PINEVILLE — The Pineville City Council hired a Main Street Manager at their regular monthly meeting Monday night to help attract businesses into the area and spruce up the downtown area. After going into executive session to discuss personnel, Councilwoman Diana Anderson made a motion to hire Joanna Foley to fill the position. All votes approved the decision except Councilman David Gambrell, who voted “no.”

Middlesboro hired their own Main Street manager earlier this year. Main Street programs often help to revitalize the economies, appearance, and downtown business-to-business relations of small cities and towns. According to the Kentucky Heritage Council website, the program often focuses on four areas of revitalization: design, organization, promotion and economic restructuring.

The Council heard from a Kentucky League of Cities (KLC) Insurance Marketing agent regarding the city’s current coverage. Marty Nemes advised Mayor Sherwin Rader and the Council of a new program KLC now has in place to help in emergency recoveries. Nemes invited the Council to tour the facility in Lexington whenever they got the opportunity.

Rader and City Clerk/Treasurer Ina Robbins gave the Council an update on the city swimming pool. Robbins said that because of new federal regulations, new drain covers must be installed. She said that Pioneer Technology came on Tuesday to start cleaning up the pool, install the covers, and get it ready for inspection. Cody Miller will manage the pool and several applications for life guards have been received, according to Robbins.

The following decisions were made by the Council at their regular monthly meeting:

• Appointment of John Combs to the Pineville Utilities Commission.

• Acceptance of a $1000 grant for the Pineville City Police Dept. as part of the Click It or Ticket Campaign.

All members were present except Robert Valentine Jr.

Stephen Woodward is a staff writer for the Middlesboro Daily News. He may be contacted at swoodward@middlesborodailynews.com.