City Council - Regular Meeting

running late today. I apologize. I would like to welcome everybody to tonight. It is December 9th, 2025. It is 7:01 and this is the regular city council meeting uh for the city of Dayton, Kentucky. Uh so before we get started, I just wonder one of my favorite presidents was was Teddy Roosevelt. You know, he uh he's a bull moose, right? Uh he also had a very famous saying, speak softly, carry a big stick. I've got a similar theory.

Speak softly. Carry a big gabble. [laughter] So, let's get tonight's proceedings underway. God. Roll call, please. Member Neri. here. Member Neman here. Member Kelly here. Member Jud present. Member Leven. Member Horton here. City Attorney Edmonson here. City Administrator Faucet here. Mayor Baker

here. Member Loveven uh said she had a party to go to tonight. So we accept her absence. If you could all now please uh rise for a moment of silence and a pledge of allegiance. 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 very much. Uh, mayor's report. First thing, why the big gavvel? Uh, my family had a white elephant Christmas party last week and I got a big gavvel. So, I thought it'd be kind of fun to just to bring it in. Also, you know, rain supreme. Uh, second of all, I want to say what we had a great great event this weekend with light update. I don't know how many years we've been doing light updating, but it's been a lot. And I know a lot of the people around these tables have been doing it for the better part of 20 years, seems like. And uh I believe 300 kids. 300 kids we got really cool guests to. Uh they got a chance to sign up for Read Ready for Dayton, which you know is a great initiative that the city's working on. Uh they got a chance to see Mr. and Mrs. Claus, the also awesome Daytonians who who who devote their time to to these kids. Uh but yeah, it it was just a great event and I really appreciate all the volunteers that that make that happen every year and nobody does Christmas quite like Dayton, Kentucky. So, I really appreciate that. Uh we are uh looking forward to the holiday season. I hope everyone has a

very uh happy holidays and uh yeah, we'll see you in the new year. Do I have a motion to approve the minutes? I'll make the motion to approve the minutes. Member Kelly's made a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Member judge made a second. All in favor? I I.

Any nays? Any abstensions? Any eyes? Carry. Uh we don't have any presentations this evening. Correct. All right. Cool. So, we're moving right along. So, we're going to open up the the podium for any public comments on tonight's agenda. So, if anybody from the public would like to speak to city council and administration on anything that's on tonight's agenda, you are more than welcome to have the podium and we'll listen. I don't see anybody running to the podium, so we'll go ahead and uh close that out. Next up would be ordinances. Uh the first reading of ordinance 2025-7, Miss Klein, please. an ordinance amending the text of chapter 154 article X section 10.15 central business district of the city of Dayton Kentucky zoning code regarding certain permitted uses in this zoning designation.

So this was uh done at the request of city staff. We asked the planning uh and zoning commission to do a text amendment to our central business district zone. This is traditionally where our downtown was. We used to have a lot of businesses down here, butcher shops, um all kinds of different retail stores. Of course, you had urban flight, we lost a lot of those businesses. And we did and we're starting to grow that um that business space again. But um the problem is now we don't have enough spaces to bring people into because a lot of people are now living in these traditionally storefront buildings. um and uh or they are using it for storage for things that aren't creating any economic development or bringing people downtown. So, uh unfortunately, a lot of these uses are grandfathered in. So, they're what they're called a non-conforming pre-existing non-conforming use. So, they've been doing it for so long that they are allowed to do it. We have a couple that are not uh but our concern is if we don't change the zoning as it's currently written, uh that we may never be able to convert these back to commercial uses. So, we've asked the um planning commission and the staff at the Campbell County Planning and Zoning to make a recommendation and they have and that basically says that if you um have a building that was traditionally used for uh historic purposes, uh commercial use, then you um we want you to if you were to stop using your pre-existing non-conforming use there, if it's a residence or using for storage, just empty and you do bring in a business that once you bring in that business, it's got to stay a business. So, um, we also have a lot of single family homes that are in the central business district. They they will be able to continue to be single family homes that can sell it as a single family home. Um, but if they were traditionally used for business purposes, um, if they sell it and it becomes commercial use, it can't go back to being residential use or non-commercial use. So, that's why we're doing it. Happy to answer any questions.

I have a question. Yeah. when you said because um six has a lot of like houses or it is a house or it was a residential house even though some people had like a doctor's office on the front, right? But so say you bought one of those houses and then somebody did a business, would that also be primarily a business and sort of a housey looking building? You have to remember that the central business district ends just past McKini. So the rest of those houses going from Mckini on down to Belleview are R1JJ. Those are residential zones. So, there's an old doctor's office there. That's that's really a do that's really a residential use, right? Um there are some there are a few places that were used to be businesses

uh for instance um across street from the uh lodge uh that's zoned residential. So residential can go in there. The only place we're talking about is central the central corner the blond the blondish brick building is zoned residential. Yeah. anything past basically McKini is residential. What we're just talking about is a central business district which runs from McKini down to Maine. Okay. It's just those buildings that used to be used for commercial uses are the ones we're focusing on if um does it make sense? Yep. How many residential type buildings are in that part? I would say maybe half. Okay.

