Wilmore City Council checks off agenda items

Published 6:05 pm Wednesday, January 18, 2017

The Wilmore City Council checked off a few items that had made several appearances on their agendas at a special city council meeting Tuesday night.

The council approved to purchase a new dump truck capable of plowing snowy and icy roads and also spreading salt.

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The new snowplow will replace the old that has served the city for the past 16 years.

The 2000 Ford dump truck is currently the only salt truck used for snow removal and though it is working, Director of Utilities and Public Works Dave Carlstedt said it is in distress, particularly its transmission is slipping — estimated to be a $15,000 fix.

The new dump truck being purchased from Bluegrass International under a state contract — meaning the city will not have to go through a bid process — will cost $155,000 with the plow and salt spreader. 

The City of Wilmore will be taking a local financing option that will allow them to pay off the truck from the Municipal Road Aid — an account specifically for road maintenance and repairs — in five years at two percent interest. Currently, the Municipal Road Aid account has over $320,000 in it.

Carlstedt said the truck should be delivered and ready for use within four months.

The new dump truck will join a fleet of one three-quarter ton pickup truck that has a blade and salt spreader, backhoes, a skid steer, and a road grader that Hanger Construction Company allows the city to use in exchange for storage in the city’s shop.

The council also approved two ordinances related to financing the $1.8 million Wilmore Wastewater and Treatment Plant project. One of them concerned construction, and the other authorized a loan agreement between the city and the Kentucky Rural Water Finance Cooperation.

The council also approved a resolution related to the project, that will allow them to accept the bid from Rural Development — the only bid received for the purchase of two revenue bonds.

Upon borrowing the $1.8 million from Rural Development, the city will pay back the agency over a 40 year period with two percent interest.

After several months of being on the agenda, Hal Snowden’s request to alter the 20-year-old Conservation Easement on Roseglade Farm was unanimously denied by the city council. Snowden came to the council 8 months ago requesting to amend the Development Plan that originally anticipated putting houses on 43 acres in the southeast corner of the 175 acre property.

The new proposal would have moved the houses to the northern most corner of the property, closest to the Y intersection. This Amendment would have moved about 100 acres of protected green space to the southern part of the farm.

Councilman Jeff Baier’s reasoning for making the motion to deny the request concerned the terms within the Conservation Easement were saying that they were “forever binding.”