Even with Mayor William “Bill” Kelley absent, the regularly scheduled city council meeting for Middlesboro was held on Tuesday with all other council members present. Council member Blake Bowling took the reins of the meeting.

Since the mayor was not in attendance, Bowling asked for someone on the council to table the items pertaining to the mayor’s proposed budget until they could properly review the it. It was also recommended to table approval of the mayor’s budget message and an ordinance adopting the annual budget.

The council unanimously agreed to table budget talks for a special-called meeting in the future with the mayor present.

The meeting then went on to committee reports, where community development was discussed.

There had been numerous complaints from people about the closed Gulf gas station on Cumberland Avenue being left in undesirable condition. Codes Enforcement informed the committee that there was a fine levied, so the closed Gulf location will be cleaned up.

Suboxone clinics were also a topic for discussion during the meeting.

Councilman Bo Green was given an ordinance by officials in Pikeville that highlighted their ordinance laws and how suboxone clinics operate with their city. Bowling stated that the ordinance is “very clear and precise” and something the council is going to look into for their development of ordinances and regulations when it comes to suboxone clinics.

“It’s something we need to look into for the future to make sure we’re regulating where those businesses can open in our community. That’s something we’d like to get to the community attorney to get that drafted into our format and get that up to a vote pretty soon,” said Bowling.