BEREA — Time Warner Cable customers in Berea, Richmond and Madison County will be seeing an increase in cable bills beginning Jan. 1, 2010.

Berea Mayor Steve Connelly read a letter from Time Warner representatives at Tuesday’s city council meeting announcing the hike in monthly bills.

“We continually work hard to hold the line on our expenses, but with the drastic rise of operating a business, to include increased programming, which has increased significantly over the past 30 years, and energy costs, as well as continued upgrade of our cable plant, we need to increase some of our prices as well,” the letter reads.

The change in pricing is as follows: Broadcast basic, from $18.82 to $20.68; Expanded basic, from $39.09 to $42.73; and Time Warner Classic Cable, from $57.91 to $63.41.

Digital tiers will increase by $1 per tier, and premium channels will increase by $1 per channel.

Road Runner Lite Service, as well as Road Runner Limited Basic Service, both will increase by $4, and Road Runner Standard Service will increase by $2.

“Digital phone services, equipment fees, installation charges, and Pay-Per-View/Video on Demand movie and event prices will remain the same,” the letter reads. “As always, all customers have been notified of this impending change via their billing statements.”

In other business:

• Paul Schrader of Berea’s GIS-Survey Department announced Tuesday that preliminary copies of new city flood hazard area maps are now on display for the public in the city’s GIS department located at 212 Chestnut St.

These new maps are the result of work being done by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and the Kentucky Division of Water.

“By looking at the preliminary maps, it’s going to affect a number of our residents,” Schrader said. “It’s going to include a number of new structures in the flood hazard area. We’re in the process of compiling a list of all the addresses of these structures and addresses of the owners, as well as a list of builders and developers, surveyors and engineers who might find this information interesting.”

Once the list is compiled, Schrader said a public meeting would be conducted with FEMA and Kentucky Division of Water representatives.

A date for this meeting has yet to be set, but Schrader said the public would be notified via letter.

The new flood plain maps are scheduled to be adopted in August of next year.

Residents can call Berea’s GIS department at 986-8528 for more details.

• A meeting of Berea’s audit and finance committee addressed recent audit findings pertaining to the city’s documentation of debit card use by city employees.

The city’s current policy requires that all debit cards be checked in and out via the city’s finance department each time it is used. However, when employees would check out the debit cards for extended travels, they were not able to adhere to this policy.

For an example, Stone mentioned a time three years ago when Berea Tourism Director Belle Jackson checked out a debit card to attend a work-related conference in California.

“She was authorized to use the card for trip expenses,” Stone said. “However, the card was not personalized and she had no identification verifying her employment with the City of Berea. Therefore, the card was not accepted. Since (Jackson’s) work requires her to travel, the city acquired a debit card with her name on the card and she was allowed to keep the card. Keeping the card in her personal possession was a violation of the policy since the policy requires that the card be checked in and out of the finance department for each time the card is used.”

Stone recommended that an additional column be added to the debit card log, specifying the number of days the card will be logged out for trips or training.

Stone also announced that credit cards for each city department will be acquired from a Berea bank.

“I will be working with each department head to determine the limit of credit needed on each card issued,” he said. “Credit cards will be used by department heads only, and debit cards will continue to be used for training and/or conferences for employees or for authorized purchases.”

An amended debit card use policy, along with a credit card use policy, will be revealed at the council’s next meeting.

• Stone announced that bids for the Menelaus Road project would be advertised in March next year, and that $3 million in state funding had been allotted for the project’s design and construction.

The project will take place on a portion of road from the new Berea bypass to Mayde Road.

It is going to be transformed into a three-lane road equipped with a curb, gutter and a shared-use path, Stone said.

“This is desperately needed because that’s where the new Madison County middle school will be located,” Stone said.

It also will assist the city in selling property for its industrial park.

“We have to be able to get traffic (from the industrial park) in and out,” he said.

• Berea home school co-op students gave the council a glimpse of what they will be showcasing Saturday at a regional competition focusing on Lego robotics.

As a part of the competition, students must identify a problem associated with transportation and create a real-world solution that intertwines the use of robotics.

The method the students will present at this weekend’s competition at the University of Kentucky will be a system that incorporates a magnetic strip into roadways that will propel cars up to 100 miles per hour.

• Councilwoman Violet Farmer announced there would be a Human Resource Committee meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 5:30 p.m. at Berea City Hall to conduct interviews for a Berea police sergeant.

The next meeting of the Berea City Council will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15 at the Berea Police and Municipal Building.

Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 624-6608.