SALYERSVILLE – The Salyersville City Council met in regular session on May 19, discussing ongoing projects, buying a new lawnmower, and the potential for a fair bidding ordinance.
The council approved paying the city and Water Works bills.
They approved the purchase of a new lawnmower, a grass catcher and a mowing deck for the tractor for the city park and ball fields.
Eric Ratliff with Big Sandy ADD addressed the council on two ongoing projects. He said the design phase is going on now for the Parkway Project, and he said they’re getting $2.036 million for the Downtown Sewer Project. He also noted they’re working on a 50-50 match grant for the Land and Water Conservation Fund application, at an estimated cost of $400,000. Mayor Stanley Howard explained he’s worked with Summit for a scope of work, prioritizing lighting and bathrooms, as well as landscaping, in a project that will be over a million dollars, but will go in phases.
Mayor Howard said FEMA had a generator project and they gave the city $65,000, but that wasn’t enough, so they went back to FEMA, who agreed to give an additional $88,215. Howard said they are short $38,000 to complete the full project, purchasing a generator to bring raw water up from the river. He said with the last storm that came through they had pump problems at the river, which put them down for around four3 hours. He’s going to check the finances, but said he wants to find a way to make that project happen.
During audience comments, David Gardner addressed the council, addressing the policy on public comments during meetings, stating that from his research the council, not the mayor, has the authority to set a time limit. He also asked for an update on the $7 fee that was overcharged, with Mayor Howard stating the city attorney is still looking into that with the League of Cities on how to best handle that. Gardner also asked if anything else is being done about speeding at the lower end of town. Mayor Howard said he has asked the city police chief and he is patrolling that area.
Representatives with the Carpenters and Millwrights Union addressed the council, as well, talking about the possibility of a fair bidding ordinance or responsible bidding ordinance, noting it keeps “honest people honest.” They noted with constant building and growth and the high number of skilled laborers in the city, with contractors coming into the city, there need to be resources in place to make sure they’re legally operating contracts in the city. He noted illegal workers, working misclassification, not paying occupational tax, tax fraud, paying under the table are all examples of how companies are cheating the system, but cities need to be mindful of that and example ordinances he submitted to the council could protect the city from those types of misconduct. The city currently has a similar ordinance, but they explained it only covers infrastructure projects and over $20,000, but they said the ordinance needs to cover the contractors of projects so all workers in the city will have to pay occupational taxes, etc., and everything is handled legally.
They did note that there are over 500 active dues-paying millwrights and carpenters who live in Magoffin County.
The next Salyersville City Council meeting is tentatively slated for June 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Salyersville City Hall.
