City Commission - Regular Meeting

Uh, where's Commissioner Bush? I don't know. Okay, it is.

It is time to call the city commission uh to order. It's uh the Franklin City Commission. Uh this is a regular meeting and uh we will at this point in time ask Commissioner Bush to uh lead us in a word of prayer to open the meeting. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be the name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil will be yours and power and glory in Jesus name we pray. Amen. [laughter]

Thank you Bush. Um we will also move on to uh hear the public and I believe that we have Dan Wagner that would like to come and uh that's listed today. So Dan, that's Dan. Mayor, thank you for your consideration. I know uh it's not real normal to have a police come up here, but I'm also coming as a homeowner uh here in the city as well. There's a few things I have uh concerns about that I want to address you all about. Um today, all across the country, we are seeing a period of heightened political tension, vast uncertainty. All while uh policies, funding priorities, and public expectations are rapidly changing and seem to change overnight. It may seem local government has little to no control over this environment. However, as our elected leaders both as city and county, how you respond at a local level can calm and stabilize uncertainty or add will add to it. My [clears throat] intent is to shed some light on the impact that the business conducted here in this roof each and every month actually twice a month will impact Franklin one way or another. This isn't about belonging to the party the left right or center is about the stability and future of Franklin. Working local government has always provided a sense of security stability to its workforce. However, the cur current climate surrounding our workforce is changing and changing rapidly. When respect, predictability, and stability are no longer the norm, and the political climate feels [clears throat] volatile andor contentious, this increases stress, burnout, and turnout. Last meeting, Dr. Macintosh stated that one of our goals for the city is is to continue to make the city an attractive

workplace and to have high goals of employee retainment. But given the current political climate that we are facing, not only does that does recruitment become much more difficult, but employee retention al also becomes much more expensive and intuitional knowledge walks out the door. Employees seldom just up and land jobs. They leave when uncertainty becomes the norm. Same can be said for local businesses and residents as well. When a community feels and sees the political tension and uncertainty, business expansion will slow. Residents will slowly look for a place that is quieter and has less drama. These are not predictions. These are patterns of facts that have been well documented in many communities sadly. Several years ago in my hometown, which is outside Kentucky, the community fell victim to this exact scenario. As a result, as a result, not only have they missed out on opportunities to grow and better the community, they lost [clears throat] many residents and had a complete turnover in the workforce. The municipality has clearly never recovered from the political storm that took place and still struggling to find its way. So, I lived and worked in the environment and I know exactly what it's like and saw the impact it can have and will have on the community. Ultimately, my goal today is quite simple. Please learn from what took place in my hometown and don't let the past repeat itself here in Franklin. Engage and support our staff and help succeed and help them succeed in moving Franklin forward. If we were to lose even a fraction of our staff and the knowledge between the many departments, Franklin as a whole will take a huge step backwards. And once that starts, the stone ball starts growing and gaining momentum. How can you support our staff? Engage

with them. Learn what they do on a daily basis and the challenges they face as they do their job every day. Allow the staff to be a part of the problem solving. By simply listening to staff and then letting them be a part of a solution to a problem can make a huge impact that will go much further than a hello, how have a good day from some elected official they don't even know. In addition, we have to be competitive in our recruitment if we want to continue adding highly skilled people to our staff and also to retain them long term. Lexley, we will never agree on every subject or topic that comes before us. However, however, how we go about conducting business and coming to a resolution ultimately will determine where Franklin goes in the future. We all have the ability to bring stability and respect to one another and insulate our community from further uncertainty. Please do not let Franklin fall victim what took place in my own hometown. Again, to repeat myself, the business conducted in this room has major impacts on the direction of Franklin, your overall morale and productivity to urge all of you to protect our workforce, strengthen confidence in our town where we want people to come and invest and stay for many years to come. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Dan. Thank you very much, Dan, for your comments.

Thank Dan. Dan, before you go, um I know we've got a lot of things to do, but that was that that that was crucial to say. Appreciate you foring the commission and obviously this meeting right here will go out to the community. Uh those those are were very well spoken words. Um the statement I use a term and I think people have heard this before. What you said is handwriting on the wall. We don't read it. We don't look at it. We'll take in consideration to be better, to do better, think highly more of others than what's been displayed in the last whatever. Uh we will fall victim. We have opportunity in this community to be at a place we've never been before and that has provided a lot of things that people have been requesting for many years. And it's it's it's golden time today to be able to do that. And uh I appreciate you as an employee for stepping up out of a comfort zone to be able to say some things. I know there's some not much needed to say uh to the people you look at consider to be your your bosses. We're more than we're not just bosses. We're also your friends as well. But I just want to let you know I appreciate you for the courage to say that today. Thank [snorts] you.

