MAYFIELD, KY — A closer look is being taken into how the city of Mayfield is spending money to rebuild after December's deadly tornado. We’re now eight months after money poured into west Kentucky. Recently, the city requested an audit by a third party showing how much money the city received. The goal was to allow people to see how much money has been received and spent so far.
According to the audit, done by Florida-based firm Integrity Group, the city has only spent around $22,500. All of that money was spent from donations the city received, which the audit lists at a total of $137,349.
"When people hear that this money's coming to Mayfield, it's logical to think that it's coming to the city of Mayfield," said Mayfield Mayor Kathy O'Nan.
She believes their audit addresses any questions people might have about the tornado relief funds the city has received.
"There was some bad publicity going around that I was lining my pockets, the city council was lining their pockets, and heavens, that couldn't be further from the truth," O'Nan explained. "So we decided to run our own audit of the funds the city of Mayfield, our city government, has actually received."
According to the audit, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has given Mayfield about $13,000, which is designated for rebuilding key government infrastructure. The Western Kentucky SAFE fund has doled out $2.8 million, which will be utilized in meeting a required match in funds with FEMA. Finally, the aforementioned $137,349 in donations sent to the city. Some of those donations were spent on new exercise equipment for the fire and police department.
"They lost what they had. And part of our first responders, of course, they need to be kept fit because they do a lot of running to people that need help," O'Nan said.
Another step for the fire department is to tear down Mayfield Fire Station 1. The city council approved a resolution to solicit bids for the job. Mayfield Fire Chief Jeremy Creason said more projects are in the pipeline for his department.
"We're still working on a potential temporary fire station on the north side of town," Creason told the city council. "We are working on roof repairs at station 3, that's another project that we're utilizing Codell Construction with, between our insurance claim and some potential mitigation money through FEMA."
For those who live in Mayfield, City Attorney Bo Neely said you can expect to see more building demolitions from now through the end of the month as those bids go out.
