A discussion concerning how to use $25,000 in coal severance money took place during the second hour of a nearly four-hour meeting of Cumberland City Council on Tuesday.
Mayor Carl Hatfield brought the matter to the panel’s attention.
“We’ve got $25,000 severance tax that we can use for different functions,” said Hatfield. “When we applied for this — to justify us receiving it — I included some roofing at the water plant, sewer plant and the maintenance building.”
Hatfield reported he had some estimates for the roofing work.
“It looks like for the water, sewage and maintenance buildings, it will run about $5,000 to$6,000 each,” said Hatfield.
Councilman Charles Raleigh suggested the roofing work be bid.
“There might be somebody local who can do it a little cheaper, and if we had a problem we could get them back quicker,” said Raleigh. “I’m not saying outside companies are bad. It’s just if you find somebody inside the county or close, if you had a problem they could get here quicker to take care of it.”
Hatfield stated the city could open bids for the work or take the best estimate.
Raleigh suggested some of the remaining funds could be used for more repairs.
“Let’s try to take care of our city hall too if we can — repair cracks, windows, roof, whatever’s wrong with it,” said Raleigh.
Hatfield estimated that $15,000 to $18,000 would be required for the roofing work.
The council discussed using a portion of the funds repairing the city’s old garbage truck so it could either be sold or retained by the city for use as a back up truck.
“I think it would be good to keep it as a back up,” said Raleigh. “If that new one goes down we won’t have to say ‘people you’ll have to wait a week.’ We’ve got the same size packer sitting there ready to go.”
The council passed a motion to advertise for sealed bids for projects pertaining to repairs at the sewer plant, water plant, city hall, and police maintenance building not limited to roofing only and repairs to the 2002 garbage packer. All contractors must have proper certifications and insurance.
In other activity, a motion was made and passed by the council to abide by KRS 424.110 to 424.370 requiring any publication or advertisement required by law pertaining to the city be published in the least expensive newspaper located in the city.
Reach Joe P. Asher at 606-573-4510 or jasher@civitasmedia.com
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