At least one member of Bowling Green City
Council wants to see the city spend some money on repair of existing sidewalks in 2014."I’d like to see
some of the money available put toward repairing existing sidewalks rather than building new
sidewalks," Finance Committee Chairman Robert McOmber said during Monday’s review of the proposed 2014
city budget. "We need to take a good look at how to get the most bang for the buck."Fourth Ward
Council Member Robert Piasecki said he agreed with McOmber. "I heard a lot of that (sidewalk issues)
when I was campaigning."There is $200,000 in the budget for miscellaneous street and sidewalk
projects.The city has not spent money on sidewalks since 2010 when $50,000 was available from Community
Development Block Grant funds. About $90,000 of city money was spent in 2009.Earlier the city had operated a
program where the city and property owner shared the expense on a 50/50 basis. Council would set a maximum
amount in the budget and property owners could deposit their share of the cost up to the amount in the
budget. The city would then combine the projects and seek bids to choose a contractor to do all of the
work.Municipal Administrator John Fawcett said there has been an active discussion about sidewalks among
council and the administration. "I would remind you that there has long been a city ordinance that
places the responsibility on the property owner to maintain sidewalks unless damaged by the actions of the
city."Fawcett said an example of city damage would be roots from a tree in the city right-of-way.There
has been some discussion of revising the ordinance, but Fawcett said there is no timeline for completing the
task.The large roadway projects planned for 2014 revolve around West Poe Road.The nearly two-mile stretch of
West Poe from Grove Street to Mitchell Road will be repaved at an estimated cost of $1,144,500 and the
Poe-Haskins intersection will be rebuilt at an estimated cost of $852,000.Fawcett said the intersection
project will include turn lanes on Haskins Road and new signalization that includes pedestrian crosswalk
lights. "This is not a roundabout, which is what I wanted. That would just require too much property
acquisition cost," he said.Also on the list is $40,000 to repave city parking lot M on Manville Avenue.
Fawcett said that project can move forward now that a long-term lease on a portion of the lot has been
renewed.The budget also:• Funds a chest compression system, power load system for an ambulance and a patient
monitor defibrillator, all for the Fire Division.• Would purchase a five-ton dump truck for the Public Works
Department.• Replace four police cruisers, all with an excess of 100,000 miles on them. There are 17 marked
cruisers in the police fleet.• Indicates the city has outstanding general obligation debt of $17,060,000
with a debt limitation of $46 million.• Indicates the city’s bond rating with Standard and Poor is A+/stable
and the Moody’s overall rating is AA2. The American Municipal Power credit score is 91 percent.• Notes that
the update to Future Land Use Section of the city’s Master Plan has begun and is to be completed in 2014. A
firm from Boulder, Colo., has been hired to oversee the effort, which was last done in 1987.