Facing what some city council members describe as insurmountable debt for 1,200 local water and sewer customers, city leaders at last month’s city council meeting suggested that angry residents should contact state legislators for help. And they did. One even purchased an advertisement in the newspaper listing their legislators’ phone numbers, one of them the home number of Rep. Lynn Bechler (R-Marion).
Bechler and Sen. Robby Mills both showed up Monday night to the Marion City Council meeting.
Bechler spoke first, saying he was there to “set the record straight.”
Bechler laid out a series of grants and loan forgiveness measures that are either done or are in the works that will save Marion about $5 million on its sewer-construction project. Otherwise, he said, state legislators have no control over the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority (KIA), which has forced Marion residents to pay an ever-increasing environmental fee to meet financial obligations for updating its sewer plant and collection system.
Work on a new $13.6 million sewer plant is underway in Industrial Park North off Pippi Hardin Boulevard.
“People were told to call me at the last meeting, so I just came,” Bechler told the council, pointing out that he would prefer his home phone number not be used in the future. Rather, he suggests that individuals call his office phone in Frankfort.
Bechler pointed a finger at Marion’s leadership, saying it has created ... read the rest of this article in the full version of The Crittenden Press. It's available digitally or on newsstands.
