City Council Changes Auctions
Members of the city Council, from the left, Trevor Owsley, Connie Cravens, Shawn Riddle, and across from him, Jamie Allen, Doug Radford, and at the far right, Glen Murphy, listen to Mayor Laurel Irby, center, as she described playground equipment the city is hoping to receive a grant for. She said the equipment would replace some of the equipment in Hilltop Park. PHOTO | Greg Wells
By Greg Wells
CCN—Editor
The city council met last Thursday with all members present and began with consideration of surplus equipment.
Mayor Laurel Irby suggested the city move to the online auction service for local municipalities in order to get better prices for vehicles and equipment. The city no longer needed.
Among those items to be auctioned are a dump truck and pickup truck, air compressor and backhoe attachment for a tractor as well as a tractor and mower, and the city police need to dispose of two old patrol cars.
Police Chief Wesley Long said he had been staking out courthouse Square and the roads around it to ensure that the 25-mph speed limit was being obeyed. He said that, though some of the vehicles appeared to be going faster than allowed, his radar did not catch any speeders.
He said that the Dept answered 242 complaints, made 67 traffic stops, issued 14 citations, made three arrests, responded to 13 traffic collisions, and provided motorist assistance to four vehicles. They also responded to 15 calls for assistance when drivers had locked themselves out of their vehicles. He added that nine of the city’s calls for assistance or responses were to incidents involved alcohol.
Greg Cary, Emergency Management Director and Fire Chief, said that one of the three false alarms firefighters responded to last month included one where a cell phone called 911 for assistance. He said that when they finally located the individual, he was bushhogging a field, and apparently the phone had decided he needed help.
“I don’t know why it decided to say he was on fire,” Cary added.
Last month, the fire department responded to one grass fire, one fire alarm, one vehicle fire, assisted in two EMS calls responded to for injury, accidents and stood by for four helicopter landings at Cumberland County Hospital.
Action the City took last Thursday included approving a resolution applying for a grant for playground equipment to be located in Hilltop Park.
They also approved drafting a final ordinance with regard to special vehicles operating on city streets. It was suggested that an 11pm to 5am curfew be added to the ordinance. Irby said that with the state and county not having them, curfews on Ky-90 and Ky-61 would likely not be something they could do.
She said she would bring it all to the city’s attorney to see what could be drafted for the next meeting.
Another issue she said would come before the next City Council Meeting is parking around Courthouse Square. With three restaurants and the Justice Center located there, parking has become an issue that needs to be addressed.
Previously, the city had parking meters around the square, then just parking enforcement, which was eventually dropped.
At last week’s meeting, they did approve the Zoning Commission’s rezoning of the county’s property on David L. Williams Road, which will allow for the construction of a Splash-pad on the property.
Cary said the Zoning Commission received signed agreement by the owners of all adjacent property agreeing to the change.