All right. I appreciate Okay. We will move on and uh to [clears throat] the approval of minutes and we will have approval of minutes of the February uh 9th 2026 regular meeting and also the approval of a special call meeting on Feb Tuesday, February the 17th at 12:30. We can take both of those in the same motion. Correct? Scott. Okay. Okay. So, I'm sure that everyone's had an opportunity to read over those to look over those. Uh, at this time I would entertain a motion to uh accept those. I move. We have a motion by Commissioner Powell. A second.

A second by Commissioner Stewart. Are there any further comments? Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Mayor, as a point of order, Kathy says that the ones from Tuesday are not in the pack. They're not in the package. So, we only need we only need to approve the one set. Sorry, Kathy. I apologize that I did not so we just need to move forward with the with the February 9th. Okay. Okay. Mayor Okay. We have I'm in my second and we have a motion by Commissioner Stewart. All in favor? I I Any opposition? I am. And those you have an opposition.

Yeah. Yeah. So, from here on out, it's either I don't know how you want to record it, but I'm going to abstain from voting on all the meeting minutes probably. So, so it's either a no or an abstain, however you want to do it.

I'll justain your vote now. Thank you. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you, Kathy. Okay, we will move on to recognitions and uh I believe Franklin uh uh uh police department has recognitions and awards and John Major John Thompson is going to Thank you, mayor. Take those.

I won't take too much of your time. Uh on behalf of Chief Solomon, I am honored to be up here to be able to recognize three of our officers uh for the outstanding work that they have done here recently. Um, but first I would like to start out with um, Officer Stewart and Officer Sam Scar Bro. If y'all would come up here, please. Um, so in November of this last year, Seth Stewart responded to a complaint of a homeless person that was living out of a shed that had gone missing. Uh, this individual also had several health issues. Um but he responded and he took the call very seriously and instead of just leaving the scene or the house or the complaint and uh sending out a bolo to the rest officer just to be on the lookout um he actually stayed on scene and he completed a very thorough search of the area. Um and with that he called our drone pilot to come out here to come out to the scene uh to set up the drone up in the air. That way we could potentially get like a a heat sensor uh heat or something to show us where this individual may or may not be. Uh while our drone pilot was getting everything set up, um he contacted our uh the other officers on scene as well as our drug task force to help just saturate the area for the most, you know, throw search you can get. Because of this, because of Seth taking this extremely serious, um Sam or Scarboro was able to locate this individual face down covered with um a lot of vegetation from my understanding that would be really hard to see unless you complete a very thorough search. It has been told to me that if this individual would not be located, there's a good chance he would not pay. Um, so for that I would really like to recognize each one of these officers for their outstanding police work and for this they will be both given the chief's accommodation. So

um for my recognition I would like to get Captain B up here please. Now this is one I'm really excited to be able to bring to you as well because this is a side of law enforcement that not everyone gets to see that that happens every day, but it's not it's not publicized and it don't happen that often. Um, and this is also coming from people all three of these individuals. Um, they wouldn't want to be recognized anyways because they just say they're doing their job and I know that uh what I'm about to do for captain here. Um, in December on Christmas Eve, he respond to a shoplifting complaint at uh, Walmart. And we respond to a lot of shoplifting and it depends what they're stealing. [clears throat] Our officers have discretion to help these individuals or not or make enforcement actions. Every decision has a consequence, but we are also human and members of this community as well. Um, Captain Bond was able to identify that the things that were being stolen during this shoplifting complaint were toys for his kid because he did not have the money for his child for Christmas. Um, Captain Blun, I I you set an example even for myself. Um, to remind us that we're human. I really appreciate you for that. He was able to purchase through his own money the gifts that this father was trying to get for his children. Now for that [clears throat and snorts] I would like to give Captain Vaughn the community action award.