Because you've got a lot of properties that are still homes that haven't been converted to commercial uses. Now, you could convert it to a commercial use if you had a uh even if it wasn't a traditional commercial use. You had regular house, you could convert that into a commercial use if you wanted to. And if you did it, would this same thing apply? Would that mean that Whoops, that's permanent now. That's once they convert it once they convert it to a commercial use, then they would not be able to go back to residential use. That That's correct. I had a question as well. I just want to make sure that um properties that are currently grandfather claused in would end with any change of use and there would be no longer you would no longer be able to go back after that.

That's correct. If you changed it to a commercial use, then once you changed it, it would stay a commercial use. Now, you can have residential in the second and third floors. Um there's one building has four floors, but um that's the Bon building. The rest are second and third. There could be residential uses up there, but on the first floor where you traditionally had an office or a commercial use, if you went back and used an office commercial use, there would have to stay a commercial use.

One uh one insight is if there are two units for example on the first floor, which could happen. So a commercial space had been divided into two residential units. If a property owner wanted to reduce the density, even though it's non-conforming, they could reduce it down to a single family residence, go from two to one or 3 to two. You just can't increase it. You can't put more residential in uh under the non-conforming. So, if it's one, a person can't make the argument that, hey, we want to put two residential units in. So, you can always reduce the nonconformity. you can't increase it. So we I mean that happens when people say well this is it used to be a mechanics shop but now it's going to be um just auto supply place so it would be less intense often times than the board of adjustment will look at that and say okay this is we're getting closer to where it needs to be. So, um, there and that happens. There are long there are buildings. I'm not particularly sure if there's one necessarily there, but people are trying to get a little closer to what the city really wants out of it.

Does this apply only to first floor properties and that's it? Anything that's finally out residential level on the second and third floors. Now, a lot of there are a lot of existing commercial spaces which have a commercial space in the front and an apartment in the back. Those are still be allowed to continue as residential in the back because that's what their grandfathered in as. But you're just saying anything that has a storefront like a facing storefront to the central business district that would be considered like a storefront or isore something that not isore but like something that have res residential property that's in central business districts on a first floor. We're trying to eliminate that.

Eventually they're they're most of them are grandfathered in. They're going to be residential as long as they want to be residential. Uh but if they would convert them to commercial, then they will be commercial from that point forward. What about if they sold the property? Same thing. If they sold the property, they would null null the grandfathered clause and it would have to go to the new follows the property, right?

With one exception. If if you were in uh if if one year, meaning that you sold it, it was residential, and then one 366 days after it was sold, it can't go back to residential. loses its non-conforming use status. So, and the the logic is is that a person that's buying the property shouldn't be deprived, the seller shouldn't be deprived of the same property rights that they had. So, what we see a lot of times, at least cases I've been involved in, it it's that's a tricky date because people play fast and loose with that date and they try to get under the non-conforming and they go back to the board and the board says, "No, you know, it's been longer than a year." So, I mean, they're it's complicated law. Okay.

So, internally we have what we call the DART team, the downtown activation revitalization team, and we've in contact all these property owners that own it and say, "Hey, we're here. We have programs available if you want to convert this commercial at some point." A lot of people just have storage or nothing in there. We want to help you do that and we'll help market it. We're trying to create more energy in our downtown and unfortunately a lot of these uses that were once commercial are no longer commercial. So, that's what we're trying to do. So, a couple couple clarifying questions here. So, if if you own it currently as residential, can you sell it as residential? Yes. Yes. You never lose that right unless you change it.

Okay. Can you also transfer it like without selling it like giving it to someone in the family or anything like that? Yes. That's that's the law in Kentucky. Okay. And then um current residents are okay with this change. Current residents that would be affected by this are okay with they won't be affected. They'll be able to continue to use their houses as as residential and they'll be able to sell it as residential. So there really there's no effect, okay, to to them in terms of the use of their house or using it as residential in the future. There's an effect though that they can't flip-flop anymore. What's that? They don't have the option of flip-flopping anymore. Like they couldn't have a little business. They couldn't start with a residence, have a little business, and then I don't like it. I'm going back to residential. Like they can't they can do that now.

U pro there's an argument. There's argument that they can't because the way it's written, but there could be Yeah, it What's that? It should also be noted and Cassie, this is really for you, that if a person exists as a non-conforming use and we have not taken necessary code enforcement measures, then it can adopt the non-conforming use status. I think I'm pretty sure it's a year. 10 years. What's that? I think it's 10 years. Yeah, that they're there for 10 years. I think 10 years. I thought it was whatever the [snorts] law is, but that I'll look at it tomorrow to tell you exactly what it is. Statutoily. Um, so we got to be mindful of that as well. Right.

