By Rachel Aretakis and Erin Grigson
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications
The Midway City Council met Monday evening with discussions centering on plans to bring faster Internet service to rural Midway, problems with the city website and a brief review of snow removal.
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications
The Midway City Council met Monday evening with discussions centering on plans to bring faster Internet service to rural Midway, problems with the city website and a brief review of snow removal.
Windstream Communications has approached the council about obtaining an easement for city property off Spring Station Road near Gate 24. “It’s trying to get customers faster service in areas outside the city,” Mayor Tom Bozarth told the council.
The company has offered $5,000 for the easement, but Bozarth and Council Member Bruce Southworth said Windstream should pay more.
Bozarth referred the matter to a committee comprising Southworth, Aaron Hamilton and Sara Hicks and asked them to “bring back an appropriate number.” The three plan to meet at the site Wednesday with Raymond Tinson, assistant to the resident engineer for EA Technical Services, the engineering company for Windstream, who spoke to the council about securing the easement.
“Anything you all have a concern about, we can discuss the amendments” to the proposed agreement, Tinson told the council after answering questions. He said the company has received a state grant to improve Internet access in rural areas.
The project could bring high-speed Digital Subscriber Line service to as many as 485 households, Tinson said, though there are not nearly that many people living in the area. He estimated the facility would serve about 150 homes and businesses. The project is working on a six-month deadline, he said.
The property “would provide pull-off access and room to
place equipment,” the company told the council in a letter.
Windstream is requesting the rights to a 25-foot-square
piece of the property. It cannot install the fiber optic line
needed for the project without such facilities along the routes. Tinson said the area could be fenced in, to be only
accessible to Windstream employees, but the details could be worked out in the
agreement.
Tinson said the company would maintain the gate and access road. In response to a question from Hicks, he said the facility would cause no harm to animals.
Example of Windstream facilities provided by company in document given to Midway City Council |
The website host, WordPress, recently updated its format,
which caused the city’s page to have minor problems, said Council Member
Grayson Vandegrift. The site and the
events calendar still work, he said, but minor improvements need to be made.
“The website still functions; it just doesn’t function great,” he said. “We’re
very limited right now with what we can do with the website.”
He said the city will likely have to build a new site, and
recommended that the council not put more money into the current one and begin
thinking about building a new one.
Southworth suggested that estimates be obtained for consideration in
drafting the city budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Vandegrift said the site is seven years old and the council might get three more years out of it. “I think the best option is to just keep going forward and keep trying to make steady improvements to it without reinventing the wheel,” Vandegrift said. “It’s not on its last leg or anything, but some day it’s just not going to work anymore.”
Vandegrift said he thought the contractor the city hired for snow removal has been doing a very good job. “I haven’t heard any complaints,” he said.
This is the first winter that the city has had to pay for plowing of streets after snow, because the county fiscal court dropped the service after Midway became a city of the fourth class.
Bozarth originally budgeted for $30,000 for snow removal in the annual budget that ends June 30, but the council lowered it to $20,000. The city has spent roughly $11,700 so far, but that did not include Monday’s large snowfall, Vandegrift said after the meeting. “We’ve had a lot more snow this year. We hardly had any last year. It’s one of those things that, it’s got to be done,” he said. “Even though we’re a little over what we budgeted right now, in the end, it looks like we’re going to be under.”
Vandegrift said the site is seven years old and the council might get three more years out of it. “I think the best option is to just keep going forward and keep trying to make steady improvements to it without reinventing the wheel,” Vandegrift said. “It’s not on its last leg or anything, but some day it’s just not going to work anymore.”
Vandegrift said he thought the contractor the city hired for snow removal has been doing a very good job. “I haven’t heard any complaints,” he said.
This is the first winter that the city has had to pay for plowing of streets after snow, because the county fiscal court dropped the service after Midway became a city of the fourth class.
Bozarth originally budgeted for $30,000 for snow removal in the annual budget that ends June 30, but the council lowered it to $20,000. The city has spent roughly $11,700 so far, but that did not include Monday’s large snowfall, Vandegrift said after the meeting. “We’ve had a lot more snow this year. We hardly had any last year. It’s one of those things that, it’s got to be done,” he said. “Even though we’re a little over what we budgeted right now, in the end, it looks like we’re going to be under.”
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