Lexington
During Lexington City Council’s March 20 meeting, Lexington City Manager Tom Carroll updated Council on the progress in developing the city’s fire suppression system incentive program which the city’s Economic Development Authority has been working on for the past several months.
The city has set aside $250,000 in funds for the program, which has the goal of offering an incentive for property owners in the city’s downtown to install sprinkler systems in their buildings by providing loans to cover all or part of the cost of the project. The loans would not exceed $125,000 for any one project, would not accrue interest and would be repaid over 10 years. As an additional incentive, the tap fees for the hookups for the sprinkler system will be waived once the loan is repaid in full.
Carroll added that the program may have found its first candidate in a property on Washington Street with a vacant storefront at street level and unused apartments on the upper floor. He said that details were still being worked out with the property owner but that the project was estimated to cost between $30,000 and $40,000.
Buena Vista
April 18 Again A Day Off
The Buena Vista School Board voted last Monday to reinstate Friday, April 18, as a student holiday, giving families a long Easter weekend.
Back in February, the Board had decided to make April 18 a regular school day to make up for instructional time lost to all the winter weather in January and February. But with no weather-related cancellations in March, Superintendent Tony Francis recommended restoring the day off. The Board unanimously agreed, noting that both students and staff would welcome the break.
However, Dr. Francis cautioned that if any additional school disruptions occur in early April, the division’s only remaining option to meet staterequired instructional hours would be to extend the length of the remaining school days by small increments of time. The Board agreed that, with spring in full bloom, a day off was worth that risk.