I would like to thank all three of you and I'm extremely proud of all you thank you. Thank you John. And those those awards are welld deserved and I personally want to thank you all for the job you you always do so well. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Move on. Moving on to community services will be discussion regarding historic preservation committee and Lee Ross is here to uh come and have that discussion with us. Thank you, Lee Ross.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I was here in November to discuss uh and seek approval for our accessory uh structures for our historic preservation guidelines. Uh during that presentation, one of the commissioners requested that I come back and tell uh and so we're happy to answer any questions. I'll go over a very quick history and why we exist. Um and happy to field any questions. Uh so we formed in 2018. Uh our main goal was to uh create a review process for the demolition of our historic structures um and any structure in our historic neighborhoods. Uh we believe that there are some things that make this unique uh the unique downtown uh and some of our historic neighborhoods. Uh so if you uh ride through or walk through or live in uh the West Cedar Street area, South College Street area um you may you know recognize that feels a little different than other neighborhoods and we like to preserve that. Uh there are certain things uh most of the architecture that make those neighborhoods unique and we like to preserve preserve the history. Um we also notice there are a lot of uh outside investment, people moving in and they they buy a house or a building or move into a place on the square uh with the expectation that it stays uh you know Frank and so our our committee reviews certificate of appropriateness for people who want to demo build or alter buildings inside those historic districts. We have essentially two major categories of our guidelines. Uh, one is the central bishop's district, which uh, matches the Renaissance uh, district. If you're not familiar with Renaissance, uh, together with Renaissance, we're able to work with our especially our downtown shopkeepers uh, to get grants to update um, you know, uh, and repairs in their buildings. And so if someone's moving in and wants to repair a door or a sign, uh, Renaissance is able to give them sometimes matching funds. And through our historic committee, we can generally put those two together and say, uh, here are the things that would

make you appropriate historically and and Renaissance agrees and then they can they can uh maximize that grant. Uh, we're also seeking to um hedge some of our demolition by neglect. So, if you have a broken window, uh, that's an issue in the immediate. Uh, it's also an issue for the building over the longevity. So, if that window stays broken for 20 years, the building the building decays. And so we've worked with some of the downtown uh owners to uh make their building envelopes more sustainable for the future to to preserve our our downtown area. Um for the most part uh on the residential area, we stay pretty hands off. We're not going to tell you what color you can or can't paint your door or or what color your gutters have to be. Uh we're just wanting to preserve that it's a neighborhood, feels like a neighborhood, and and has that historic um kind of uh infrastructure. Um, we we like to uh work with our um applicants. I I work I'm an architect. I work in a lot of historic districts and you submit all the paperwork, submit the drawings, and then you find out you didn't cross the tea and they rejected it. Wait a month. That that's very common around here. Uh we generally uh encourage them to come in and we work very proactively with them and say here's what you want. Here's what our guidelines say. Let's find something that makes everybody happy. And so, uh, we try to take a very proactive, uh, very friendly approach, um, especially with our, uh, long-term residents, um, who who we feel like we work for. So, if you've lived on West Cedar Street for for 20 or 30 years, you expect that you don't wake up one day to a a fast food restaurant next door, right? And so uh um and and it's it seems comical, but the historic district simply uh is there to make sure the zoning doesn't allow um like the wolf in in the hen house. So you may live in a historic home and have a historic home next to you, but you could be in the commercial district and an outside investor could take that

house down and put a put a fast food restaurant. Well, not anymore. That's that's why the historic preservation committee exists. And so all it is is to provide a little bit of a of a of a filter for some of our um downtown developments. Um our committee is um mostly made up of people who live or own property in the historic district and we're all volunteers. Um u Megan is our city um liaison coordinator and uh prior to to Megan was uh Tammy Kerry and so and both people have a passion for the downtown area and want to make sure it stays stays historic. That's about it. Any questions or any

how did you come up with the resolution you brought us in November? So, uh, a lot of what we bring is based on, um, applications we're receiving or or developments we're seeing in the neighboring communities. So, we stay pretty close to the National, uh, Historic Preservation Council. Uh, we also, you know, we look at Bowling Green, Franklin, Tennessee, and some of their ordinances, and we we try to play off of that. Uh, one, uh, one thing we're seeing a lot in towns is, uh, accessory dwelling units. And so, if you have a if you have a home, you could build an apartment in your backyard and rent it to somebody. And so while that may be fine, it it deserves a review process. Uh we also see a lot of people buying a house and then they build a pole bar in the backyard that's two or three times the size of the house. Franklin's zoning doesn't really regulate that. So we thought the historic uh district should

How long have you been talking about that? Uh we've been kicking it back and forth for a couple of years. Vote on it. Uh sure. Yeah. Do you normally vote on it? Do you normally vote on what? stuff that you bring to us. Absolutely. So, if we brought if we bring it to you, we've uh drafted it, repeated several times, and then we have to have city uh permission for it to come. So, the one you brought November 24th that was voted on because my understanding was it wasn't. Your understanding was that we the community did not vote on it. That the community did not vote on it. So, we voted on the draft that you all saw. Okay. You guys keep getting Yes.

