Corbin commissioners critical of paving work

Corbin city leaders complained bitterly Monday that road resurfacing in the city limits this year was simply not up to par.
During the work session meeting of the City Commission, Commissioner Joe Shelton was the first to broach the topic, saying he recently rode around the city on a bicycle and noticed what he felt like was a slipshod job.
“We’ve spent a tremendous amount of money on this,” Shelton said. “It was just a substandard job … it’s not the blacktop job we’ve had in the past.”
Shelton said he noticed an area, especially along Roy Kidd Avenue, where little care was taken to see that the road slopes properly for drainage. He added that the blacktop is often rough, seams are too visible, and that the pavement does not gently slope into driveways like it should in many areas, instead dropping off abruptly.
“There’s some pretty good size bumps coming out of driveways,” he said. “When they do this blacktop stuff, we need somebody there.”
Director of Public Works Harold Burke said normally a member of his department inspects each street when it is blacktopped to make sure the job is done properly. He blamed Elmo Greer and Sons Constructions, the company that did the work, for starting too late in the year when the ground was too cold for blacktop to be applied smoothly. He also said that on Roy Kidd Ave., the company “snuck in” and paved it on a Friday when no one was available to inspect.
“I didn’t even know they were here,” he said.
Shelton, somewhat critically, said he was surprised inspectors did not see abrupt drops and bumps from street level to driveways when the work was being done.
Corbin Mayor Amos Miller said he was frustrated by the lateness of blacktop work within the city. He said he called the company in an effort to get them to do some blacktop work earlier this month.
Ron LaFary, a Sales Representative and Projects Manager for Elmo Greer and Sons, said Tuesday afternoon he felt most of the complaints regarding resurfacing this year were over “cosmetic” issues. The comments came after a tour of areas cited by commissioners as trouble spots. He said the company had received no complaints about the new blacktop and heard that the issue was raised from radio reports.
“We had no indication that there was any problem,” LaFary said. “If someone from the city tells us they don’t like this or that, then it’s up to us to stand behind our workmanship to do whatever needs to be done to correct what they see. We want to do what’s best for everybody.”
LaFary said structurally the streets are fine, but that cool weather and the thinness of the blacktop requested by the city contributed to some of the unsightly areas.
Miller said he agreed that the road surface was too cool when the blacktop was laid for it to bond properly and “roll good.”
Miller noted that blacktop on Roosevelt Street appear to be two different colors in places. He added that city leaders had specifically milled portions of Roy Kidd Ave. to help alleviate drainage problems. The way the blacktop was laid, he said, makes those efforts in vain.
Cannon said the city has yet to pay the bill for the resurfacing, which tops $250,000, and said he would have a representative from Elmo Greer and Sons on hand Dec. 11 at the next regular meeting of the Corbin City Commission to speak to commissioners.
Other issues discussed during the work session included:
• Commissioner Bruce Farris suggested that the commission begin to implement recommendations from auditors that the city have at least a two-month cash reserve on hand. He estimated such a reserve at about $1 million.
Farris referenced how the city was cash-strapped when he took office as a reason for concern regarding the issue.
“A couple of years ago, we couldn’t apply for grants because we didn’t have enough money to pay the 20 percent match,” he said. “The city of Corbin needs to have some cash all the time, not just fluctuating when we have property taxes come in, or whatever. We need to have adequate financial reserves.”
Miller said the city has about $1 million of payroll tax money banked since the city began collecting the tax last year. He noted none of the money has yet been spent.
• Shelton asked for an update regarding occupational tax collection from the Knox County portion of Corbin. The issue has been a legal question for some time, but the city has never collected any proceeds of a 1 percent payroll tax enacted by Knox County’s Fiscal Court in 1999. The city has a tax-sharing agreement with Whitley County.
Miller said he filed an open-records request recently to find out how much money Knox County collected out of Corbin last annually, but was denied the information. He said the county offered to separate out collections for Corbin if the city agreed to pay for the labor of such an effort.
“I think we should pay for it,” Miller said. “I have no problem with that.”
Commissioner Phil Gregory said city leaders had held on pursuing the issue in hopes a newly elected Judge-Executive and Magistrates may be more willing to negotiate with the city regarding the issue rather than force a lengthy, and costly court battle.
“We were kind of waiting on the election,” he said. “The right man won.”
Miller said in previous negotiations, county leaders had said about $360,000 was collected at that time out of Corbin.
“I don’t know how they got that, but when we negotiated before, that was the figure they used.”
• Commissioners discussed the status of the abandoned Corbin Municipal Hospital, located off Bishop Street. The structure has been empty for about 20 years and is ramshackle.
Miller said a recent court order regarding the issue mandates the hospital be demolished by spring 2007. He said the city has been in negotiations with KCEOC, a non-profit organization, regarding plans for the site. City Attorney Bob Hammons said KCEOC plans to put housing on the property once the old hospital is demolished. The organization has pledged it will get a federal grant to cover the cost of demolition, made more expensive by the fact that the structure is contaminated with asbestos.