A clear sky. Low 69F. Winds light and variable..

A clear sky. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.

Brent Menser (left), on behalf of the Dawson Springs Museum & Art Center and Historic Society, makes a proposal to the Dawson Springs City Council for a new fountain in Veterans’ Park as Councilman Joe Allen, Assistant City Clerk Amie Thomas, and Mayor Chris Smiley listen. The council voted unanimously in favor of the fountain with hopes it will be installed prior to the town’s BBQ homecoming next month.

Brent Menser (left), on behalf of the Dawson Springs Museum & Art Center and Historic Society, makes a proposal to the Dawson Springs City Council for a new fountain in Veterans’ Park as Councilman Joe Allen, Assistant City Clerk Amie Thomas, and Mayor Chris Smiley listen. The council voted unanimously in favor of the fountain with hopes it will be installed prior to the town’s BBQ homecoming next month.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the Dawson Springs City Council, the recent $1.2 million award in SAFE funding for surveying purposes was discussed at length.

Matt Watson, who has been contracted as a consultant with the City since the tornado, explained that there is a Town Hall scheduled for Tuesday (June 28) at 5:30 p.m. The focus of the Town Hall, which will be held at the Dawson Springs Community Center, will be the land surveying project. “Frank Williams is going to have the timeline to present at the Town Hall so that people will know when their property will be surveyed,” said Watson. “We’re going to do this block-by-block.”

“This surveying will only be done within the Dawson Springs city limits on properties affected by the tornado,” Mayor Chris Smiley clarified.

“The firm has given us a very discounted rate of $2,000 per property, which will account to $1 million of the $1.2,” Watson said. “The $200,000 will go to help those who have already got the survey.”

For those who have already had their property surveyed, Watson is creating a process he will present at the Town Hall for those landowners to recoup some of the fees encumbered. “We’ll start getting those people in here and get some money to them, too,” he said.

“Do we need to let them know ahead of time if their property is going to be resurveyed?” asked Councilman Kenny Mitchell.

“If Frank wasn’t the surveyor--then yes,” answered Watson. “Those in the disaster path will automatically be surveyed.”

In the City’s rebuilding plan, there are alleyways that will be closed, according to Watson. “Some of the property lines will change due to the redistribution of the alleyways,” he said. ‘Even if they got it surveyed once, it may need to be resurveyed due to that.”

“If they are combining two lots, they’ll have to pay for that--this award doesn’t cover that,” Watson added.

Senator Robby Mills was on hand to discuss highlights of the most recent legislative session in Frankfort, with emphasis on the $1.2 million award to Dawson Springs for property surveys. SAFE funding is a direct result of Senate Bill 150, which was sponsored by Mills. “SB150 is $200 million dollars of general fund money,” he said. “Basically, we have put that in a fund to help be a bridge to help all of the communities that were damaged--fronting money for debris removal, the surveying situation--it’s the state government helping everybody recover.”

“I was proud about sponsoring that bill and glad to see the funds actually getting used in instances like the surveying and debris removal,” Mills continued. “I would have liked to have seen it happen faster, but it just takes a little bit of time for 138 people to get on the same page and decide how to spend $200 million.”

Mills explained that due to the redistricting that also occurred during the legislative session, he is now our state senator. “I now represent Hopkins, Henderson, Union, and Webster,” he said. Prior to the session, he served residents of Henderson, Union, Crittenden, Caldwell, and Webster counties. He is originally from Henderson, but has owned NuLook Cleaners in Hopkins County (Madisonville) for 31 years. He plans to return to Dawson Springs in the fall to listen to an up-to-date list of tornado-related adversities.

In his report, Watson also discussed some of his accomplishments as consultant for the City. “We wrote a proposal, and we were one of a few who got our proposals accepted--and that includes building a 500-person shelter for Dawson Springs, reinforcing the basement of the school so that it can be used as shelter also, and five huge gas generators: one for this municipal building, one for City Hall, one for the school, one for the storm shelter, and one for the new shelter we are building as a back-up generator.”

Those efforts will also be topics of discussion for Tuesday’s Town Hall, in addition to the aforementioned land surveying project, those in attendance will hear the “State of Dawson Springs” and a brief on the Long-Term Economic Committee by Smiley; Superintendent Leonard Whalen will provide an update on the Dawson Springs Independent School District; and Heath Duncan will bring citizens up-to-speed on the Long-Term Recovery Committee.

In other news, the Council:

• contributed $2500 for a cast aluminum fountain for Veterans’ Memorial Park as proposed by Brent Menser on behalf of the Dawson Springs Museum & Art Center and Historical Society. The commission received a donation post-tornado that will cover all but that amount for installation and materials.

• will seek guidance from the ordinance committee in regards to a lien on the property at 104 Oak Street as motioned by Mitchell.

• approved the final design from Pride Elementary student Noah Allen and teacher Kelly Gates for the memorial garden to be constructed on the lot on South Main Street adjacent to the post office. Gates presented an in-kind letter addressed to the council from Bennett & Sons Paving owner Randy Bennett agreeing to provide the equipment and labor to level the lot, remove as much concrete as possible from the lot, and to donate and spread topsoil.

• agreed to purchase the property at 509 School Street for $10,000, which will extend the Dawson Springs City Park.

• conducted a first reading of Ordinance 2022-03 in regards to a rate increase for customers of the City Water & Sewer System. Superintendent Brian Thomas estimates a “$5 increase on a $60 utility bill.”

• held a first reading of Ordinance 2002-04, which amends the personnel ordinance to add a city administrator. A special meeting will be scheduled for next week to perform the second readings of the ordinances.

• amended the City’s zoning ordinance to “modify the minimum width of a dwelling and establish a standard setback for corner lots in the R-2 and R-3 zoning districts,” as read by Assistant City Clerk Amie Thomas. Council members Joe Allen, Mark McGregor, and Dusty Vinson voted to eliminate the minimum building width requirement of 18 feet (the ordinance still maintains a minimum square footage requirement of 600 square feet) and reduced the corner lot setback in those zoning districts from 25’ to 15’. Mitchell was opposed to the changes, stating “They already had the right to go back to the same size mobile home as what they had and to allow someone to put a mobile home on a lot where there used to be a house, I think it needs to be 25 feet.” Council members Martha Woolsey and Chris Morris were not present for the meeting.

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