City Commissioners - Regular Meeting

We come this day acknowledging you and thanking you for your direction as we come today to make decisions for our city and in the best interest of our citizens. We ask for your continued blessing and favor over our city, our staff, and our employees. Bless those that attend us today.

Let it stand and salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, Commissioner Gurley.

All right, motion to receive and file the agenda as presented. So moved and seconded. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? All right, we've got three minutes to approve the regular meeting for June the 11th. Motion to approve? So moved. Second. Any corrections, additions? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? And the regular meeting for June 25th. Motion? So moved. Second. Any corrections, additions? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? And then the recess meeting held on June the 26th. So moved. Second. Discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? All right. We'll move to our mayor and commissioner's comments. Mr. Renfrow, we'll start with you. Thank you.

When I worked for them, I've been in DC six or eight years with the school patrol, and we visited all the memorials. I was touched when I'd see veterans going to their respective memorials and how a lot of them overcame with emotion. So when I heard that former Commissioner Spriggs and others were going to build something here in town, I was overjoyed. And it came to fruition, and we all got to go over and see it. It looks fantastic. It's been brought to my attention that some people are allowing their dogs to use that well-manicured grass as a dumping area, and that doesn't sit well with me at all. The people that are on those walls over there, some of them are relatives of ours, friends of ours. Some of them died for us. The others put their life on the line for us.

What if we posted a no dog?

Well, Sonny, you know, I thought about that. Why in the hell would we have to do something like that? That's sacred ground. Why in the world would anybody let their dog do that? Yeah, well, hopefully this will get out and maybe they'll stop. It's not only unacceptable, it's disrespectful. And so I just hope it comes to an end.

Amen. Yeah, I just want to welcome everybody here to this new meeting today. We have a full house and we have a packed agenda, so I don't have any other comments.

Commissioner Martin? I just want to mention one thing. There's been a lot of public discussion about the flock cameras that are the current topic of debate, largely as a result of the Huntington event where they've instituted quite a wide range of use of the cameras. In Ashland, they began to be used in 2023, two years before this commission took office. And I think that the public rightfully is concerned about their use and we've asked the chief and Major Conley to put together a presentation for our next meeting on where these cameras are located and the specific use that's being made of the cameras. They've been a very beneficial tool in making arrests on outstanding warrants. They're not being used for traffic violations. They're not being used in any way invasive of privacy. We have nine cameras located throughout the city. And I think our public needs to be brought up to date about where they are and how they're being used. And I think the commission agrees with that. And the guidelines. And the guidelines for their use. There's a statute that went into effect on July 15, state statute, that prohibits their use for traffic violations. And as I understand it from talking to the chief, our policy is a lot more strict than the state statute. So I would ask and the commission would ask that Major Connolly make a presentation to us in our next meeting. Thank you, Commissioner.

Commissioner Goode. I just want to welcome everybody to this meeting and just want to make a mention that we have Winchester Knights coming up this Friday. And thankful for the Paramount and starting this. And from 6 to 9, it's the first of its kind. Hopefully we can continue this activity on Winchester. Also, Maker's Market this Saturday from 9 to 1. And that's all I have, Mayor. And last Friday on the 31st. Oh, last Friday on the 31st. Sorry about that.

And the only thing I'll add to it is our Stars and Stripes game. Everybody's got to come down to the park and see that August the 2nd. What is that, Mayor? It's the August the 2nd. August the 2nd. Sunday afternoon, 3 p.m. And it'll be some great family entertainment. Trust me. All right. We have to make sure Chuck's not cheating because I heard he's going to be a coach of the team. My wife is the other coach, and I'll tell you that.

We'll see. All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Our department head of report for this meeting is City Engineer Barry Adkins.

Mayor and commissioners and city manager, thank you for the opportunity to provide a brief update on a few infrastructure projects that have recently been completed within the city. So the first project I'd like to highlight is our fiscal year 2026 street paving program. So this annual program focuses on resurfacing streets throughout the city of Asheville.

So for fiscal year 2026, the original

was $937,274.25. As with most paving projects, the final cost is based on the actual quantities installed. The final construction cost came in to be $861,267.39. Where was that $76,011? The list is fluid. The main thing that we had for this year is that we had planned on, we had funds allocated for Mayo Plaza, but where we will potentially be getting a state grant to do that. So we had some play money to add some other streets. So that's just the leftover of what would have been for Mayo Plaza with a few other streets added in.

What did we do with the 77,000 that we didn't use?

So that's actually on today's agenda in new business. This is a final adjusting change order, so I'll assume that money will be rolled into potentially next year's budget or reallocated.

Well, you brought up mail and where we're applied for the grant. When do you think we'll actually begin on the mail filing?

