Hawesville Council reviews budget, hears longtime member’s resignation

“Things are looking a lot better,” McCormick said. “We actually have money to operate on.”

City Clerk Amy Roberts said the city’s annual audit is nearly complete. “They didn’t ask me for anything else — they’re wrapping it up,” she said.

Hawesville Police Chief B.J. Burton said the department remained active in patrols, traffic enforcement and community response during March, handling 26 calls for service across the city. A total of 18 traffic stops were made, with three citations issued and five courtesy warnings given for minor violations.

The department also responded to two vehicle accidents, including one on Highway 60 that caused minor sidewalk damage. Burton said the state is expected to repair the area. He reminded residents to use caution as traffic increases with warmer weather.

“It has been a pretty good month,” Burton said. “It is springtime, so everyone is getting out a little more.”

He added that Kentucky State Police Lieutenant Aaron Pryor plans to increase patrols along Park Road in response to speeding complaints from Vastwood Park into town. He said a new speed radar sign has been acquired.

“Hopefully, we will get people to slow down,” he said. “It is a hard-wired radar sign. I want to see if I can find someone who can turn it into a solar panel-style. I’d like to maybe put another one out there somewhere.”

In his written report, Burton noted the department continues to focus on maintaining public safety, increasing visibility and building positive community relations through enforcement and education.

City Manager Jake Powers updated the council on several grants the city has pursued for park and stormwater projects.

“The LWCF (Land and Water Conservation Fund) grant, 2023, which is our Park Project Grant, we are still waiting for approval from the National Park Service (NPS),” Powers said. “We have had multiple conversations with GRADD, trying to get that approved through NPS. They are working hard and we are just waiting to hear back. We submitted the fiscal year ’27 community project USDA Rural Development grant and it has moved on to the next round of applications. We are waiting to hear back from Rep. Brett Guthrie’s office for an update.”

“For the DR4540-0020 City of Hawesville Storm Water Pump Station Upgrade Programming project, our city engineers have been working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to get those plans bid out. The engineers have submitted the changes back to the USACE that they had requested. Once they hear back from that, they will be able to put the plans out for bid. However, that is looking like we won’t have that done within the period of performance deadline, which is August of this year. We have filed for an extension on that and are waiting to hear back.”

“The GRANT (Government Resources Accelerating Needed Transformation) program funds, which was the matching grant that we got for the Park Project, the LWCF ’23 grant, we signed the paperwork to have that extended. We are waiting on the NPS and the actual grant. Our Local Match Participation Program Flood Control, the matching local funds for our DR4540-0020 Storm Water Project, is to be determined on the extension of the performance period.”

“We have also received our first FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) payment reimbursement, and that was for the silt removal from the flooding in 2025. That was for $4,845.90. We are starting to see some of those funds get reimbursed to us. We were approved for $113,731.65 of reimbursement.”

At a previous meeting, Powers said he has been in talks about the city’s Park Project and had reached out to Pamela Jordan, LWCF/RTP Federal Program Specialist at the Kentucky Department for Local Government (DLG), and that they are waiting on an update from her on the historic site sign that the city will be putting up in place of the house that was demolished, as it is believed to be the home of Hawesville’s first steamboat captain. The holdup for approval from the NPS is that location being a historic site.

The city received a LWCF grant award of $161,438 and was later awarded a GRANT program grant of $156,736, which will cover matching funds on the LWCF grant. The project to build a new park in Hawesville next to City Hall is valued at more than $350,000.

He also reported during the February meeting that Christian Juckett plans to speak with Matt Curtis, city engineer and co-owner of Bluegrass Engineering, and then provide details on potentially refinancing loan AO52, a loan provided by the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority (KIA).

The KIA loans money for infrastructure projects in cities across Kentucky and falls under the Clean Water State Revolving Fund program, aimed at supporting essential wastewater projects, stormwater management and other vital infrastructure improvements.

Powers said refinancing the loan could be an option once new infrastructure is in place and that Juckett had planned to discuss potential funding options with Curtis before reporting back to city officials, possibly at an upcoming council meeting.

“Cintas First (safety service company) has brought to my awareness that we didn’t have any AEDs (automated external defibrillators) on site here at City Hall or at the water plant,” Powers said. “The fire department has one in their truck but it is on the truck, so if it is out then there is not one here. We are not legally required to have one. If we were to have one, there are KRS 311.667 requirements that we would have to adhere to. I thought I would bring it up to the council and see if that is something we are interested in putting here or at the water plant. Some of the highlighted points for the requirements we would have to ensure include that expected users are trained in CPR AED use, which Cintas would cover and make sure employees are trained at no extra cost. They are expected to maintain and test the AED, per manufacturer’s guidelines. Cintas has a technician that would cover that. We would also need to notify EMS of the AED’s location. If we were to use the AED, we would need to activate EMS when we did that.”

