By John William Gallagher
The Clay City Council said at the regular council meeting tonight that the they plan to have a city budget ready by the end of the year to present to the Finance Committee and bring before the council in January.
The city did not have a budget throughout the last administration and Clay spent $2.1 million and earned only $1.9 million during its last fiscal year.
“We want to do what’s best for the city with the spending,” Mayor Charles K. Webster said. “We are trying to get the spending under control. We are going to be okay.”
The council plans to spend only on necessary purchases for the rest of the year and possibly during the first months of 2013.
In other news, the council approved a contract with Jefferson County for a full-time deputy in the city
. The officer is a deputy with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department. Clay had been going month to month with the contract.
The council also approved a sign deal with Coca-Cola for the next four years. The deal includes two permanent digital signs, one at City Hall and one at the football stadium. The sign at City Hall will be controlled by the city and city employees will able to write messages on the sign. They plan to have it mounted on stone pillars.
The exclusive deal also gave the city a 30 percent commission on all Coca-Cola vending programs associated with the city of Clay.
In addition, the council appointed the city’s Public Safety Committee, as well. Members include Jeff Dempsey, Charles Hart, Michael Harter, Paul Pitts and Chris Sharrit.
Concerned citizens, lead by Andy Driggers, presented a petition for the city to look into issues with Garden Valley Lane. A topcoat was never put on the road when the subdivision was first built. Much of the road has now sunken in and the curbing has started to fall apart. The road has not been worked on since it was built in 2005. Garden Valley LLC and DR Horton were the parties who developed and built the subdivision. Additionally, the performance bond was not paid.
The council reassured the residents they were going to clear up these unprecedented issues.
