SALYERSVILLE – Salyersville City Council met in regular session on Monday, July 21, discussing the status of the water.
Salyersville Mayor Stanley Howard said they have filled out all the paperwork for the $2.1 million for lift stations and grinder pumps and those projects should be ready to go soon.
Former Salyersville Water Works Superintendent David Gardner addressed the council, first questioning the three-minute audience member time limit, saying he knows they don’t want to talk to him because there are two active lawsuits against them.
Gardner also noted that the council made a motion to pass an ordinance during that meeting, but without a reading of that ordinance. City Attorney Jeff Lovely said that was to set the tax rate, not an ordinance, which didn’t require two readings.
Then, Gardner went into the reason he was at the meeting to address the council.
“Council has an obligation to provide oversight to the mayor, set a budget and some other things,” Gardner said. “Now, in this instance, I think the council needs to be well apprised of, if what I hear on the street and what I read in the newspaper is accurate, several problems with Water Works. I know you have already heard about two of those problems tonight with lawsuits. There is an emergency order in place for an emergency, that seems to me – and I’ve heard this question, we’ve had two years to create the emergency, so now we do an emergency to fix the stuff we should have fixed in the last two years. Is that accurate?”
No answer.
“So, we had an emergency to fix the stuff that happened in the last two years under the existing management?” Gardner reiterated. “I think council needs to be looking at what the problem is and they need to be asking questions. It’s my understanding that you all really don’t know too much about what is going on. It is my understanding that you all do not get well-informed about the personnel issues at the Water Works, the revenue and the expenses at the Water Works. You may disagree with me, but I’m just telling you what everyone I talk to seems to say. What I want to talk about that you have a couple of problems from what I can tell. One problem is management. The management, and not all of you have been on council long enough, but if you go backwards, in 2008 there was that problem with Water Works. The county and the city had to go to Frankfort to the PSC to explain what was going on. In 2011, the mayor resigns, and no one knows the reason – it was never mentioned – but at the same time the electric bill couldn’t be paid. So, the mayor resigned and the electric bill couldn’t be paid, and a new mayor comes in. If you’ll notice, during that new term, the 2 ½ terms of a new mayor, there was not an emergency other than that first one that was issued just to get fixed. Then, in 2025, we’re having another emergency – we can’t pay the electric bill. Now, we expect, it appears, and in fact, in the emergency it says we’re waiting on the state to come in and fix it.”
“That’s paraphrasing, so let me tell you what happens when the state comes in and fixes it,” Gardner explained. “In Martin County, Martin County was in a similar situation, and Martin County, over a three-year period of time, had a 69% rate increase because it failed to do its job. I know that the mayor has asked an operating entity to come in and provide resources, particularly personnel, and it is my understanding that they declined to do that. I think the council should be asking why you don’t have operators, why you have two operators who have proffered their resignations, at least by the emergency order that’s what it says. When I left up there, we had five operators. We trained two while I was there. We had a surplus of operators and now I’m wondering why you don’t. So, I think the council should be asking, ‘Why don’t you have operators?’”
“Secondly, I think the council should be asking, ‘Why don’t we have money?” Gardner continued. “When I left up there the budget, the revenue was $1.8 million. Now, at that point there should have been a rate increase, but the rate increase did not happen, and I know it didn’t happen since then. I know you worry about senior citizens. Let me tell you, that the cost of living, that the social security – and I’m old enough now that I get social security – has gone up 25% since the last rate increase. There’s been no rate increase for the Salyersville Water Works of 25%. That had to be the same rate increase that was minimally necessary when Stanley resigned in 2011. So, one of the management problems is that you all don’t seem to think there should be revenue to operate the system. When there’s not revenue to operate the system, this is what you get. When the state comes in, it’s a 70% rate increase.”
At this point, though admittedly more than three minutes in, Mayor Howard did interrupt Gardner and the council voted to adjourn.
The next regularly scheduled Salyersville City Council meeting is tentatively slated for August 18.