How many permits did you get for associate instructors in historic district last year? Do you know? I'll stop my head. Just one or two maybe. An issue. I just find it strange that it seems like the process didn't happen the way it was supposed to. Okay. and that the only person that was building the accessory structure at the time in historic district was me. I didn't know you're building one. Okay. I find that hard to believe, but okay, that's fine. I'm just asking the question. If you follow the guidelines is not going to be an issue. Okay, that's great. Cool.

For the most part, we we remind everybody the guidelines. There's always an exa an exemption to a rule here or there. Um, and so simply we want to make sure our accessory structures are complimentary of the of the main main house. Any other questions? Thank you. Thank you, Lee Ross. Thank you. Thank you for the update. Thank you. Okay, we will move on to general government and that will be discussion and a possible action regarding the designation of KMI administrator and uh I think Dr. Mary Mintosh is going to bring that to us.

Thank you. Can you guys hear me? Okay. Yeah. Okay. Um I'm here for authorization uh for the mayor to sign the Kimmy administrator designator form. Um, just to give you a little bit of background on Kimmy, the city of Franklin contracts with Kimmy, which is the Kentucky employers mutual insurance for workers comp um for their coverage. Now, Kimmy is Kucky's largest provider of workers comp insurance serving employees across the 120 counties in the state. Kimmy requires cities and employers to maintain an accurate list of designated online administrators who have access to policy information, claims data and other sensitive account um functions. So remain complete [cough and clears throat] the city must update its administrator list and the reason for the update is that the two individuals currently they're no longer employees of the city of Franklin. So for security and access control and compliance purposes, administrative positions on city's Kimmy's account, they must be removed. So my purpose here today is for the new Kimmy administrator designated form requires that the mayor sign before it can be submitted to Kimmy. So this form formally updates the city's authorized user and removes any other individuals who are no longer so that they no longer have access. So my action is today or proposed action is for that a motion I guess is as follows. I don't know if I can do that but it's to authorize the mayor to sign the Kimmy authorization form so that I Dr. Millie Macintosh, the new director of HR, can serve as the

current designated administrator and to remove the other two um uh ladies, Tammy and uh Rita, from the account so that I will serve as the city's administrator. That's my purpose. Dr. Mc, I'm sorry. Outside of uh I guess the the explanation, thank you for making that that clear. Can you hear me? Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you for making that clear. Obviously, this is more just a housekeeping uh is is this a housekeeping u correction that we're making? It is simply a formality. Okay,

that's all it is. And in order for me to be able to review information about our employees, any accidents that are occurring in the city and looking at dollars associated with those absences, I have to have access to the system. And currently I do not have access to that level of information. So it's simply a housekeeping and formality um request. Well, mayor, I make that motion that you sign any documentation necessary to for her to be able for for Millie to perform services.

We have a motion to put Commissioner Stewart. Second have I think first by Commissioner Mcquary. Uh is there any further comments or questions? If not all in favor I I. Any opposition and that motion carries. Thank you all. Yes sir. Thank you. Uh moving on, we will have uh discussion and a possible action regarding proposed ordinance uh reszoning property located on Industrial Avenue requested by JSSE Enterprise and Erica Lopez and Stock Crabtree will present that.

Yes, sir. Mayor, these [clears throat] uh this zone change came through planning and zoning. They uh approved it on January 6th. If the commission finds it in order, we need to have two sponsors for a zone change ordinance for this. And we've got Commissioner Stew Commission, you have your two and and mayor, I've got the next one. I'll just jump right into it. This this is another You're welcome to move on. Thank you, Scott. Yes, sir. It's requested by Charles and Bernita McCutchen for property on John J. Johnson Avenue. And same thing, it's the same meeting. January 6th, planning zone unanimously recommended the zone change. I would ask for two sponsors for an ordinance.

I'll be pal. Commissioner Stewart and that ends those two. Thank you. I'll wrap them up quick. Wrapped up. Okay. Uh moving on, under general government, uh will be discussion and a possible action regarding proposed ordinance amending the FY 2026 budget. And Carol's here to uh bring us up to date on that.

