Business as Usual for the Last Booneville City Council Meeting of the Year

The Booneville Board of Commissioners (City Council) met in regular session on Wednesday, December 11, 2024.  The meeting was called to order by Mayor Nelson Bobrowski.  A motion was made and carried to approve the minutes from the November 13, 2024 meeting.  Cassie Hudson was scheduled to be at this meeting but she is home with a sick child.  Cassie has rescheduled for the January meeting.  There were no public comments.

     Lisa Napier from KRADD had an Inter-Local Agreement between Perry County and Booneville for a project.  The AML is wanting to fund the project and the Perry County Fiscal Court is turning it over to the City of Booneville.  They said that Booneville can serve it better than they could.  “The property is in Perry County and for them to serve the property with water, they would have to go over two mountains and it is not reasonable for them.  This project has been going on for a couple of years.  We are showing about 44 meters but that is if everyone takes it.  The city will also get rehabbed pump stations and tanks that go out in that region.  You already have some lines in Perry County.  The customers would be Booneville customers, not Perry County customers,” said Paul Nesbitt from Nesbitt Engineering.  David Hall, Superintendent of CBWS (City of Booneville Water & Sewer), said “we need to overbuild it if we do this.  We need to make it resilient.”  Mayor Bobrowski asked Paul “to try to get a new tank out of it and design it as resilient as possible.  If it gets to where we can’t maintain it, we will cut it off.  We will try it and see what happens.”  A motion was made and carried to go ahead with the project.  Lisa also said the Environmental Review is in process on the Bates Block.  

     Kenneth Combs (Shorty)  gave a report on making stairs on the outside of the two-story building by the fire department.  He stated that the stairs will be around twelve feet tall and they will also need to have railing.  This looks to be about a $25,000 job.  He also mentioned doing the sidewalks around town that need to be fixed.  Tammy Shouse, City Clerk, said they were still waiting to hear back from one more person before making their decision.  We have already had one group that said they were not interested.  

     Ruth Hensley from CBWS gave the monthly Collections Report.  A motion was made and carried to approve paying the bills.  The Financials were included in the council members packets.  The mayor stated that the city is finishing up the audit and we did request a five year analysis of the revenue for water and the expenses off of the water and they are going to include that in our annual audit every year going forward.  “We had a massive leak right after Thanksgiving on the way to Sag.  The big 6 inch pipe had pulled apart.  It was buried deep,” said Mayor Bobrowski.  A motion was made and carried to approve the Financials.

     David Hall gave his monthly report for the CBWS.  He told the council that he had an inspection this month.  “They usually never go as expected or as you want them to.  The main thing is Operator Certification is number one priority now.  We have a couple of fellows going to the first test dates (in February) for the treatment.  We also have a couple that will be expected to get their Distribution License quickly.  We can not send everyone at the same time.  They have 12 months to get this done.  Kentucky Rural Water got an apprenticeship program that is truly a comprehensive program set up timelines, computer classes and in the field work.  Justin Smith, who was recently hired, has a degree in Environmental Sciences from the UK.  He will be certified in a year.  He just started working this week (the worst week to start working),” said David.  The mayor said that Ky. Rural Water is paying for most of his education and over half of his salary.  He will be signing a two year contract for this apprenticeship program with us and he will work for us for two years after this program is over.”  David told Paul that he could tell Jon (from Nesbitt) that the FEMA BuckCreek Project is supposed to happen next week.  That is where the Service Specialty has been waiting on the pump (about 12 weeks back order) for the BuckCreek Sewer Station.  The Raw Water Pump has also been tentatively scheduled for next Wednesday (December 18) because they have to bring in a crane to get one of the big raw pumps that comes out of the river.  We rehabbed this pump and it worked for four hours and locked up.  The other pump is leaking around the seal.  We are working on getting two brand new pumps and a back up as well.  The four wheel drive went out on the Dodge truck so we will need to get that fixed.  

     Booneville City Police Chief Claude Hudson gave his monthly report.  He has been working on shoplifters, criminal abuse of a teacher (flipping a teacher off is a criminal offense and the student will be charged), police legal advice given in person and over the phone, criminal trespassing complaints with no arrests, contempt of court arrests, non-injury collisions, drug paraphernalia located and destroyed, leading funeral possessions, stray dogs at the grade school, public intoxication arrests, dispatch calls from KSP, panic alarms from KSP, 911 calls from KSP, motorist assists, assisting EMS when needed, traffic stops, assisting the sheriff’s office, vehicle unlocks, reckless driving calls, student ride homes, student truancy reports and checks, livestock in the roadways, traffic control at the schools and improper parking.  Claude is staying very busy.  Vapes are not to be sold in Kentucky after the first of the year.  

     A motion was made and carried to adjourn the meeting.