City Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Ashland Board of City Commission, if you will stand, we'll ask Commissioner Goud to do our invocation. Mr. Worth, would you lead us in our pledge?

Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for our city and your blessing that you extend to us every day. We ask and invite your Holy Spirit into our chambers today to preside over our meeting. Be with this Board of Mayor and Commissioners as we conduct city business today in the best interest of our citizens. Today we are thankful for our guests from Ashland Middle School, and today we honor and recognize the accomplishments of the academic team. Be with our city manager, our staff and employees, and those in attendance today. We pray always, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Let us stand and salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for

Thank you, Commissioner Goode and Mr. Wirtz. We appreciate that. Motion to receive and file the agenda presented.

So moved. Second.

Discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? We'll entertain a motion to receive and file the amendments. That's going to be for the regular meeting on May the 14th. Second. Any additions, corrections? All in favor say aye. Aye.

Aye.

All opposed? All right. We'll run into our hearings and reports. With Commissioner Sagut, we'll start with you this time.

I just want to welcome everybody today. We have a full agenda, so I'll just be brief. I'm very proud of our Ashland Middle School kids and their accomplishments, and I'm glad they're here today. And, of course, there's always a big turnout for any time there's a promotion within the fire department. I'm thankful for our fire department. And we've got First Friday coming up. And that's all I have, Mayor.

All right.

Mr. Martin.

Welcome. We're glad to have you. It's always good to see promotions. Good to see you.

Good.

Commissioner Reimer. Welcome to everybody. I'm excited for Mr. Daniel to get promoted today. But I prepared a little statement. Like many residents, our Board of Commissioners recently learned about the proposed data center in East Park through a social media post. East Park is about 10 miles outside of the city limits, and I understand the concern that's being raised because my phone is rung off the hook. I'm sure the other commissioners has as well. The City of Asheville, we've taken a step to place a moratorium on data center development with inside of our city limits. We've adopted so for our planning department to have time to review the potential impacts and zoning implications. This moratorium was also put in place to give staff time to research potential effects the center could have or a center could have on our community. I encourage citizens to verify information from credible, reliable sources and not to rely on information that you find on social media because not all the time you find the correct information on social media. Also, we have a plan a Public Planning Commission meeting that will be held on July 21st here in the commission chambers at two o'clock. The discussion of that will be data centers. So I encourage everyone to attend and be a part of the conversation with any questions that you or your family or friends may have. So that's all I have today.

Thanks.

Commissioner Renfro.

I just want to say welcome everybody. Look forward to see the painting. It's always a great day when that happens. And appreciate y'all being here.

All right, just a couple of announcements. This coming Saturday at 1030 at the Veterans Cemetery, we're having a gold star memorial ceremony there. I would like to invite everyone there. They'll be reading some names of the loved ones that gave all for our freedom. That'll be 1030 this Saturday. Highlands Museum is having a new Smithsonian traveling exhibit come in. It's going to start on the 30th and go through July 5th about some of our Native Americans. The Bluegrass Wind Ensemble, it's a group of retired and current band directors that get together and do a great show. They're going to do one at the Paramount, a patriotic show this year for America's 250. And it's a free concert So all you have to do is show up. That'll be on the 30th at the Paramount. And then first Friday we have coming up. It's going to be on the 5th. Going to be a fantastic car show involved with that. And we are excited to be able to support that. I do have a couple of questions. Proclamations that I would like to read, but a few of the commissioners have already mentioned, are Ashland Middle School academic team. They really had remarkable success this year, by winning three straight Governor's Cup regional championships. And that's taking 2,026 state championship and a quick recall. and finishing third overall in the state for middle school school academic teams. The team often practices five days a week for two hours a day, balance athletics, and add late evening online practice to prepare. That's a lot of work, guys. Standout results include Adrienne Mattingly, she was third in the State Math, ninth in Science. Tristan Barrett, tenth in Math, eighth in Language Arts. Landon Syrett, I guess, was first in Art and Humanities. And Kendryn Palmer was seventh in Social Studies, along with many other of the hardworking students who help lead quick recall to stake success. When you talk about our educational system in Ashland, it's top notch, and this is to prove that. And I do have a proclamation that I would like to lead. If we could have the students and Ms. Chapman come up front here. Great job. I'd like to read this proclamation. Whereas Tina Chapman has dedicated nearly 20 years to academic coaching excellence, including the past 10 years serving the students of Ashland Independent School District with passion, leadership, and commitment. And whereas after retiring as a teacher and coach from Hogue Elementary School three years ago, Mrs. Chapman continued her service to educate and by building the Ashland Middle School academic team into one of the premier academic programs in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. And whereas under her leadership, the Ashland Middle School academic team has achieved extraordinary success, including winning the regional championship three consecutive years and capturing the 2026 Kentucky Recall State Championship. a historic first for any excellent school. And whereas Tina Chapman's dedication to academic excellence, mentorship, teamwork, and student achievement has positively impacted countless young people and brought great pride and recognition to the Ashland community. And whereas her influence extends far beyond competition, and she is admired and respected by students, families, colleagues, and the community members alike for her unwavering encouragement, integrity, and commitment to helping students reach their fullest potential. Now, therefore, I, Chuck E. Charles, Mayor of the City of Ashland, Kentucky, do recognize and honor Tina Chapman and the Ashland Middle School academic team for their historic accomplishments, outstanding progress. representation of the Ashland Independent School District and continued pursuit of excellence in academics and leadership. Be it furthermore proclaimed that the citizens of Ashland extend their gratitude and congratulations to Tina Chapman for her years of dedicated service and for the inspired generations of students to achieve greatness through both inside and outside the classroom. Ladies and gentlemen, the champion.

