Louisa mayor reflects on ‘historic nature’ of pandemic
By TONY FYFFE
BSN Editor
LOUISA — Mayor Harold Slone delivered his annual State of the City address during the regular meeting of the Louisa City Council Feb. 8.
Slone noted that the address was the last for his current four-year term but announced that he will run again this year.
Slone opened the speech by reflecting on the “historic nature of the last two years” in reference to the COVID-19 pandemic. Slone said that prior to becoming mayor, he spent seven years in emergency management, “which has proven to be invaluable experience over the last two years.”
“During my time in Emergency Management, much time was spent planning, preparing, and exercising for a pandemic, that honestly, I didn’t expect to see in my lifetime,” Slone said. “Unfortunately, this time two years ago these words started becoming a reality for our country. As you all know, every, and I do mean every, aspect of normal life was affected. All of a sudden managing the city changed in every way. I felt I had some responsibility in protecting not only our employees and their families, but our businesses and citizens as well. During this time I made decisions based upon guidance from the federal and state agencies, including guidance from public health officials as well as applying my knowledge from previous years in emergency management. We took many precautions and transitioned in many ways to protect our folks while still maintaining services to our citizens.”
Slone noted that many of “our critical facilities remained on lockdown for months to reduce exposure to our most essential workforce.” He said he “never thought we would still be dealing with the remnants” of COVID-19 two years later, saying he had four employees off work the last couple of weeks due to the coronavirus.
“But folks, even through the COVID-19 battle, a 40-year historic ice storm and a 100-year historic flood, the determination and commitment of our teams, our services, and our city remain intact, and in many ways stronger, more resilient, and continuing to provide for you on a daily basis,” Slone said.
The mayor also said:
• The police department was involved in 1,334 incidents last year, including providing assistance to residents and motorists, working vehicle crashes and dealing with drug-related crimes. He also said that code and alcohol beverage control (ABC) enforcement was moved to the police department, which hired another office to handle the workload. He also said the agency will receive two new vehicles in the coming weeks.
• The fire department, which responded to 278 calls in 2021, has been a priority during his current term, Slone said, and its members are “some of the most highly dedicated, motivated, and trained volunteers I know.”
“Through state and federal grants, with some local match, we have equipped our firefighters with some of the newest, safest gear available today, including self-contained breathing apparatus and protective clothing for their crews,” he said.
• The city sanitation department has seen an increase in solid waste since the pandemic began in 2020.
“Due to actions implementing the dumpster maintenance fee and providing dumpsters free of charge for new customers, we’ve seen an increase in dumpster use,” Slone said. “Our residential truck was replaced back in the fall giving much needed reliability on a daily basis and also being able to have an additional truck on hand for a spare, has already proven cost effective.”
• Louisa’s water plant produced more than 488 million gallons of “clean, safe, drinking water” in 2021. The 20-year-old facility will get a technology upgrade that is “now in full swing,” Slone said.
“These upgrades will provide our staff with technology to run our plant more efficiently, optimizing use of chemical and manpower to keep our cost of production as low as possible,” Slone said. “Once again, the pandemic has slowed the process of these upgrades as getting electrical and computer components have been severely delayed.”
• Slone’s administration also completed a $3.9 million project on Lock Avenue, which he called “the largest utility rehab project in Louisa’s history.” The project included replacement of 100-year-old sewer lines, removal of abandoned and “extremely old and faulty water lines,” and installation of a new storm drain system to approximately 25 percent of the city. The construction also led to new curbs, streets and sidewalks in many areas, he said.
“This project has already prevented millions of gallons of rainwater from going into our sewer plant, extending the life of our dated facility,” Slone said. “I don’t want to leave the subject of wastewater without saying this. I’m fully committed and more convinced than ever that the City of Louisa will build a new Wastewater Treatment Facility in the near future. Because of actions already taken by the City of Louisa Council, Lawrence County, and the State of Kentucky, engineering and design has already begun for a new facility with an initial award of 425,000 dollars of state and federal money.”