Town Council Meets
Sept 14
Joyce Gibson and Jerry Stover were AWOL during the recent Council meeting. Newly appointed Councilperson Barry Peyton (far left) and Jason Hubbard (far right) picked up the load
Public meetings are
suppose to be a time for the taxpayer to hear and understand
what's going on at govt agencies. Many times, more often than
not, backroom deals keep the public in the dark.
Over nearly 3 decades of covering Clay Town Council, something else kept us at bay. For many of those 30 years, Council did nothing. They didn't read their material ahead of time nor stop by Town Hall to get up to speed on what needed attention.
Meeting after meeting, they would discuss something that needed to be fixed, changed, improved but provided no follow up. They just talked long enough to earn their pay check and then waited another 30 days to do the same thing over again.
Back when Jason Hubbard was Mayor a few years ago, that lad actually looked at financial reports and studied bills / purchase orders. As a result of his attention to detail, change came to the Town of Clay. Those sucking up loads of overtime were cut back, those not adhering to the rules (including an elected official), their actions were corrected, and as a direct result of his Sherlock Holmes eyeballing purchases, one long term employee was fired with a unanimous vote of Council.
It's good to have long term leaders on board. Example : Joyce Gibson who knows the history of the place and often reminds younger leaders not to repeat mistakes.
Council held their monthly on Sept 14th beginning at 5:30pm. Joyce Gibson and Jerry Stover were absent from duty. They didn't even bother to use the tele for phone in participation. Around the table were Mayor Josh Shamblin, Recorder Cindy Mullins, and Council persons Jason Hubbard, Barry Peyton, Renee Moore.
How about some notes before we actually getting into meeting coverage.
Four months ago we reported on the Log Factory spewing tons of raw logs into the Elk River. While chit chatting before the start time, Mayor Hubbard said the Factory was again treating sewage at around 70% efficiency.
A couple meetings back the owners of the hotdog stand in the triangle at Two Run, those folks came to a meeting and complained about sewage backing up in the business. The Mayor promised, the stoppage would be corrected ASAP. We saw a crew there digging up pavement and gravel on both sides of the tiny building. Those that have used the building in the past have always been there with the understanding, that building has never been hooked onto the town system, that in fact, a straight pipe went under the pavement and over to the always handy, Elk River.
We asked the Mayor about this topic before the meeting opened. Mayor Shamblin replied, It's not hooked to the Town system. Hmmmmmmmmm
Now to the public meeting which got underway promptly at 5:30pm on the 14th.
Returning Council person Jason Hubbard asked changes in the way financial reports look. It asked about having more details available to the Elected.
On the financials, the Town account is about $8000 from last month; the Sewer account is up by $2000; and, the WaWa account came ahead by $15,000.
Hubbard kept reading the financials while others were talking. After several minutes, Hubbard raised concerns over the amount of overtime being paid out, the high cost of payroll in general, and then, "Whew, $8000 in water plant payroll for one month, August!"
Related to their sewer operation and with ERTS open beside the Log Factory, the Town needs to bring in equipment and operate the place . The really isn't a real rights of way there except for what ERTS is now calling their trail. The Town is negotiating a rights of way with ERTS to dirve into the place and a place to park their big sludge dumpster.
Mayor Shamblin announced that the Gov's office is providing a $5M grant to improve sewer operations. Shamblin felt that the Log Factory improvements, actually downsizing, will get underway in Spring 2022. He also mentioned needing a "jetter" to replace costly roter rooter fees and maybe a new dump truck. $5 M is bunch of loot!
How many times have boil water orders came and gone without you knowing about em? The Town and local public service districts are horrible about announcing the serious problems related to crappy wawa. Several years back, it got so bad, a Public Service Commission Judge ordered PSD's to issue boil water orders (BWO) in a timely manner.
Now, during this meeting, the Mayor announced that the PSC is now ordering wawa providers to have a call up system in place by Jan 1st 2022. Shamblin had few details to offer but said, most likely a system like "SARAH" calls would be implemented. As soon as SARAH was mentioned, concerns were raised about the number of nuisance SARAH calls would start coming in for everything from the next car wash to someone needing a tire changed.
Mention came of a small business group that approached the Mayor seeking relief from all the dilapidated houses and junk laying around Town. Reps from that group did not show up for this meeting.
Here comes Jason again...
A previous worker is interested in returning to municipal employment. Because the lady was a good worker in the past and because good workers are hard to find, much discussion ensued.
Jason Hubbard was hesitant to hire anyone until the employee manual is updated, brought into the 21st century. He was also questioning the Town's policy of paying 100% of PEIA hospitalization coverage. Hubbard didn't know of ANY other private employer that paid the full bill. Hubbard: it would save a bunch of headaches down the road to update the manual before hiring anybody.