So the study is set to start fairly soon. We had some paperwork that's to be sent back to the state, and then from there, a consultant is selected, and then the evaluation begins. And then from there, it would be final engineering and then construction. So for the fiscal year 26 asphalt paving, we paved approximately 6.01 miles of roadway improvements, helping extend the life of our pavement network and improving driving conditions throughout the city. So these next two slides, these next two slides show the streets that were resurfaced as part of this year's paving program. So this is one of them and then that's the next one. And those streets are the same ones that are on the handout that's provided to you today.

Barry, I'm looking at this list and it looks like we've paved or paved the entirety or portions of about 56 roadways, not including the parking lot or the Paramount or any other city property. There's a lot of roads.

Yes sir, absolutely. Speaking of which, this map shows our city-wide pavement history back to 1998. So this is something that we maintain in-house in the engineering department and it's from our GIS and our CAD system. This tool allows staff to track when streets were last resurfaced and serves as one of the primary resources we use when developing future pavement programs. So like I said, it goes from 1998 up to current, and this is a running CAD file that we update throughout the years. So as you can see, there's some streets on there that may have not received pavement in 20 years or 10 years or five years, and that helps us with the evaluation process if we get a street that needs to be evaluated and some streets obviously their life is not as extended as some other streets that may not receive that volume of traffic. So when prioritizing streets we consider several factors including traffic volumes, pavement condition, roadway age, citizen requests, staff recommendations, and availability. So the next thing I want to talk about is this slide shows the street paving request page on the city's website. So residents can access it directly using the web address shown on the left or by navigating to the engineering department page on the city website and selecting street paving slash request paving. Over the past week alone, we've received several paving requests through this page. Staff is currently reviewing those requests and several have already been incorporated into the proposed fiscal year 2027 paving budget. And with that, we're on to another project that's recently finished up. So Polar Mills Phase 4. So this project included significant infrastructure improvements along Dixon Street, including the installation of new curb, gutter, sidewalks, retaining walls, storm sewer infrastructure, and a new asphalt roadway. The original construction contract cost was $924,869, and the current construction cost is $885,589, which is approximately $39,000 below the original contract amount. And we found that cost savings through reducing the linear footage of the retaining wall that we installed. There was an old bridge that we were trying to stay out of just to mitigate damaging it, because if we damage it, might as well own it at that point. So that's where we found some savings on that project. The contractor for this one was Southern Ohio Trenching and Excavating. Currently, the project is approximately 99% complete. At this point, the only thing that we have with the punch list is a handrail. So it's, for all intents and purposes, the project's completed. We received payment a couple weeks back, and you'll see in these next slides, it looked pretty good. So these slides right here, these were taken during construction. So the image on the left shows the retaining wall that was installed, and while the image on the right shows the Dixon Street after it had been milled in preparation for new pavement. And here's the final images that were taken last week. This shows the final mascot service course in place. And really overall, this project significantly improved the roadway, pedestrian accessibility, drainage, and long-term infrastructure within the Polar Mills neighborhood. Phase four also marks the completion These infrastructure improvements have been underway since 2019 and over that time the city has invested more than $2.75 million in the area through a combination of construction and engineering services.

With that, I'd be happy to answer any questions. Big improvement on Dixon. That was a mess for a while. Yes, sir, absolutely.

A lot of challenges with that project. A lot of utility relocations. I drove out there the other day.

The neighbors are happy.

That's great. Great to hear. Thank you, Mary. Thank you. Great job. Thanks. You're very important. Yes, thank you. Yes. Thank you. That conclude your presentation? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Okay. All right then. With that, we'll move into the public participation phase of our meeting.

That gives you an opportunity to speak on

Anybody like to address the commission? Madam, if you'll come to the podium and state your name and your address.

Okay. Hi.

Claudia Burgess, 2732 Greenway Road, Ashland, Kentucky, 41102. And I hope I can get through this because I love my town. And I haven't lived here. for the past few years, but I've come back due to work. And I don't know how to get through this because I'm so passionate about this AI center. Marty said, you know, trust in the Lord. And Mr. Renfrow, I don't know you, but you said how disrespectful that these animals poop on this piece of property. And we want I love this town. I see what it has become after Armco. And I'm an Armco girl. And Chuck and I have gone to church together since we were children. Marty and I have grown up together. And I have witnessed these AI centers. I travel the world for my job. I've interviewed people on my airplane. Does anybody have an AI center in their town? I will talk to them. And I said, give me one good thing. Nothing good comes out of their mouth. My heart is so passionate about us because the noise is going to be deafening. The people that live around there are going to hear it all the time. Kroger's, Lowe's, what are we going to lose? We have worked so hard to be such a beautiful city. And when people ask me where's my favorite place to go, I say Ashland, Kentucky, because we should be so proud. I have lived in different cities in the United States, major cities, and I can never wait to get home and fast tonight. So I just hope and pray that I don't have facts on how much money it's going to make, but I feel like we're selling ourselves to the devil. for what they buy. If any doctors want to come into town as a new doctor, where we've built up King's Daughters, and they drive down there and they see this and hear it, they're going to go, hmm, not my place. This beautiful park that we've got on the riverfront, they're going to hear this noise all the time. The light that it emits at night, I see in 30,000 feet in the air. And I don't know, call me stupid, but I am so... And our firemen, our policemen, if there's a fire there, it's going to be so powerful. The heat it puts off. The animals that it's going to be destroying. Here and out at the industrial parkway. But yet, we want good things for our community. It's not a good thing. And I pray that this to me is dog shit coming. And Tim, I completely agree with that. This is not a good thing. And thank you for listening.