And and from my reading the notes, all you guys are all we're doing is changing some wording to cover like changing a couple words to Right. Okay. Yes. So that's what the text amendment does. It changes the text of the zoning ordinance. So everybody who has a residential use now will be able to continue it. They could sell that residential use. There's no impact on that. If they ever converted it to commercial, though, once it goes commercial, it's got to stay that way. That's essentially what this amounts to. That's new now. Huh? That's new. No, that's always been the case. They have a pre-existing use. Even if we didn't change anything, they still have the right to do that. So, this is just saying if you change it and becomes commercial, you're not going to be able to go back. But,

but the lack of the ability to go back to residential once you've train changed to commercial, that's new. That would be new, right? That's correct. Like to make a motion to approve ordinance 2025-7, sir. First reading. Oh, it's the first reading. Yes, sir. Oh, my apologies. No worries, sir. Any discussion regarding uh this reading?

Jay, can you clarify? I thought when I read it over that part of the strikeout also included if they had a uh apartment and you know it said some I thought they struck out the part where you could no longer have a residential area in the rear of the building as an addition. What we're finding is that people are encroaching on that commercial space when they are building apartments [clears throat] in the back and so eventually they're trying to eliminate commercial space and instead trying to make it residential which we don't want. We want to have availability for businesses to come in the community and we let them continue to expand into the commercial space and we're losing that opportunity. So that's why we took that out. Okay. Thank you. But they still are allowed to have an apartment in the back right now as it is. Yes. That you want to get rid of that?

Yes. Okay. That's been changed. Any comments? you have a solid month to send any questions to Jay or myself or anybody to discuss. And next up on the docket, order resolutions. First one would be order resolution 2025-35 Romeo. Miss Klein, please. An order resolution of the city council of the city of Dayton, Kentucky, appointing Scott Pennington to the Dayton Planning and Zoning Commission.

So this uh Mr. Pennington is a civil engineer who lives here in Dayton. He was kind enough to send us u a message through our online portal on the website saying that he would like to be on the planning and zoning board which was fortunate because we just lost our planning and zoning member Bob Shroy who moved out of the city. So we had an opening and we are gladly uh accept him. We have a number of qualified people on that board some real estate. We don't have an engineer which is great which is a perfect kind of job um to be on that board. So, we also have other opportunities in the city on our board of adjustment and some other boards. People are interested, please go online, let us know. Be happy to consider you and uh ask that the mayor or the council appoint you depending on what type of count what type of board it is. So, Mr. Pennington is um requesting to be on this board and we're recommending it.

Thank you, Mr. Faucet. Would anybody like to accept order resolution 2025-35 Romeo? I'll accept it. Neman's made a motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Second by member Jud. Any conversation? I guess more of a curiosity thing. When people join boards or anything like this, are there any type of background checks or anything done?

Um, I don't generally do that. We do it for employees. We don't generally do it for board members, but um I I guess I'm less worried about people I guess um coming in with fraudulent intent or anything like that, but more of like for these type of roles, how do we vouch that they have those credentials? I mean, we're just happy to have people apply [laughter] for Did anybody check your background when you ran for council? [laughter] No, but that's an elected position. [laughter] We've never done it. I don't know many cities that do that. I mean, we always do it for employees, but we don't really do it for board members. Um, so

do other cities do that? Have you ever heard of that? You really can't. I mean, it's hard. You can't use We can't go to the police department and say, "Look up these people's backgrounds." That's illegal. We're not allowed to do that. Yeah. So, you can hire outside agencies to do that. But, um, generally, I don't think most I think most people have a pretty good idea who these folks are um when they come to apply. A lot of people are involved in the community and get, you know, so you kind of know them through the community involvement, but we don't do that. So, I don't think most cities do it either. Yeah. So, I was just curious. I'm not I'm not voting against it or anything, and I'm I'm glad we have people applying, but I am I'm just curious if we do anything like that.

Any other comments? Member Neman's made a motion. Member Tub made a second. All in favor? I I I Any nays? Any abstensions? Eyes. Eyes have it. Next up on the docket, order resolution 2025-36 Romeo. Miss Klein, please.

An order resolution of the city council of the city of Dayton, Kentucky, authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement with the Dayton Independent School District to allow each entity to use security cameras in Gillan Park and at Lincoln Elementary School and Dayton High School for their mutual benefit. So, we previously had an agreement with the school district in from 2014 that allowed us, our police department to view their security cameras um because there's an emergency in incident, whatever, we want to be able to do that. We also have an SRO officer who works full-time at the school. He's an city of Dayton employee and he's the one that really monitors these cameras. So what has happened in the last couple years is that we've now um got web- based security cameras in Gilden Park and we've had some vandalism issues there which has helped us address some of the issues we've had there over the years. So what we decided to do was change this agreement which was one-sided basically saying the city had the right to look at the school cameras to say okay we have the right to look there but you can also look at our cameras in the park because your kids use it during school. They're there after hours. And so we're basically saying we mutually agree to allow each other to view our our cameras, our security cameras in each facilities. So that's the change. The agreement is still in effect from 2014. We're just amending it to now saying it's um a mutually beneficial agreement instead of a one-sided one.