Excellent job.

I do have one other proclamation that I'll read from up here. And this is a proclamation for our building safety month. Whereas the city of Ashland is committed to recognizing that our growth and our strength depend on the safety and essential role of our homes, buildings, and infrastructure play, both in everyday life and within the disaster strikes, and whereas our confidence in the resilience of these buildings and the makeup of community is achieved through the devotion of diligent guardians, building safety and fire prevention officials, architects, engineers, builders, tradespeople, design professionals, laborers, plumbers, and others in the construction industry who work hard every year to ensure that the safe construction of buildings. And whereas these guardians are dedicated members of the International Code Council, the ICC, a nonprofit that brings together local, state, territorial, tribal and federal officials who are experts in the full built environment to create and implement the highest safety codes and standards to protect the buildings where we live, learn, work, and play. Whereas each year in observance of the Building Safety Month, people all over the world are asked to consider the commitment to improve building safety, resilience, and economic investment at home and in the community, and to acknowledge the essential services provided to all of us through our local, state, and tribal, territorial, and federal building safety and prevention departments in protection of lives and property. Now, therefore, I chuck to you, Charles, Mayor of the Ashland of Kentucky, to hereupon proclaim the month of May 20, 2026 as Building Safety Month. Accordingly, I encourage our citizens to join us as we participate in Building Safety Month activities. But congratulations to all our building inspectors in different departments that really help protect for what we do and play in our community. With that, I'll move to our city manager's report.

I actually have no report at this meeting, sir.

Okay. All right, then we'll move into our public participation section. This allows individuals to address the commission on things that are not on the agenda. You're allowed five minutes and which would be indicated by the green light, you're good to go. And the yellow light, it'll let you know that you got 30 seconds and red light that you're out your five minutes. I'd like to address the commensurate. Okay.

hearing none um we'll move into old business mr wheeler item a second reading and final adoption of an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the city of ashland kentucky authorizing directing the mayor to to submit the program year 2026 annual action plan for a community development block grant to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and upon acceptance of said application from HUD to execute on behalf of the City of Ashland an agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to enable the City to undertake these activities and or any and all documents associated with the grant submittal.

Second. Discussion?

the preparation of a preliminary and final official statement in respect thereof, providing for the sale of such bonds to the lowest and best bidder, and authorizing the mayor and the city clerk to execute documents on behalf of the city.

Move the table to the next meeting.

I'll second that.

And we have a motion to table item D. We have a first and a second. Discussion?

I think the idea of the table is to give staff time to determine what lines exactly need to be replaced.

We had the break at the water intake line. Several of them. Mr. Hall was going to try to evaluate what was going to be involved in that cost as opposed to the entire amount being used for replacement lines.

That probably should give you enough time, right, Mr. Hall?

If it doesn't, we don't table it again. Yeah, we'll table it again. That's true.

Mayor, commissioners, I do have a rough estimate on cost just from one consulting engineer, and I would prefer to have more information and more data before I get that to you. We'll do that. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you.

Okay, a first and a second. So all in favor say aye. All opposed.

