I want to thank everyone for all of the nice cards and gifts of food items that I received over the Christmas holidays. I don't believe that I have ever received so many in previous years although I certainly did receive an awful lot during the period that I worked in the school system.
I recently read an article indicating that men who eat candy tend to live longer than those who do not. I hope that that holds true in my case because I certainly put away enormous quanitities of it during the holidays.
And our town received some great Christmas gifts also. I had a call from Mr. Harold Corum, United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development Office, on December 18th informing me that we have been granted $45,000.00 toward the purchase of a new fire engine. We will also receive a loan from that agency at 4.5 percent interest.
The entire package including the grant and loan totals $204,500.00. That would be sufficient funds to purchase equipment to replace quite a bit that is obsolete and/or worn out. Should we eventually receive a lower bid than those we presently have, we could place any remaining funds toward repayment of the loan amount.
And the good news did not stop there! Mr. Corum stated that he feels strongly that our persistence in attempting to locate funds for the sewer project is going to pay off in the approval of the R.U.S. Grant of $500,000.00 toward that purpose. We had been counting on that grant but were never sure that it would materialize. It will sure be a great boost to the Utilities Department in helping to hold the recently established sewer fees.
And to add to that, I received a letter from the National Headquarters of Rite Aid Corporation, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania responding to my request for that firm to participate in our downtown renovation/beautification project. The letter stated that Rite Aid Corporation will contribute $ 810.00 to the City of Jellico for the purchase of Dogwoods and waste receptacles to be placed on North Main Street in front of our local Rite Aid Pharmacy.
We certainly appreciate the willingness of Rite Aid Corporation to participate in the drive to improve the appearance of our downtown. Upon receipt of the check from Rite Aid, we will have a total of somewhere around $1,800.00 toward the purchase and placing of Dogwoods in front of our new city building as well as Rite Aid. The $1,800.00 includes the $1,000.00 grant received by Mrs. Joan McCray and Jellico Elementary School (Walmart Corp. for Community Development).
A Council member brought up the question of Christmas bonuses during our regular December meeting. I was happy to hear Utilities Director Cheryl Tidwell say that bonuses had already been granted to all Utilities employees including laid off and reduced-hours employees.
The City Council had also taken that same action and had added back the amounts ordered deducted from the bonus by auditors.
As reported earlier, both the Utilities Department and the City of Jellico have now both undergone complete audits by the Firm of Mitchell Emert Hill, PC Certified Public Accountants. And as stated at that time, both reports were very favorable.
Recommendations were made for the Utilities Department but some of the recommended actions had already been instituted by the department prior to the audit and others are planned for the future.
Not all of the corrective actions would be popular if adopted. One auditor pointed out that our Water Department lost some money last year but that the loss would not have occurred if fees including tap fees were raised to the level charged by other towns our size. But so far our Utilities Department has done a good job in balancing out accounts without such raises.
But the State has the authority to raise them should it decide to do so. No public utility department is permitted to operate at a loss over an extended period and the State could direct the raises at some future time.
Representatives from both Jellico and LaFollette earlier met and ironed out an agreement dealing with future water line extensions. The original agreement provided that Jellico would provide water to Elk Valley and that LaFollette would extend lines to Stinking Creek.
However the final project plans had LaFollette bringing its lines to the Jellico city limits (Crouches Creek) and well within the three-miles limit of our established boundaries.
The new agreement between our towns allows that action to proceed with a written assurance that any of the new lines in an area that might be annexed in the future would immediately become the property of Jellico Utilities at no charge (the agreement was a necessity to insure receipt of the grants for the purpose of extending the lines).
Chris Baird recently gave me a copy of the "Corbin Times- Tribune" dated December 16th that included an article stating that Falcon Cable TV is adding ESPN-2 to Corbin's line-up of existing channels. There is to be little or no additional cost to subscribers.
Numerous individuals have mentioned to me in the past that they wish that we could have the Sports South Network added to our list of available channels. After reading the article in the Times Tribune, I contacted Mr. Dave Hudson, Regional Manager, and requested that Sports South be added to our local cable service.
Mr Hudson said that contractural agreements often prevent changes in channel line-ups but that he would explore the possibility of adding a 37th channel.
Mr. Hudson requested some time to allow him to explore all options and promised to get back with me within the next few weeks.
It has been an interesting and productive year for our town and we are looking forward to even greater achievements in 1999!!!
Here's wishing everyone a great New Year!!! May 1999 be the best year yet!!!
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