Thank you, Mr. Faucet. Do I have a motion to accept 2025 36 Romeo? So moved. Judge made a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Second by member Horton. Wait, did we have a discussion? Yeah, it usually happens after the second. Oh, thank you. Okay, now it's open for discussion. Okay. Um I'm wondering if anyone has any feelings about so much surveillance. What? So much surveillance. Well, I mean, I know we started this because you had an incident in the bathrooms and they ripped apart the bathrooms or something. Every year or the last three years I've been here, there's been damage to our bathrooms and it cost us a lot of money. They come in, they bust them up. This year we caught them because we have the cameras.

So, it's not like you have the right to privacy in a public space. So, we're not filming you in your home or in your yard, but if you're in a public space, we're filming you. Um, and that's understood that you're in a public space, you are on public property, you may be filmed. And kids are now recognizing it because we are prosecuting two of them. And the vandalism has slowed down a little bit since then. I I think it's great thing to be working with the Dayton's to have ability to work with each other. It only makes sense because they can fill the gap to where we don't know the students. They can look at the film and say, "Okay, this is a student and be able to identify that and you know be able to do some maybe background where we won't we can go case by case instead of like us as a city if we see it." We might not have the empathy that the school might have to know the background situation. And so I think it's a great thing to give each other access to the um each other security cameras. And I'm going to go a bit further and say that I think that we should increase, you know, like we should that's something that we should think about next year is as our park gets bigger and and grows and people start more using it. We show that we have an increased security camera system so they know that when they come to our parks what the level of expectation is for them to behave and say we will pro prosecute you. we have cameras and I would like to even far as go as say have a non-emergency number that we have potentially a drone that pops up and says we're watching you and and could you know I mean that's maybe farfetched but you know like I fully support this and hopefully that we can take this a bit further with and work with the school system and take this further.

We recently had a vandalism uh event up on the um electronic kiosk. Someone shot it apparently with 22. I'm not sure what it was and broke the glass. So, we're looking at putting a camera up there. This is not the first time we had an incident there. Somebody also came by and shot us our signs before. So, we're going to put cameras there and if we catch them, we'll prosecute those folks. We're also looking at a possible camera on top of the new um fieldhouse that they're building that will shoot down fourth and shoot on Maine. So, you know, we can capture if there's an incident. Now with the flock cameras, we're able to find cars that we had one car that crashed into a street pole here on Manhattan Boulevard. We were able to track down that car and found it on Mary Engles Highway. The woman apparently trashed through that and drove it to the to her house and there was the damaged car which the chief found. So we were able to now um prosecute that individual and recover the money that we have to pay out for that. So, so far the flock cameras, we have two, one and at the entrance to Belleview and one down here at Mary Engles. They've helped us out at least three times. I know, Chief, right, capturing uh license plates uh and letting us know that this was the vehicle involved in the criminal incident. So, I think it's a good thing. Yeah, I'm I'm a big privacy guy, personal privacy guy, but in this case, you're on public property, and uh I'm I'm in favor of of sharing of these resources.

I am Please, please.

I don't know. I just I feel like we keep increasing all this these cameras and I I like them because I feel like anything that happens I'm sure that somebody has a camera somewhere but also it's sort of concerning that you read now that your rings are now not just yours but they're being locked into a larger system to where I think when I grew up not that I was out committing crimes but there was privacy and anonymity and and a sense of that that like no kid now would ever have anywhere. there and um there's a camera everywhere you go and it's like uh you say you know valuing privacy but I guess that's just like in your house because you the moment you walk out if there isn't a ring there's a flock there's a this there's that and it's just but I know that when they trash the bathrooms right away you're like where was the camera and you assume there was one good enough to get those so I don't know I feel like I I I like the cameras and I support them but then on the other side I feel a little shady I think my favorite one was when someone said that these darn kids trashed our flower pots and we looked at the cameras and it was a bird. [laughter] Remember that, Chief? So, that was uh nine times out of 10 it's not the kids, it's the birds. But that one time when we get we get them.

Any other comments regarding this order? Considering the amount that the school uses our Gildlin Park for games, uh, for recesses on on nice days, this is a safety factor for our kids and also, as you said, public property, which all of us own. And everybody hates the cameras until something of yours gets damaged or broken or stolen. running and it's like how come nobody has any gamers? Uh this is our property at Gild Lane Park and we've got to protect it.

Yeah. The only question I had on this was uh you know it said it's renews every year. Um I didn't know if you know it should have any sort of like a date to come back and look at it again. You know like a renew for 10 years or just in perpetuity. It's currently now in perpetuity but we can terminate at any time. So we don't want to terminate it. There's no there's no prohibition for letting us to do that. So it's basically a a year-to-year continuation of the contract. Okay. So in that time we knew like if technology changes and things like that, you would just do another amendment. Exactly. Okay.

