By Adam Pack
The Alderson Town Council met for their regularly scheduled meeting last Tuesday evening in the Town Council Chambers in the Alderson City Building.
First on the docket was the remediation of a discrepancy between the Floodplain Ordinance recently passed by the council and the existing city zoning regulations. According to Eric Duff in the Alderson Zoning Office, there was a contradiction between the ordinance and the code, and the city needed to make a change to the ordinance in order to rectify this issue. The portion of the ordinance in question, Section D1C – related to mobile homes, recreational vehicle placement, read “… to be installed in accordance with manufactured home placement requirements and all other flood reduction requirements contained in this ordinance.” The phrase “manufactured home placement” had to be struck, and the section instead read “shall be in accordance with all other flood reduction requirements contained in this ordinance.”
Mayor Copenhaver explained that this came about, “Because Eric’s been working hard on a couple projects and he was looking into [zoning for] tiny homes. When he got into this there are some tiny homes that can be designated as recreational mobile homes, so we need to make a change because they can’t be in certain places.”
The issue was taken up after a public hearing, which was without comment. The measure was passed unanimously and section D1C was amended.
There was an agenda item related to the water plant project, but the managing engineer from Thrasher was not able to attend to discuss this item. However, he had spoken to Mayor Copenhaver and given him an update. As of now, the city has filed a letter saying that they have exhausted the normal bidding process for an appraiser for the water plant. This means that the public was made aware via the proper legal notices and that a bid period was opened, in which time the city would accept bids and settle on the lowest bidder. However, that period has passed and there have been no bids for the project. Now the city can contract with and hire an appraiser of their choice. As a result “[Thrasher] envisions that within the next month we’ll just have a firm come do it,” Mayor Copenhaver explained. He went on to say that Thrasher had told him that “they’re pretty confident that the city should see some plans soon.”
The city then considered items related to the current ATV/UTV licensing and fees. At this time, the city did not address any fees associated with the ordinance, as it would create “mass confusion and require several people to get refunded and confuse people as to what we require.” However, the portion of the original legislation pertaining to licensing and registration, “Did not contain any clear definition of ownership of the plate, [or state that] the plate is just like a DMV plate in that it has to be returned if it isn’t renewed. If you don’t return it, you get a letter, and if you don’t respond a law enforcement officer will take the license,” explained Mayor Copenhaver. Council decided to add language that will outline the process of dealing with dead tags.
Copenhaver stated that he had wished to also address the issues of state tags and the reduction of fees at this meeting, but fact finding efforts about the licensing by the state in regards to ATVs have been unfruitful. Council unanimously moved to amend the ATV/UTV ordinance.
Councilmembers also approved the payment of $10,000 from the town’s ARPA funds for over-budget payments for the work necessary for getting stormwater infrastructure put into the ground for Flood Mitigation on Flat Mountain. “Those inlets and things have been sitting in the FEMA yard since 2016, so we’re really happy to get them out of there and into the ground,” said the mayor. The entire project was bidd by Wiseman Engineering, and was $30,000 over budget. After discussions with The Monroe County Commission, First Energy, the Dept. of Highways, and with Wiseman, an agreement was made whereby Wiseman would lower their mobilization costs by $5,000, and the three other parties would contribute $10,000 each to cover the over-budget costs. “This is the farthest we’ve ever been, because up until now the Department of Highways was not going to do anything with this at all, and now they’ve got skin in the game. And as you know, this is going to fix major flooding on the Monroe side,” Copenhaver said.
The council also set the date for urban deer hunt season. Though the city is actively trying to compile a list of those who own property within city limits who are either willing or unwilling to allow hunting, there are several properties available and the season will be held from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31. “Anyone that knows anyone that wants their property included, please call Jessica, because we had way more people than we had places last year,” Copenhaver explained. “It may have to go to a lottery system if that happens again.”
The Alderson Town Council meets on the second Thursday of every month at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Council Chambers of the Alderson City Building. The public is encouraged to attend.
