Watershed

City and county officials and representatives from Winchester Municipal Utilities will work to address differences over a proposed "privilege fee" ordinance, Mayor Ed Burtner said Monday. "I think most of the differences have been resolved or addressed, but there still appears to be some questions on the part of the court," he said. "We'll try to get together and see if we can resolve those issues. " The proposed ordinance has been under development for nearly four years and has undergone 13 drafts.

Sept. 4, 1982 St. Hubert's fair organizers are calling all knights and ladies to practice for the tilting contest to be held at the annual "Day in the Country" Sept. 11. The Daniel Boone Pioneer Festival will have at least one new attraction this year, a guided tour of historic Winchester. Tours will leave from College Park at 1 p.m., Sept. 11 and 12 and run every 35 or 40 minutes until 4 p.m. Members of the Winchester Kiwanis Club were given a brief history of Clark Mansion at a picnic luncheon meeting Wednesday at the mansion.

The Nicholasville City Commission gave Mayor Russ Meyer the go-ahead to sign a memorandum of agreement to apply for the Federal 319 Grant. If awarded, the grant will enable Nicholasville to move forward on its watershed plan and Lake Mingo best management practices implementation. Gary Goldey, public works superintendent for Nicholasville, said the grant will provide much needed funding for the project. "It will specifically be used for run-off water quality that comes into the drainage basin of Town Branch," he said.

A 38-acre site on Boonesboro Road will serve as the location for new water and wastewater treatment plants that Winchester Municipal Utilities plans to construct over the next several years. Following about seven months of closed-door studies and negotiations, the WMU Commission voted Thursday to purchase the six parcels of property at 7055 Boonesboro Road for $400,000. The land is owned by Maxine Shearer. By spring, WMU officials hope to begin building a $36 million wastewater treatment plant there to serve the Lower Howards Creek watershed and resolve sanitary sewer overflows in the basin.

The Clark County Fiscal Court wants more time to consider a proposed ordinance that officials hope will more fairly distribute the cost of building sewer infrastructure among developers. At its regular meeting Wednesday, the court deferred action on the proposal until city and county officials can negotiate several details in the measure. If passed, the joint city and county ordinance would require developers to pay for sewer lines based on a new formula for dispersing the cost of lines over all developments in a watershed.

The Winchester Board of Commissioners approved a measure Tuesday that will allow the Strodes Creek Conservancy to benefit from an experimental project by the Kentucky Waterways Alliance. Commissioners voted to allow the conservancy to participate in a push by the Kentucky Waterways Alliance (KWA) to develop a new watershed planning guidebook for the state. KWA has received a federal grant for the project and needs organizations to use the guidebook and provide feedback. In return, the conservancy will have a watershed plan developed for free.

The Clark County Fiscal Court gave its initial blessing to the new privilege fee ordinance Wednesday morning, after another lengthy debate. The court approved the first reading of the joint city-county ordinance 5-2, with Magistrates Pam Blackburn and Steve Wilson voting against and Joe McCord abstaining. The plan has been in the works for years and seeks to establish a more equitable way to spread the cost of installing sewer lines among developers. Those lines must be of a sufficient size to support all future development within the watershed.

Ponds are a critical part of many farms in Kentucky and proper maintenance can ensure they will perform well for many years after construction. Constructing ponds in the appropriate sites is the first step to ensuring a useful pond. A good supply of clean drinking water for livestock must be located within an adequate forage area to produce healthy animals. The volume of water required for livestock depends on the size of the animal, size of the herd and amount of time the water supply will be in use. Most livestock ponds should be entirely fenced with gravity feed water supplied to a watering tank keeping animals out of the pond.