By Jeff Noble

Editor

The prospect of new housing in Jackson got a little bit closer, as the Jackson City Council last Thursday voted to give two developers an option to purchase two-and-a-half-acres of land near the Water Plant on Railroad Street.

Joe Curb and Bob Barton plan to develop the site for building an 11-unit complex, which would cost them around a million dollars. Jackson Mayor Mike Miller told the council and visitors that the area in question is out of the flood plain, and was appraised by Fred Davidson at $50,000. “Joe and Bob were here last year to talk to the council about this. This will be a private enterprise, and will help the housing situation in our city. What they need from us is if we want to sell them the land at the appraised value, we need to send the developers a letter stating our intentions.”

Miller said the plans would be for Curb and Barton to construct the property for low-to-median income persons, with the average rent being $300-$325 a month. Councilmember Steve Bowling asked Miller, “If we can push them to making it medium-income housing, it would help our city. We do need medium-income housing.” Councilmember Rose Wolfe also addressed the Mayor on the situation, saying, “Affordable housing is a problem here.”

Two persons who live near the affected area in South Jackson asked Council if the site would have to be dug up and filled, which could cause a problem with potential flooding. Miller assured them that the developers want to build on the land as it is, and that no filling would be necessary. Before the vote, he asked the council if they would also give the developers an option to extend the timeframe as well. The motion was made and all councilmembers voted in favor of the proposal.

Next, Miller told the council that he had applied for a “Safe Route to School” grant, which would put new and improved sidewalks along Highland and Patton Avenues in front of Jackson High School, and along Cherry and Elm Streets around Breathitt High School. He mentioned that the grant application had the support of two members of the Breathitt County Fiscal Court - District 1 Commissioner Tim Spencer and District 3 Commissioner Jeff Noble.

The changing of policy and proceedures in the city, and having a system to do so, was again brought up by the Mayor. He asked for Paul Combs, who works with cities across the state in the resources field, to speak about what his company is doing to help Jackson in this effort. “Job descriptons with their salary range are now included in the manual,” Combs told them. “A new one will be sent to the city with cost-of-living increases.” He went on to mention that two new classifications had been made to the manual - Assistant Police Chief and Utilities Director, although he acknowledged that along with Utilities Director, an Operations Manager position would need to be classified.

In addition, the plan is now for the city to add four more holidays for their employees. Dr. Martin Luther King’s Birthday, Presidents’ Day, Columbus Day and Veterans’ Day would join the city’s six existing holidays for a total of ten, which would put Jackson equal with state and national standards. Also mentioned would be a proceedure on random drug testing for city employees. “I would encourage you to look at the underlined stuff in the manuals, read through it, and ask questions. The first 40 pages are the big pages,” Combs told council members.

Mayor Miller told Council they had two actions they could do. “We can do this by Municipal Order, or we can have two Public Hearings and two Readings of Ordinances. I’d like to have this done by July 1st.” Councilmember Patrick O’Neill asked Combs if he could come to the next council session on Thursday, April 26, and Combs said he could.

Rising water bills were mentioned by Councilmember Bowling, who told the group, “I’ve had about 22 calls about people’s water bills taking a leap. It’s showing them using seven units, instead of two units.” Bowling listed the Highland-Patton-Lincoln Avenue area where the calls were coming from, and Miller assured him he would look into the matter. Miller mentioned that the the water company had to order a new pump to replace the one at Lick Branch, and also did some repairs to the pump station at Belcher Fork. “The pump at the lift station at the shopping center is down. It will definitely have to be pumped out once, maybe twice. But with the exception of that lift station, everything’s fixed. For water, the month of February was a rough one.”

In other action, the council voted to approve Steve Thomas, Phillip Watts, Miranda Wooton and John Couch to the Jackson Parks Board. They also approved Parks Board Chairman Tony Turner to the Health and Safety Committee, and Jackson attorney Tommy Miller to the Tourism Board.

Councilmember O’Neill mentioned in the meeting that “I got a call from the folks at the recycling center on Panbowl Lake”. Mentioning that the city has received complaints on the cleanliness and clutter of the property, Miller added that he had been told by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet that the Panbowl Road was a county road. Then he said that he had sent a formal request to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) on the situation, and had sent David Haddix, the owner of Panbowl Recycling, a letter that “he’s in violation of city ordinances, such as not paying an occupational tax and not having a city business license.” The Mayor noted that “the owner would have until April 15th to comply; otherwise the city would shut him down.” On another item of paying licenses, the Mayor mentioned that Papa John’s Pizza of Hazard, which sells pizzas along Highway 15 in the parking lot of the old Scottie’s Restaurant, is now paying the city the necessary permits to operate in Jackson.

Finally, Miller told Councilmembers that Charles Shouse and Mike Bryant had approached the city again about filming a movie in Jackson, and asking for the city’s help and financial support. “The movie they made last year, ‘Forever in Dark Hills’ was picked up by a national distributor. And what they have planned for a movie this time is a good idea. They could pull it off.” He told the audience that he would follow up on this in the weeks ahead.

City Councilmembers Wayne Morgan, Jason Hall and Alfred Turner were also present for the meeting, which lasted around an hour and was held a week early due to Mayor Miller being out of town next week.