SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
Council gets good marks from auditor
LOUISA, Ky. — Last night’s agenda for the Louisa Council looked lean on the surface with only the annual budget report sticking out, but after a couple new items were added by Mayor Harold Slone, the session went over two hours, much of it interesting information.
Slone began the meeting with his report to the public on what has been going on in the city since the last meeting. The Lazer has that summary in video form that you can watch for yourself HERE.
The City Swimming Pool was the top topic. By doing a $26,000 turnaround from the previous year and coming out with a better than $12,000 profit the city pool made a profit for the first time ever according to city attorney Eldred “Bud” Adams who has been at his appointed position for 35 years. Of course there was a lot more emphasis, training and physical improvements that went into the success of the pool this year and it paid off.
The mayor also mentioned improvements to the sewer system and that the water and sewer department now is in compliance with state law (See video).
Click pic for video
The audit
Auditor Jim Bryant of the Wells Company of Paintsville, Ky. laid it all out on the table in front of the council and had some encouraging words. He said the budget had a small surplus after collecting $1.4 million in taxes, fees and other income sources.
“Of course we all know we have a steep hill to climb with the water and sewer problems but with what you had to work with, I think the city did a great job this year. He did not readily have the figures to show how much extra the tax on alcohol and the new annexation affected the ability of council to more adequately provide city services.SEE VIDEO CLICK HERE
Insurance problems
Mayor Slone, a former insurance agent himself added Jeremy D. Blair to the agenda and allowed him to explain what he perceives to be a “serious problem” in the form of city insurance coverage.
He said the city presently has approximately $13 million in uninsured property with its present policy. “I hate to say it but if something happened like did in Johnson County or in West Liberty a few years ago you would really be in trouble,” Blair, who said he lives in Lexington but was born at Blaine, said.
Current policy holder Joe Young Insurance representative Debbie Cordle was also in attendance at the behest of Slone. She agreed with Blair and said the reason the situation is the way it is is plain and simple – money. “They always wanted to keep the payments as low as possible so that’s part of how they’ve done it in the past decade or so,” she said. “We have made them aware of the situation before so now that they have more money to work with, hopefully we can enhance the coverage.”
The current annual payment is $87,000 which doesn’t come close to covering the city’s estimated $21 million worth of property.
Blair, who said he works for Assured-Neace Lucas, the largest underwriter for municipalities in the state. He mentioned that his company had buildings neat the recent Paintsville fire but they were not damaged.
The insurance talk then got more serious when LVFD Chief Eddie Preston explained to the council about the importance of this week’s state fire examination and he said insurance coverage is a big factor in gaining a 4 rating instead of a 5 which would save homeowners in Louisa thousands of dollars.
Preston said the weakest point they had last year was the time it took from call to 911 to get to a fire.
“The 911 service currently takes two minutes to send the signal and that is too long.”
“What is causing this lag time, council member Tom Parsons asked. “It is human error,” Preston said. “I don’t know what can be done but the better insurance coverage will help a lot, that is a big consideration.”
Problem is, the deadline to have the ISO test administered in October 1 and no matter what company does it, the city doesn’t even meet until two weeks after that.
Council members decided to attend a special meeting to address the issue before Oct. 1.
Council Comments
Council member Angela McGuire asked Slone if the city department heads need to attend the meetings as in years past. “I’d like to hear what’s going on and what they have to say, we don’t have any other way of finding out everything.”
She specifically getting a report on the amount of alcohol sales and the taxes the city receives on a monthly basis.
Slone said he had discontinued requiring attendance of city supervisors and department heads at the meetings because he did not see any reason for them to come especially since the city has to pay them overtime if they are required to attend meetings.
“I just don’t think we need to have them sit here and read off what you have in your packets unless there’s a specific issue they need to address,” Slone said.
Slone said, and the council agreed, that each department head should submit a report, including the alcohol tax, each month in their packets. The supervisors will attend council meetings as needed.
Council unanimously passed a budget amendment that will change the beneficiary of any firefighter in case of death to the family rather than it coming to the city first and then to the family. The policy is for $10,000.
A motion was made to go into executive session to discuss pending litigation but did not return with any action report.
