A pair of resolutions for major grants were approved by the Middlesboro City Council at their regular meeting last week.

One is a Land and Water Conservation grant for up to $147,500 in funding through HB 9 for Phase II at Lincoln Park, with a 50% match the city would be responsible for $147,500 in labor costs for the project. The resolution authorizes Mayor Boone Bowling to complete the grant application and furnish any necessary documents.

Bowling said the city should find out within a couple of weeks if they were approved for the grant. The resolution was approved 5-0. Council members Tommy Joe Mike, Floyd Branham, Brad Cawood and Bill Smith were not present at the meeting.

The other resolution authorizes the Middlesboro Police Department to apply for a Law Enforcement Protection Program grant through the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security. The grant would be for up to $184,000 for the purchase of new tasers for the department. This also passed 5-0.

Bowling said the current tasers being used by MPD were being phased out and it’s hard to find replacement cartridges for them. The grant will allow new tasers to be purchased for every officer.

During audience participation, Rommel Johnson asked if there were any grants available for body cameras for officers.
Bowling said funding through the same grant program could be used for those. “But you only get one grant application per year and you can’t apply for tasers and body cameras at the same time.”

The most controversial portion of the meeting came during audience participation when Patsy Sullivan, a former council member, raised concerns about ambulance runs not being made.

She said a family member of hers died because they were not transported to Lexington.

“The wind was blowing and the helicopter couldn’t go. They go in and he’s got a 99% blockage — he needed to go to Lexington,” she said. “They tried waiting until the next day to fly him out but he didn’t make it.”

She went on to say that another family member of hers was taken to Lexington two years ago.

Fire Chief Robert England was not present at the meeting. Bowling said the city’s medical director Dr. C.A. Moore advises England on which runs to do and which one not to do.

“I feel like it’s who you are or who you know. If it’s happening to my family, it’s happening to others,” Sullivan said. “All the other fire chiefs that ran the fire department, if they had to make an ambulance run and they were short, they would call someone in to work a half shift and they were more than happy to do it. . . We’ve got to do better.”

When asked about Sullivan’s concerns, England declined to comment on a specific patient or incident. He said the department had operated consistently under the same policy for the last five years — they only do transports to Corbin, London and Knoxville.

During the Sewer Department report, Josh Campbell explained that the city’s permit with the state had expired in 2018.

“Every five years we have to apply for a permit with the Division of Water,” he said. “In 2017 we submitted our permit application like we were supposed to but never heard anything back from the state. We’ve been operating on an expired permit since 2018.”

He said the state notified him last week that a new permit will have to be applied for within 30 days.

“It’s possible I may need to get an engineering firm to come in and help get this done. We hired a firm to do it the last time,” Campbell said. “I’ll get it taken care of.”