SALYERSVILLE – The Salyersville City Council met in regular session on Monday, October 21, agreeing to obtain a loan for Salyersville Water Works’ delinquent electric bills.
Salyersville Mayor Stanley Howard said Summit Engineering will be finishing up a Water Works project by this Friday, though he didn’t specify which project.
He also noted ongoing sewer problems.
“I know everybody’s heard we got sewer problems,” Howard said. “We’ve always had sewer problems. We’re on the market to get that fixed. We’ve got almost $2.1 million – full amount – to start replacing all of our lift stations, all the house grinder pumps, so we’ll be bidding on that shortly when we get the letter in that I’m pretty sure has been approved. All of the money. That’s going to be a big thing. We’re pumping these little grinder stations out in the yard, and we’re out every week on these lift stations. We have to go out all the time and get these pumps started. We had to call in a specialty service on Sunday to come out and replace some electrical components. It’s back up and running, coming out on Parkway Drive.”
He assured the council after the project is completed the city’s sewer will be in “good shape.”
He said the main issue is the lift stations at Allen Drive, Dollar General on Parkway Drive and one at McDonald’s, noting that they are getting all new pumps and electrical systems and it should take care of the problem, assumably meaning the strong sewer smell along that area.
Mayor Howard also updated the council on the $700,000 the city received last Friday to replace water meters, noting that 70% of the system’s water meters do not work. He said that 54% of the water that leaves the plant is lost and they’re only getting paid for 43% of the water, in part due to the meters, but also from leaks. He said that project will be bid out in the next two to three months and it should begin within five to eight months.
He said they have been working to replace old cast iron water lines, noting they have patched 10 leaks this month due to being cast iron, but the lines need changed.
Mayor Howard approached the subject of the city obtaining a loan to pay Salyersville Water Works’ overdue electric bills, totaling approximately $152,000.
When asked if anything had been paid on it, Howard said, “We paid on it, got into paying it more, but when we paid one, then we lost one. They want $25,000 a month and we can’t do that right now. We got a loan coming that we’re getting to pay off that is $10,000 a month, but that will be the first of the year.”
Howard said the delinquent electric bill for Water Works dates back to 2022, the year before his current term started, but records show up until March 2023 the bills had not been more than a month behind since the delinquent amount had been caught back up roughly 12 years ago. In 2011, the electric bill for Salyersville Water Works had totaled more than $100,000, with AEP threatening to turn off the electricity to the water plant. Then-Mayor Howard resigned shortly thereafter, at which time James “Pete” Shepherd was appointed as interim mayor, and the bill was caught back up by the next year. Howard took office in January 2023 and the city’s water board was dissolved 10 months later in October of the same year after not being able to keep a quorum of board members on the commission. With the current $152,000 owed to AEP, the city is an estimated six months behind on the electric bill, and though the city kept a line of credit open in past years in case it was needed, no loans have needed to be taken out to cover utilities since before 2012.
Howard said he wants to get the loan with a payment of $10,000 a month and he said they are keeping the monthly electric bill current now.
When Councilman Paul Montgomery asked what the bill was when they took it over Water Works, which occurred in October 2023, Howard said the delinquent bill was more than $170,000.
Councilman Montgomery said he thought early last year the current due on the electric bill for Water Works was more like $50,000, but Howard said it was not, estimating it around $140,000, though that contradicts the Water Works commission’s minutes and open invoice reports from that time that the SI has of the last three years up through May 2023, which showed the current bill in spring of 2023 was totaling $53,538.72.
Howard said the only thing that the loan would be used for is the back electric bill for Water Works and AEP agreed to waive interest fees on the bill.
Councilman Tex Holbrook said, “It doesn’t sound like we have a choice.”
Montgomery asked how it got in this shape, and Howard said, “It was before my time. They worked off credit cards and a line of credit.”
As another quick fact check, the delinquent bills may have preceded the council dissolving the water board a year ago, but they had not accumulated as of early spring 2023. In June of this year, the SI did request all open invoice reports from the city for Water Works from January 2023 through June this year, however, none of the records actually indicated the actual amount owed to AEP each month during that time period to be able to verify the matter further.
The council unanimously approved to acquire the loan for the delinquent amount owed to AEP for Water Works.
Under Howard’s request, the council also approved to declare an old backhoe and two police cars as surplus property, noting all are in bad shape.
Community member Brad Patrick asked the council about having a sign put up to deter larger trucks from entering Dixie Avenue due to several accidentally turning up that road from a GPS error, stopping up traffic for a time. No action was taken, but the council members all agreed they needed to find a solution for the ever-growing problem.
The next regularly scheduled Salyersville City Council meeting is slated for November 18 at 7:30 p.m. at Salyersville City Hall.
