Board approves plan to upgrade city hall security

The safety of city employees and conflicting opinions on the choice of remodeling plans to be used for the beefing up of security at the municipal building were the main topics of discussion when the Leadington Board of Aldermen met in regular session Tuesday night.

In recent months the board had determined that substantial changes should be made to the municipal building’s entrance to better protect the safety of the city clerk and court clerk, as well as other city employees who might be working there. Mayor Dustin Winick offered to donate his time to work on the project once a design was chosen and funds for the remodeling approved.

At Tuesday’s meeting the mayor apologized for the delay in providing the board prices for the items needed to complete the remodeling, saying that he had “dropped the ball.” The board had two plans to choose from for the project. One was labeled “Plan A” and the other “Plan B.”

Specifics of the plans were not made public due to the security concerns involved, but the work would include improvements to the entrance to the clerks’ work area and window used for interaction with the public.

“I prefer Plan B,” Winick said. “Plan A just confuses me.”

The majority of the board appeared to be leaning towards Plan B as well, however Alderman Casie Braddy asked if there might be another way to remodel the entrance that would provide just as much, if not more, safety for employees.

After around 10 minutes of discussion, primarily between Braddy and Winick, the alderman asked if the mayor, board and City Clerk Debbie Eggers would join her at the building’s entrance so they could all get a better idea of what she had in mind.

The parties gathered at the entrance, spending approximately 15 minutes going over the differences between Plan B and Braddy’s idea. At that point, Alderman Debbi Matthews said she thought there would be no difference in the cost of using Plan B or Braddy’s plan.

Matthews asked Braddy if she was against the plan or concerned about the cost. Braddy said she was concerned about the plan.

Returning to the meeting room, Winick asked for one of the aldermen to make a motion to accept either Plan A, Plan B or Braddy’s plan which he designated as Plan C. A motion to accept Plan B was made and the entire board, excluding Braddy, voted in favor of it.

Following the vote, Braddy stressed that while she is 100 percent in favor of improving security at the municipal building, she simply opposed the plan up for vote in the motion.

In other action by the board, the purchase of three speed bumps and three replacement kits were approved. Also approved were the purchase of seven sets of turnout gear for the city fire department, two backhoe tires and five bright yellow T-shirts with reflective stripes for use by the street department.

A piece of property in Park Hills donated to the city by its owners was accepted. Winick noted that, while the City Attorney Mark Bishop said the land can be owned by the city, it can’t ever be annexed.

“We’ll just accept it and then figure out what to do with it later,” Winick said.

As has been its practice in previous years, the board opted out of participating in the state’s annual Back To School Sales Tax Holiday.

“We don’t have any businesses in town that sell anything that is eligible for the tax holiday except Big Lots and they can do it if they want to,” Braddy said.

Leadington City Clerk Debbie Eggers, right, discusses options to remodel the front entrance of the municipal building with Alderman Debbi Matthews and Mayor Dustin Winick.

Kevin Jenkins is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-518-3614 or kjenkins@dailyjournalonline.com