Any other conversation? We've had a motion. We've had a second. Can I get a roll call, please? Miss Klein. Member Kelly. I. Member Jud. I. Member Horton I. Member Ner I. Member Neman I. Me eyes have it. Which concludes our evening ordinances and resolutions which brings us up next to the department director's monthly reports. So uh let's go ladies first tonight. Miss Patterson, would you please deliver your code enforcement report?

Um you have a copy of my report. Um, it's going to probably be a little lighter this month than next. Um, I will say that, um, we haven't had a lot of complaints about the trash cans, which is [laughter] um, I think we finally have that figured out. The grass is not growing. Um, Bill's doing inspections. He's been at Spear's Court this week. I think he wraps up tomorrow. Um, with that, so I mean, everything's moving forward. That's it. Anybody have any questions for Miss Patterson?

I don't know if Miss Patterson's the right one to ask this to or just general question, but speaking of the trash, I thought at one point they were going to reassess the the pickup days. Are they still doing that year end reassessing? My understanding was they wanted to do it for six months just so people keep this current date and then they're going to revisit that after six month period. I haven't talked to them lately about it. Okay. But um that was my understanding. Hasn't it been six months? I would say um it's close. It's close. Yeah. Okay. We can shoot I'll shoot an email to her tomorrow. Just kind of see. Yeah. We should Yeah, we should talk about that. See if they still think they're doing that. They didn't want to change it right away. They thought it would with all the changes it would be confusing to people. They just kept it. So, I'm not sure if they're still going to do it or not.

I remember the six-month timeline as well, and I think it was right around August 1st or July 1st we started it. So, that's correct. Yeah. So, I don't know if they're still considering doing that or not, but we'll find out. Yeah. I'll let you know. She's pretty good about getting back with us, so I'll get back with you by the end of the week. Cool. Thank you. Sounds good. Thank you. Merry Christmas to everybody if I don't. Merry Christmas, Cassie.

We got four inches of snow. Didn't see that coming. You know who cleaned it up? Rick. Rick, we'd like to give you a report to city council. More coming. Came, but um our crew did a really good job. Even our new guys. Uh no no problem whatsoever. We cleared the streets pretty quick and um didn't use a whole lot of salt. Good. So, that worked out good. And um let's see what else. Uh Jay and I met on the walking trail with a a tree guy over um yesterday. It was

yesterday and I met again with another one today. So we're looking at what it's going to cost to take down all the trees along the trail. So um we have some money in our account that we need to get approval from this state to use to take down those trees on both sides of the trails. So, it will be much easier once the trail's done to do that. So, they're they're moving on. I'll talk about that in my report. Okay. And then, um, light updating, like you said, it went great. I think, uh, all the guys did good on that one. Everything lit up when they turned it on. So, that's a that's a good thing. It looks great. Every season the snowflakes are beautiful. And then did a great job designing the new banners. Everything looks great. Yeah. Well, I don't know if anybody noticed the banners on the

holes. Slate, Kentucky. Awesome. [laughter] Sllayton, Kentucky cuz we we slay. But uh other than that, that's that's all I have. Oh, we dip potholes today. Uh took care, um your alley a little bit. I mean, that's temporary, but hopefully it'll hold up through through the winter. We did a lot on um uh up on Dayton Pike off in Dayton Pike Memorial uh not Memorial but um Lincoln Road did some up there.

So we're still waiting for um Eaton Asphalt to come and pave. So they're now currently in um Belleview and the cold weather has kind of stalled that a little bit, but I think they were working today. We're hoping that they can get it done. And I think they're operating the operating the factory through the asphalt factory through the end of this year. So if it doesn't get done, they'll have to move to the spring. So I think Yep. Other than that, that's all I have. If they got any questions, can you give an update on the uh third and fourth at Walnut? Yeah. SD1 project. Yeah. So that is part of the SD1 project where there was a

they're working on the area where that part of floor has a big hole and just fills with water. They're almost done with that. Um, they shouldn't be done, I think, this week. It's kind of impacted the daycare there, but we've allowed them to drive on the oneway street both ways. We covered up the oneway street and native parents they can do that right now. So, I looked down there, went down there today. They're almost finished with that work. So, once that's done, that's one of the streets that will be paved. Hopefully, they'll be one of the first ones because I think they're coming in from Belleview. So, hopefully they'll get that done before the new year arrives. But um so they're pretty much done with that portion of it. There's a little bit more construction I think down on Third Street. Um I'm not sure if they're done with that, but once that's done, that area will all be repaved.

