Donald Deaton, the director of the Harlan Housing Authority, was at the meeting to talk about the Housing Authority and explain to the council what role the city plays in the organization.
According to Deaton, the Harlan Housing Authority was established in the late 1960s when city and government officials saw there was a need for housing in Harlan. At some point, an agreement was made with the city that the council would be in charge of appointing four board members to run the Housing Authority and that would be the extent of the city's involvement in running the apartments.
Deaton then went on to tell the council that at present time, the Housing Authority has 181 apartments inside the city.
"Our main goal is housing. We are funded by the federal government," said Deaton.
C.D. Morton asked Deaton if there were any playgrounds at any of the apartment complexes for children
"We do not receive any funding for parks or anything like that," said Deaton.
"Can the children use sidewalk chalk or something like that?" asked council member Lisa Adkisson.
"Sidewalk chalk cannot be used because some of the children use the chalk to mark on mailboxes, and then they start using black markers and it won't come off," said Deaton.
Deaton did tell the council that the Housing Authority recently purchased a piece of property and hopes to put two basketball goals and a small playground on that property.
"We think we can get the funds to do the project and it should, hopefully, be done sometime next summer," said Deaton.
According to Deaton, the Housing Authority owns and maintains all of the utilities on all properties that it owns. He said recently that the Harlan High Rise just got a new elevator installed, and the authority also had a generator put in that's big enough to keep everything in the building running in case of a power outage.
Deaton said he has good people in the apartments and that he feels he has a good relationship with them.
In other business, the council:
n heard from Hiram Brock about his company and what kind of Internet services it could provide for the city. The council voted to form a committee to see if those services would be beneficial for Harlan. The committee will report back at a later date.
n approved the second reading of the 2005 property tax rate.
n approved the second reading of the budget amendment to show a pride grant of over $1,000,000 that the city had received.
n approved the second reading of the budget amendment to reflect a grant for a fire truck that the city received.
n approved the minutes from the last meeting.
n approved paying the city's bills.
Post a Comment