Mrs. Burgess, it was very nice to meet you before the meeting.

You too.

You and I share a compassion and love for our community and our region. This commission came out early on to put a moratorium on data centers so we can understand more how they would impact our community, not only now but in the future. We've turned it over to our planning department. Our planning department and the planning board is made up of citizens throughout the community, everyday citizens, your nurses, your teachers, your custodial workers, just folks around the community. And that board has heard the case on that, and they presented something to us, I believe today, if I correct Mr. Pullum. And when we get to that, we'll ask Mr. Pullum to stand up or his designee to speak on that. But we hear you. We understand the concerns. The two data centers that seem to be in the works, one is out in Boyd County. It's about 10 miles out of our city. And the other one is firmly in the city of Russell's limits as well as Greene and Boyd County. But we hear you, we support you, and we understand the concerns. We didn't know much about these data centers until they just magically appeared. So that's the concerns that each of us on this board share is how will they impact our community. So thank you for speaking today.

You're welcome. TJ, is my five minutes up yet? I would love to challenge each and every one of you or to make a surprise visit to a data center to hear what it sounds like and because I was surprised and I think that's why I'm so passionate about it I don't want to hear that but for people that are I'm fortunate for what I have been blessed with is my career, so I do see things, and I don't appreciate the fact that they don't put them where they live. They want to put them where they think we are not smart enough to understand the consequences. I don't know what the solution is, but thank you for listening. Thank all of you for listening. I truly appreciate it. Go here.

Good to see you.

Do you like cicadas going on? We all complain about that. Magnify it 24-7. Good to see you too.

Thank you. All right. Anyone else like to address the commission? All right. Hearing none, let's move into our office.

Second reading and final adoption of the ordinance entitled, In Ordinance of the City of Ashland, Kentucky, adopting the amended authorized positions listing of the classification and compensation plan as adopted by Ordinance Number 31, Series of 2023, as previously amended by reducing the number of lieutenants by one and increasing the number of sergeants by one in the Ashland Police Department. So moved. Second.

Discussion?

All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Item B. Second reading and a final adoption of 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 People's Insurance Agency, LLC, to provide property and casualty insurance broker-agent placement services from July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027 in the amount of $20,000 and authorizing payment of same. So moved. Second. Second. Any discussion? Second reading and final adoption of Ordinance entitled, An Ordinance of the City of Ashland, Kentucky, Adopting the Appendix M, Tuition Fee Assistance Policy, Policies and Procedures, Compensation Plan, and Classification Plan, as adopted by Ordinance Number 51, Series of 2017, as previously amended. Second. Discussion? All in favor say aye.

Aye. All opposed? Let's move into our consent agenda.

A resolution of the City of Ashland, Kentucky adopting, authorizing, and approving the course of action presented by the City Manager and the items appearing on the consent agenda for the regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners of July 23rd, 2026. So moved. Second.

All right. First and the second. Discussion? Yes. So item H on there, the authorization for the payment of $161,253 to AP3. Yesterday at about 4 o'clock, I received this amount of paper right here to review for finance. And I haven't counted all these pages yet, but I think that we need to hold off and maybe push this to the next meeting to get our finance department time to review all these documents.

Yeah, I did speak to the finance department, and they actually sent some of the material to Smith-Colesby to help level through this. Go ahead.

I was just going to say we rely on the finance department to review these materials. I think we can take one of two approaches. As I review the AP3 agreement, the payment is not due until the first day of the quarter, which would be September the 1st. So I appreciate that we've gotten the material. We're supposed to get this material basically on a monthly basis. And we've gotten it bulk as opposed to that. And it's through no fault of the folks that are here. And I want to make it very clear, this is in no way a reflection of the folks that are in the day-to-day operation of the Paramount. But it's taken a little bit of time to digest what we've been given.

How do we reiterate, you know, the... I mean, it's a contractual agreement that AB3 provides us documents monthly versus...

