The West Union Town Council met on November 9, 2020 in the Lions Building.
The meeting was called to order by James Friend Mayor, who led the attendees in silent Prayer and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Melody Gray, Recorder was present along with Members, Colby Jett, Myla Thorpe and Mark Yonkin. Glenn Stout and John Barker were both absent.
Included on their agenda was B & O Tax, a carry over from a public meeting held on October 22, 2020.
Mr. Friend mad it a point to announce that the Town’s Attorney (unnamed) had been asked if a quorum was needed to hold the Public Meeting on the 22nd and the Attorney responded that since decisions nor discussions had been made that it was not necessary for the quorum to be in attendance.
Myla Thorpe made the motion to hold an up and down vote on the B & O Tax issue. She noted that in reading the minutes from the meeting on the 22nd that she noticed that people were not for this tax. The motion was seconded by Colby Jett and all three Council Members were for the up and down vote.
Mayor Friend called for the vote on implementing a B & O Tax and the Council Members came to a unanimous decision to not implement this new tax, with Mark Yonkin adding that he was “not for it at this time”.
Jim Musgrave spoke that it may help people in the future to know what these funds will be used for as sidewalk repair was a limited expense.
Other matters of importance to those in town included a presentation by Pat Heaster, West Union VFD Chief who gave the Council Notice that the Insurance Service Rating inspectors would be in West Union on December 21st. to inspect the fire hydrants and the organizations who provide fire service for the Town. He noted that at this point the Town’s Rating is 5, which is unheard of in smalled towns, and they all of the organizations needed to work with the inspectors so the rating would not go up and cost the citizens extra dollars.
Doug Cox, West Union Water and Sewer spoke to the Council concerning repairs that were needed to be made at the Sewer Treatment Plant. He noted this problem existed at the time the plant was built and it was getting to the point that it needed to be repaired. He had received one estimate that had been broken down to parts and labor at the cost of around $140,000.
He went on to say that he had contacted other companies for this repair and was waiting on their estimates. He did not mention placing this job out for bid.
The full minutes to this meeting will be published at a later date.