Yeah, this won't be quite that quick, Scott. We'll try. All right. So, this is ordinant or amendment number two for our current fiscal year budget. Want to start on page 114. There um are four different funds that are affected in this. And on page 114 is the general fund explanations. As you go across the top um of the page, you can see in blue the total proposed change in net assets versus the first amendment is a reduction of $487,267. And that's comprised of the things in the next columns over and going down your page. Um they're colorcoordinated so hopefully we can follow along and you can understand but please stop me at any time. So, planning and zoning as a total entity, meaning all their revenues and their expenses, the fees are increasing by $68,423. That's based on the existing permit requests that have been submitted. It should we all collect all of those in this fiscal year. And the total expenses have increased by $125,470. Most of that 115,000 is for the inspections. um also went through and evaluated how many outstanding inspections there were to be completed and if they all get completed in this fiscal year, that would be our cost. In addition to that, there's about $4,000 in training cost for um employees and the the board members and a little bit of benefits cost. So, the net change for planning and zoning is a reduction in assets of $57,000. But just as a note, for the full year, we're estimating revenues for planning and zoning to be right at 500,000 and expenses to be about 490,000.

So, we're about $10,000 to the good for this year, we think, on planning and zoning. Okay. We're just adjusting as as things happen since this was our first year dealing with that. Um, the next category are other revenue changes. We have a $11,500 change or an increase in revenues in the general fund. We signed an agreement with CSX mowing that they would pay us to keep mo the area around the uh railroads mode. So that's 8,500. And we've also started providing um the development signs so that we get those up in their standard um and so we we will incur the costs and then they will pay us for them. So just a pass through.

They'll pay us for the mowing and signs both. Well, CSX is the mowing and then the signs are the developers in town in new subdivisions. Okay. Okay. Make sense? Yes.

Okay. Um the next category are capital changes. We've had a few since the last amendment. Um we had a police vehicle that we needed to replace that the commission approved in last meeting. So that's an additional $64,000 of cost. We have completed the South College Street sidewalk project. We ended up being about $40,000 over the what we had budgeted. We ended up having to um pay more. We switched from asphalt to concrete for a lot of those driveways and the aprons as we finished that up. And several tiles when we got into and dug them up were damaged. Holes in them had to be replaced. So that's where the extra cost came from. That's partially offset. We had some funds in the storm water fund for tile that we will not be spending this year because we've done this project in the general fund. So they're in two different funds, but in total from a city perspective, it's an offset a little bit of about $10,000. Okay. Um we have some network equipment for the pavilion so that we'll have Wi-Fi out there. we had already entered into um a purchase order for that last year and I failed to make to roll it into this year. So that $8,000 was in last year's budget. I just needed to roll it forward. Um the next two items we came in slightly under on the capital project for the code enforcement vehicle and we're moving that over to the uh wagon trailer for the police station so that we have enough to cover that project. So, it's a it's a a wash in total between those two projects. And we're using 5,500 out of the contingency to put a server in the or an AC unit in the server room because we were overheating in there. So, it's moving just from one bucket to the other. No net change to

the fund. [clears throat] And then the cyber security project wrapped up. The last expenditure that we had in there was really a software purchase to help us monitor. So, it didn't meet the criteria to be in capital. So, we've moved it to um software expense. So, the total change in capital versus amendment one is $109,75. Um the next category are operational costs. In total, it's $108 $108,315. Um, going through this list, you'll see their utility costs have increased. We had a rate increase back in July, and I did not recognize that in the first amendment, so we're increasing the budget by about $16,000 to cover the additional electricity. Um, in a previous meeting, the commission approved for the AED units to be added to the police car. So, that's an additional 33,000. Um, CSX mowing, we just talked about the revenues. We also have the cost as we pay our outside mowing contractor to do that mowing for us. Um, with the changes we made, we replaced the roof at the city barn. And with that, the insulation that was installed isn't as effective in the winter as it is in the summer, which usually it's more of a heat issue there. But this winter with it being so cold, it it was the the bills were astronomical. And so we would like to put some new insulation in there. We've got one quote currently. Um we're getting a couple more to see if we can get a better price, but in total that's been built into this budget to do that. Um we have about $5,000 of additional training and travel for the police department. That's a combination of some training classes and um college work.