They previously provided us summary documents that did not have any detailed information. This is the first time that we got detailed information. And the detailed information goes to the end of the quarter, June 30th. July 1 starts their new calendar quarter for that but we have I have requested general ledger information in the past our auditor was here and he's one that made the comprehensive list because we are responsible and when him he's planning our audit he wants to make sure that the city funds are accounted for properly as does the department of finance obviously him and I had a

lengthy conversation with this being city money that we're using taxpayer money what would be the issue with our finance department and our accounts payable office doing the payments for these bills versus handing it over to a third party and then they pay the bills i would have no problem would actually love it because if i'm going to be in charge of city funds i'd prefer to So the contract, I guess. So when we give them money to operate, they have to have expenditures through their operation. And we give them the money, they turn around and pay the operation.

Whereas why couldn't we just... We have an agreement with them in terms of how the payments are to be made, and I think we're obligated to comply with that agreement, and that's not part of the agreement. But I think we can do one of two things. We can either table the payment until they've done the review, or we can approve the payment subject to their review?

You can approve the payment subject to the review. Are you comfortable with that? I mean, this is a lot of information. It is a lot of information. It's six months of information. And actually, they were, this time when Anthony requested it, they were quick for her to send it back. I requested the general ledger before and did not get it. but this time they did send it back quicker, so they made an effort to get us the information this time. We probably, I have started a list to request more detail on some of the things, because it shows on their bank statement that they have an accounts payable run going out, but I'm not exactly sure what they spent on it. There are some, there'll have to be some inventory procedures done with, they have the inventories at June 30th of liquor and different stuff that's purchased. And I would like the opportunity to talk to Anthony.

Well, the review that I've been able to do, and as you said, we just got it late yesterday, it's encouraging to see the progress that has been made. And there has been substantial progress made. Hopefully we'll get this material more on a timely basis. than we have, and it will allow us to be more prepared to make the quarterly payment the next...

It is a lot easier to review one month of data rather than six months of data.

So you're comfortable with them just leaving it there subject to...

I have not had a chance to review any of them. I've looked at the first couple of pages.

We pass it as we review it. So what is your...

I'll make a motion. We're so moved. It's on the consent agenda. It would be a motion to take it off the consent agenda and act on it independently.

I'll make the motion we take it off the consent agenda and we act on it individually. And then Commissioner Good has a motion that we approve it.

We approve it as we review it. Your recommendation, Ms. Veach.

Can we approve the first month's payment? It gives us time to review it and we bring it back for you all to do August and September. Sure. Do what we want. I'm okay with that.

I'm okay with that, but I think that we need to thoroughly review these documents. Just because, you know, my job as commissioner is I've got to be the best steward of taxpayer dollars, and I can't vote on something if I haven't read through it all, and I've not had time to read through all this.

Finance definitely will review everything, and we will also, our independent auditor is independently reviewing everything.

Okay, so we'll leave it.

Leave it on the consent agenda with the stipulation that you'll... We'll pay the July payment, and then that will give us an opportunity, and we can maybe report to you at the next meeting with the second and third payment. If you all have certainly any questions on the data that you review, please give me a call. I mean, we owe the money. We should pay it. I just want to be thorough with all that. Of course. You're in charge of our taxpayer dollars.

All right. So with that, any other discussion? For the consent agenda, all in favor say aye.

Aye. Opposed? All right. Let's move into our new business, item A.

First reading and approval of an ordinance entitled, In Ordinance of the City of Ashland, Kentucky, for Adopting the Amended Authorized Positions description for the position of administrative assistant dispatcher as a replacement for the position of secretary both in the Department of Finance of the classification and compensation plan as adopted by ordinance 31 series of 2023 as previously amended and specifically ordinance number 82 series of 2023 as previously amended.

Second. Discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed?

they have done an amazing job and this is we talked at budget time to clean up some of these job things and graded properly to what our employees are doing that's what we've started and his was the first because his was basically it was written as he contacted our previous vendor him and Adam and Ryan are actually doing the work They've saved the city a tremendous amount of money. It has been a win to do this in-house. And the employee in question, Mitch, is doing an amazing job.

Are these existing jobs that have been vacant?

His is filled. The other, with the bus system, they are vacant. I went through them and actually put duties in there that reflect what they actually do. And HR has graded them appropriately. Do we need to amend the job? Classification? We have, and it's part of this ordinance Susan took care of. But just to be clear, we're not adding? We are not adding positions. We are clarifying job descriptions to make sure what the employee does and they're accurate.

The IT, moving it into the general government departments? Is Adam and Ryan still going to be a part of that?

Well, actually, it took the supervision away from the city manager and I put the supervision with the deputy police chief because he's obviously much more talented and know what the individual is doing. Yes. So, and they work so well together, and so it just, it's a good fit, and they are, they're still looking at areas to save money and improve. Our park department's been a good addition to them. They're doing a lot of the wiring and stuff, so the small IT team has been a win-win.

We'll do the vote again. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed?