Item E. Second reading and final adoption of an ordinance entitled an ordinance to the city of Ashland, Kentucky authorizing and approving change order number one between the city of Ashland, Kentucky and Tri State Construction and Enterprise LLC increasing the contract amount by $1,386 for the Ashland Fire Department shower installation project.

I'll move.

Second. Discussion?

All in favor?

All right, item F. Second reading and final adoption of an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the City of Ashland, Kentucky approving and adopting the 2026-2027 budget and appropriating revenues on hand and to be received during the year 2026-2027 for the payment of expenses of the City of Ashland for the 12-month period beginning July 1, 2026 and ending June 30, 2027 and repealing all ordinances and parts of ordinances in conflict herewith.

So moved.

Second.

Discussion? Yeah, so with the next page you look into, or actually the third page, you look at the Paramount Arts Center Fund.

I'm very interested in our financial investment on that. And I would really request if our finance department could, or maybe to look at potentially auditing those funds and see how those are spent, if that's something that we can do.

Corporation Council has asked for a detailed GL from VenuWorks in AP3 so we can see what the money's spent on. And we do want to request to AP3 that our independent auditor will also audit those funds because they're city funds.

They're actually supposed to be providing us a monthly financial statement, is that right?

They gave us a financial statement, but it just says supplies 10,000.

Does it show the breakdown?

We don't know. We have no idea what they bought.

So we've asked for more detailed information.

We've asked for detailed GL, which will show what exactly they spent our money on.

I think it's very important for us, you know, spending taxpayer dollars.

Well, while you're up there, I on the opioid settlement fund, we've got 280. Here, um, is that correct? And there was 401,000 the previous year, has that 401,000 been allocated?

It has not been allocated.

So there's a total of $680,000 to be allocated?

Yeah, I've met with the city manager and the corporation council yesterday. We have a draft that Susan provided us to send out for proposals to organizations to make to the city so we can decide if we want to allocate the money.

When will those be going out?

I hope early next week. Good deal.

Our departments need any staff. Are we understaffed in any of our departments?

I believe my stance would be no.

Michelle, I would like to ask one thing real quick. I notice here on the bus system fund, I was approached by a member of the community in Catholicsburg. I can't remember if I conveyed that to you or not. At the bottom of 12th Street and 23, We have a, I think it's a pump station right there on the corner. That's at the bottom of a housing complex on, I think it's Pine Street, it's on top of the hill. And there's a lot of kids, obviously not now because the school's out, but when school's in, they're down there with no cover on the corner of the road. Is there any way we can put a bus stop there?

Yes, actually, we have a couple requests for bus stops, and yesterday I had a bus system employee call the company where we get the bus stops, and they're providing a current quote, and we'll be sending a bid packet out soon.

Okay, good deal. Hang on. I'm sorry, I've got one other question. On the ARPA fund, have we taken title to the property on 16th and Carter?

We've not yet. You all obviously have approved the contract. I'm not sure that it's been signed by the seller yet. Mr. Pullman says it's not yet been. We've also property and are doing the, you know, so that's what we're going to see during the contract as well.

And we started plans on the renovation of the of the property or where are we there?

We're going to put together Like a committee to look at it with the cleaning.

One nice thing would be to initially just clean it up. Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

That's going to be our first step. And, yes, we are going to have a small team that will be assembled to guide that.

And one of the gentlemen leading it, Mr. Corbett, has actually visited seven farmers markets for ideas and showed Tony another drawing or some ideas yesterday.

We might need to do temporary things for this season to allow it to be used. Yeah. rather than the long term plan which I'm sure will involve a lot more work.

Cleaning it up will make a huge difference.

Can we go back to the issue of staffing and I don't want to put people on the spot I don't like to do that but in risk in doing so Mr. Pullum are you completely satisfied with your staffing? Because here's the reason I ask it. I've got phone calls begging me to get you some people. And they weren't from you.

We are down one property maintenance inspector and one housing specialist. We were holding on a housing specialist to see what our federal funding would come back at this year. There were some questions as to what level our program would be funded. We found out last week it's funded at 99.6% of last year. We were afraid it was going to be down in the mid to low 80s. So we're working up those numbers and we think we can support the additional housing specialist funding. At this point, we still need to put that research out to city manager. OK.

Thanks. We have notices out to fill those jobs?

I think we have temporary workers working in that job now.

We have a seasonal working as an administrative assistant in housing. Thanks.

Any other questions? We have first and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Our consent agenda.

