Council approves cable system equipment upgrade, electric transformer purchase
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021 — The last 2021 meeting of the Bardstown City Council began Tuesday evening with a moment of silence on behalf of the Western Kentucky storm victims.
POWER TRANSFORMER. The council approved a bid to purchase an additional remanufactured 2500 kVa electric transformer for $45,975 from Kansas-based Sunbelt-Solomon Solutions.
One of Bardstown’s factories has advised the city it plans an expansion next year, and it will need the additional transformer for that expansion.
The purchase wasn’t budgeted, but engineer Eric Richter said expenses will be adjusted if necessary to afford the purchase in the current department budget.
The city has one spare transformer this size. Richter said the city may need to consider having more than one spare transformer in the city’s inventory. This factory alone has seven transformers on their site.
CABLE EQUIPMENT UPGRADE. The council also approved a bid of $162,268.66 for the purchase of new head end equipment for the city’s cable TV and internet infrastructure.
The head end is the control center from which cable TV signals and internet traffic are sent out to subscribers. The upgrade will allow greater bandwidth as the city’s infrastructure continues to shift toward fiber optic cable. The equipment will allow equal speed upload and download speeds.
CABLE TV COSTS TO INCREASE. The monthly charges for Bardstown Cable TV content will increase in February. The increases are part of the existing contracts for the cable TV content providers, and these increases are automatically passed on to subscribers.
The content costs for the city’s cable TV system are not marked up for sale to subscribers. Cable TV customers pay the city’s wholesale rate for content.
The basic and expanded basic package — including 70-plus cable channels — will increase by $5.13 per month.
The basica and extended digital basic package will increase by $4.59 per month.
Cable TV customers will receive notices of the increases in one of their next cable billing statements.
MUTUAL AID AGREEMENT. The council approved a request for a mutual aid agreement between the city utilities and other utilities across Kentucky to share resources and assistance in emergencies with other cities and areas that experience a natural disaster.
City Engineer Jessica Filiatreau said the agreement formalizes the utilities ability to work together and share resources to assist other communities when emergencies strike, like the recent storms that ravaged parts of Kentucky.
In other business, the council:
— gave final approval of modifications to the city sign ordinance which will give businesses with large campuses flexibility regarding their directional signage needs.
NEXT UP. The Bardstown City Council next meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2021, in the council chambers next to the Rec. Center gym on Xavier Drive.
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