Now item B. First reading and approval of an ordinance entitled, an ordinance of the city of Ashland, Kentucky authorizing and approving change order number two between the city of Ashland, Kentucky and southern Ohio, trenching and excavating, increasing the contract for the Pollard Mills infrastructure project. Phase four, by 30 days for the Department of Engineering.

So moved. Second. Discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? I don't see.

First reading and approval of ordinance entitled, an ordinance of the City of Ashland, Kentucky authorizing and approving change order number one, final adjusting between the City of Ashland, Kentucky and BTI Contracting Incorporated for the placement and replacement of bituminous asphalt material for the fiscal year 2026 street paving program, decreasing the contract in the amount of $76,006.86 for the Department of Engineering.

So moved. I've had a first and a second. All in favor say aye.

Aye. Opposed? All right, item D.

First reading and approval of ordinance entitled, An Ordinance of the City of Ashland, Kentucky, amending Ordinance Number 101, Series 0, 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 Data Centers and Amending the Table of Permitted and Conditional Uses. Second.

Mr. Poling, you're the first and the second. We had a second, correct? All right, now we'll move into discussion.

Thank you, city manager, mayor and commissioners. I appreciate the opportunity to come and present on the progress we've made since this board challenged my department to come up with a workable solution that provides protections for our citizens as we look at this new technology of data centers moving into communities such as ours. If we can go to the first slide, move on to that one. The presentation introduces the proposed zoning text amendments governing data centers, which we presented on Tuesday to the Planning Commission, which they have approved as written, and then have forwarded on to the City Commission, which is why we're here today, to seek approval for this text amendment, which would change the definitions and actions related to this particular business model. Next slide, you're there. Actually, let's go back, is that three? Let's go back to two, okay. Two, and also I need to say, I have a last-minute substitution today. Catherine Utzinger is our city planner, and she has done a fantastic job doing the staff work on this to put it together. I've helped her with the presentation, but this is her baby. She was going to be here today, had an emergency, and she wasn't able to come to the meeting, so I'm filling in her place. I can tell you she, as I said, has done just a spectacular job putting this together. I think you'll see how you go along. Absolutely. The amendment defines the data center, its energy systems, the entire site, and all supporting infrastructure. And the key point is that all related parcels and improvements are reviewed at one time together so they can't be piecemealed. So as we review them and make a recommendation to the Board of Zoning and Adjustments on approval or disapproval, we're looking at a finished product, which is sort of the goal of all this. Moving on to slide three. The data center could be considered for the city of Ashland only as a conditional use in the I-2 zone only. So we'll get into a map in just a moment to show you exactly where that location is. The total size of the building can be no more than 50,000 square feet. And the setback prescribed by this text amendment is 1,500 feet from the closest residential zone. a decibel limit of 55 decibels and that would be measured at the property line. You may not know what a decibel, what 55 decibels is, but 55 is roughly a conversation level sound or the sound of maybe a window unit air conditioner. That's what it's measured at. So this restriction of 55 decibels puts some protections in for our residential occupants that are outside the 1,500 square foot or linear foot distance. I think that's it. Oh, and also it requires 25 foot setback from the actual structure. That land buffer must represent at least 80% opacity, which means you won't be able to see through it. I'll leave out 20%. The ground cover, it requires trees be planted every 30 feet. The initial ground cover must be at least four feet in height with a five year, or five season growth rate over eight feet. So after five growth seasons, the height of that vegetation must be over eight feet. Is there a maximum height for the building? And that's the next one, 25 feet is, I'm sorry, 45 feet is the maximum height for the building.

Can I ask a question? Sure. The 55 decibel, do you know what AK Steel's noise

I don't, but it's significantly less. You know, the decibel levels for data centers, and I understand what you're saying, several of them are measured up into the hundred plus decibels. This puts a pretty hard cap on any data center that might locate in these zones.

Fifty-five decibels, according to Google, says it's a quiet conversation or a hum from an average refrigerator.

and that is measured at the property line. So you're still talking about 1,500 feet from a residential neighborhood. So these should be relatively silent to anyone living near them. And are we on slide four? No. This is where the data centers may locate. The zoning map shows the limited areas currently classified as I-2, and that's really hard to see on the map, but if you look along the river, from the sort of southeastern border up to the northwestern border. There are two main tracks that are within that I-2 rip. All of them are owned by AK Steel, or Cleveland Cliffs, I'm sorry, at this point. And if we go to the next slide, I think we can get into a little more detail on the actual buildable acreage for data centers. You should see that's just the former AK Steel co-plant property. Once you factor in the bloom of those 1,500 feet from residential neighborhoods, you're looking at an acreage of about 14 acres total that they could potentially build. Now, they can't build in floodplains and they can't build in floodways. Floodplains are established by VEFA, meaning that there has been a flood there in the last, I believe it's 200 years. Floodways are established which also would severely restrict that location. We also have an easement running straight through the middle of that for our water intake. We'll move on to the next one, the Westworks portion. If you plume out 1,500 feet from residential on that location, you'll see that there's about 20 developable acres for data centers on the property that AK or that Cleveland Cliffs owns within the city limits, and that butts up too if you look at the County property just beyond. Then you've got Russell and Greenham County.

