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GEORGETOWN, KENTUCKY find out what newmunicipal projects were either planned or ongoing in the city, as well as his role in them.The following is an edited transcript of that conversation: BVM: We understand you’ve been City Engineer for about five years.Tell us a little about the job. Goodwin: “As a typical city engineer, I wear a lot of hats. I’m in charge of our capital improvement program; I’m the pavement management systemmanager; I manage our encroachment permits; manage our street light program; I’m on the traffic committee, and recent- ly, I’ve been managing software implementation for asset management and work order systems. I also assist the CityAttorney in drafting and revis- ing ordinances and I manage four budgets: engi- neering, stormwater, landfill, and the municipal aid program. “I’m also our MS4 Phase II coordinator.” (MS4 stands for Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System.An MS4 is a conveyance or system of conveyances that is owned by a state, city, town, village, or other public entity that discharges to waters of the U.S., and is not part of a publicly-owned sewage treatment plant. Phase II, is- sued in 1999, under the CleanWater Act, requires regulated small MS4s in urbanized areas to obtain NPDES ((National Pollutant Discharge Elimination AT A GLANCE GEORGETOWN, KENTUCKY WHAT: A city of 34,000 WHERE: In Scott County, in the north central part of the state. WEBSITE: www.georgetownky.gov System)) permit coverage for their stormwater discharges.There are nearly 100 Phase II MS4 programs in the State of Kentucky.) BVM: That’s seemsmore like awhole hat shop.Why somany? Goodwin: “One of the underlying issues in Georgetown,which can be looked at as both positive and negative, is we’ve always been a small town, so we’ve had a small-town mentality and that clashes with the growth that we’ve seen. Georgetown is a fast growing city in one of the fastest growing counties in the state. I think we’re ranked 9th or 8th most populous, and we’ll be the 6th in the next ten to fifteen years assuming constant growth at our current rate. But,we are pretty well understaffed; we’ve had about the same number of employees since 2000, and the City Engineer’s Office has been a department of one until about three years ago,when I was able to get an engineering technician into the budget.That said,we’ve a lot to do and not that many people to do it. So,we do rely heavily on the private sector to assist us with a lot of those things that some city de- partments may do internally.”
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