I saw where they did do the at Third and Walnut, they did put the new uh drain in there, but that corner uh piece that was all messed up from the construction at Gateway. I I've already talked and they're going to replace that. They are going to replace it. Good. Thank you. But I I'll make sure I follow up on that. But I talked with them the very first day they're there and said, "When you're doing this, we want we want a ADA ramp here in in this corner." All right. Because right now we got co cones there, but it's the sharp edges on that metal that could ruin the tire. I think when they're doing the concrete work, I think they'll do that. So, all right. Well, thank you. Any other questions? All right.

Thanks, Rick. Good luck. So, at light up Dayton, Mr. and Mrs. Claus came in here uh riding in the front, riding shotgun in the old fire truck, which brings us up to Mr. Schaefer, Chief Schaefer with his fire uh report. [cough] [clears throat]

So, everybody has a copy of my report. Um last month we made 155 responses, 45 fire and 110 EMS. Uh training we had uh almost year to date almost 2500 training hours which is awesome. Uh we did teach two CPR classes. Uh with the training we had some really good training in uh the vacant house down at Belleview Beach Park. So, we went down there, uh, turned a window into a door, breached block walls, did some roof ventilation training, and then, uh, excuse [clears throat] me, Vogle Pool Fire sent their rescue tech, and we did two days cutting up cars with our new tools and learned a lot of techniques with that. So, that was that was good. Um, we did respond to two structure fires in Newport. Uh, once again, goes back to just the importance of mutual aid. uh you know those those were pretty significant and other than that we're just gearing up for our annual uh Christmas family delivery. Getting excited about that. So any questions.

Thank you. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, Chief. Christmas. Last but certainly not least, Chief Hatfield,

I really don't have much to add. Um, you all have my report was somewhat of an uneventful month with the cold weather kind of keeps people in and usually we have less activity. You'll kind of see that as the reports go the through the winter. So, knock on some good for me, but Oh, I have any questions for the chief? I see that the speeding on Manhattan Boulevard has gone way up as far as the number of citations. It's like double from last month, which was double the month before. Uh, are we going to get one of those radar signs down there to as a reminder to people?

That's something that will work with the city. It'll be uh city funds that would come out of the budget because I would I don't have it in my budget for this year. I didn't budget for it. It'd be something um like I said, I've talked to Jay about it. Something we'll we'll look to get. We want to do another one. Yeah, we do want to get another one. We just have to see how that the newer version a little bit more expensive, but they're not. Yeah.

Yeah. Solar is usually the uh the best way to go. It is a little bit more expensive. The last time I had to change the batteries a couple times a week and it little teeny. [laughter] So, uh, it didn't work when I was on vacation or, you know, what that town. So, uh, yeah, we're looking at getting that, uh, and the increase was, uh, we have the detail. We've been we've been working, uh, safety detail, highway safety. So, the guys are out a little bit more. Um, so we have extra an extra person out that are able to do that. Just concentrate specifically on traffic while the other guys are taking calls. Gotcha. Doing their daily.

Thanks. Just wanted to make sure it was still on the radar. That's all. Yar. Very cute, Joe. Radar is still on radar. That was bad. If if you are going to get one of those radars though, that's on my running route. Can you get it so that it can tell me how fast I'm going? You're doing six. Currently, I'm not running fast enough to trigger. It won't pick you up unless you're going at least 10 miles an hour. You ain't hitting that jet. [laughter] But it is pretty accurate. I mean, I'm watching it on my my car and it's it's it's pretty accurate. So, I like it and it's I don't want to jinx us, but since we've put that thing up, the constant reminder of people to slow down when they come come into the city,

uh said I don't want to jinx us. Uh issues we had in the 300 block of six and the 400 block of six and stuff like that seems to uh have gone down. uh just with that reminder of that constant reminder of hey you're going too fast slow down and it'll flash slow down. So it's it's helped. Sometimes you have a police car parking near that too that helps. Yeah, that helps. Any other questions or comments for the chief?

Would you consider parking there sometimes like in what when are people going the fastest? Like is it morning traffic? Um there are certain times we can do speed studies. Uh when we have the we have the radar that we plan on getting. It'll give peak hours of when people are uh speeding. Uh like the one on the avenue will tell us like from 10 to 2, something like that and stuff like that. Then we can focus our enforcement during those times. Can you just park sometimes? I'm going to have Okay, we do. doesn't work. It does when we're there. Yeah.

But when we leave [laughter] to go to another call, that's when I go, "Oh, no. Police around." Doesn't stick. Okay. It's tempered. Any other questions or comments for the chief? Thank you very much, Chief. Thank you. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, buddy. Merry Christmas. Right on up to Jay Faucet.

