Many locals have been wondering what’s up with the funky smell that’s been hanging around the North end of town for the past week or more. Now City officials think they have the answer.
“I know there’s been a million people asking you about it, but it feels like there’s been a sewer break at Exit 77, and there is, in fact, not,” Councilmember Steve Caudill said during Tuesday evening’s second regularly scheduled Council meeting.
“You’re exactly right,” City Administrator Shawn Sandlin said. “There is no sewer break or leak in that area.”
Instead, Sandlin said it’s just the “organic matter” that has sprung up in a low-lying area near the I-75 Southbound on-ramp that is not fully draining all the recent heavy rain water, compounded by the presence of still, stinky water sitting in the ditch alongside Hwy 595.
“You can see the cattails growing up in there, which indicates everything is proper. There’s nothing dead in there,” Sandlin told Council. City officials have teamed up with the state and a haz-mat crew to evaluate the water. The haz-mat team has also determined the water isn’t contaminated, but testing continues, he said.
To help move the water along, the state transportation cabinet has agreed to dig bigger ditches alongside 595, according to Sandlin. “‘Cause we have major flooding down there, all the time,” he said.
Sandlin said he will have an update on the situation during Council’s next regularly scheduled meeting on September 1st.
Berea Community High School senior, Jackson Schill, gestures to classmates he says are, like him, hungry for formal opportunities to participate in Berea’s civic life. Photo: Whitney McKnight
Civics lessons
At the top of the meeting, Jackson Schill, 17, a senior at Berea Community High School gave a presentation to Council about his summer spent shadowing various officials and department heads in City Hall.
The opportunity arose when earlier this year Schill asked Mayor Bruce Fraley about high school internships with the City only to learn there were none. So, with Fraley and Sandlin’s help, Schill created his own City Hall adventure. He listed the highlights of his learning, including public works and economic development, and said he came away with “immense respect” for the work done by the City on behalf of Bereans.
“The reason I am here today is to ask the Council to expand and create new opportunities for kids in Berea to get the same experience I did,” Schill said. He gestured to a row of his classmates whom he said were personally eager to learn more about municipal functions and how to become an active participant in civic life. “This would make them want to step up and lead our community,” he said.
Fraley commented that mentors think they are teaching their students, but in fact they are learning from them. In this case, Schill taught Council how important it is to proactively engage the community, Fraley said.
“Sometimes we think people know the way things work, when they really don’t so it’s a good way to share those things,” he said after Schill’s presentation. Fraley agreed to look for ways to institutionalize civic participation opportunities in the City.
Sandlin told Council he too liked the idea and suggested that similar to the County’s Citizen Police Academy, there could be a sort of citizen’s academy for civic functions.
In an interview following the meeting, Schill told The Edge that the City’s business development director, Donna Angel, opened his eyes to what is possible for cities and towns through economic development. “After I spent the day with her, I learned a ton of stuff and it made me want to learn more. Hopefully, as I get older, I will get more experience and learn more about how to grow a city, and make sure that businesses are still coming in, while also preserving our city,” he said in the interview.
Ed. note: The Edge is the recipient of a Listening Post Collective seed grant for the purpose of educating citizens about how local government works. Our first event, details still to come, will be A User’s Guide to Planning and Zoning.
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