A drop in the usage of free visibility flags and lights among mobility scooter and power wheelchair users has city officials frustrated.

The city had provided the safety aids at no charge to residents who travel the streets in their mobility aids.

Council member Richard Blackburn crafted between 18 and 20 visibility flags and mounts, and Council member Jim Joiner and Joiner Hardware employees distributed and installed the kits.

The Caldwell-Lyon Baptist Association and private citizens donated funds, tools and insight to the project, and the initial response from the mobility-impaired was excellent, council members said.

That was in May. Now, four months later, the number of residents still using the safety kits is between slim and none, council members said.

“I haven’t even seen two,” said Council member Carroll Boyd Tuesday.

“Somebody is going to get either hurt or killed if we don’t do something.”

The council first approached the issue in the autumn of 2007, when members reported calls from residents concerned about scooter and wheelchairs riding on the streets at night, with poor visibility to oncoming vehicles.

“It’s their safety. We are worried about it down here,” said Boyd. “I don’t want to see anybody get hurt, but I’m telling you, it’s going to happen.”

City officials provided the safety equipment as an alternative to legislation regulating the operation of power wheelchairs and mobility scooters on city roadways.

On Tuesday, the council resumed their debate over whether an ordinance was necessary.

City Clerk Julie Key said the issue should be addressed on a broader level and encouraged citizens to contact state legislators about the issue.

The council did not take action on the issue Tuesday but planned to continue the discussion at their next meeting, set for 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15.

The council invited residents who use power wheelchairs or mobility aids to attend and offer their own ideas.

In other business:

• Joiner reported that the city-county airport now had in place a 12,000-gallon fuel tank with credit card access to allow refueling with no attendant present.

The system, a concrete pad and electrical wiring carried a total cost of $164,000 and was largely funded through a Federal Aviation Administration grant.

The project was completed last month, Joiner said.

• Bids from contractors interested in building four new homes involved in the scattered site housing rehabilitation program will be opened Wednesday, said Mayor Gale Cherry.

The city received a million-dollar grant to fund the reconstruction or renovation of between 10 and 12 homes.

The work will be let in groups of four homes.

• The council is investigating options for replacing the flags mounted periodically on utility poles in the city.

“Half the flags are in very poor condition,” said Council member Joe Storms.

• The council approved executive orders appointing Heidi Boyd to the Princeton Recreational Tourist and Convention Commission and reappointing Ellen Franklin to the Princeton Electric Plant Board.

Boyd’s term will expire on Nov. 3, 2010. Franklin’s term will expire on Sept. 1, 2012.