Staff Reporter

and

CRIS RITCHIE

Staff Reporter

Employees of the City of Hazard are set to receive a 3 percent pay raise and the city will see more police presence as the city commission voted to approve the increase and hire new officers Monday night at City Hall.

According to City Manager Paul Feltner the city's employees have received a pay raise for the past couple of years, and an increase is always added when the budget allows. Feltner said the increase in pay is across the board for the city's employees, but some employees of the police department or the fire department could get a slightly larger increase in pay due to recent promotions approved by the city.

Two new recruits for the Hazard Police Department were hired by the Hazard City Commissioners as well. Kyle Morgan, 27, of Avawam and Anthony Fields, 24, of Hazard will begin active duty pending further testing, according to Chief Ronnie Bryant. They will begin by working with field training officers for a short period of time and will then attend 18 weeks of training in Richmond, Ky. in the Department of Criminal Justice Training program.

Kyle Morgan was formerly employed by the Leslie County Sheriff Department and is excited to begin his duties serving the citizens of Hazard and Perry County. Anthony Fields, who attended Eastern Kentucky University and Central Texas College, is currently serving in his fourth year with the Army National Guard. Fields stated that he is glad that the process is over and is ready to begin his career with the Hazard Police Department.

In other business, the commission voted to approve the advertising for bids on a new system to read the meters of the city's gas customers. Feltner said the city recently replaced all of the water meters with new devices that are able to be read remotely using radio signals and that those meters are working wonderfully.

Feltner noted that the cost of replacing all of the gas meters is estimated to be significantly less than the cost incurred from the water meter replacements. He noted that te estimates the cost to be from between $100,000-120,000, but Feltner did say that the final cost would not be known until after the bids are accepted. The cost of replacing the water was approximately $640,000, Feltner said.