That's the highlights from the most recent Town Council gathering.
Pretty good one too!
AW
Over nearly 3 decades of covering Clay Town Council, something else kept us at bay. For many of those 30 years, Council did nothing. They didn't read their material ahead of time nor stop by Town Hall to get up to speed on what needed attention.
Meeting after meeting, they would discuss something that needed to be fixed, changed, improved but provided no follow up. They just talked long enough to earn their pay check and then waited another 30 days to do the same thing over again.
Back when Jason Hubbard was Mayor a few years ago, that lad actually looked at financial reports and studied bills / purchase orders. As a result of his attention to detail, change came to the Town of Clay. Those sucking up loads of overtime were cut back, those not adhering to the rules (including an elected official), their actions were corrected, and as a direct result of his Sherlock Holmes eyeballing purchases, one long term employee was fired with a unanimous vote of Council.
It's good to have long term leaders on board. Example : Joyce Gibson who knows the history of the place and often reminds younger leaders not to repeat mistakes.
Council held their monthly on Sept 14th beginning at 5:30pm. Joyce Gibson and Jerry Stover were absent from duty. They didn't even bother to use the tele for phone in participation. Around the table were Mayor Josh Shamblin, Recorder Cindy Mullins, and Council persons Jason Hubbard, Barry Peyton, Renee Moore.
How about some notes before we actually getting into meeting coverage.
Four months ago we reported on the Log Factory spewing tons of raw logs into the Elk River. While chit chatting before the start time, Mayor Hubbard said the Factory was again treating sewage at around 70% efficiency.
A couple meetings back the owners of the hotdog stand in the triangle at Two Run, those folks came to a meeting and complained about sewage backing up in the business. The Mayor promised, the stoppage would be corrected ASAP. We saw a crew there digging up pavement and gravel on both sides of the tiny building. Those that have used the building in the past have always been there with the understanding, that building has never been hooked onto the town system, that in fact, a straight pipe went under the pavement and over to the always handy, Elk River.
We asked the Mayor about this topic before the meeting opened. Mayor Shamblin replied, It's not hooked to the Town system. Hmmmmmmmmm
Now to the public meeting which got underway promptly at 5:30pm on the 14th.
Returning Council person Jason Hubbard asked changes in the way financial reports look. It asked about having more details available to the Elected.
On the financials, the Town account is about $8000 from last month; the Sewer account is up by $2000; and, the WaWa account came ahead by $15,000.
Hubbard kept reading the financials while others were talking. After several minutes, Hubbard raised concerns over the amount of overtime being paid out, the high cost of payroll in general, and then, "Whew, $8000 in water plant payroll for one month, August!"
Related to their sewer operation and with ERTS open beside the Log Factory, the Town needs to bring in equipment and operate the place . The really isn't a real rights of way there except for what ERTS is now calling their trail. The Town is negotiating a rights of way with ERTS to dirve into the place and a place to park their big sludge dumpster.
Mayor Shamblin announced that the Gov's office is providing a $5M grant to improve sewer operations. Shamblin felt that the Log Factory improvements, actually downsizing, will get underway in Spring 2022. He also mentioned needing a "jetter" to replace costly roter rooter fees and maybe a new dump truck. $5 M is bunch of loot!
How many times have boil water orders came and gone without you knowing about em? The Town and local public service districts are horrible about announcing the serious problems related to crappy wawa. Several years back, it got so bad, a Public Service Commission Judge ordered PSD's to issue boil water orders (BWO) in a timely manner.
Now, during this meeting, the Mayor announced that the PSC is now ordering wawa providers to have a call up system in place by Jan 1st 2022. Shamblin had few details to offer but said, most likely a system like "SARAH" calls would be implemented. As soon as SARAH was mentioned, concerns were raised about the number of nuisance SARAH calls would start coming in for everything from the next car wash to someone needing a tire changed.
Mention came of a small business group that approached the Mayor seeking relief from all the dilapidated houses and junk laying around Town. Reps from that group did not show up for this meeting.
Here comes Jason again...
A previous worker is interested in returning to municipal employment. Because the lady was a good worker in the past and because good workers are hard to find, much discussion ensued.
Jason Hubbard was hesitant to hire anyone until the employee manual is updated, brought into the 21st century. He was also questioning the Town's policy of paying 100% of PEIA hospitalization coverage. Hubbard didn't know of ANY other private employer that paid the full bill. Hubbard: it would save a bunch of headaches down the road to update the manual before hiring anybody.
That's the highlights from the most recent Town Council gathering.
Pretty good one too!
AW