News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The City of Algood is working on prioritizing the city’s needs as the budget season gets underway.
City Administrator Keith Morrison said that there are a number of priorities the city is focusing on, but the biggest concern could benefit public safety.
“We’re in the need for a new fire engine,” Morrison said. “Our Engine One has some time on it, and so we need to replace that so that we can get points for our ISO score. That’s definitely a priority to do that. That’s a huge expense.”
Morrison said another area of concern is with the city’s vehicles.
“We’ve been working for several years on fleet plans with all the departments,” Morrison said. “We’ve started running into some issues with the Dodge cars that some of the engines have been having trouble, so we’re looking for ways we can improve on that. One of the considerations is possibly going to Ford Explorers, so we’ve looked at that number.”
Morrison also listed a number of improvements that could benefit Algood residents.
“Adding some full-time capabilities to the division of the Putnam County Library that’s housed here in Algood,” Morrison said. “Continuing sidewalk efforts and trying to finish the Farmer’s Market, I’m not sure how that will work out with all the changes happening right now, and hopefully getting something on the ground for the new park, even if just a parking lot and maybe a small playground with a piece of a walking track. We’d like to see some progress there.”
Morrison said the coronavirus reaction could have an impact on the budget process, but much of the work has already been done.
“The good news is we went through the budget last month and had worked on some things to prepare it,” Morrison said. “So, I think at this point, it’s just finalizing it and putting it together. It will definitely be different than in past years due to the changes to public meeting requirements, but I still think we can work through it, get this done, and stay on track with that and keep the city running efficiently.”
Morrison said he would like to have the budget passed on its final reading by the first part of June, but there are provisions in place if the July 1 deadline is missed.
“If it doesn’t make it by July 1, our last year’s budget automatically has a clause in it that we include each year that in the event by June 30 if the budget hasn’t passed that it would retroactively stay in place until the new budget can take its place.”
Morrison said in order to meet the state’s prohibition of gatherings over ten people, the City of Algood will begin to hold more meeting over the phone, with those meeting being broadcast over Facebook Live. The first meeting under these guidelines will be Thursday’s 6 p.m. meeting of the Algood Planning Commission.
