Pikeville town board changes meeting time, discusses administrator role
By Dennis Hill
Published in News on February 5, 2014 1:46 PM
PIKEVILLE -- The Pikeville Town Board changed its regular meeting time from 7 p.m. on the first Monday of the month to 5:30 p.m.
The board's action came at its meeting Monday night.
The issue of changing the meeting day and time came up last month, when Mayor Glenn Hartman suggested that a day other than the first Monday be considered. Town Administrator Blake Proctor said moving the meeting back would enable the town's staff to have reports better prepared.
But board members could not decide on another day of the month because of conflicts in their schedules and the issue was tabled.
On Monday, they still could not decide on another day of the month to meet but instead decided to move the current meeting up an hour and a half.
State law requires that if members of a municipal board cannot agree on a day of the month to meet, that they will meet on the first Monday of the month.
In other business, the board voted 3-2 to give the town administrator the responsibility of overseeing the police department. Because the vote was not unanimous, it will have to go through a second reading and vote.
Board members Charles Hooks and Todd Anderson said they were not in favor of giving the administrator more power and voted against the motion. Board members Robert Hooks, Al Greene and Todd Smith said the move simply would give the administrator daily oversight of the police and would not greatly increase his or her power. The board's police commissioner would retain his duties and the administrator would still have to come to the board to ask permission to make any changes in the department, they noted.
Board members also tabled a discussion on the creation of an historic district. Proctor had proposed an area that included the old downtown but several board member said it needed to be expanded to include other local landmarks.
Proctor said he would redraw his proposed map and the board agreed to consider the revised proposal later.
Following a public hearing at which no one spoke, the board rezoned newly annexed property on the south side of the intersection of I-795 and Pikeville-Princeton Road from agriculture and residential use to commercial use.
Board members also agreed to ask Wayne County commissioners Tuesday for a loan from the Eastern Region Trust Fund money that the county has available to disperse to municipalities for economic development. Proctor said the best project the town could undertake would be to refurbish the exterior of the town's wastewater storage tank. A representative of the town asked commissioners for a $75,000 loan for the project. Other municipalities in the county have expressed an interest in drawing from the $576,923 pot of money as well.