Council discusses sinkhole concerns

Friday, May 23, 2008

A new sinkhole in Russellville has caused enough concern that it was brought up at the town meeting Wednesday.

The 1-foot wide, 5- foot deep hole has crept up on the property of Del Ferriers. Ferriers contacted members of the council and said he believes a tile in the ditch has broken.

The tile was put in a number of years ago to carry basement water away.

Because of the hole, a light pole may fall.

Town Council President Don Reddish said, "I've been out to inspect the hole. It is very close to that light pole and we need to take some sort of action now."

The council agreed to have Boller Excavating visit the site. They hope the problem can be fixed once the cause is determined.

The council also voted to spend $500 to get the town's police car fixed.

The car is in good shape other than needing a new clutch in the air conditioning unit and a new motor for the windshield wipers.

Town Marshall Mike Biggs said, "Right now if one of the volunteer guys need to respond and I'm out of town, they won't be able to do anything. That car needs to be fixed."

At the end of the meeting, a woman in the audience said she is worried about the safety of children on Main Street, as children play in the road and drivers are not obeying the 20 mph speed limit.

Reddish told the woman he also knew of this problem and spoke with Biggs about the possibility of starting to give tickets to offenders.

He also said that he would go out and talk to the children about the importance of pedestrian safety.

Russellville is looking into the possibility of selling off their water service to American Water.

Before any action is taken, Reddish suggesting talking with other towns, such as Waveland, that deal with American Water.

"We need to talk with a town that did this a few years ago," Reddish said. "Then we can find out if they still think it was a good idea to do."

That item was tabled until their next meeting.

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