Meeting in regular session last Monday evening the Vanceburg City Council was treated to two surprises, one pleasant and one not so pleasing.

Shawnee State University senior Alma McGowan presented Fire Chief James "Bubbles" Switzer with two beautiful black and white photographs of the fire engines taken at night with an awesome special effect. The lights appear to be six-pointed stars in the photos.

McGowan is a photography major.

McGowan took the pictures with Switzer's consent and said she planned to ask for permission to take more photographs, this time in color, of the fire engines and other emergency vehicles in the community including some of the police cruisers.

While speaking, Switzer announced that the City of Vanceburg had applied for a FEMA grant for a new fire truck for two years in a row and didn't get it but finally got one for new fire fighting equipment. The grant of $55,850 will provide new helmets, boots, coats, pants, air packs and all for the city Fire Department.

Switzer lauded the efforts of Emergency Management Director Carl Chaney and Kevin Cornette from the Buffalo Trace Area Development District for writing the grant. He also reported that the firefighters took the new fire truck to Morehead Saturday, September 11, to be in the Patriot Day Parade and the truck got high praise from everyone over there.

The second surprise came in the form of a resignation letter from Police Sergeant John Paul Gilbert. The letter stated that Gilbert resigned over personal conflicts and disagreements with Mayor William T. "Bill Tom" Cooper.

Council member Angie Patton expressed regrets about the resignation. Brenda Lykins questioned why she and several other council members knew nothing about the situation.

Cooper explained that by state statute the executive does the hiring and firing, and the council was not involved in those routine matters. He stressed, however, that Gilbert was not fired but was resigning.

The mayor said that he had talked to Gilbert and asked him to reconsider but without success. Several council members voiced that desire in the meeting. Police Chief Joe Billman thanked Gilbert for his eight years of valuable service in the department.

Smaller communities across the country face the dilemma of training officers who then move to higher paying law enforcement positions in large cities. Fire departments battle the same problem.

The council gave first reading to the annual ordinance establishing the new tax rates for the year. They remain the same as they have for several years. The rate for real estate taxes is .13 for every $100 of assessed value and .14 for tangible and personal property.

The council adopted a resolution to file a joint application with the Lewis County Fiscal Court for a Community Development Block Grant of $1,000,000 for the construction of a new facility for the local health department.

Regarding an application for an alcohol license from Citgo the matter was set aside until the proper procedure involving the Alcohol Beverage Control Board is followed.

The city can't act until it hears from the ABC. State law sets a limit on how many liquor licenses the community can have, and all of them for Vanceburg are currently taken.

Cooper asked the council members to carefully go over the book describing the establishment of a joint planning commission with the fiscal court and the town of Concord in Lewis County. Action may be taken on that measure at the next regular council session.

The council moved to give the mayor the authority to renovate and refurbish a house the city owns on Flinders Drive to make it suitable for public sale. The material costs are estimated at $3,900 but the total project may cost as much as $10,000. The motion also authorizes the mayor to acquire interim financing at one of the local banks if it becomes necessary.

Cooper praised Lewis Brewer for donating his time to mow some of the city property while one of the city's mowers is broken down. Brewer also volunteers his time to mow the ballfields for the Lewis County Little League. The entire council expressed their gratitude to Brewer for his generosity.

Meeting in regular session last week the Lewis County Fiscal Court heard a report from Jailer Tim Underwood on the state inspection of the local Detention Center conducted on Wednesday, May 26.

Underwood told the court that he received the results of the inspection on Friday, August 13, and six items were marked that need to be addressed.

He said that two situations are causing overcrowding. One of those was insufficient seating, and the other involves the lavatories and the water fountains.

On the latter the jail has so many for a certain number of inmates, and the fountains are causing overcrowding so the jail just can't have them.

Underwood continued by saying that the jail has the capacity for 18 beds, and the day of the inspection 28 or 29 inmates were in the jail. The commissioner said that there is no solution for that.

Underwood said that he put in the report that he and the judge executive are exploring avenues for additional housing. However, he added that when he called jails in the surrounding counties he learned that all of them are at maximum capacity.

In conversations with the State Commissioner the official recommended putting some hard, plastic pallets on the floor to hold the mattresses about six inches off the floor. Currently when overcrowding occurs the inmates are sleeping on two mats placed on the floor that together are about 12 inches thick. They keep the inmate off the floor and make them a little more comfortable.

Underwood said that the center is not too seriously overcrowded but if it gets too serious then the state will come in and force us to move inmates.

The commissioner also said that not enough lighting was in a couple of the cells, and he recommended painting the walls a lighter color and installing new light bulbs. That project will be undertaken soon.

The jail will also place the inmates' list of rights in more secure places where they can be seen without being destroyed.

The old dishwasher has also been replaced since the date of the inspection and a new one is now in use.

Underwood said that overall he thought the jail got a good report. He relayed the opinion of the commissioner and director that they were pleased with the way the jail was run and with the cooperation between the fiscal court and the jail.

