The city of Adairville will soon have to make some decisions concerning the old Auburn Hosiery Mill building.

When the company packed up and left town in the past year, it gave the building to the city.

When Adairville took over as the owners, the city leaders were aware that the old part of the building had leaks in the roof.

Now, those leaks are causing mold to grow in that portion of the structure, mayor Jim Wilkerson reported at last week’s city council meeting.

“I want to make sure you’re aware of it,” Wilkerson said. “Anytime you have heat and moisture in a building like that, you’re going to have mold – and that is what the leaks are causing.”

Wilkerson said there were basically three options available to the city. Since that portion of the complex can be separated from the other areas, it could be torn down and the raw materials sold for scrap. The city could also go inside and clean the mold from the walls with a bleach mixture – but that would be a temporary fix. Or the city could fix the leaky roof, but that would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Wilkerson said that the best option may be to just tear down the problematic portion of the complex and keep the rest of the building intact.

Council member Tony Nichols had another idea, though.

“I think we should auction the whole thing off and then the city can take the profit and do whatever we want with it,” Nichols said. “It was a gift and we should not worry about it. All it is right now is a burden to us.”

Wilkerson said that was what happened to the old Odom’s sausage plant, which has been vacant since the mid-1990s.

“The ideal situation would be to give it to a manufacturer who is going to bring jobs in here and then we will be collecting taxes from the payroll and taxes from the property,” Wilkerson said.

Council member Tracy Gunderson said he thought selling the whole building wouldn’t be beneficial because it would not bring much money at an auction.

“You would hurt yourself more than you can help yourself,” Gunderson said.

No action was taken on the issue.

There was a vote on the new animal control ordinance that council member Marla Sircy has been working on for over two years.

The ordinance had a first reading in March, but has been tabled ever since.

Sircy brought up the ordinance toward the end of last week’s meeting.

“I’ve been working on this a long time and I want to put it to rest,” Sircy said.

The new ordinance would have replaced an already existing law on the books.

“We’ve got all we can enforce with our current one,” Wilkerson said.

Nichols said he was against the ordinance because city attorney James Milam advised that it wasn’t needed in a town the size of Adairville.

“We pay him for his legal advise and if he thinks the one we have now is adequate, then I think we should stick with that,” Nichols said. “Marla did one whale of a job in writing this new one, but I’m for keeping with our old one.”

Gunderson liked the new ordinance, saying that it did a good job of addressing pit bulls. The new ordinance would have banned the controversial breed from Adairville.

Gunderson made a motion to accept the ordinance and Sircy seconded it, but it failed by a 4-2 vote with Nichols, Danny Finch, Judy Tanner and Patty Costello voting no.

Also at last Monday’s meeting:

• Mayor Wilkerson reported that reflective tape had been added to the city-purchased bicycle rack in front of the Hideaway on the town square.

• Clerk Sharon Head reported that several insurance companies have expressed interest in giving the city bids for its employee’s health insurance plans. At last month’s meeting, the city voted to keep paying the current plans, which are available through the Kentucky League of Cities, despite substantial increases to the premiums. The council wanted to begin looking at other alternative plans, however, and this is the first step in that process.

• Wilkerson said the city will be saving approximately $3,600 in insurance fees for fixed assets by taking less coverage for the town’s defunct water plant. All the city’s water now comes from the Logan-Todd Regional Water Commission.