The Troy City Council has officially approved the Downtown Plan after months of planning by city officials with the input of the public.

The council first held a public hearing on the plan Tuesday before voting unanimously to approve the resolution. Troy resident Larry Wilkey took the microphone to voice his praise of the council and his opinion on what should be done first.

“I’d hesitate to put in new sidewalks before cleaning up things that are easily fixable,” Wilkey said. “But that’s just my opinion.”

Wilkey said that the buildings with boarded up windows give off a bad appearance, but that improvements haven’t been made because the owners don’t have the money. He expressed his desire that the owners would get grants to make the needed improvements before working on sidewalks.

Tracy Delaney with the South Central Alabama Development Commission recapped the process that the city took in making the plan and described the resulting document. Delaney praised the city for quickly gaining strong public involvement.

“It’s been amazing what the city has done,” Delaney said. “They vigorously got public involvement with inviting meetings.” The council, absent District 4 Councilwoman Stephanie Baker, voted unanimously to approve the plan as a guide for downtown development.

The council also: approved an agreement with Abidance for professional services dealing with audits to make sure the utilities department is in compliance with federal regulations; approved an ordinance changing the coverage area of the Troy Fire Department to include some extra area for response while simplifying three coverage areas into two; and reappointed Jack Norton and Greg Anderson to the Troy Planning Commission, reappointed Greg “Bubba” Anderson Jr. to the Downtown Redevelopment Authority and appointed Nick Cevera as the supernumerary municipal judge. Cevera recently retired from service as the municipal judge for the city. Mayor Jason Reeves also reappointed Vaughn Daniels as the administrative representative to the planning commission.