RICHMOND —
The Berea City Council soon will be considering ways to pay for a mandated stormwater project and looking at options for educating the community.
Sandy Camargo, president of CDP Engineers based in Lexington and engineer for the city of Berea, attended Tuesday’s council meeting to explain the mandate known as MS4.
The concept behind MS4 (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System) is to collect stormwater from places where it might cause trouble and move it into waterways that will guide it to a proper collecting point, according to information provided by Camargo during Tuesday’s meeting.
The stormwater management upgrades are mandated by the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES Phase II Stormwater Program), which is a program that stems from the Clean Water Act.
The improvements to be made in Berea through the MS4 are mandated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and administered through the Kentucky Division of Water.
“They’re saying if you follow the compliance measures, you should have established a water program to protect and improve water quality,” Camargo said. “This program is heavy in documentation. They want to see if you’re doing that you’re supposed to be doing.”
Richmond and Eastern Kentucky University already are program members, but the county is not, Camargo said.
“It’s population density (as to the reason why the county’s not involved),” he said. “They don’t have the number of people per square miles to get into the program.”
Berea was accepted after the results of the 2010 census was released, Camargo said. According to the census, Berea had reached a population that exceeded 10,000.
“The clock is ticking right now,” he said. “We hope to have the mayor’s signature for the five-year program by the end of this week.”
Berea Mayor Steve Connelly acknowledged that the city’s flexible spending money is “beginning to shrink, and we continue to have these long-term obligations,” he said. “This is a new one. We either have to figure out how to use the few flexible dollars that we have or do we figure out how to generate some additional revenue. Many communities are talking about a (utility) user fee. If you’re going to be doing these things, and you’re going to have that ongoing obligation, we’re going to have to fund it.”
At the council’s next meeting, members will be considering new tax rates on real and personal properties, as well as motor vehicles.
“Right now, the average city property tax rate is 22 cents and Berea’s is 9.8 (cents),” Connelly said. “So, if we did move in that direction and dedicated it toward this, you would think that would be a way to justify. If you take the 4 percent, you could dedicate that money toward the program like the stormwater financing.”
A cost estimate for Berea’s MS4 project has not been announced.
“Over the next 18 months, we’ll be adopting ordinances about how we’re going to be engaged in this process,” Connelly said. “We’ll be setting up a committee and try to spread the information to get input from the community.”
In other business:
• Connelly read and signed a proclamation deeming Aug. 20 through Aug. 26 as “10-Percent Challenge Week,” which is an initiative to curb acts of violence.
The proclamation was accepted by Douglas A. Wain, executive director of Win The War Against Violence, based in Lexington.
The organization’s mission is “to help bring about a substantial reduction in human violence primarily through educational means.”
“This encourages all Kentuckians to reduce the instances of violence by 10 percent,” he said.
• Several bids were opened during Tuesday’s meeting, including a $57,593 bid awarded to the Allen Company to pave the parking lot at the Berea Municipal Utilities building; a $66,170 bid awarded to River City Controls for the flow meters at Berea’s wastewater treatment plant; and a $15,812 bid awarded to Richards Electric for lighting work to be done at the Russel Acton Folk Center.
• The final reading of Berea’s Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance was heard Tuesday, implementing new floodplain designations from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The updated FEMA floodplain maps go into effect Oct. 2
• The council heard the first reading of a proposed ordinance that would change the classification of approximately one acre of property known as “Lot 6” on Lena Drive from mobile home park use to multifamily residential use.
The next meeting of the Berea City Council is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Sept. 4 at the Berea Police and Municipal Building on Chestnut Street.
Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@
richmondregister.com
or 624-6608.
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Berea to participate in federally mandated stormwater project
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