SALYERSVILLE – The Salyersville City Council met in regular session on Monday, February 19, discussing the Salyersville Water Works bills and holding a first reading of an ordinance for shelter management.
Eric Ratliff with Big Sandy Area Development District explained a resolution the council adopted in the meeting for Salyersville Water Works, combining two grants to replace the SCATA telemetry system at the water plant, which has already been bid out.
Ratliff said he has also finished the environmental review for the Mountain Parkway Landscape and Signage Implementation Plan, which is online now. The City will have to approve the plan and it will have to be sent to HUD before the funding can be released for the project, estimated to start by the end of next month. Ratliff said he would get sign-in information for the city so they can review the environmental review.
The council approved the minutes from the December 18 and January 8 meetings, as well as the city bills.
They also discussed the Salyersville Water Work bills, with council member Patricia Frazier questioning the $9,500 bill on the security system and $4,900 in security cameras for the sewer plant, which Mayor Stanley Howard attributed all to decisions made before the council took over control of the city water company.
They questioned the over $8,500 to Kentucky Water for lighting for sewer and water plant, but Howard said he thinks that was probably a typo and should have been Kentucky Power, though there was also a bill for $27,000 for Kentucky Power. Howard said that one should be for the sewer plant since that’s what it runs each month. Howard said he would double check those bills, though.
Mayor Howard also said they are paying $2,000 a week to the chemical company, on top of the costs for the chemicals, so $5,000 to $7,000 for 10 days in chemicals in total. He said they are working to pay off some of the smaller debts, and then start working on getting some of the larger bills lowered.
Councilman Paul Montgomery also asked about a $1,600 dollar store bill on the Water Works bills, but Howard, again, reiterated that was before they took over the city water company. They talked about the cell phone bill, suggesting a radio system, possibly, though Howard said the costs would be about the same.
After much discussion, the council approved the Water Works bills.
The council also held the first reading of an ordinance regarding shelter management, which was based off of an ordinance sent from the League of Cities. Attorney Jeff Lovely said he tailored the ordinance to the city’s needs. Howard said it is made to protect the citizens and the people who would be entering the homeless shelter. Lovely said he expects they will have changes to the ordinance and how the shelter is ran overall since this is a new endeavor here, but this will be a good starting off point so the city has some control over what is happening. The ordinance includes safeguards on how many people can be housed at the shelter at one time, going by square footage, and requiring training and supervision, background checks, etc., noting that it will help keep the operations as safe as possible, but the homeless shelter will have to submit a plan to the city prior to opening. The ordinance will not go into effect until the council is able to hold a second reading.
The next regular meeting of the Salyersville City Council is tentatively slated for March 18 at 7:30 p.m. at Salyersville City Hall.
