Lewisport City Council Reviews Tech System Upgrade, Launch Set for September

The Lewisport City Council met for their meeting a week early this month, on Thursday, August 14th. The city is preparing to launch a new technology system, which City Clerk Carrie Dixon and City Administrator Jason Roberts outlined the details of. The new system will go live on Friday, September 19th.

The updated technology system is designed to streamline office operations and improve customer service for residents. Lewisport’s current software by United Systems is being phased out, and the G5 platform (fifth generation of wireless cellular technology, a.k.a. 5G) will offer more advanced features, including the ability for field workers to receive service orders directly on iPads, document work with photos and complete meter readings on-site — reducing the need for frequent trips back to the office. The city’s staff expect a learning curve with the upgrade; and training is scheduled for this week.

In addition, Conexon Connect has been selected as Lewisport’s new internet provider after offering significantly lower rates compared to TDS Telecom for the upgrade to fiber. The switch is expected to save the city between $4,200 and $4,500 each year, when combined with the new billing system and reduced postage costs. The business package from Conexon was offered at $149.99, whereas the price for TDS was $300.

These improvements will also include an updated city website, new email addresses and a more efficient phone system with automated options for bill payment, while still allowing callers to speak to clerks directly. Future bills will arrive in envelopes rather than on cardstock and will be outsourced through a mail center in Pennsylvania.

Roberts and Dixon said customers will be notified in advance through the City of Lewisport Facebook page, and all of the information will also be posted at City Hall. They are discussing possibly publishing a sample bill in The Hancock Clarion to help residents adjust to the new look of the bills ahead of time.

While the billing process is changing, the accounting, payroll and tax functions will remain the same and continue working seamlessly with the new system. Staff will operate both platforms for a short transition period to get familiar with the changes before the full rollout in mid-September.

“We’ll be able to give a little more detail once we know more about how it’s all going to change,” Roberts said. “City Hall will probably be closed for a couple of hours in the morning during Tuesday and Wednesday (August 19 & 20).”

Billing Clerk Ericka Wheatley and Collections Clerk Megan Simpson visited Daviess County recently to get familiarized with the new phone system, which is the same as what will be installed at Lewisport City Hall.

Superintendent R.J. Simpson reported, “Everything has been going well. We’ve been very busy. We were fixing two water service line leaks, out on 661. We got that taken care of. We put in a new gas service in Windward Heights on Eastwind Court, for the new home being built. We’ve repaired some inflow and infiltration issues on some of the wastewater lines that we’ve come across here recently, and got that all fixed. We continue to get a lot of locates, so we’ve been going in on that and updating our mapping system with GPS on some of that. That is helping out too. We’re kind of killing two birds with one stone on that. I’d like to thank the Summer Help. Three of them finished up two weeks ago. The last one will finish up this week. They were all really good help. I’d like to see some of them come back next year, if we can get them. Troy (Roberts, Lewisport Fire Chief) and I will be attending the Rural Water Conference next week, in Louisville. We’ll be getting some continued education hours.”

“Normally, that’s when we do Best Tasting Water,” City Admin. Jason Roberts noted. “It used to be at the Management Conference in Bowling Green, and they transferred it to Rural Water Conference, the main conference (KY Rural Water Association Management Conference) because there are more people that attend. For some reason they are no longer doing it at the Galt House, they’re having it at the Hyatt. They’ve restructured, and Best Tasting Water is going to go back to the Management Conference. It’s normally in February, but was cancelled for snow. They’ll have that in November and after that is straight into Nationals.”

“We’ll be pulling that (Best Tasting Water) tasting sample in November,” Simpson added.

Lewisport Chief of Police Greg Linn said, “From the last meeting until now, we’ve had 91 CAD calls for the department. We have upcoming online training Sept 1. We had a meeting in Hawesville two days ago with River Valley reps. We meet every other month, discussing how they can help us do things better between dealing with people with crisis, which was brought up two meetings ago. River Valley donated to Hawesville Police Department and Lewisport Police Department, an iPad where we can actually assist someone in crisis, not in a criminal matter, to where we can actually be in direct contact with a clinician, or someone who’s qualified to help. We’re very grateful for that.”

The second reading of the water rate ordinance (#25-6) was completed by City Attorney Charles Kamuf Jr., and approval was made by council members. The amended rate schedule has been applied to all bills, beginning with bills sent out July 1st, 2025, and adjusts charges for the services of the Waterworks System that were established in 1965. For water service within Lewisport city limits, the first one thousand gallons is set at $10.10 (minimum bill), and all over one thousand gallons at $4.67, per 1,000 gallons. For rural water service (all services outside city limits), the first one thousand gallons is $18.68 (minimum bill), and all over one thousand gallons is $6.23, per 1,000 gallons. The meter deposit for water service to each location is raised from $50 to $100. Upon discontinuation of service, the meter deposit will be refunded to the customer in full, and less any outstanding balance due.

The first reading of Resolution #25-8 was also read by City Attorney Kamuf.

Lewisport Mayor Chad Gregory explained, “This will not take effect until 2026/2027, and it’s for the KIA (Kentucky Infrastructure Authority) funding that we were awarded. We just have to present this to the KIA Board to show that we are making an effort … There was some verbiage, and we were just missing the wording: ‘service rate.’ That’s what that is; We’re cleaning that up, but we still have to have a first and second reading.”

A state agency under the Office of the Governor, the KIA is administratively attached to the Department for Local Government (DLG). It provides financial assistance in the form of grants and loans to communities in KY for water and wastewater infrastructure projects. The KIA administers programs including: the Federally Assisted Wastewater Revolving Loan Program, Drinking Water Revolving Loan Program, Infrastructure Revolving Loan Program and Governmental Agencies Program.

The City of Hawesville has signed the initial agreement for being a part of the regionalized water plant that’s in the first stage of construction in Lewisport, that will serve the entire county, and with excess capacity to accommodate future growth. The partnership between the sister cities is an important step in receiving funding for the regionalization project; The agreement signed by both cities ensures the possibility for 80-90 percent principal forgiveness of grant funding moving forward.

At last month’s meeting, the date for the 2025 Pumpkins in the Park event in downtown Lewisport was set and approved for Saturday, October 25th, from 5:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.

The Lewisport City Council will meet for next month’s meeting on Thursday, September 18th, at 7:00 p.m. Council meetings are held at Lewisport City Hall.