But that's the closest part to Russell and Greenham County, right?

Correct. That map, Chris, it looks like it's behind Air Products.

It is. Not entirely behind Air Products, but it's partially behind Air Products. And it's the Providence Hill development that really restricts. And the residential area would be Providence Hill. Correct. Let's go on to slide seven. Application requirements before permit is considered, the applicant must submit detailed plans covering site development, traffic, utilities, water, waste water, noise, waste, fire, emergency response, and decommissioning. We'll move on to the next one. The applicant must verify that electric water, waste water systems can serve Can't serve the project without reducing service to existing customers and must pay for any required upgrades before opening That's what this text amendment prescribes Liquid cooling must use a closed loop system Which if you're you probably heard the conversations about open the closed loop cooling closed loop is there's an initial fill up of the closed loop system and they just keep cycling that water through to keep it cool. And they must connect to the public water or semi-public water systems in order to provide that closed loop. Next slide please. Backup power systems may operate only during outages. Diesel units must meet the tier four equivalent standards. They can test routinely but the testing is limited by day time and frequency and also annual hours of testing i think the ordinance or the text amendment limits into 55 total hours annually for testing pre-construction noise study is required operating noise is capped as we mentioned 55 decibels annual testing must confirm that noise vibration infrasound heat radiant energy and exhaust do not create offsite harm. And then finally, planning for the end of life. A professional engineer must prepare a decommissioning plan covering removal costs, the schedule for dismantling all facilities, and restoration of the property. A bond or letter of credit must be posted to the city before construction. and after 12 months without lawful operation, the city may treat the facility as abandoned and use those financial assurances to make any corrections necessary. Next slide. Any meaningful increase in size, power, generation, or storage, water use, discharge, cooling, emissions, equipment, or noise is treated as a material expansion. It has to go back in front of the BZA for consideration. And ownership or control changes, they're required to notify the city within 60 days of any sort of ownership change and acceptance of all permit conditions, updated emergency contacts, confirmed financial assurance, prior violations or obligations do not disappear should the property transfer to another home. And how the board decides, and we're talking, when I say the board, I'm talking about the border zoning adjustments. Once you approve this, any conditional use permit goes to the BZA for approval. So the city may use an outside expert to review an application at the applicant's expense, including asking them for an escrow deposit in order to pay for those expenses for that review. After public notice and hearing, the board must affirm that every requirement will be met and that the approval process protects public health, safety, and welfare, and it may even impose stricter conditions than what this text amendment spells out. And the final slide is just sort of a recap of everything, the five themes of this process. The amendment combines narrow eligibility with measurable limits, 50,000 square feet, 45 feet on height limit, 1,500 foot setback, and 55 decibel level on noise limits. And then, of course, the 0.1 foot candle lighting, which has to be reduced by 50% during the evening hours. It also requires extensive studies, utility and cooling safeguards, annual oversight inspections, and a fully funded plan for decommissioning the facility. And in order for the board to even entertain an application for a data center, all those conditions must be met.

And with that, I'll open it up if you do have any questions.

All right, let me go back to the water. You mentioned that Correct me if I'm wrong, but that they would not be allowed to draw from the Ohio. They'd have to take water from us, correct? Correct. Correct. And then it would be a closed system. It would be a closed system. So we would have the initial fill up and then maybe 10 years from now or whatever to...

Correct. And of course that's a restriction on anything that would happen within the city limits if we're... to a project outside of the city limits, say at the Westworks, that isn't within the city, that would be something that would be beyond our oversight right now, although I think we have another ordinance coming down the pipe. Yeah, we didn't worry about the water plan.

I know we've got some more material later on in our agenda to work on that.

How similar is this to Lexington-Fayette County, what their framework is?

Well, if you recall, I think it was back in February the commission passed this moratorium. And I will say ever since then, this has been Catherine's number one objective is to put together something comprehensive that protects our citizens. In doing so, she's looked at every moratorium, every ordinance within Kentucky and beyond to try to piece together something that protects us. while also allowing for a data center at some scale if they choose to locate in the city of Ashland. And I think what she's done is taken pieces of Lexington, Louisville. At one point, we've altered this. We had a maximum load of 10 megawatts for the site. Once we dug a little more into that, we saw that we really didn't limit electricity in any other portion of our zoning ordinance. We felt maybe that wasn't appropriate. to move it back down to 50,000 square feet on a cap for the facility?

