Published: May 29, 2009 10:41 am      

Olive Hill Council discusses sewer and water extensions

May 27, 2009 — Two representatives from an engineering company met with Olive Hill City Council during the council’s monthly meeting on May 19 to discuss three grant-funded city projects.

“We’re a small national engineering firm,” Paul Amburgey, P.E. for E.L. Robinson, said. “We have six offices in three states and I’m well familiar with the FIVCO area. I know Gayle (Smith, councilmember) and Danny (Sparks, mayor) have certain things they want to accomplish, and try to carry out your goals is what we want to do. We’re tickled to death to be able to work with you.”

The projects include a sewer facilities plan, waterline extension work on Bailey Hollow, Greasy Creek and Bauer Road, and the Blueberry Ridge Sewer Extensions project.

The majority of the council’s discussion with the men revolved around the sewer facilities plan.

“We’ve had some advanced meetings with fiscal court,” Paul Amburgey, PE, told the council. “We know that any time you put sewers in outside the city limits you have to have their cooperation.”

Amburgey said he expects the proposed sewer lines to run from the new elementary school to Pleasant Valley. The company will study all areas outside the city that the council may wish to install sewer systems in, in the future.

“When you do your survey will you be asking people, will they be willing to sign up for sewer or not?” Kenny Fankell, councilmember, asked.

“This isn’t a survey,” Cheri James, city clerk, said. “It’s a facilities study. We just draw a line and it’s marked as a territory.”

“What you’re saying is you all probably wouldn’t try to go into an area and force something on people if they clearly didn’t want it,” Amburgey said to Fankell.

Fankell told the men that people from Pleasant Valley have already expressed to the council that they are against annexation.

“The facility plan, there would be surveys sent out to determine whether they would or would not want it, yes,” Amburgey said.

“Really that extension of that service is your all’s decision. If you have one person that says no, that’s your all’s decision if you want to let one or two person hold up putting the sewer service out in that area,” Cade said.

James said her understanding was that the city would not lay any lines without a county-issued sewer ordinance.

“Once the county has taken that action, Kenny, it’s not the city’s decision anymore,” she said. “They can sign a petition, they can do whatever they want to but if the county enacts a sewer use ordinance, it’s not the city moving, it’s the county.”

Amburgey said the project would take two years to complete.

“Pleasant valley has sat there for 45 years with two gas stations, basically and that’s about all you’ve got there and until you get sewer out there that’s the way it’s going to stay probably,” he said. “If this ordinance doesn’t fly then the city’s going to spend their money inside the city, basically.”

He said officials with the new elementary school are interested in sewer but since the construction for the school will be complete before the sewer facilities plan, the school will have to have a small treatment plant.