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Columbia City Council Report: New Year, New Leadership Full meeting covered Mayor Hoot's Announcements and many Appointments; Fire Station Needs; Pavilion Questions; New City Attorney, Addition of School Resource Officer and more By Tiffany Kessler The first city council meeting of 2019 was held Monday night, January 7th, in City Hall. The new year brought with it three new leaders: Mayor Pam Hoots and City Council Members June Parson and Sharon Payne. With a packed house, the meeting had several items on the agenda, which included the most anticipated - Mayor Hoot's Announcements. Mayor's Announcements Mayor Hoots addressed several issues and brought up ideas and changes she has planned for the city. - Community Investment Team - "We're creating a group of local citizens that are interested in our downtown, filling the empty buildings with businesses or bringing recommendations," Mayor Hoots explained. The Community Investment Team will include Elliot Burton, Billy Joe Fudge, Dustin Warren, Mary Anne Loy, Dr. Ben Arnold, Richard Phelps, and Council Member Linda Waggener. - Craig Dean was recommended to serve as Mayor Pro Tem.Council Member Dean abstained while all others voted in favor. - Council Member Dr. Ronald Rogers was appointed to work with a new City Parks & Recreation Department. - Council Member June Parson was appointed to work with the Gas Department. - A change was announced for future hiring policies. Any vacant positions will be advertised publicly. - The sidewalk project on Greensburg Street will be advertised for bids this week - it had been delayed since last fall due to re-adjustments. In addition, state engineers will be in town this week to meet with the mayor to work on the sidewalk Accessibility Project. - Christmas Decorations for next season. Mayor Hoots addressed an issue that many in the community voiced strong opinions on during the holiday season. She said, "A lot of people want us to do some new decorating, so we're going to start early with this. We have volunteers that will be working on this - Marsha Reddick, Donna Bryant, Amy Pike, and Sandy Conover. - Police Officer Selection Committee. Two community members have volunteered to serve on the Police Officer Selection Committee and will work with City Police Chief Jason Cross and City Clerk Rhonda Loy in making recommendations for hiring. They are Ben Watts and Fay Smith (both local business owners). - New City Attorney. According to Mayor Hoots, Dustin Warren who formerly served as city attorney, is currently pursuing other opportunities. The council voted unanimously for Derrick Helm, with the firm of Helm Shearer & Wilson in Jamestown, to serve this year as Columbia City Attorney. Adair County Fire Department Asks For Two Trucks The agenda included Columbia Fire Chief Mike Glasgow who addressed the council on the dire need for two new trucks. Chief Glasgow, who was joined by Adair Fire Chief Terry Flatt and a large number of Columbia firefighters, began by saying, "We don't buy these trucks very often, but when we do we want to buy what will last and what we will use." The first request is for a 1,500 gallon per minute fire pumper truck. The last one was purchased in 1986. With recent city annexations (his examples: Green Hills Subdivision and White City), Chief Glasgow believes the lack of fire hydrants in those areas shows the need for a pumper truck. He spoke of an urgent need for communications between the city, the fire department and the installers of fire hydrants around town so that each area has ample hydrants for protection in case of a fire. His second request is for a four door F-350 truck with an added cab for equipment. This would replace the emergency box truck which has required multiple replacement parts and no longer safely serves the needs of the crew. A motion was made and all were in favor for Council Members Rogers and Harris to form a committee which would work with the chief and fire fighters on truck specifications. No other motion was made Monday night concerning the issue. Other Items on the Agenda: Pavilion Agreement; School Resource Officer Darrell Andrew brought up the pavilion topic during the citizen comments portion of the meeting. Andrew, a vendor at the Farmers Market, has addressed both the city and county concerning the structure that would sit where the current market is held (corner of Campbellsville and Merchant Streets). During the meeting, he provided sketches of what the proposed pavilion would look like. Andrew said funding would have to come from the state and federal level - when asked if the information had been submitted to any of those, he said it had. Council Member June Parson questioned the legality of the paperwork considering the council members (in December) had not voted on the issue, which included a 20 year lease on the building for the Farmers Market. Andrew was quick to try and remedy the problems and agreed to work any way he could with Mayor Hoots and the council. A motion was made by Council Member Rogers to hire one School Resource Officer (SRO) for the Adair County School System for the remainder of this school year. The topic would be brought up again on July 1st, when the new fiscal year begins. Mayor Hoots agreed to discuss the issue with Superintendent Pam Stephens. All voted in favor with Mark Harris abstaining, considering he works as an SRO. A motion was made to allocate 10% annually to a newly established City of Columbia Parks & Recreation Department. The funds stem from occupational tax revenue. All voted in favor. All council members were present, including: Craig Dean, Linda Waggener, Dr. Ronald Rogers, Sharon Payne, June Parson, and Mark Harris. Regular meetings for the Columbia City Council are held the first Monday of each month at 6pmCT located in City Hall, 116 Campbellsville ST, Columbia, KY. Meetings are open to the public. This story was posted on 2019-01-10 07:39:08
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