' The News Record igglSpWING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY SINCE 1901 p " * 5 . Vol. 84 No. 10 PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHALL, t ^?IY. LlBRA5X_ MADISON - J. generai nr/ v. . 25c Wild Tells Aldermen Marshall To Receive % _ . . 1 $200,000 FmHA Grant Marshall has received ap proval for an additional $200,000 in funds to complete the town sewer project. Mayor Betty Wild made the an nouncement during Monday's meeting of the town board of aldermen. Wild said that she has received a letter from Larry Merrill, director of the Farmers Home Administra tion office in Waynesville, con firming that the request for additional funds has been ap proved. The town's applica tion for the grant funds has been sent on to Washington for review. The mayor said that the ad ditional funds will allow the town to complete the project in its entirety at no extra cost. Wild said that Sens. Jesse Helms and John East were in strumental in obtaining the funds for the project. Of the senators. Wild said, "They really went to bat for us and we owe them a debt .of thanks." After making the announce ment, Wild announced that the town would hold a special meeting on Wednesday after noon to discuss the sewer pro ject with the engineers and contractor. Wild explained that the called meeting was necessary because Bill Lapsley, the engineer on the project, was unable to attend Monday's meeting. The special meeting willl be held in Town Hall at 1:30 p.m. Wild said the special meeting will be to discuss tap ins and the repaving of Walnut Creek Rd. and to take Up some residents complaints with the contractor, Taylor and Mur phy Construction Co. of Asheville. The mayor said, "We've all called Taylor and Murphy at one time or another and couldn't get a response from them. We've taken some ac tion to force them to talk with us." The mayor later added, "We'll have a lot of questions to ask." Several residents of Walnut Creek complained of damages done to their property during construction. The mayor noted the complaints and said they would be discussed at Wednesday 's special meeting. Wild also read a letter from Shirley Scellack praising the actons of Marshall police of ficers Michael Beasley and Carl Bowman. The letter said that the officers visited her home on Walnut Creek last month to check for prowlers and praised the officers for their professionalism. When the question of the police leaving the city limits was raised, Bowman pointed out that the towr.'s police of ficers have jurisdiction in a one-mile radius of the town. Of the inspection of the Scellack home. Bowman said, "We did it as a courtesy. The sheriff's department was tied up sear ching for the escaped convicts form Tennessee." Wild ?lso reported that repairs have been completed to the town's waste treatment plant on Blannerhassett Island. Board member Sammy Lunsford was asked what caused piles of what appeared to be soap suds to flow from the plant on Monday. Lunsford said "It's done that before. If the wind had been blowing, you'd have never noticed it. At times, we get more detergent in the system than we need, but there'? nothing we can do about it." Lunsford added that there was no threat posed to health by the suds. Lunsford also reported that he attended a water meter school last week along with Charlie Sexton. He told the board that instructors at the school said that improperly working water memters were the biggest problem with many water systems. Lund sford estimated that as many as 50 water meters in the town are in need if replacement. Charlie Sexton reported that on Hill St. alone, some 14 meters were in need of repair and an additional seven meters need to be replaced. Mayor Wild commended the town crew on their work in repairing the treatment plant. Board member Ed Niles reported that he had met with officials of the state DOT. Niles said that DOT is seeking a written agreement with Marshall regarding the roads the state will maintain. Niles showed the board a map of the state-maintained roads and pointed out that DOT was seeking to have Marshall assume responsibility for maintaining what he believed was Skyland Drive. Niles said the DOT wanted to make repairs to the street and have Marshall assume responsibili ty for maintainence. The board approved enter ing into a written agreement with DOT , but asked that the state continue to maintain the road in question. In other matters discussed at the Monday night meeting, Wild announced that Wesley Ball has been appointed to the town recreation board and that Gary Moore has been named to the town planning committee. The mayor asked that other residents interested in serving on the committees come forward and volunteer. The board approved a resolution prohibiting anyone other than insured town employees from operating the town vehicles. The resoluion j also prohibits town employees from using town vehicles for 1 personal use. The town's fire truck was exempted from the resolution. The 'board also discussed resuming garbage collections on a three-days-a-week basis within the town business district, but took no action on the matter. Lunsford also reported that the town's garbage truck was in need of major repairs. The board will ask for estimates on repairing the truck. The board also considered bids for repairing the town's backhoe. The town has receiv ed two bids for the job. Wild reported that Bobby Allen had submitted a low bid of $4,000 for the job while James Calhoun had submitted a bid of $5,213.25 Ed Niles said that he was satisifed that Clalhoun had the necessary ec^iipment to com plete the job and added thai' Calhoun would furnish the town with a replacement backhoe while repairs were being made. Niles said that both he and Sammy Lunsford had in-, spected Calhoun's shop. A decision on the bids was postponed when board member John Dodson said he wanted to see Calhoun's shop before making a decision. The board may take up the matter again during Wednesday's special meeting. The meeting adjourned at 9:25 p.m! Marshall To Apply For Block Grant Funding The Marshall Board of Aldermen held a public hear ing Monday night prior to the start of their regular business meeting to discuss applying for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding. Myra Grant of the Land of the Sky Regional Council ad dressed the board concerning the mechanics of applying for the grants. The town had ap plied for similar funding in 19K3 and was rejected. Grant explained that the state uses a points formula of rating ap plications to determine which requests receive funding. Grant told the board that Mar shall's 1H3 application was re jected, because it received a rating of 670 points out of a. posssible rating of 1,000. She said that the state uses a formula of rating the different applications using criteria such as community need, pro ject design, its benefit to low income residents and the availablity of matching private or local public funds. Grant said that the town can apply for up to 1750,000 in CDBG funds for a project. Up to 20 percent of the requested funds can be used for a smaller project at the discre tion of the town. Mayor fcetty Wild has in dicated that ahe would like to have Marshall again apply for funding for the project that was rejected last year1. "Hie project Marshall sought fun ding for last year would have rehabilitated houses on Cot torn Mill Hill. Grant told the aldermen that they would have to decide whether or not to apply for funding at Monday night's meeting. She said that the ex act nature of the project could be determined before the se cond public hearing on the matter scheduled for April 2. At that second public hear ing, Grant said, the town should have a rough budget estimate on the proposed pro ject's costs available. The se cond public hearing will be held to hear further public comments or suggestions The public had no comments or suggestions, regarding the proposal at Monday night's meeting. When asked if there were any public comments, no one in the crowd of 15 residents offered any remarks. At the mayor's request, board member John Dodson motioned that the town apply for the grant funds. The mo tion was seconded by Sammy Lunsford and approved No further action on the ap plication was taken at the meeting. Uftt m Feb. ? ha ? cheduled lor thr of the c