We've had some additional vehicle maintenance required. Um $8,600 in total is what we're adding. Um a lot of that went to the F350 I think in Daryl's department maybe that we had to do some made some repairs on just as we have aging equipment. Um overall we have about 15,000 additional in signs and street repairs. Both of those fall under that supplies category. So just some materials there. We've had about 5,000 added for new police uniforms with additional officers and turnover this year. And then all the other changes added up to about $1,700. And then the last category that we'll review are just other cost changes. The biggest thing there is the industrial authority property tax payment. Um we we collect the occupational taxes and the property taxes for the businesses in the the industrial parks and then based on our agreements with the industrial authority um 80% on some parks 100% on others goes back to the industrial parks. [clears throat] Um with the new industrial park stone given I missed including the property taxes that we collected for there. So those need to go out to the uh industrial authority. So, those we've already collected and now I need to pay them to the industrial authority this year. So, that was just an oversight on my part. Um, personnel and general fund, we're adding an additional $12,700. Um, that's a combination of overtime and on call. We've had more overtime. Um, part of it was due to the winter storms, but we've done we've done a lot of uh yard repairs and a lot of other things that were authorized this year that's increased the overtime. Um, and then life insurance has also gone up. Um, our

life insurance raised rates are based on our ages and so as people have aged, we've uh gone up in rates and that didn't get reflected in the original budget. And then the last one there is in community services and we've added $25,000 for the Jams Festival as a potential um spending. In total, those changes are 223,700, which brings the total proposed change to the 487 267.

Yes, if if we could. Um, and of course, we have we have Britney with us today, but she's not particularly on the agenda. the agenda to speak, but we we want to ask her to come back at our for our next meeting with more material. She briefed me also thinks that, you know, there was a potential opportunity for fundraising for the Boys and Girls Club, but we found out that, and she'll be able to address this a whole lot more detail, that they were, uh, they've been federally cut short, uh, of some of some finances and things and and so, uh, that money may be able to be utilized better towards that. Uh and again like I said at our next meeting she will be able to go into more details as to what that money can be used for. Uh so uh we would still like to hold that in there uh as a placeholder. Yes. Uh for that if uh if uh the commission so wishes to to pass it. Uh so uh we'll find out more at our next meeting as regards to that. That's okay.

Thank you. All right. Any other questions on any of the general fund changes? All right. If not, we'll go to page 115. This is just a a summary also of the general fund. I just want to point out the very um the line number one that says uh or sorry to number two, the budgeted operational revenue is 11,934. And then that first grouping are our normal expenses for the year. So for fiscal 26, we look like we're spending about 220,000 less than what we're bringing in in revenues based on our current estimates. Okay.

Then going on to page 116, this is the utility fund. Um in total, that first column, the change between amendment one and amendment two is $86,989 to the good. We're improving um in total the revenues are going up $126,000 and that is um a result of additional tap fees, lift station maintenance agreement and special projects that we are doing for customers. Um we have a lot of uh and commercial projects going on now. And so to make sure the right equipment is purchased um water distribution works with the the [clears throat] developers and decides what size vault they need, what size meters, how many meters and all of that. We purchase it. Jerry handles all that for us for that those parts. So what you're going to see is our costs have increased significantly down below but our revenues are increasing to offset that.

These fees tap fees is that is that related J is that related to to the growth uh residential building uh commercial all the growth that's taking place. Okay. Okay. Thank you. We don't budget for that at the beginning of the year because we have no idea how much there's going to be. So, these numbers are based on what we've already done this year. Makes sense.

Okay. The next category are capital changes. Um, in the first amendment, I had to roll several projects forward that didn't get finished last year, and I missed rolling the wastewater model. So, I need to roll that 20 about $25,000 forward into this year as we finish that up. The um Trent had a barcreen project planned for this year. We had split it between this year and next year in the original budget. Now, it looks like we need to bid the whole thing out as one unit. And we've opted just due to timing to try to get those bid documents done, get the bid out in June and then award it in July so it would fall into our next year's budget and then we can move forward with that project. So, this is taking it the expense or the money out of this budget and we'll put it into fiscal 27. Okay. So, that's saving us 300,000 this year. the um PAA project at the wastewater treatment plant. We had that in the budget, but we just did the uh the bid and that'll be brought to the commission in the next meeting to be awarded, but in total with the bid and the other components of the project, it's about $11,000 than we had in our original estimated budgets. So, we need to increase that. And then the lights um for the wastewater lift stations came in at about $3,000 under budget. So the total of those changes is less capital of $267,000. And then the next category is operational costs. So we've had um an increase in professional contract services. Part of this are more taps and leak repairs being done by our on call contractor. Um we because of the state inspection of the dam for the water treatment plant,

