Members of a new Code Enforcement Board have been appointed and approved by the Middlesboro City Council.

During its monthly meeting, the council unanimously approved a motion that Kevin Bisceglia, Scott Branscome, Jack Lewis, Patricia Stanley, Ben Hoe, Sally Smith and Teresa Williams be appointed to the board. The board was created in order to give it the “authority to issue remedial orders and impose fines in order to provide an equitable, expeditious, effective and inexpensive method of ensuring compliance with the ordinances in force within the city,” according to the ordinance, which was approved on two readings.

According to Mayor Bill Kelley during a previous meeting, most cities in Kentucky have had trouble enforcing codes because they have gone through the court system first with a lot of other charges.

Kelley, who sits on the executive board of the Kentucky League of Cities (KLC), said that organization worked to put together an ordinance that will create a local appeals board. The KLC ordinance is modified to each individual city’s needs.

Middlesboro has never had a board that landowners can appeal to, he added.

“We will have our own appeals process,” Kelley said during a previous meeting.

Regular meetings of the new board will be held on the first Tuesday of every month at 2 p.m. All meetings will be public.

Councilman Lucas Carter announced that Halloween hours within the city will be 5:30-7:30 p.m. Oct. 31. Also, Nightmare on 20th Street will take place on Oct. 28. In addition, he thanked city workers for their efforts during the recent fall festival, calling it “one of the best we’ve ever had.”

The different committees for the city — Community Development, Finance and Personnel — will meet Nov. 14 at 6 p.m. in City Hall. Councilman Philip Ball encouraged everyone to attend those meetings, as they are also open to the public.

During the public portion of the meeting, Brian O’Brien of The Big One WRIL addressed the council and audience. He is helping to spearhead an effort to evaluate the local cable company and “hold them accountable.”

O’Brien said that a public performance evaluation of Spectrum is “allowable under the franchise contract,” and that there is a certain expectation of service.

He wants to hold a central meeting, asking for public input, because of what he says are frequent outages.

After receiving positive feedback about a meeting from the council, O’Brien said he would continue his efforts.

The next meeting of the Middlesboro City Council will be Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. in City Hall. The meetings are open to the public.