Longtime city employee and council member Doug Hughes was remembered and honored during the April 17 Middlesboro City Council meeting. He died March 30.

Mayor Bill Kelley read a resolution out loud for all in attendance.

“Whereas Doug Hughes has served as a member of the Middlesboro City Council since 2006. And whereas as a city council member, Doug Hughes has served on various city committees ans had been a valued member of his community. And whereas Doug Hughes became a member of the Middlesboro Police Department in 1969 and later became chief of the department until his retirement. Now therefore be it resolved by the mayor and the members of the Middlesboro City Council that we extend our deepest sympathy and condolences to the family of Doug Hughes on his recent passing. He will be greatly missed. This, 17th day of April, 2018.”

The reading of the resolution was closed with a moment of silence.

The committee for community development representative, Blake Bowling, spoke on various topics such as new ordinances and codes.

One of the ordinances discussed involved food trucks. While the council and the community has responded positively to the presence of food trucks in downtown Middlesboro, Bowling noted that there have been some complaints regarding food trucks parked on Cumberland Avenue potentially causing safety concerns. Bowling stated that a draft ordinance will be given at the next subcommittee meeting to take measures to ensure safety and be fair toward business owners.

Bowling also spoke of new zoning ordinances for suboxone clinics.

“Other communities are regulating suboxone clinics in the form of zoning. We can’t change our zoning when it comes to any existing suboxone clinics but we can, looking forward in the future, regulate where new ones come into town…that’s something we’re going to work on,” said Bowling.

Teamwork and camaraderie are great qualities of any team, and that was exemplified during the meeting, when the 2018 Middlesboro High School Governor’s Cup Academic Team was supposed to be presented. Unfortunately, scheduling conflicts among the team only allowed two members of the team to be free to attend the meeting. So, instead of only a portion of the team being represented at the meeting, the entire team opted to change the date of presentation until everybody is able to attend.