Church Hill mayor says city is working to replace bridge by Jaycee Park

CHURCH HILL — Church Hill Mayor Dennis Deal said the city is working to replace a bridge by Jaycee Park before winter, having recently put a 3-ton weight limit on it. The bridge is on East Lane Street, coming west off of North Central Avenue. Deal said, at Tuesday night's Board of Mayor and Alderman meeting, school buses and maintenance trucks have agreed to not drive over it. The project will be paid for out of the general or "rainy day" funds, Deal said, but the city is looking for grant money too. Other updates The board amended this year's budget to increase the sewer depreciation, sewer bond interest, state street aid expenditures and drug fund revenues. While reading the budget amendment last meeting, City Recorder Kimberly Dobbs said the state comptroller asked for the changes to clarify actual expenditures. This action was previously an ordinance; it became a resolution to pass it faster for the comptroller, Dobbs said. The board accepted a reimbursement grant of $4,000 on purchases of $8,000 or more relating to property loss prevention. This can include items like lighting and fencing. The grant comes from Public Entity Partners. The board authorized City Attorney Chris Raines to negotiate interlocal agreements between Church Hill and Mount Carmel, regarding mutual aid with structure fires. Fire Chief Will Mullins said the towns have already been doing this, but this will formalize the arrangement and help improve the Church Hill Fire Department's ISO rating. This rating measures a fire department's ability to respond to fires and can affect insurance rates in an area. The board also voted to approve the holiday garbage pick-up schedule, which they said was the same as previous years, and surplus obsolete and broken city property. They also, sans Alderman Kathy Christian, hired a part-time garbage truck driver to full-time. Christian "refused to vote." She's been abstaining on personnel-related matters since a July meeting where Deal and Raines said the mayor has full hiring and firing power, arguing that her vote doesn't matter under that system. Alderman Keith Gibson was absent.