Burton said it is also required to have a sign outside City Hall that says something like, “AED Inside Building.” He added that people walking downtown often go to the firehouse first during emergencies, not realizing it isn’t staffed full time and someone may not be there to respond. He said that AEDs are simple to operate with brief training and noted that there is protection for staff under Kentucky’s Good Samaritan law.

He said AEDs would be valuable for first responders, recalling a past medical emergency where he arrived before EMS and had to perform CPR without an AED.

Officials then discussed the cost and whether grants might help cover the expense. Powers said one option would cost about $135 a month under a two-year agreement. McCormick said purchasing units outright could range from roughly $1,500 to $2,500. The council and City Attorney Jamie Stephens agreed to research the most cost-effective approach, and Powers said he would move forward with that work.

Powers also presented Superintendent Brian Patterson’s report.

“We had a list of jobs that stacked up with some of the weather. They’ve been knocking those out,” Powers said. “There have been a few leaks. They’ve gotten some meter sets and some taps completed since the last meeting. We have a goal of getting all those completed by the end of April. They are making pretty good headway on that and it’s looking like that will be achieved. They were dealing with the Main Street water break and wrapping that up just before the meeting started. Everyone affected by that will be on a boil water advisory until further notice. We got the lime lagoon cleaned out.”

He said cleaning out the lagoon was one of the main projects tied to the recent rate increase and cost $11,742.50, adding that routine maintenance should make future cleanouts less expensive.

The city hired two employees for summer help, Hendrix Taylor and Matt Patterson.

“Our mowers are in rough shape,” he said. “Matt has done quite a bit of the work for us in the past. He is willing to work on those if anything happens on the clock. He has already done a good job getting those serviced and ready to get out to mow.”

McCormick said it has given the city a cost savings, as Matt Patterson is mowing and doing upkeep on the mowers. He is paid $12 an hour.

The city has also addressed its portion of a longstanding water challenge near Art Pulliam’s property off Highway 2181. The remaining issue is groundwater. The state previously tested the area and determined it was not city water. A later leak on a 2-inch galvanized line behind Pulliam’s house appears to have been caused when the line shifted after earlier digging, Powers said, citing Brian Patterson’s determination.

Crews have repaired the line and plan to return when the area dries out to clean the ditch further and reseed with grass. They hope the fix will prevent the problem from recurring.

The council completed the first reading of the amended 2025-26 annual budget.

“City Clerk Amy Roberts did a nice job of putting this together,” McCormick said. “We did save money on our employee benefits this year with some changes we made in the insurance. We have the same number of employees as we’ve had in the past.”

“The insurance, the property and workman’s comp, that increased because some of the amounts were different on the equipment,” Roberts said. “When we budgeted that, we started to update our insurance policies. We had updated it last year. It was a little more. The fire department ran into that issue too. That was a little more. If anyone has any questions about it, I’ll show you exactly where I got my numbers. It is an estimate on the revenue part.”

The council members were all in favor of the ordinance and it was approved.

Councilman Wayne Herndon announced his resignation at the meeting. He has served on the council for 27 years.

“This is my last council meeting,” Herndon said. “I resign as of tonight. I’m a lame duck. I’ve already told you I’m not going to run again. Get someone in here that might have some interest in carrying on, if you can. That will be up to the rest of the council. I’m too old to change my mind. It’s just time for it. The projects are all stalled right now.”

McCormick said, “Chase, Wayne’s middle grandson, has shown some interest. He’s a very solid young man. I wasn’t expecting that tonight, Wayne. The council and I hate to hear that. You will be sadly missed. I will say, as far as the projects, the bridge approach is going to happen in September. That is a definite.”

“They are going to start construction immediately after the money is let out and phase one is moving the utilities. It’s going to benefit us as a city, taking the infrastructure off of Town Hill. We will move the water lines and they will all go up the new corridor to the top of the hill, so that’s going to benefit us by taking out some of these 1953 lines that are running up Town Hill. That is very promising for us.”

County Clerk Trina Ogle will begin accepting candidate filings for council, mayor and school board after the May 19 primary. The filing deadline for the November general election is Tuesday, June 2, at 4 p.m.

The Hawesville Volunteer Fire Department is seeking new members. Those interested may email [email protected], message the department’s Facebook page or comment on a post, and a recruitment team member will respond.

The Junior Firefighter Program is open to youth ages 15 through 17. For more information, email the station.