A resolution of the City of Ashland, Kentucky adopting, authorizing, and approving the course of action presented by the City Manager on the items appearing on the consent agenda for the regular meeting of the Board of City Commissioners of May 28, 2026.

So moved. Second.

I have a first and a second. Discussion?

Hold on just a second.

Looking to see what my notes do.

Street paving item C says the balance of contract remaining after the current payment. Does that mean that we've we've finished all the paving except for that? And when would that be done?

We $135,000, but yes, that does include the payment that's on today's agenda.

It includes the payments on today?

Yes, yes. So payment today, $135,000 will be left after the payment made today.

When would you expect to finish the payment?

Probably, I'd like to say here within the next month, pending weather. I know the rain has really kicked back a lot.

Any problem on availability of the asphalt?

No, not so far, not this year.

Barry, how can folks, if they have a concern about their street, it may need paved or repaired, how can they reach out to your department to give you that information?

Yeah, absolutely. So on the city's website under engineering, there's a section for paving and for sidewalks, and there's my contact information and I believe even a form that can be filled out to request for a certain section of sidewalk or pavement to be added to a future paving list. Okay, thank you. Thank you.

On the water tanks that we're redoing almost, the log town and all that, they're almost done. I know they were doing a lot of welding inside and out.

Yes, sir. Yes, log town is log town is probably 90% complete. We have a valve that needs to be installed and then a inlet drain. But aside for that, it's pretty much knocked out.

They've done the blasting and the coding and they will go almost immediately online or it has to be tested.

I think it's already back online. Oh, yeah, I think they disinfected it and pulled their samples and it's back online.

Very good. Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay, all in favor, say aye. All opposed. All right. Since we have done our duty there, let's do our badge presentation and our pinning ceremony. And I think we're ready for that. Firefighter Crump and his family and Chief. Firefighter Daniel Crump began his employment with the City of Ashland on January 2, 2018. Prior to joining the Ashland Fire Department, he served 10 years with the Keplersburg Fire Department. He has obtained certifications as an IFSAC Aerial Driver, Operator, and Fire Instructor I. Daniel and his family reside in Ashland. He will be promoted to engineer effective May 31, 2026. His assignment will be the 2nd Platoon, Engine 1. And let's do our oath. If you will raise your right hand. The youth firefighter Daniel Crump. I solemnly swear to continue to serve the citizens of the City of Ashland in your new capacity in a compassionate manner with courage and integrity to put others before you and to accept the sacrifices needed to serve our community. And do you swear to uphold the laws and the Constitution of the United States, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and the City of Asheville? So help you God. If you answer, I will. I will. Congratulations. Congratulations, engineering engineer Crump.

All right, let's move our new business.

Item A. First reading and approval of an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the city of Ashland, Kentucky adopting and enacting supplement 2026 S1 to the code of ordinances of the city of Ashland.

So moved.

Give him a chance.

I was going to suggest a recess, but they decided they didn't need one.

Thank you all.

Thank you. Congratulations.

All right. So for item A, we have a first and a second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed?

Item B. First reading and approval of an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the city of Ashland, Kentucky authorizing and directing the mayor to execute an agreement between the city of Ashland, Kentucky and S4 Water Sales and Service LLC for annual servicing of the total organic carbon TOC analyzer in the amount of $6,275 for the Department of Utilities Division of Water Treatment Plant for a period of one year. So moved. Second. Discussion?

All in favor say aye.

Aye. All opposed? Item C. First reading and approval of an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the City of Ashland, Kentucky amending ordinance number 101 series of 1986 as previously amended by amending article 2 supplementary district regulations. Article 14 district regulations and article 15 definitions to incorporate definitions and land use regulations related to qualifying

So moved. Second. Discussion? Is this related to House Bill 160?

Yes.

They're directly into it.

Yes, it is.

Yes, it is. Yeah, directly related to it.

Okay. And there's a lot of, as you can read on in the summary, it's not necessarily a summary, it's the whole thing, just about. All right, any other discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye.

All opposed? I'm D first reading and approval of an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the city of Ashland Kentucky amending orders number 101 series of 1986 as previously amended by amending article 13 conditional uses article 14 district regulations and article 15 definitions to incorporate definitions and land use regulations related to recreational vehicles and amending the table of permitted and conditional uses.

So move.

Second.

Discussion.

Is this in regard to people living in recreational vehicles? Campers and such. Lots.

This is Robert's drive. Exactly. This was previously a manufactured home park and established. in recreational vehicles. In reviewing our zoning ordinance, we found that it was really silent on recreational vehicles. We did not have any regulations that said where they could be or if they could be in manufacturing.

