Red tape and rubber stamps are still causing delays for one of the Harlan City Council’s downtown projects.

During a special called city council meeting Monday, Mayor Danny Howard said many of the city’s projects require them to jump through one legal hoop after another.

The council must continue jumping, though, if it is going to reach its goal for a better city, said council member C.D. Morton.

The latest hang up in a project to bury the city’s utilities is the type of light fixtures attached to the courthouse.

Howard said at the begining of this project the council had to first prove to the federal highway department the roads these utility lines were near was not even close to being a six-lane highway. Even after this was proven, city officials still had to fill out forms as if the road was a six-lane highway, which were completed.

Howard said next the council had to wait on approval from the Environmental Protection Agency to show no environmental impact would take place by tearing up the existing sidewalk and laying new sidewalk down in its place. He said this step took 60 days before it was approved by the EPA.

After doing all of this, the project was then sent to the Kentucky Heritage Council where it is now being held up because the city is wanting to change light fixtures on the courthouse in Harlan.

Howard said this project has been held up for nearly two years by one organization or another. He said when it has come to this project common sense has never prevailed with any of the organizations involved.

The current light fixtures on and around the courthouse have been nothing but a problem, said Howard. He said the lights are expensive to maintain, don’t put out enough light and are a hassle when replacing the bulbs in the fixtures. Howard said the bulbs currently used in the lights are a mercury vapor and vary in quality from one batch to the next and have been nothing but a constant problem.

Howard said he expressed the desire to replace the fixtures with a different type and style from Kentucky Utilities Company when talking with highway department officials.

“We said we wanted to go with KU historical fixtures,” said Howard. “Number one, we could get them to put the bulbs in. We could call them to put new eyes in when they went out, and number two we felt we could get a better product with what we had bought, because we had bought a bad product.”

Howard said the Kentucky Heritage Council told the highway department the city couldn’t change to the KU fixtures because the product from KU is different and doesn’t look as good.

Howard said he was informed the city could select new fixtures through the Kentucky Heritage Council and the project would be approved and could move forward.

“In this project, common sense has never prevailed, and I hope I never have to deal with federal transportation money again, and I’m sure after this comment, I never will,” Howard said.

Howard said once the new fixtures are chosen, he would show it to members of the city council and move this project forward, again.

Once a decision is made with the light fixtures, the Kentucky Heritage Council has 30 days to approve the fixtures, Howard said. He added the city wants the fixtures to functional and fit the guidelines of the Kentucky Heritage Council.