CAIRO — The start of a short-term improvement plan for CNS was approved at Monday’s Cairo City Council meeting.

The council agreed 4-1 to go ahead with implementing Phase I of its CNS Performance Improvement Plan.

The vote came about after a CNS Committee meeting on March 5 when its members agreed to have a recommendation regarding the plan presented to council at its next meeting.

“We need to try to make sure and have someone dedicated to CNS to see it through and get it off the ground,” said Councilman Ernest Cloud in his motion. “We need to implement this plan as soon as possible.”

The plan outlines four phases. Phase I (120 days) includes the hiring of a communications director and a part-time production specialist for the local programming channel.

Cloud also said the office manager position (previously discussed at workshops) is not part of CNS but is needed at the Cairo Utilities office to help with daily operations.

Councilman Jimmy Douglas, who cast the dissenting vote, said he held the same position that he previously did regarding the plan.

“It’s not economically feasible to do this, I think,” he said.

Douglas said he believes the money needed to hire someone, provide office space and a vehicle was “a lot of costs that CNS can’t stand right now.”

Douglas said he is a numbers person and has not seen any information that would verify that there are 1,000 customers — a number referenced in several discussions as to how many customers officials would like to see CNS add — out there, even if the service was able to win customers from its competitors.

He also mentioned customer service, another concern that has been discussed in previous meetings/workshops.

“If customers feel like they are not being treated fairly, it won’t make a difference,” he said.

Mayor Richard VanLandingham said some of Douglas’ concerns are addressed in the plan.

“There’s no question we’ve had some problems,” he said, “but if we don’t do something different, how are we going to make a change?”

Douglas also asked about hiring for the position based on commission and paying the person so much per customer.

City Manager William Whitson said he had no problem making performance a primary concern in hiring for the position.

Cloud said making sure the public understands that CNS is its business is also important.

“This is not a one time deal,” agreed VanLandingham. “We will continue to monitor the plan and modify whatever is needed to make it work.”