VIDALIA — Vidalia city leaders will meet with the owners of Danny’s Lounge to discuss what needs to be done to reduce crime around the bar.

Mayor Hyram Copeland made the announcement at the Vidalia Board of Alderman’s meeting Tuesday night.

Fire Chief Jack Langston, who said he was concerned about sending emergency responders to the area, brought up the topic.

“I have heard reports of police and auxiliary police being jumped on down there,” Langston said. “I’m not happy about sending those people down there in a situation like that.”

There was a shooting in the parking lot of Danny’s Lounge early Saturday morning, and the recent four-car fatal car wreck on the Mississippi River Bridge reportedly started at Danny’s.

Copeland said he and police chief-elect Tapper Hendricks would be meeting with the owners soon.

“It will be taken care of, and it will be handled rather quickly, period,” Copeland said.

The board also voted to approve proposed pay raises for the board of aldermen, the mayor and the chief of police.

The pay increase brings the mayor’s salary to $69,500 a year, the chief of police to $55,000 a year and aldermen’s salaries to $600 a month.

During the public hearing to discuss the raise, only one person, Audrey Grey, objected.

“I don’t understand the aldermen getting a $350 raise,” Grey said. “You don’t see them except at election time. The money doesn’t matter, but we aren’t getting any service.”

The pay increase passed 3-2, with Aldermen Ricky Knapp and John Betts objecting.

In other news:

4The board voted to require new major commercial electrical customers to share installation costs with the city.

For major customers, the city has to install a transformer and keep a backup so if the businesses’ transformer goes down they can continue to operate, City Manager Ken Walker said.

Now, major businesses will have to buy one transformer and pay half of the cost of connection.

4The council agreed to look into modifying the city’s current ordinances about so-called “green spaces,” which would require new businesses to have appropriate landscaping and parking.

Resident Eleanor Talley brought the request before the board.

Some new businesses have taken the initiative to landscape on their own, but others have not, and the difference between a business with proper shrubbery and just a concrete wall is obvious, Talley said.

“Vidalia is my hometown and it has always been a beautiful little town,” Talley said. “I just would like to see it stay that way, and this is one of the ways we can do that.”

The city has required a business to erect some shrubberies in the past, City Attorney Jack McLemore said.

4The board passed a resolution supporting the renewal of the parishwide library tax, which is on the ballot for July 19.

Approximately 93 percent of the library’s budget comes from the tax millage, and the library board is not asking for an increase in millage, Concordia Parish Libraries Director Amanda Taylor said.

4The board voted to start advertising for bids for a new wood chipper.