Ronica Shannon
BEREA — A Ciy Council member has called upon the city’s utility advisory council to make sure Berea utility operations are well structured and operate as efficiently as possible.
Councilman Ronnie Terrill asked at an April 28 council meeting whether or not the Berea Utility Manager should report to the BUAB instead of the current procedure of the utility manager reporting directly to the city administrator.
“BUAB has concluded that what kind of utility board or council would best serve Berea residents is a question that warrants city council attention and an opportunity for public discussion and written input,” said Steve Boyce, chairman of the Berea Utility Advisory Council at Tuesday’s meeting of the Berea City Council.
He said two questions should be considered in relation to Berea’s utility board or council: What should the scope of authority and reporting be, and how should membership and qualifications of members be determined?
“The time seems right to give serious and open consideration to the question now that Berea has successfully negotiated the challenges associated with assuming ownership of the utilities,” he said.
The BUAB recently was created to examine aspects of billing, customer notification procedures and utility rate structuring.
Berea Mayor Steve Connelly called the advisory council an outreach effort for Berea citizens and said he appreciated all the work that has been done by the committee in helping educate citizens about the city’s utilities operation.
In other business:
• City fire hydrants are now painted based on a color-coded system so that each hydrant will show its water flow capability. Colors will range from red (lowest flow), orange, green and blue (highest flow).
• Jennifer Webb, director of Madison County Youth In Action, along with student Youth In Action representatives, recognized members of the Berea Police Department for their participation in the program.
They also gave tokens of appreciation to Connelly, Berea Police Chief Col. David Gregory and former police chief Dwayne Brumley.
• Councilman Glenn Jennings, chair of the city’s audit and finance committee, announced that a bid on resurfacing several city streets had been awarded to The Allen Co. in the amount of $52,243.
• Water lines installed in the Kayla View Subdivision by an independent contractor now have been turned over to the city for continued maintenance and repair.
• The council decided to reject both bids received to repair the roof of Berea’s welcome center.
The submitted bids came from Berea-based Isaacs Specialty Roof System Inc. in the amount of $55,785, and Richmond-based New Way Roofing in the amount of $34,975.
“We feel like there were some additional things that needed to be added (in the bids), and after talking to them, we understand that there were more things we should have added (in the bid advertisement),” Stone said. “We felt that instead of going into this with change orders, we could go ahead and rebid.”
• Stone announced that a portion of Menalus Pike from KY 595 to the bypass would be resurfaced in the next couple of weeks.
• Gregory reminded city drivers to be more cautious of crosswalks now that both public schools and Berea College are back in session.
Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 624-6608.
