, director of the Greenwood-Leflore Recycling Center for the past four years, will be stepping down Jan. 6. She will be attending Delta State University and intends to become a registered dietitian.
“Anne Marie has taken this recycling center to the level where it needs to be,” said Mayor Carolyn McAdams.
Gregory said the call from McAdams offering her the job came while she was “in the middle of nowhere Nevada.”
A nutrition science major at Oregon State University, Gregory said she agreed to take on the fledgling recycling effort and “thought to myself, ‘I’m going to give it a year.’”
Today, the recycling effort includes curbside pickup. It also has expanded its reach to Sidon, Carroll County, Winona and Indianola, thanks in part to a $400,000 state Department of Environmental Quality grant for which Gregory wrote the proposal.
Gregory — who married Thomas Gregory, the city’s chief administrative officer — said the recycling message has also spread to schools and youngsters throughout Greenwood.
No replacement has been named for Gregory, and McAdams said she intends to take her time selecting one.
In other action, the council approved the reappointment of Deirdre Mayes as a member of the Greenwood School Board. She currently serves as the board’s president.
Typically an appointment lasts five years, but it is unclear how long Mayes’ will last.
In May, Gov. Phil Bryant signed legislation consolidating the Greenwood and Leflore County districts effective July 1, 2019, with a countywide school board to be phased in from 2019 to 2021.
Mayes said she felt confident that the consolidation would not take place.
“We’re going to do fine,” she said.
Greenwood School Superintendent Jennifer Wilson, who was present at Tuesday’s meeting, said she’s optimistic about next year and the possibility of preventing school consolidation.
“We are encouraging our people to get a lot of rest, because when we start in January we’re going to hit the ground rolling,” she said.
Among the new efforts is a pre-kindergarten early-learning collaborative.
“We have what it takes to move this district forward,” Wilson said.
The council also approved a $9,000 donation to Our House Inc. and a $5,000 donation to the Greenwood Interfaith Ministries’ Community Kitchen.
Both of these donations were included in the city’s 2017 budget.
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
