Mayor offers praise to community, city staff for dealing with COVID pandemic
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Tuesday, April 14, 2020 — Bardstown Mayor Dick Heaton’s update during Tuesday’s city council meeting offered his thanks and personal kudos to the community’s combined efforts to follow Gov. Andy Beshear’s executive orders and the Centers for Disease Control’s guidance on social distancing and other ways to slow the spread of the Coronavirus.
“I’m proud of the community for how they’re complying with social distancing and in our public and private workplaces to accommodate the CDC guidelines,” he told the council.
He also had praise for the staff and department heads at City Hall, who he said were already formulating their departments’ responses to the pandemic before the governor’s executive orders were in place. None of the city’s employees are sick or in quarantine, he said.
The greenspace at the city’s parks remain open as long as visitors continue to practice proper social distancing. The playgrounds, skate park and tennis courts are still open while the basketball courts, pavillions and picnic tables are closed.
He also was please to report that Bardstown ranked sixth in the state for participation so far in the 2020 U.S. Census.
SEWER PLANT LAGOON WORK. The council approved a bid of $525,612 from E-Z Construction of Louisville to replace the liner at one of the Jerry Riley sewer plant lagoons.
Initially, the lagoon liner was considered repairable, but further inspection revealed the liner must be replaced, City Engineer Jessica Filiatreau explained.
E-Z Construction’s low bid also included a possible deduction of $32,400 if the floor of the lagoon doesn’t need extensive reworking once the old liner is removed.
The replacement project may begin by June 1st.
CORMAN’S CROSSING / ROYAL CREST PUMP STATION REPLACEMENT. Due in part to a proposed subdivision adjacent to Corman’s Crossing, the city will need to replace the pump stations serving Corman’s Crossing and Royal Crest subdivisions.
Filiatreau explained that the pump stations aren’t pumping at capacity after years of service, and when the new subdivision comes online, they will not be able to handle the additional sewage.
The council approved a $150,300 contract with HDR Engineering to do the design and permitting for both pump station upgrades.
Filiatreau said the developer of the new subdivision will participate in paying a portion of the upgrade of the sewer line’s capacity.
In other business, the council:
— approved a change order for the Pottershop Road pump station project. The change order did not involved additional costs for the city; the request only asks for an additional 15 days to complete the existing project.
— approved a request to accept water and sewer lines that will be built in Phase VI of Copper Fields subdivison.
— approved a five-year tax moratorium request for the former Dobbs House that was moved from East Stephen Foster to West Muir Avenue.
— approved first reading of changes to the city’s classification and compensation plan. The changes create an IT position for the city police department. In addition to computer maintenance in the department, the new IT position will be responsible for dealing with the deparmtent’s body cameras once the program is launched.
The changes also change a staff engineering position to network engineer, and add an electric department groundman to the city electric department.
The second reading on the classification and compensation plan will take place at a special council meeting at noon on Wednesday, April 15, 2020.
NEXT UP. The council will conduct a special meeting at noon Wednesday, April 15, 2020. Its next regular meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 28, 2020.
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