We've had a lot of complaints about this.

We have had some, yes.

I say a lot. We've had a number.

Right. But so this will allow recreational vehicles to be placed in existing mobile home parks, but for temporary dwellings. Still, recreational vehicles cannot be used for a permanent dwelling.

Six months, right?

extension correct like that correct type of enforcement taste do we have to enforce this code enforcement is really our only thing so much like any other issue with code enforcement um you know the any violation would be placed on the property owner and all we could really do is is establish liens on the property i mean we wouldn't be able to go in and tow an rv out of the park but this is at least a step to get some regulations on the books okay

They are renting those spots out there, right?

Correct. I think it looks a lot better than the previous mobile home park. I mean, it was pretty dilapidated. Let me ask you hypothetically. Say somebody parked one in there and paid their rent, and then went out of town on a construction job, and they left it there for months, and then they came back. I mean, we wouldn't find them in violation for that, would we?

I mean, technically, we probably would. If the RV remains there longer than the time period that we've set for an occupancy permit, we would cite them.

It's parked there. It wouldn't matter to me if somebody was living in it or not. Right.

And I don't know that we would really have any way to confirm whether or not they're actually living in it. We're not going to knock on the door every day and see if somebody comes in the door.

Thank you, Catherine.

You're welcome. Any other questions?

Thank you.

Thank you. Any other questions?

Item E, reading and adoption of a resolution entitled The Resolution of the City of Ashland, Kentucky, Adopting the City of Ashland Safe Streets and Roads for All Safety Action Plan.

So moved.

Second.

We might ask Barry to give us a brief review of that.

Public safety as well, police and fire.

Yes, Commissioner, yes. Chief Todd Kelly and I have been working back and forth with this project. Just to give some background on what the safety action plan is, so a couple years back the city entered into an agreement with LJB as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law, and there was federal funding for a planning document to be created for cities. And the goal of the planning document was to take your crash data, take your police data, and identify high – crash areas and segments and pedestrian crossings within city limits. So the overall goal of this planning study was to create an action plan. And basically the action plan takes all the collected data and the engineering firm listed priority rankings of different streets, different segments, different crosswalks, and then some potential proposed improvements. And some improvements are large scale, such as completely changing, you know, a particular curve. And some of them are small, like installing guardrails, different types of signage or lighting infrastructure. So the adoption is actually part of the grant requirements and as part of requirement number one from the grant application, we have to have a goal statement for the city. For the city would basically be to reduce. high risk crashes by 50% by 2040. That's the goal. It's just kind of like a, you know, something out there that you'd like to be able to reach. But like I said, that's just part of the grant requirements that we have to pass a resolution for that. Okay. Thank you for that, Barry. Thank you. Thank you.

Any questions on it? Any other questions? Okay. All right. We have a first and a second. So all in favor say aye. Aye.

All opposed? Item F. Reading an adoption of a municipal order entitled a municipal order of the city of Ashland, Kentucky, designating Howard Harrison as a city representative regarding the city of Ashland, Kentucky, conference.

Second. Did I hear? Did we have a second?

Pardon me, I don't know. Second.

Oh, okay. I'm sorry. All right, I did let you all there's two letters that I Wanted you all to to see and there's no objection for me to send me and one was a letter of support for the Ohio River Ways, they're applying for a grant. We've supported them where we're now part of the National Trail and there's also another letter to Governor Beshear and encouraging him to continue his reduced gas tax. The the order that he did was ending June the 10th and we want to encourage him to continue to do that just to help our citizens at the pump. If no objections all.

I have no Jepson to just that's Michelle If you, at this point, have any idea of the impact that lowering the gas tax by 10 cents a gallon is going to have on our paving, if it does at all? Obviously, we're going to get less money, I would think.

I don't know how many people are going to fuel off their car, too. I'd have to know how many people are going to fuel off their car.

It would be and 10% of our money would probably be $35,000. So if it was so we have 1.4 million that's actually budgeted next fiscal year. All right.

Thank you.

Okay. Do we need to go into an executive session? Okay. Hearing none, then I guess we will going to recess for our tour, I guess, of the wastewater treatment plant. Mr. Hall, are we ready to do that?

The bus should be in route, should be here any minute, so they'll be picking us up near the parking lot.

Over here at its side? Yeah. Okay. And then we'll come back and adjourn this or recess the meeting. All right.