Well, I think, first of all, I would thank your department, you personally, and particularly the city planner, Catherine Utzinger, for the effort that she's made in reviewing at least five other jurisdictional ordinances, including Lexington and Louisville, and the model ordinance that was provided by the Kentucky Leave of Cities. I think you have to start with the premise. Number one, no one sitting at this table signed a non-disclosure agreement regarding any data center. We as a board were not approached by any data center operator. our utility department had inquiries made in terms of providing water to an industrial site, being the East Point. And that developed further as it went along. But you have to understand that the overall writing law is that we can't prohibit a legal use restrict the use, which is what this ordinance does. This is only a conditional use, which will require a public hearing, which will require the submission of all these materials that have been identified, including the Board of Zoning Adjustment can hire an independent expert to review the material and make suggestions on amendments to the proposal. It requires an annual review and certification that these operations are being performed pursuant to the application that has been submitted. And most importantly, there will be no hyper level data center considered. We are limiting the size of any potential data center 50,000 square feet. That is a significant restriction. The one at East Park, big, hyper-sized. The one that is proposed for the city of Russell and the old Arco property is twice that size. Now, they're going to have to deal with the city. No one's approached the city of Asheville in terms of one third of that property that is contained within the city. But our restrictions have to be reasonable. They have to be not arbitrary or not capricious. The restrictions that have been placed on these folks or any applicant that would come The I-2, that's the only district they can be located in, is a heavy industrial district. They can't be in any residential or any business or any light industrial district. It requires traffic studies, utility infrastructure plan, water, wastewater management plan, the noise assessment. monitoring plan and the waste management plan. And it has to ensure that the use of their electricity will be funded by the applicant and not by users outside of that data center. So I appreciate the work that's been done over months preparing this ordinance. This is not something that's been thrown together willy-nilly in a couple of weeks or a couple of days. The city of Ashland has approached this, I believe, in a proper, methodical way that it should have been approached. And I don't think there's any place in Kentucky that has done any better with the approach to this than we have. And primarily the planning department and the folks that have been involved. And I very much appreciate it and I know everybody sitting here does. The Planning Commission, a lot of thanks to them for taking the step that they took. I'll say this, I don't think there's anybody sitting up here that if we could, we would outlaw data centers in the city of Ashland. That's not an option that we have. We've taken the most restrictive option that we can take in our view with what is being presented here today.

Thank you. Thank you, Catherine. Please pass on to Catherine that we appreciate all her hard work. I certainly will, and thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Chris. Any other discussion? I think the public might have it.

Anyone like to speak? We've tried to be as open as we could be with all the actions that we've taken in regard to these data centers, I hope.

Hey, Chris, how many folks came to the public planning committee meeting or commission meeting that was there, I guess, a couple weeks ago? Not counting Aaron Snyder.

Zero.

Zero.

Which he reported that there was...

I like the idea that it's going to be nowhere near residential areas.

Say your name.

Yes, ma'am. If you'll state your name and your address.

Okay, Brynn Martin. I'm in Russell, 41169 Greenwood County. First of all, I'd just like to thank you for this methodical approach and not signing NDAs and and being so open with your city here because even though I'm in Greenham County, you know, we share a lot of borders and interests and so what happens here, you know, affect all of us and we like to support all of our areas in various ways. So this is so welcomed and I thank you. What I was hoping to, can I receive some of the, Any other studies that you did regarding maybe, did you do like an environmental study? I don't know if that's, or got reports from EVA. We can share a lot of that with you. Thank you so much. And some of this input, I'm sure Russell is going to appreciate some of this. It's bright and much talent we have there. It sounds like you all have covered some ground that I know I would also recommend. we pick up over in our area with the new site proposed. Also, I noticed in one of the presentations it said you require a registered engineer. I didn't see where it said third party. I noticed you said with the reviews it would be independent. Is there something you could stipulate there to make sure that that's a third party engineer? Because some of them come with their own engineers. Oh, I think that was addressed.

The VCA has the opportunity to hire someone to review the work that's been done when the application's received.

And that would be at the expense of the applicant. Correct. Good. But the VCA would select the consultant.

OK. How else we could be supportive partners as we continue to grow and decide what we're going to do in some of our areas? I know what you all do in Ashland and what Boyd County does. I know all of that is different. You have your jurisdictions. But is there a way we can work together as community citizens? How can we be of more support? Like I didn't know about that meeting you just mentioned. I don't know if it were open to all the public or all the counties. Oh, yeah.

It's open to anyone. We all work together. I mean, we're neighbors and they're more than welcome to, you know, tab into our expertise with the Department of Planning.

And obviously we're not being critical of other government's actions. They've taken their actions based on the best knowledge and belief of the direction they think they need to go.

Have you been confronted by specific data centers yet?