Just a couple things. Um Rick touched on the trail. I wanted to let you know where we are on that. I walked it yesterday and today and uh it's amazing even in this cold weather. They're able to do do concrete. Not always when it gets too cold, but if it gets down to around 32, they could still pour as long as they have the the right type of blank and stuff there. So they have gone pretty much, I'd say about 1/4 of a mile. So they went from just past the uh SD1 outfall at McKini and they're almost to the SD1 outfall at Maine, which is remarkable. So the plan is to have this done by May one, but I think they're ahead of schedule as far as I can tell right now. And um so they're they're out there working today. There's a couple small retaining walls they're building uh where the um slope is pretty high. Uh so they've been working on that this week, too. So um they had good weather today. So they they did quite a bit before today. So they're now initially they were going down right beyond Barry. They're they created an access road, but now they have an access road just uh west of the um Manhattan Apartments and they're going down there and putting concrete down there. So that project is is moving along. Uh the other project um I gave a little report to you all by email is the townhouse project on 7th Avenue which is seven attached town houses. Uh back in 2024, we approved a development agreement with the developer to do that. It got kind of delayed because of engineering issues and issues with ST1, but uh last Wednesday night um they went before the planning and zoning board and they approved a stage two development plan. So um that project looks like it's about ready to get going. Part of that plan is improving the alleyway which is called Kenton alleyway which goes down and then connects uh east towards Benham. It's an emergency alley. Whenever the trains are blocking 6th Avenue, that alley is designed to allow emergency vehicles and

people to come up uh onto 7th Avenue to get underneath the trestle. So, and it also is an issue where we have a lot of drainage issues there. So, we're our development agreement with the developer is that we're going to split the cost of improving that alley and the SC1 costs of the SD1 um is also involved and they will contribute money as well towards uh the project as well. So anyway, I'm hopeful that this project will get started this this year, this coming year, and I'm meeting with the developer next week to discuss just that. That's all. I have a question. Why are you cutting down so many trees? What's going on? What's that? With cutting down trees in there. Why? What is What? You were talking to Rick about you were cutting down trees at the trail.

So they they when they went to when they initially um made the room for the trail itself, they just cut a a swath through the trees. But now we have trees on both sides of the trail that are blocking the views and also you know are potentially dangerous. We have a number of um trees, cottonwood trees that are dead and they definitely need to come down. They're further closer to the apartment. So the idea is to take the trees down and allowed you have an unimpeded view of the Ohio River when you're on the trails. Okay. So, and a number of the residents uh in the neighborhood have asked those trees be removed as well to allow them to have better views as well.

And back when we first did the uh phase one, we got a lot of complaints about people not feeling safe when there was like brush there or whatever. And you know, walking at night or whatever and so just kind of unobstructed view. It's a safety issue, too. A lot of women in particular were expressed concern when things got really high you couldn't they were afraid people could be in the in the brush. So that's the other reason we're doing it. Okay.

Any questions for Administrator Faucet? All right. Thank you, sir. Moving right along. Next up, audience comments. Anybody in the audience is allowed to approach the podium. State your name and address and address council and administration. We'll listen. Hi, uh, Christian Neighbor House, 439 Manhattan Boulevard. I had a question I wanted to ask tonight, but uh, in light of the conversation that we had before about the cameras and privacy, uh, Councilman Nman, I'm sympathetic to your concern about, uh, having cameras everywhere. I don't think in this situation it's it's a problem. And it sounds like all we're doing is or all you guys are doing is just setting up an agreement to share. But one of the ways to handle uh those kind of concerns is to have a clear policy about the use of uh the the film uh or the recorded images and the recorded uh what'sever recorded and also a clear retention policy. I don't again I don't know if it's really necessary in this in this case but if there is a concern having that somewhere on record at the city you know to uh to be clear you know what they're doing with it and what the purposes are that that can be one way to also you know cover you know any allegations or uh you know of misuse. So that's just one thing. Um but the main thing I

hey thanks for showing up. Yeah. Thanks for supporting my concern [laughter] out of nowhere. Yeah. Well, no. I mean, I understand. I I I I I share those share those concerns. I think maybe a lot of people do. And there's a balance. I think, you know, that that is Yes. Uh maybe uh to be found.

Um but about the um the trail, the river trail, um I mean, it looks great. It looks fantastic. I mean, my wife and I walked it uh the other day. Um so it seems like for the area um that's existing I guess from the outflow uh down river. Um there was some clearing in uh I don't know sometime in the uh in the summer. It is more cleared now than than anytime that I've seen it. I haven't been you know a resident of the city for too too long. I've been coming down here for several years. But looks really good. Looks great. Um I'm really really pleased about it. I remain confused as to what the schedule is or what the plan is for clearing the brush and you know now that they're going to be clearing the trees on the new section that's just going to amplify the amount of work. So could you comment or could someone comment on what this what the clearing schedule is and what it covers since I know my property goes about halfway down the the upper rip wrap. I'm not clear on that. I wonder if you could comment. So, um, that's under consideration now. We're we're looking at that now. We've actually hired the city of Cington to come and do some herbicide there to help us and that's why you're seeing the clearing that you have now because it's killed some of the some of the growth down there. So they will come back every flood to bring seed from up river and you know it will. So one of the things we're looking at is in this next budget is should we get some of the equipment similar to what um Covington has that allows us to spray that area with herbicide because quite honestly it's very dangerous for our public works crew to get up in that rip wrap and try to cut it. There's rebar. It's it's just a workers comp nightmare quite honestly. So the the less we are up in those rocks and down by the river the better. So, it's something that we're currently looking at city staff, but I think uh it and it takes us if we do it by hand, which we've done, it takes about a week to do about a half

mile and uh that's really timeconuming. So, basically we're adding another mile to that. So, you're talking about basically three weeks that all public works crew would be doing all four is removing trees and brush and so we got to find a solution that addresses it and we think herbicide is probably the best way to go.

