► Columbus approves donating $750 to Daffy Jills Garden Club

The Town of Columbus agreed during its Sept. 15 meeting to donate $750 to the Daffy Jills Garden Club in order to restore the Blue Star Memorial Marker at the Welcome Center. The club participated in the marker in 1977. Columbus also approved allowing the club to use its basement to conduct a yard sale to support its activities scheduled for Oct. 8.

► Columbus approves garbage contract and amendment for operations

The Town of Columbus approved extending its garbage pickup contract with Waste Industries for three years as well as an amendment to the current contract. The amendment is that no commercial garbage pickup be done prior to 6 a.m. The town has heard complaints about noise early in the morning from the contractor picking up large dumpsters, particularly in the downtown area that can be heard at nearby residences.

► Polk sets public hearing for Oct. 3 at 6:30 p.m.

The Polk County Board of Commissioners set a public hearing for Monday, Oct. 3 at 6:30 p.m. to hear comments on including schools, vocation, business and special schools as a permitted use in the Residential Estate/Low Density (RE-1) zoning district. The planning board recommended the change. The change is needed in order for the cooperative extension office to be relocated to the former adult health services building on Locust Street off Skyuka Drive.

► Tryon Tourism plans upgrades to downtown kiosk

The Tryon Tourism Development Authority (TTDA) met Sept. 12 and approved spending up to $600 to make improvements to the information kiosk, located in the St. Luke’s Plaza. Improvements planned include adding lighting, a sign for exploretryon.com, new cork on the back side to display upcoming events, making new keys  and a map update.

► Colonial Pipeline constructs bypass segment, resumes service to East Coast

Following the construction, fabrication and positioning of a 500-foot bypass segment on the Colonial Pipeline Line 1 on Sept. 20, the Alabama pipeline successfully resumed operation Wednesday night. The company said although the line has restarted, it would still take several days for the fuel delivery supply chain to return to normal. Service interruptions, Colonial Pipeline said, may continue to occur. The company stated they would continue to move as much gasoline, diesel and jet fuel as possible until markets return to normal. The pipeline break on Sept. 9 left gas stations in the Landrum and Columbus region with a gas shortage this week, causing stations to only sell premium gas or cap consumption until the pipeline was fixed.