Nederland’s elected officials honored a longtime coach and athletic director during the city meeting Monday.

Larry Neumann was honored for his 24-year tenure as Nederland High School’s head football coach and the district’s athletic director.

As part of the ceremony, Jan. 23 was declared Larry Neumann Day in Nederland.

“This has been a good fit for Larry; this has been a good fit for my family; this has been a good fit for the young men I coached,” Neumann said about the city and the school district.

“Just about half of my career has been spent in Nederland. … Thank God for unanswered prayers.”

In other council business, the city’s recycling program will be suspended from Jan. 27 to mid-to-late April as it sees transition from the old location on 27^th Street to its new location with new protocols on 515 Hardy Ave.

“It’s necessary to suspend the City’s recycling program until it’s reopened on Hardy Avenue,” Chris Duque, city manager, said. “It’s due to illegal dumping.”

When the program resumes in April, it will do so with the addition of security cameras and gates.

The thought process is, according to Duque, would that it would be enough to deter people from illegally dumping. If not, there would be cameras to get plates and prosecute the offenders.

“It’s a shame that we have to suspend it because people abuse it,” Talmadge Austin, Ward 1 councilman, said.

The proposed times for the new recycling location would be from Monday to Friday, roughly 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. There were also talks of a monthly trash drop-off from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday as supervised by city employees to ensure that it would only be Nederland residents who were using it.

In other news, the council approved an application for a property along Chicago Avenue to join the Neighborhood Empowerment Zone.

Under the NEZ’s auspice, the owner plans to have the old home demolished and two new houses built in its place.

It has the potential of raising the property value of a fire-gutted house that was valued at $128,000 last year before the fire to a total of $360,000 as each new house to be built there would be valued at $180,000 each.

Each house is determined to be a single-family home.

Other items:

• Stephanie Gallagher and Brian Gentile were re-appointed to the Parks Advisory Board.
• The purchase of a Kubota tractor was approved for the Nederland Parks Department.
• A new pay level was created for advanced or administrative animal control officer certification — from $100 a month to $150 a month.
• The City will host a second public forum in regards to the Nederland Avenue Study at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 2 at Nederland City Hall.