Beech Tree News Network

The Morgantown City Council met for its regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, January 19^th.  After approval of minutes and the meeting agenda, the council went to work listening to various board reports:

Planning & Zoning

Danny Cardwell announced the new board members.

Housing Authority Chairman James Dossey gave information on the December meeting.  The main highlight of the report was to note that an upcoming policy was adopted to go “Smoke Free” in all resident units, including all property buildings.  This policy will go into effect April 1.

Morgantown Utilities

Dale Adcock reported on new board members and gave an update on the board’s progress in expanding the gas throughout the city.

Chief of Police

Chief Giles Taylor informed the council that the department has now “gone green.”  Each cruiser now has a mobile laptop and printing systems.  Currently, Officer Evans is still in the academy and is at the half-way mark.

Report for 2016

Calls for service- 6,408

Cases opened- 144

Arrests-350

Citations issued- 372

Vehicle accidents- 111

Morgantown Fire Department

The fire department met the state-required training totals for the 2016 calendar year, which requires more than 50% of the members to complete the 20 or more hours required to receive state aid money from the KY Fire Commission.

Calls for Service were as follows:

City—35

County—93

Morgantown City Maintenance

Brad Johnson advised that city maintenance is still currently working on brush and leaf pickup.  The amphitheater has been torn down but they were able to salvage about ¼ of the building that was still good lumber.

City Administrator

 City Administrator Jerrod Barks once again discussed the path forward with Code Enforcement and Park Renovations.  To date, the city is currently on track to meet its goals.

Mayor

State of the City Address

Due to having no unfinished business, Mayor Billy Phelps then gave his State of the City Address.  This detailed the accomplishments from last year, as well as what still needed to be worked on and the plans for the upcoming year.  The main take away from the address is that the city can now operate sovereignly and is able to pay their bills going forward.

In new business the council voted 6-0 for City Councilman Russell Givens to serve as assistant mayor in the absence of Mayor Phelps. 

The Municipal Road Aid was discussed briefly with no issues.  KOHS Grant Resolution was discussed as a grant that would provide 100% funding for generators to operate the Eva Hawes Building, City Hall, and the Morgantown City Police Department in the case of an emergency.  This fund would be able to cover the generators at no cost to the city.  Also discussed was HB 119 which would help offset costs to those council members who must take off work to attend trainings.  These trainings for the council members would educate them on the laws and regulations while working as a council member in order to allow the city to avoid instances of litigation.  Both items will be discussed more at the next meeting and more information will be presented.

Code Enforcement and Park Renovations were then reviewed in a presentation by Mr. Barks.  Code Enforcement Officer Charlie Tomes also spoke briefly about the methods that would be taken in order to properly enforce the codes.  Mr. Barks spoke in detail about the city’s goals in 2017 to beautify the park, create a cohesive theme throughout the park, and to update it as well.  Several suggestions such as lighting, insulating the bathrooms so they could be open throughout the year, cleaning, painting, and removing the trailer at the entrance were all discussed in depth.  The park is the center of our city and as such it should be improved as part of the beautification process of the city, stated Barks. 

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Stories and photos by Amber McIntosh, Beech Tree News.