Knox City Council Members Agree to Light Up Lake Street with New LED Bulbs

After realizing the advantages of having more illumination on Main Street in downtown Knox, city officials have decided to purchase more LED lights for other spots around town.

When city council members met last week, Mayor Dennis Estok said an additional six lights will be purchased for Lake Street and suggested purchasing three lights for the community center parking lot. The mayor mentioned that each light and globe costs approximately $250, meaning that nine more bulbs and globes would be around $2,250.

Council members came to the conclusion that lighting in the parking lot is not really a priority right now, so they opted out of getting an extra three bulbs for that area. Continue reading

Fire Chief Kenny Pfost Presents Annual Report to Knox City Council Members

Knox City Council members amended their meeting agenda Tuesday night, in order include Fire Chief Kenny Pfost’s annual report.

Pfost explained that the fire department’s year ran from December 1st of 2016 through November 30th of this year. He said there was a total of 256 calls which was up 60 runs from last year. He stated that 133 of those were medical-related, resulting in 28 more medical calls than the previous year. Continue reading

Mayor of Knox Informs Council Members of Delay with Main Street Light Replacement

Yesterday evening, Mayor Dennis Estok informed Knox City Council members that the installation of the new light bulbs on Main Street has been delayed due to a delivery issue.

Mayor Estok explained that the bulb that was initially installed as an example came without any ballast. Since the existing light fixtures contain their own ballasts there were no issues with that installation. However, the nine additional bulbs that were purchased came with ballasts inside the bulbs.

The mayor said that in order to install those bulbs, the existing ballasts would need to be bypassed during installation which would cost some additional money for labor. If they want to send these bulbs back and get the same ones as the example, they will be charged a restocking fee. Continue reading

Knox City Council Approves New Vehicle for Building and Code Compliance Officer

The purchase of a new vehicle for the Knox Building and Code Compliance Officer was approved at last night’s city council meeting. Compliance Officer Kenny Pfost has been utilizing his personal vehicle since the old city-issued vehicle broke down.

Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston mentioned that the $36,000 needed for the vehicle purchase will be split up between three separate accounts. He said that $10,000 would come out of the cumulative capital development repairs and maintenance fund, $8,600 would be from rental registration and $17,400 will be come from the edit account for the Knox Industrial Park. Continue reading

Knox City Council Unofficially Discusses Potential New Lighting Downtown

Mayor Dennis Estok has been discussing the possibility of replacing the lights in the downtown area during the last few Knox City Council meetings. They have been experimenting with a new kind of bulb. When they first met in September, he suggested that the council members take a little time after the meeting was adjourned to see the change and provide their input.

At their meeting last Tuesday, Mayor Estok said the experiment bulb was moved from its initial placement due to an obstruction from a near by tree. However, even with the tree covering the original spot, many council members said they could see a definite difference in brightness. Continue reading

Knox City Council Member Suggests Installing Line at Culver Road Stop Light

During the Knox City Council meeting on Tuesday, Council President Don Kring revisited an issue he discussed during the last council meeting. He asked the council to consider looking into painting a dotted line on Culver road, at the stop light located at the intersection of Main St.

Kring said the road there is wide enough where it should allow individuals turning left to be on one side, while people going straight forward can continue driving. An issue arises when people are stopped at the stop light in the center of the road. If the driver at the front of the line is turning left, that means all drivers must wait until they’ve turned before they can continue driving. Continue reading