Yeah. Well, I mean, I you know, I think it needs to be, you know, a a a part of the budget planning process. I mean, it's it's it will become a um a central, you know, kind of attraction of the city. It'll be kind of the the focal point, especially when that's loop is complete. Um Exactly. And so, uh but I think you guys, uh know that. So, um and last thing is I heard by and by that there was a plan. Well, first of all, the the is the new section also going to have the rope and the the rope and posts that were put in uh along the existing section. Is the new section going to have that?

I hope so. That's South Bank Partners project. They funded that. So, I'm assuming if the funding is available, they'll continue that. But we need to get Will Weber, who's the president of South Bank Partners, come here and tell us that. So, I'm not sure what their plans are, but there was funding for the first phase. I'm hoping there will be funding for the second phase, too. Okay. Okay. And last I heard that there was a plan to sew wild flowers in between the posts. I tried it last year. They just got flooded away. Okay. Yeah. [laughter] Okay. All right. I wasn't sure if that was really something. My wife wants to do that, too. So, we'll keep trying. It's a great idea. Yeah, it's a great idea. It was council and ner suggested it. I know he planted some up on 7th and Boone. I planted some there and a few survive but most of them

right were were and it's really sandy soil too so it doesn't you know they don't take root take purchase I guess you should say so we may try it again but I first time I did not much luck there thank you okay thank you Christian podium is open for the next caller nobody wants to call reminds me of a Friday night in my high school There's nobody calling. All right, we're go ahead and close it. I have a question. What are we uh spraying down there? Is it glyophate, Round Up?

It's a combination of Roundup and another herbicide. Um that Roundup won't kill certain things. And so the mixture that we got for Covenant does is both. There's also a Roundup herbicide that you can use near water which water safe and then we would use that by the river. So we're still in the process of putting coming with the policy. This is something we'll probably talk about at our strategic planning session this spring. Um because we have to find a way to be able to maintain this one and a half mile of trail without devoting a lot of public works time to it. So we'll we'll go through the whole thing. That's one of just topics of discussion I want to have with the council is using that type of herbicide.

I heard they invented something else, but I don't know how effective it is that it's like an alternative to Roundup and it's doing really well. I don't know. Rick and I tried some things. We tried uh what was it? U saline and vinegar. Trying to do a very It's like a real thing. It did not do anything. No, it's like a new product.

We We tried a couple different things that was echofriendly and didn't do anything. [clears throat] any uh any council members like to bring up new business? Yeah, I'd like to address your point about the the privacy on the cameras and I think that's covered under the uh amendment of the agreement here. U and that's all covered under the Education Rights and Privacy Act which would be KRS 16700 and 1670 uh which prohibits the disclosure of any education records. So any video that's shared with the uh school district would fall under that. Um secondly on the mayor you mentioned light update which is always fun. Um I'd like to note that uh our Santa Claus we've had different Mrs. Clauses over the years uh but the Santa Claus that served us this year who shall remain unnamed but everybody knows him. 40th year with kids on his lap. Um, which I thought was commendable to say the least and he's been a big benefactor to the city and the schools. I just wanted to make note of that, sir.

Sam is the best. [clears throat] Um I I'd like to use this time to to note as well that the an executive order was signed today and I I want to thank um mayor and the city staff for that for uh starting the committees um for city council. So um we got a lot of input from everyone and uh we're excited that we now have a communication and marketing committee, a finance oversight committee and a sports and recreation committee. So, uh, using this time to say that if anyone in the crowd or if anyone listening online or any any residents, uh, are interested in joining those committees, this is a partnership with the community. So, there will be council members on these committees, but it also requires input from other citizens as well. So, um, I encourage you guys to think about joining the communication marketing committee, the finance committee, or the sports and recreation committee. Thank you.

Thank you, member Jud. [clears throat] Anybody else? New business. All right. Uh we actually do have an executive session on our docket this evening. Uh pursuant to KRS61.8101 8101 Bravo. Deliberations on the future acquisition of or sale of real property by a public agency, but only when publicly would be likely to affect the value of a specific piece of property to be acquired for public use or sold by a public agency. Do I have a motion to enter into executive session? I'll make that motion. Member made the motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Second by member Kelly. All in favor? Hi.

Hi. All right, we're gonna go ahead and use a big gavl one more time while yall still here uh to go into executive session. Uh if you guys don't stick around, merry Christmas. See you guys in the new year. Yep. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Thanks, buddy.