By Dennis Brown

Vanceburg City Council met in regular session last week, setting property tax rates and the date and time for trick-or-treat in Vanceburg.

Tax rates for Vanceburg property owners will remain unchanged from last year pursuant to the ordinance adopted by council. The rate on real estate is 13 cents per $100 valuation while the rate on tangible and personal property is 14 cents per $100.

Trick-or-treat in Vanceburg was set for Saturday, October 31 from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. The same date and times are observed countywide.

City Attorney John Holder presided over the meeting in the absence of Mayor Angie Patton. Also absent last week were council members Roy Lawson and Ed Taylor.

Patty Kennard, who is the administrator for the city’s recently enacted zoning ordinance, informed council that the ordinance calls for five members on the board of adjustments. The board hears appeals made concerning ordinance guidelines.

Kennard pointed out that there have only been three members named to the board and recommended the appointments of Lisa Sartin and Tony Gaydos. Council confirmed the appointments.

Kennard said copies of the zoning ordinance are available at $10 each and added that city maps showing the zoning areas are also available for purchase.

Marty Nemes, a marketing agent with the Kentucky League of Cities, addressed council and reviewed contacts the agency has had with city officials during the past several months.

Nemes said there were seven on-site visits, 27 telephone calls and six e-mails with local officials. He urged council members and city officials to contact the agency with any questions on matters they were dealing with and said that generally someone at KLC would be able to assist with the matter.

Nemes said KLC was organized by the University of Kentucky in 1927 to represent cities in Frankfort. He said at that time counties had representatives who lobbied lawmakers and many of the smaller cities could not afford to have their own lobbyists.

Nemes said KLC worked on recent legislation which benefitted Vanceburg to the tune of some $35,000 toward the retirement fund for city workers and the return of about $79,000 in citation fees to the city.

Nemes presented a check in the amount of $601 to the city which is a refund on the workers compensation insurance premium. He said the city became eligible for the discount when it became certified as a drug-free workplace.

He added that another benefit provided to the city through KLC was a recently delivered computer based firearms simulator training module for officers with the Vanceburg Police Department.

Electric Plant Board Superintendent Eric Bloomfield also addressed council, his first meeting with council since being named superintendent of the local utility company in January.

Bloomfield introduced himself and distributed information to council members concerning recent compliance reporting to various federal and state agencies.

He noted many current challenges facing business and families, as well as municipalities and utility providers. One of the biggest challenges now, he said, is the economy.

Bloomfield noted that utility customers are reducing consumption and businesses are cutting back on the usage of utilities to conserve money. He noted the idle operation at Moore 

and White Lumber Company and said that two of the ten largest commercial users for the Electric Plant board have closed.

He told council members that many costs the utility company has are fixed and noted that costs of maintenance and repairs are increasing. The cost of electricity and natural gas from wholesalers is also on the rise.

Bloomfield also briefed council members on progress being made separating the storm sewer system from the sanitary sewer system. He noted that a consent judgment gave the city five years to fix the problem and that the cost will be about $5 million to $6 million.

He stressed that the expenditure will not add any new customers to the existing 650 sewer customers in the city and said the cost can not be immediately passed along to so few customers. He said the utility company had been working to apply for grants and stimulus funding to help pay for the upgrades and added that stimulus money for such projects was very limited.

Bloomfield told council members that he had applied for $500,000 in ARC funding and $2 million in EDA funding. He said that $300,000 had been approved in funding from the EPA.

“We are going after every dollar we can potentially go after,” he said.

He said the utility company will be asking the state for $500,000 to $600,000 in assistance and would be working with Congressman Geoff Davis to see what federal funding could be available for the project.

Bloomfield said he was asking the city to apply for a $1 million Community Development Block Grant to go toward the project and said the grant could be applied for when the current grant project is 80 percent complete. The city’s current CDBG project is a firehouse/community center which is just getting underway.

He said he had also worked with the Kentucky Department of Transportation to reschedule their planned repaving of portions of Main and Second Streets in Vanceburg. He said the sewer project will require those streets to be excavated to allow for the removal of old lines and the installation of new ones.

Rather than repaving the streets twice, he said, the funding allocated by the state for repaving the streets will go into the project to allow for the streets to be paved over after the excavation and new line construction.

Bloomfield also explained to council members that the utility company is going into the winter season with about a $450,000 cushion to cover any expenses associated with damages caused by winter weather. This year, he said, there will only be about $42,000 on hand.

He said that cushion has been depleted since the utility company had to pay a “true-up” to the electric supplier. He said a true-up is the amount paid each year after the supplier assembles all the costs and then bills utilities for the amounts above what was paid each month, as called for in their contracts.

He said the true-up paid to AEP this year was about $460,000, up from about $40,000 in previous years. He added that the utility company is now paying above market rate for power.

Bloomfield outlined some of his goals and said he would continue to improve and maintain the plant board systems, keep rates as affordable as the market will allow, supply new customers and maintain the high level of service that customers have come to expect.

Council members approved the minutes of the previous meeting before adjourning.

Kentucky Department for Public Health officials expect plenty of seasonal influenza vaccine to be available over the months ahead, but have received reports of temporary shortages in some areas due to early, increased demand.

     "We encouraged individuals not to delay getting their annual seasonal flu shots this year, with vaccine arriving earlier than usual in many places around the state," said William Hacker, M.D., commissioner of DPH.

"What we're experiencing now are some spot shortages due to increased uptake earlier than normal, but at this time we expect those to be temporary. Flu vaccine manufacturers typically keep shipping vaccine into November and December, or even later, and the federal government says an adequate supply of seasonal flu vaccine will ultimately be available this year. At this point, we are not yet seeing the seasonal type of flu circulating, so there is still plenty of time for Kentuckians to get their flu shots and be protected," Hacker added.

    The increased demand for the seasonal flu shot is thought to be tied to increased awareness about the flu season due to widespread activity of 2009 H1N1 influenza (swine flu).

The nasal vaccine against the 2009 H1N1 influenza strain began arriving last week in Kentucky in limited quantities, and will be initially targeted primarily to health care workers. The H1N1 shot vaccine should be available later this month, with H1N1 vaccination clinics and greater availability for the general public likely to begin in early November.  Vaccination against 2009 H1N1 influenza does not protect against seasonal influenza.

 Seasonal flu vaccine is highly recommended for: children age six months to 19 years old; pregnant women; people 50 years old or older; people of any age with chronic health problems; people who live in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities; health care workers; caregivers of or people who live with a person at high risk for complications from the flu; and out-of-home caregivers of or people who live with children less than six months old. 

  Individuals may also want to talk to their health care provider about whether they should receive the pneumococcal vaccine. This vaccine protects against pneumococcal pneumonia, a relatively common complication of the flu, and there are no current shortages of it.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) now recommends this vaccine for all people 65 years and older and for persons two to 64 years of age with certain high-risk conditions.

A single revaccination at least five years after initial vaccination is recommended for people 65 years and older who were first vaccinated before age 65 years as well as for people at highest risk, such as those who have no spleen, and those who have HIV infection, AIDS or malignancy.

     Visit http://healthalerts.ky.gov for information on seasonal flu and 2009 H1N1 flu in Kentucky, or follow KYHealthAlerts on Twitter. Kentucky's toll-free influenza hotline number is 877-843-7727, and operates from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily.