The Brandenburg City Council met during their regular meeting Monday (2\/13) night.<\/p>\n
At the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Bryan Claycomb took a few minutes to read a mission statement for his administration of the city. He thanked the staff for their the service to the residents of the city. <\/p>\n
As he began his statement, he said his intention was to operate the city as the business that it truly is. He asked council members to make sound decisions based upon facts and desire for the right and fair decision for the city. Claycomb said that city leaders will have to manage short term pain and drain on city financial resources as the city deals with the biggest economic investment in the community related to Nucor Brandenburg. Claycomb said there was no way for anybody to be ready to manage the investment of this size. He thanked Nucor for investing into the local community. Claycomb went onto say that he was not going to be the gate keeper of “status quo”. He said change is inevitable and is asking city leaders to look toward the future. He also committed to a fully completing the new waste water treatment plant to designed specification and get the city relief from an agreed order of the Kentucky Division of Water. He is working on a long range operational plan for the water and waste water treatment facilities. <\/p>\n
After making those comment, Mayor Claycomb entertained business involving some of the point in his mission statement. He informed city council of a pending claim of the amount of $140,000 from the Walker Group related to the sewer plant project. The mayor said he has spoken with Judge Executive Troy Kok about the pending claim and further discussions and negotiations would be needed to resolve the claim. He said that the both city and county leaders want the new facility operating at the specific standards before taking ownership of the facility.<\/p>\n
Mayor Claycomb requested the council to advertise for one full time and one part time Class 2 operator for the new facility. The council approved to seek applicants for those positions. <\/p>\n
The mayor also said that new water tower project on Mooreman Road has been suspended due to reviewing the overall water system for the city. He said he didn’t feel comfortable with spending the $1.5 million dollars on one project before accessing the needs and costs of existing infrastructure as being a good steward of city funds. He said that the water tank was needed and will move forward once a overall plan is place and needs are known. <\/p>\n
In other business, the council approved the first reading of an ordinance to update the city garbage contractor. The council will conduct the second reading during their March meeting. Council members were updated on projects in the River Front Park as the work is underway to remove the old sewer plant. Once complete the hill side will eventually be brought down to street level. Because of that project, Mayor Claycomb said that work on new restrooms under the elevated the generated platform has been suspended to allow to re-evaluate the placement of the needed facilities. <\/p>\n
Police Chief Brian Hagg reported that his department has applied for fully funded grants for Halo Detection devices to be installed at Meade County High School and possibly the Stewart Pepper Middle School. The grant is a effort of the partnership with the school district with the School Resource Officer. If the grants were to be awarded, the Halo devices would be installed in the restrooms be detect vaping, smoking, or other disturbances that are hard for the school staff to constantly monitor. He also reported the department is working with the organization Shield 616 for the possibility of receiving boy armor for each of officer of the department. Shield 616 conducts their own fundraising efforts to provide law enforcement body armor which could cost about $2,000 per officer to be protected. No word as to when the grants would be awarded. <\/p>\n
Mayor Claycomb reported that work should begin over the next several weeks on the downtown sidewalk project. He said that Chief Hagg and Public Works Director T.J. Hughes are working on the coordinating a plan ensure a safe traffic flow during the construction work. <\/p>\n