For Ash, I'm hearing. No, we've been proactive. We started this process back in February when we placed the moratorium on data centers. So our planning department can review potential data centers. Our planning techs, they're from the 80s. So data centers weren't around in the 80s. So we had to look at that, look at what impact it would make in our community, and then potentially add them into the techs to be able to review projects in the future.

Great. So with all of this going forward, you all will not renew a moratorium, correct? When it expires, I think by next month.

I don't think we need to.

The moratorium was created to allow us time to adopt this ordinance, and that's what we're doing.

Okay.

Yeah, once the ordinance is in place, the moratorium will not be needed. Right.

Okay. Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Martin. Thank you, Ms. Martin. Oh, and how do I go about getting these documents? You said I'm welcome to. Do I need to email somebody? Can I just wait outside?

We'll talk to Mr. Bull in the background and see what it is. Oh, okay. Thank you so much.

All right. Thank you. All right. Any others? Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

Aye. All opposed?

Item E, first reading and approval of an ordinance entitled An ordinance related to the City of Ashland, Kentucky establishing water capacity management requirements for high water demand digital infrastructure facilities served by the City of Ashland Water System. So moved.

Second? Second. Second. Discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Item F.

First reading and approval of an ordinance entitled, an ordinance of the City of Ashland, Kentucky authorizing and directing Charles Mayer to execute a project confirmation letter and line extension agreement between the City of Ashland, Kentucky and Columbia Gas of the Kentucky Incorporated for the construction, installation, and or improvement of facilities necessary to provide natural gas service to the Conference Center and Ashland Paramount Theater in the amount of $32,407.39. So moved. Second. Discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Item G. First reading and approval of ordinance entitled, An Ordinance of the City of Ashland, Kentucky, authorizing the distribution of national prescription opioid litigation funds to Hillcrest Bruce Mission in the amount of $205,132. Safe Harbor of Northeast Kentucky Incorporated in the amount of $200,000. and total media group in the amount of $19,775 to combat the opioid crisis. Second. Discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Mm-hmm. Item H. First reading and approval of ordinance entitled, An Ordinance of the City of Ashland, Kentucky Fixing the Ad Valorem Tax Levy for the Year 2026 Payable in the Year 2026. On real estate, personal property, and franchises in the City of Ashland, the City rep due profit purposes, providing for a discount of 1% on ad valorem taxes only, which are paid on or before the 15th day following the bill date, and providing for a penalty of 10% and 6% interest per annum for any taxes which are paid after the due date, said due date being 30 days following the bill date. So moved. Second. Discussion? Yes, please.

The proposed compensating tax rate, compensating tax rate brings in the same revenue as it did last year. It's .1770, which is a reduction from .918 from last year. On a $100,000 house, that's $14.80 savings. We had our assessment base increase by $49 million. due to revised assessments. The city had negative property growth of 4.1 million. Nonprofits took some property off the thing, off the rolls. But the thing that I really want to sell, you all did a 20% tax decrease prior to last year's. So comparing to two years ago, the same $100,000 house is a $62.70 savings for our residents. And our business owners. So, you know, I think it's positive for our citizens. It is also positive for economic development, someone that wants to come in here. Because when you're talking commercial, you're taking that $62.70 savings and times it by a lot bigger number. So I just wanted to share that number with you all, that the revenue restructure, the 20% reduction, the reduction that we have in the compensating tax rate, From two years ago, the taxes in the city of Asheville are $62.70 less than they were.

Well, I think this commission, you know, agrees with that. And obviously that any chance that we've got to do things for our citizens to give them some relief, you know, we want to do.

I'm going to ask that we recess this meeting until tomorrow morning so we can give a second reading and get the tax bills out. And a second reading on the... Amendment to the zoning ordinance. Okay. So we'll close the door to that.

Okay. And the Department of Finance will have those out on August 1st, and they'll be due on August 31st.

Appreciate your work, Michelle. Thank you very much.

If anyone cares about that point, the total property subject to the tax rate for 2025 is $1.8 billion. This year, in 26, it's 1.369. All right, any other discussion? All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed? Aye. Reading and adoption of a municipal order entitled

A municipal order of the City of Ashland, Kentucky adopting the City of Ashland raw water intake and Ward Hill emergency response policy and procedure.

Second. Discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?

Item J. Meeting and adoption of a municipal order entitled a municipal order of the City of Ashland, Kentucky authorizing the Ashland Fire Department to submit an application for the Kentucky Homeland Security Grant in the amount of

$120,000, and if awarded, authorizing and directing the mayor to execute any and all other documents related to said grant. So moved.

Second. Discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed?

It's going to be a much-needed tool that will be used not only in our area, but around the region. So thanks for your continued work in looking at grants.

Okay. And let's talk about tomorrow morning. Is everybody available tomorrow morning? Nine? Ten? Nine? Okay. All right. Recess to 9 a.m. tomorrow morning.