Underwood also presented his monthly jail and commissary financial report. Those reports were approved, and the court noted in the minutes that the jailer had reported the jail inspection.

The court then moved to approve new tax rates for the county.

For the county real estate and property of public service companies for general purposes the tax rate drops from 12.6 to 12.5 per $100 of assessed value.

For tangible, personal and public service companies the tax rate remains unchanged at 14.10.

For the public library the real estate and PSC rate goes up to 2.80 from 2.60; the tangible rate goes up to 4.08 from 3.55; and the motor vehicle and watercraft tax rate remains unchanged at 1.76.

For the Lewis County Health District the taxes remain unchanged. The real estate rate is 3.40; the tangible rate is 3.80 and the motor vehicle and watercraft rate is also 3.80.

The tax rate for all the fire districts remains at .10 per $100 of assessed property value. The timberland and forestry rate also stays the same at .03 per acre.

The tax rate for the Lewis County Extension District is unchanged at 4.2 for real estate, 6.16 for tangible and personal property and 3.12 for motor vehicles and watercraft.

Robert Trott, General Manager and Carla Deaton, Administrative Assistant with Adelphia Cable, appeared before the court to give an update of services in the area.

Deaton told the court that Adelphia has installed a new antenna in Cynthiana. It is being tested and she said that if everything goes well the Cincinnati stations should be back up and going in the Tollesboro area.

Deaton explained that the Cincinnati pictures at first will not be as good as the Huntington pictures but they will be better than before. Adjustments should be completed within the month.

The cable company franchise for the western end of Lewis County is scheduled for renewal. A proposal is in the hands of the judge executive and will be considered in the near future.

County Treasurer Kathy Dillow asked why the franchise taxes had dropped so drastically from a year ago from about $13,000 to about $6,000. Deaton said that she wasn't sure but she would look into that matter.

Deaton said that the company is losing a lot of customers to the Dish Network but not enough to make that big a difference.

In rapid fire succession the court approved several appointments and one reappointment to local boards.

Luke Bentley Jr. was appointed to the Garrison Water District Board to replace Jim Riffe and to complete that unexpired term.

Freda Plank was appointed to the Kinniconick VFD Tax Board replacing Jess Chinn. Steve Howard was appointed to the same board replacing Maurice Esham, and Judy Kegley was appointed to replace Gary Kegley.

Danny Chinn’s reappointment to the Black Oak VFD Tax Board was approved.

Three appointments were made to the newly created North Central Lewis County VFD Tax Board. The initial appointments are for staggered terms. Appointments hereafter will be for three-year terms. Edward Willim, III was appointed to an initial one-year term, Brenda Cunningham to a two-year term and Rodney Ginn to an initial three-year term.

Last Monday, September 13, at Noon, the Helen H. Rayburn Public Library of Lewis County served lunch to the members of the Fiscal Court. The meal was in honor of the institution's 50th anniversary it is celebrating this month.

The menu consisted of fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, cole slaw, corn pudding, hot rolls and tea. Cobbler was served for dessert.

Margie Moore and Jo Esham did the cooking and Helen Rayburn helped serve lunch.

Attending from the fiscal court were the County Judge Executive Steve Applegate, First District Magistrate Milt Stanfield, Second District Magistrate Todd Ruckel and Third District Magistrate Keith Chapman. County Attorney Clayton "Buddy" Lykins, PVA Betty Ripato, County Clerk Shirley Hinton, County Treasurer and Fiscal Court Clerk Kathy Dillow and Sheriff William D. "Bill" Lewis.

Library Board member Al Owens mistakenly thought the board was supposed to attend and looked so sad Mrs. Rayburn let him stay and ask the blessing on the meal and take some pictures.

Rayburn thanked the court and the county officials for all the help and support they have given over the past half century and stated that the library would not exist without their cooperation.

At one point Rayburn, 95 and still going strong, turned away from the praise with tears in her eyes and said, "You’re going to make me cry."

She cheerfully added, "I'm not going to be here forever, but as long as I'm able I'm gonna be messing around here."

Two weeks ago State Representative Robin Webb presented a citation to the library in honor of its 50 years of community service.

The citation reads, "The House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Kentucky hereby recognizes and commends the Helen H. Rayburn Public Library of Lewis County upon the momentous occasion of its 50th Anniversary Celebration. Inasmuch as this vital facility has experienced great success in its mission to serve the literary and educational needs of the citizens of the Lewis County community, the members of this honorable body are delighted to join Representative Robin L. Webb in paying tribute to all those who have lent such generous support and hard work to provide the citizens of Lewis County with this deeply appreciated and most necessary community resource."

Speaker of the House Jody Richards and Representative Webb signed the citation.

Meeting in regular session last week the Electric Plant Board of the City of Vanceburg learned that the utility company has some FEMA money coming.

The check will be in the $166,000 to $169,000 range and has already been processed. It is the final reimbursement for damages done from the ice storm.

Kennedy announced that the recent power outage was caused by a faulty delay on the transformer. He said to repair it would be expensive and would cost as much as a new one. For now the problem has been solved by bypassing the relay.