City council appoints new member, revisits annexation

Louisa City Attorney Bud Adams swore in new member Joey McClanahan, who replaces Mitch Castle, during the April 13 regular meeting. BSN photo/Brenda Hardwick

By TONY FYFFE

BSN Editor

LOUISA — Appointing a new member, revisiting proposed annexation and replacing a worn-out garbage truck were the main items addressed during the April 13 Louisa City Council meeting.

A map of proposed annexation being considered by the Louisa City Council. BSN photo/Brenda Hardwick

Council unanimously approved the appointment of Joey McClanahan to the seat vacated last month by Mitch Castle, who resigned because he was moving outside the city limits.

McClanahan, a teacher at Lawrence County High School, will serve the remainder of Castle’s term, which ends in 2022.

McClanahan said his goal as a council member will be to “represent all the citizens and do great things for this great city.”

Prior to McClanahan’s appointment, Mayor Harold Slone gave an update on construction of the sewer project on Lock Avenue, which he said was “finally coming to a close, or to the final stages, anyway.”

He said he “completely” understands the frustration felt by Lock Avenue residents about the inconvenience the project has caused, noting that he also lives in the area.

Slone said the end result would be worth the inconvenience.

“We’ve installed new storm sewer in this whole end of town, basically, and new drains in the streets that just simply didn’t exist or was very inadequate,” he said. “Some of them hadn’t worked in years, and then many of them that were working were sending millions of gallons of rain water to the sewer plant that we didn’t need to be treating. So, this project involved making a new drain to the river that didn’t even exist and funneling all this water from this side of town to the river instead of the sewer plant.”

Slone said the city will be going door to door in the coming weeks asking residents if everything has been fixed back the way they needed it. He noted that some residents’ sidewalks and steps had to be removed during construction.

“We name it and we’ve done it,” Slone said.

In business from the meeting, Slone brought up an annexation proposal that was discussed a few years ago by the council concerning the area along Ky. 2565.

“Quite some time back, council members decided that annexation was something that we needed to look at basically, largely, because of businesses located just outside the city,” Slone said.

Slone noted that numerous businesses on Ky. 2565 are not located in the city limits, including KFC, a new dialysis center, a Marathon station and “tons of doctors’ offices and medical facilities.”

Even the city garage is not in the city limits, he said.

The mayor said that when the city council previously addressed annexation a few years ago, three options were discussed — doing nothing, annexing the business district on Ky. 2565, or annexing that area along with Springhill and Highbottom.

Council opted for the Ky. 2565 business district, with the next step being getting the exact boundaries on a map.

Slone said he then contacted a surveyor who had worked on the city’s previous annexations, but Slone said he never got back to him.

Slone said he contacted a local company, P&A Engineers and Consultants, for a quote, and a representative was present at last Tuesday’s meeting to discuss its proposal.

Council members did not take any action following the presentation and decided to put the issue on next month’s agenda.

Slone said there were advantages to being annexed into the city.

“Essentially, if your house is valued at $100,000 or less . . . It is cheaper to live in the city than it is out of the city,” he said, noting that water, sewer and garbage rates are lower in the city.

He also said that non-city residents and businesses within a five-mile radius of the city limits are charged for fire protection.

“One of the big things that I feel like we can offer is police protection to people that are right here at our front door that we drive by,” Slone said.

In other action, council members voted to lease a new garbage truck from Enterprise. He said the city has two garbage trucks, one that picks up residential trash and another that collects commercial trash. When one of the vehicles is down for repairs, the other has to pick up all of the garbage, he said.

“It’s becoming a big burden to be without a garbage truck so often,” Slone said. “It’s the one that comes by your house if you’re wondering which one it is. It’s not the one that goes to the businesses. That one’s new. It’s been bought since I’ve been here.”

Slone said the city could lease a truck from Enterprise for $151,069, with a capitalized price reduction of $32,900. Monthly payments on the five-year lease would be $2,134, he said.

Council members approved the lease following a brief discussion.

The council also went into executive session to discuss pending litigation and possible property acquisition, but no action was taken.