Park Hills accepts resignation of alderman

PARK HILLS – Park Hills City Council accepted the resignation of one of their members during Tuesday’s regular monthly meeting.

“As mayor, this is one thing I don’t like to do,” Mayor David Easter said before reading the resignation of Ward I Alderman Tracy McRaven.

In her letter, McRaven, who is in her second term, explained that a recent move outside her ward makes her ineligible to continue to serve on the council.

“She served her ward admirably and we will miss her,” Easter said. “However, I do need to follow procedure on this. I need a motion to accept her resignation.”

The council voted 6-0 to accept her resignation. McRaven and Ward I Councilman Jeff Cunningham were absent. Easter said he will recommend a replacement to the council for consideration.

During the visitor’s session, Arlen Maxfeldt and Monte Clouse complained about the trash in the city and the requirement that they clean city property in front of their homes.

“Can’t we at least put up a ‘Please Don’t Litter’ sign?” Maxfeldt asked.

The two men complained that the city mows and cleans some sections of road, while the owners in other sections are responsible for those tasks. They asked the city to ensure that every resident is treated equally when it comes to cleanup.

Trash from nearby stores has gotten worse in the past two years, Clouse said.

“In 2001, the city said when they took over St. Joe Drive, they would maintain that from city limits to bridge going over Flat River,” he said. “After eight years, they come by and pick and choose who they are going to cut the grass for. The trash blows into the ditch and I have to clean it up before I can mow it.”

Clouse brought photos to the meeting to show to the council. There was no discussion by the council.

The council also heard from Christopher House, co-owner of Subway. House who complained that ever since the consolidation of local post offices, the municipal lot next to him has turned into a parking lot for postal employees.

“At 6 in the morning when my wife gets there, it’s already full,” House said. “Can we do some sort of restrictive parking? Maybe two hour parking. We’re just asking if the city can do something for us, being that that is a municipal parking lot.”

Easter said he talked with the postmaster and asked for help in relieving congestion in the parking lot. In the past three weeks or so, Easter has since driven by the lot at different times of the day and has seen open spaces. He asked whether House has seen a difference in the past week.

“There’s still a few of them but it hasn’t been as bad as in the past,” House said.

Easter said the council will discuss the issue in two weeks. Until then, he asked members to drive past the lot and note whether there are empty spaces in the lot or around the Subway store.

“Write down if it’s full and keep a record of it,” he said. “We’re going to talk about it more in-depth in two weeks.”

City Administrator John Kennedy reported that the Commerce Street bridge is ready for paving and the guard rails.

“Looks like they might be done two weeks before the end of the contract period,” he said.

Kennedy also noted that the Haney Park remediation is nearly done.

“They’ve started putting rock in the trail section,” he said. “Some areas still need to be excavated. Most of the area left will have a foot of clean cover added to it.”

Sales taxes continue to be about 4.4 percent higher than the city’s previous best year, Kennedy said. He believes this will be a record year for sales tax

The council unanimously hired Travis Hodge Hauling LLC to do the Flat River Bank Erosion Stabilization Program. The company had the lowest bid of a range from $21,700 to $57,000.

The vote also was 6-0 to hire Taylor Engineering LLC to do the engineering work for Surface Transportation Projects (STP) in the city. Missouri Department of Transportation requires an engineering design before work begins. The city has $177,795 in STP funds for the entire project. Design cost is $16,844. Construction bids will be solicited after the design is completed.

In other business, the council:

* Set a public hearing for 7 p.m. Sept. 11 to discuss a request by Norm Lucas to rezone property at 38 McMullin Street from R-3 to C-1;

* Reappointed Ron Burns and Tom Burns to four year terms on the planning and zoning commission;

* Reappointed Taylor Engineering as city engineer;

* Passed an ordinance to make city ordinances involving sexually oriented businesses as strict as state statutes;

* Re-adopted an ordinance requiring the city administrator, mayor and mayoral candidates to file annual disclosure statements to disclose potential conflicts of interest.

Paula Barr is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-431-2010, ext. 172 or at pbarr@dailyjournalonline.com.