Tag Archive for: #saracoffey

The Local Skinny! Purple Heart Flag To Now Honor Former Council Member Sara Coffey

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The Henderson City Council on Monday approved a motion that the flagpole which flies the Purple Heart flag at the entrance to the Henderson Police Department be dedicated in honor of former Council member Sara Coffey.

It was a unanimous 7-0 vote, accompanied by a standing ovation by Mayor Melissa Elliott, Council members and city staff at the Council’s regular monthly meeting. Council member Lamont Noel was not present.

Coffey, who stepped down in December after serving 17 years as a Council member, was in the audience. Following a presentation by Henderson Police Chief Marcus Barrow, she shared a few words with her former colleagues.

“I’d like to thank everybody for doing this,” Coffey said. “It means a lot to me. It meant a lot to get our flagpole up there… (and) meant a lot to me to serve our country in the military.”

Barrow said Coffey was instrumental in having the city get its Purple Heart City designation back in 2012. He said she used her own funds to erect a flagpole at the former municipal building on Young Street.

The current flagpole has been in place for a couple of years now; the Council’s action on Monday formally recognizes the dedication in honor of Coffey.

“It’s in honor and recognition for everything that she’s done and all the heart…that she’s put into the military veterans of the city,” Barrow said. “She’s dedicated a lot of time to us.”

In her remarks, Coffey focused on honoring veterans. “I’m really glad that we got our Purple Heart initiative taken care of,” Coffey continued. “It’s been needed for a long time. We have a lot of good people here in Henderson that served in the military.”

The entrance to the police department where the flagpole is located also will be the spot where a veteran’s memorial will be installed, hopefully in July.

Coffey said she is proud to have played a role in having that monument become a reality.

She also said she was proud to have been a member of the City Council, something she said she could not have imagined when she moved to the area 28 years ago.

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Coffey Discusses Kerr Lake Regional Water Meeting, Possible Rate Changes

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Sara Coffey, member of the Henderson City Council, was on Wednesday’s edition of WIZS’ Town Talk program to discuss the City’s recent meeting with the Kerr Lake Regional Water Partners.

Attendees of the November 27 meeting held at City Hall included representatives from the City of Henderson, the City of Oxford and Warren County.

The KLRW Advisory Board reviewed the system upgrade project, discussed a possible revision of the partners’ rate structure and reviewed results from a recent study projecting water usage over the next 10 years.

According to Coffey, the meeting focused mainly on a potential new rate structure and the partners’ capacity needs.

“No decisions were made at this meeting, other than to move forward with the rate structure discussion,” said Coffey. “We will meet again in December to decide how to proceed.”

Several factors necessitate a rate structure change, Coffey said, including the increase in cost to operate the water plant, the cost of new equipment and the increase in costs of water and water treatment measures.

“We [Henderson] are 60 percent partners, so 60 percent of the debt is on the City of Henderson,” said Coffey. “We need a different rate structure; ours has been the same for a good, long time now.”

Additional discussions focused on the capacity needs of each partner, a task that, according to Coffey, is hard to determine exactly. To help with this process, a study was conducted to project water usage for the next 10 years according to a variety of scenarios.

Plans to change the rate structure are still in the infancy stage, but, according to Coffey, the project will move forward.

“All we came away with yesterday was to know the project wasn’t going to be scrapped. Warren County has $3 million and we [Henderson] have $3 million to use. It does not need to be sent back. It needs to go into the water and water plant.”

To hear the interview in its entirety, including discussion on current and upcoming events in and around Henderson, please click here.