Monday night’s City Council meeting had only four items on the agenda, not counting the opening pledge and additional comments.
For the Jan. 6 meeting, the second and third items on the agenda were the first readings of two ordinances. Ordinance 230.55 is “an ordinance repealing ordinance 230.53, the City of Columbia personnel policies, adopting the City of Columbia personnel policies as a municipal order.” The second ordinance was ordinance 230.56, which is an “ordinance updating the pay (and) classification plan” for city employees.
In September of this year, the City of Columbia underwent a “limited-scope” special examination performed by the state’s Auditor of Public Accounts, Allison Ball. The examination focused on the City’s operations from January 1, 2021, to the end of the year in 2023. According the press release from Ball’s office, “This examination began after numerous concerns about the City’s activities were expressed and (was) focused on investigating the specific concerns raised in order to provide recommendations to the City of Columbia.”
What the audit found was that the city’s personnel and pay classification plan did not include all positions filled by the City and that the plan had not been updated for around a decade. Ball’s office suggested that the City of Columbia update their plan to reflect all positions held by those at the City and their current pay rates.
The ordinances read during the January City Council meeting regarding personnel policies and classification plans are intended to rectify the outdated plan. As these were the first readings of these ordinances, however, they will not receive a final vote or comment until the second reading.
“The first reading, there are no comments,” said Mayor Pam Hoots. “Any comment relative to that is given at the second reading.”
For the final item on the agenda, the City Council made a motion to authorize a resolution for a Community Development Block Grant project. They held a public hearing on this project via Zoom on Monday afternoon.
“It’s for gas expansion and economic development… It’s going to be going out North 61,” Mayor Hoots said of the plan. “They also gave authorization to apply for road aid funding. The state of Kentucky has a program where you can make applications for specific roads or streets in our case. Last year, we got funding for Westlake Drive… We got all that paid by the state basically free for the state. This is similar. We are looking at Doc Walker Road that goes into Little League and we are also looking at Patricia Trail… That road is slightly caving in, and those are the two areas we are going to make an application for.”
During the meeting, the City Council also saw four resignations from the Downtown Days committee. Andrea Feese was then appointed to the committee.
“(The four who resigned) have served for years. I think they are just wanting to rest, probably. It’s a huge job. All of them, I think, indicated they would help, but they resigned. I wouldn’t think it will (impact Downtown Days),” Mayor Hoots stated.
The Council also wished to remind all Columbians that sections of Greensburg, West Fortune, and South High Streets will be closed in the evening hours of the January 24 weekend for the filming of Jenna Snow Grant’s senior project, “The Crow.”
By Kenley Godby
kenley@adairvoice.com
