City votes to relocate gazebo away from church
BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
WARFIELD, Ky. — Cities in Kentucky that receive and spend less than $150,000 in a fiscal year are not required to have annual audits. Instead, these cities prepare annual financial statements and, after four consecutive years, prepare attestation engagements. That was always the case for Warfield before the influx of ARPA funding put them in the “audit required” category, which the Warfield Commission addressed during a meeting Thursday at City Hall.
Commissioner John Sammons brought up the subject, telling commissioners and Mayor Mike Hinkle that the city needed to complete its audit.
“We’re losing money from the state every month that we don’t get this audit,” said Sammons.
Hinkle informed the commission that the audit would cost between $2,000 and $5,000.
“But we have to do it anyway,” the mayor said.
Sammons noted the audit would pay for itself in six months.
“We’re losing at least $600 a month from the highway fund,” added Sammons.
Hinkle asked city clerk Rhonda Price if she had finished the paperwork for funding from the Department of Highways.
Price stated she was nearly finished.
Commissioner Davey Bell commented that the city had not filed the paperwork for several years, prompting the mayor to ask Price, “Will they back up and pay us for those years we didn’t get it?”
“Most likely,” said Price.
Hinkle expects the city to receive between $600 and $700 monthly. He compared Warfield to Wayland, saying Wayland gets about $700 and has a population of 300.
“We have about 270,” said the mayor.
City relocating gazebo
Commissioners voted to relocate the gazebo to a spot next to the river from its location beside IGA.
Mayor Hinkle told commissioners that he received two calls from the church about people drinking in the gazebo.
“They’re disturbing the church,” Hinkle said. “I know we can’t move the gazebo right now. I understand that.”
Not having an answer to the complaint, Hinkle contacted the sheriff’s office for advice.
“The only thing we can do is put caution tape around it and put no trespassing signs up. Then if the law catches them in it, they’ll go to jail,” said Hinkle.
Commissioner David Bell said he had looked at the gazebo.
“It’s just hard for me to believe they can hear what they’re doing out there in that church,” Bell stated.
“They’re coming in the church,” stated Hinkle.
“Oh, well, they ought to go to jail,” said Bell.
Sammons asked about the city moving the gazebo and putting it on the blacktop beside the caboose.
“It would be nice to set it out there where you could sit in it and overlook the river,” said Sammons.
The commissioners agreed and Hinkle said he would get it done.
City Hall getting computer upgrade
Warfield has been awarded a $2,000 Cybersecurity Grant from the Kentucky League of Cities to replace its outdated computer with a more secure system.
Price told commissioners and the mayor that she used $500 for an assessment and had $1,500 remaining to upgrade the city’s system.
“Where we’re so small and don’t have all the stuff that the bigger cities have, they said, ‘We could put you on a monthly plan for a fee, but it’s not going to do you any good,’” Price said. “They also said we could use it to upgrade the computer, so it’s not outdated and therefore more secure.”
Price plans to replace the computer tower and purchase malware protection software.
“I don’t need a new monitor,” said the clerk, adding that she would pull the old hard drive and put it in storage.
The commission approved Price’s plan.
Other business
In other business, commissioners approved a plan to remove the old carpeting in City Hall and replace it with tile. Hinkle suggested letting Price choose the color.
The commission also conducted the first reading of an electric service franchise.
Price explained the franchise renewal is every 20 years and gives an electric company the right to own, maintain and operate electric power transmission lines within the city.
The city will have a second reading and publish an ordinance summary and advertisement for bids in the newspaper.
“RECC has their area and AEP has their area,” Price said. “They do not bid on each other’s areas. We’ll probably only get one bid for it, but legally this has to be done.”
Commissioner John Sammons asked if the city had operated under the same ordinance for “the last 40 years.”
“Yes,” said Price. “Or at least 20 that I know of.”