Meade County Water District hires general manager By CINDY HENNING Meade County Water District chairman Joe Bartley resigned his position on the board to assume the new job of general manager for the water district. Fiscal Court will be responsible for finding his replacement. Commissioner Doug Cornett presided as chairman at the Sept. 20 meeting and welcomed Bartley to his new position. Bill Green, on behalf of Chris McGehee and Marion Whelan, presented the board with an application for water to be supplied to an approximately 29-tract development which was known as the Anna Valentine Farm in the Zion Grove area. Field manager Tim Osborne had previously studied the request and advised the board it would be easily done, which they accepted. Osborne reported that 16 new services were installed in the past month. About 80 percent of the Doe Run/Ekron project was completed despite hitting a lot of rock. The upcoming focus would be Hwy 60. He explained that state mandatory water tank inspections are required every five years so the Flaherty water tank, which is not currently in use, will be given a dry interior inspection at a cost of $1,790 plus an additional $800 to inspect the exterior. When asked by Chairman Cornett why this needed to be done if it is not used, Osborne explained that a legislative requirement to store 24 hours of water would make it necessary. He also noted that the purchase of a $25,000 to $30,000 tank water circulator would need to be made in the near future to keep this water from stagnating. Otherwise, it would be wasted every few months to keep it fresh. Legislative grants may be made available for this, so the board decided to wait for the next state session before making a decision. Several in-house projects were completed in 2004 at a cost of $95,489.22. Karmandy Place/Kimberly Lane, Old Barr Farm Road, Woodland Road Extension, Meade Springs Road Extension, and Ginny Lane/Bruner Road were listed. Emergency coordinator Ron Dodson has organized a countywide disaster emergency training session which the new general manager requested to attend along with other water district personnel. Office manager Donna Schenck was impressed that this had been planned even before the Gulf Coast disaster.
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