New City Engineer Comes On Board

From The Kentucky Standard

Bardstown will have a new city engineer and Larry Hamilton will have a new job but in both cases, the newness is only skin-deep. Hamilton will start work Thursday as the new city engineer, a position he had until 1998 when he retired after 25 years with the city government. Hamilton first joined the city in 1973 as an assistant city engineer under R.A. Kelly. He was promoted in January 1977 after Kelly retired. After retiring himself, Hamilton continued to work for several years as a consultant to the city before accepting a job in 2003 with the state Division of Solid Waste. A Bardstown native, Hamilton still resides in the city. “When (Mayor Dick Heaton) called and discussed what he had in mind, I wanted to help him with his plans,” Hamilton said. “I wanted to work with the mayor and help him accomplish what he wants to achieve.” “Working with (the mayor) will be challenging and fun and I’m looking forward to that,” Hamilton said. As city engineer, Hamilton will be in charge of the city Public Works and Utilities departments, and will report directly to Heaton. Those departments cover electric, cable, Internet, streets, sewer and water concerns. Heaton said he thought during his tenure on City Council the city needed “more in-house engineering assets,” and decided to move on that immediately when he became mayor this month.

When Hamilton last worked for the city there were three experienced engineers on staff, Heaton said. When he retired, the city chose not to fill the position he vacated. Hamilton, a certified professional engineer, carries a higher level of classification than the other two engineers on the city staff. Jeff Mills is a certified electrical engineer and George Greenwell is a civil engineer. “That forced us to take more engineering to outside firms,” Heaton said. “I feel like we will be able to save enough, by reducing outside contracting” in utility and public works jobs to recoup additional salary expenses, Heaton said. “It will create more efficiency with more engineering personnel on staff,” Heaton said. In the eight years after Hamilton left the city, “we’ve done nothing but grow,” Heaton said, adding “miles and miles of infrastructure.” During those years the city built a new waste treatment plant and expanded the water treatment plant, while also losing longtime waste treatment plant operator Jerry Riley, who died last year. That position has not yet been filled. Hamilton “has a strong working knowledge of both of those facilities,” Heaton said. “I’m going to feel comfortable with someone with Larry’s background and experience.” Heaton said he discussed his plans with the Council before deciding to offer Hamilton the job. “I’m looking forward to getting back,” Hamilton said. “I don’t have an agenda other than learning what the mayor and the City Council have on their minds and working on that.” Tom Dekle can be reached at 348-9003 Ext. 118 or by e-mail at tdekle@kystandard.com.

Lower Cumberland, More Rapids

Fearing a dam break that could cause catastrophic flooding in Kentucky and Tennessee, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began lowering the water level on Lake Cumberland on Monday.

If the dam, which is nearly a mile long, were to break, flooding in communities downstream along the Cumberland River could kill people and cause an estimated $3.4 billion in damage, Roemhildt said. Cities along the Cumberland include Nashville, Tenn.

The level of the lake will be drawn down to 680 feet immediately, the corps said, 10 feet below the normal level of 690 feet in the winter. The normal level in the summer is 723 feet.

Thus, after the reduction, the lake’s water surface would be 43 feet below the tree line during summer months. That could edge Lake Cumberland out of the list of the nation’s largest freshwater lakes, said Craig Shoe, resource manager for the Corps of Engineers.

This will be the lowest Lake Cumberland has been since 1981, it seems. They are keeping it high enough to generate power. If it gets even lower than prediction, 680, Pitman Creek may have some surprises to uncover. It gets steeper as it approaches the old river channel, but most of it will still be under the lake. Even at 680, that will make the lake at least 100 feet deep in that area.

Plum and Glenns

Plum Creek: 3ft
Glenns Creek: Low

Today I ran two new creeks. The Plum and Glenns.

The Plum was a blast. Lot's of surfing, one surf spot after another. I probably could have surfed more, but for my first run I was kind of just checking out the lay of the creek. Their were probably about 30 Vikings on the Benson this day. I guess with knowing the rain was coming and falling on a Sunday, everyone had ample notice. I sure did.

Afterwards, Jim and I went over and checked out Glenns. It was low and scrappy, but we ran it just to see what's up. Could be a fun run with some more water.

First Trip of 2007

Elkhorn Creek
2050cfs

Jay, Bill and I got in our January Elkhorn run to officially kick off 2007. The level was good and the water was moving fast. My favorite spot was the left side of angioplasty where I caught some really good surfing on the big wave there.

Jay demoed a Jackson Hero from Canoe Ky. I don't think it was the creek boat for him though. I still recommend the Huka. We saw one of them at the put-in.

I also found 5 dead mice in my Pyranha kayak. Good thing John didn't make it out or we would have had to dealt with those stinky things riverside.

Awesome day on the water, not cold at all. As long as you stay in your boat, which some of us didn't do the whole time.