we have uh we're getting ready to contract with a professional to come in and look at that and give us some advice on what the state is is advising us to do so we can make a plan of what's needed. And the other half of the barn insulation is also in this number. We split that between the two funds because it houses both both sets of people down there, right? And then the rest of the increases you see there are really in supplies. So I've asked Trent if maybe he could uh help us out and explain all the changes, all the issues that we've had so far this year. the uh 024 52120 of the supplies equipment maintenance repair at the sewer plant. I know it's been a crazy year this year. We've had uh earlier in the year we had a grit pump that went out. So that's 2600 almost $2,700. We had a blower go out which was about $12,000. up. We had a gear box on uh our screw pump, one of our screw pumps that was $28,000. We had a flex coupling go out on our return pump, which was uh $11,700. And then we had a pillow block and bearing go out on on the same screw pump, which was another 6,500. So, um, and you all know this that we usually take, uh, our average of our last three years and that's what we put in the budget and we did this year, but it's just that's why we're asking for the increase just because of the maintenance there.

What's the other big one? The Z. Yeah, the Z and the clamps that used for water man. Yes, we used uh Jeremy probably can tell you exactly where the location was, but we used some clamps u that are very expensive on a water leak. When was that, Jeremy?

Yeah. 30inch clamps was 30 in long. So line splits, we can clamp it. We don't have a pipe and putting new pipe. We just clamp it and stop the leak. So, if we have to replace that, put that back on shelf just in case something else happens. Uh, and the 52515, the mirrors and again, uh, what Jeremy was talking about earlier in Windle, you had a question about all the growth, all these apartments, every water meter's got a on it, and we're just flying off the ship. So, it's just to replenish our birds. And that $118,000 increase for water distribution also includes $80,000 related to the tap fees and all those revenues that are up above. So that's the biggest chunk of water distribution.

Any other questions? Yeah.

And then um at the water treatment plant, we've had about a $4,000 increase um chemicals primarily and some tubing. Nothing major over there. Um, also we have an increase in the utility fund of about $19,000 for additional electricity costs based on the rate increase. And then other we had um some additional uniform costs and some additional training and travel coming down to a total increase in cost of $259,000 for operational. And then in the other category um we are required to pay interest on all the deposits we have on our meters. The PSC sets those rates at the beginning of every year and with I got hit with this last year where the rate jumped so much because interest had gone up so much and this so we estimated some increase in the budget this year but I've still missed it based on what the rate is set at now and the amount of deposits we have on hand. and I need to increase the budget by another $28,000 to apply interest income to those um interest expense for us on those deposits.

That make sense, Wendle? Not yet. Okay. So, if you come in and get a water meter, you have to put a deposit. Yes. Every year that we are holding that deposit, we are are increasing it by the interest that you've earned. So, yeah. How long are we How long are we to hold those? Uh, so you close out your account until customer. I know you did, right? Yes, I remember that. Yeah. Yes.

It's it's okay. It's it's a it's a mandate from the state that we have to do it this way and we can't get out of

it. And um overall increase in personnel is $18,000. We have increased overtime of 9,000. Um on call is the biggest hit. Um just with having some newer employees, not everybody can take on call. So water distributions had to handle more of that. So we have more cost in utility fund and less cost over on the general fund this year just the way it's falling. And also the life insurance cost increased about $4,000 there. So in total the change as I said is about an $87,000 pickup versus the last amendment. Any questions on any of the utility stuff?

Those are essentials we have to have, you know,

they are. Um, page 117 is also just a restatement in a different format for the utility fund. You'll see that the current year operating revenue is $7,581,000. And then if you take out our normal operating costs, we're about 27,000 to the good based on just normal operations, not all the big capital projects that are going on. All right, we'll move on to page 118. This is the cemetery fund. And if you go down to the bottom, that box is a summary of the changes. The total change is $751. Um, we are reducing the capital spending by 44,649 as we've finished up the cemetery building and we didn't need all the money that we had budgeted for that. We've had to add back 5,000 of that though as um for furniture. It doesn't qualify as the capital amounts. It's all small stuff, but we need to purchase some desks and chairs for the building. Um, we also are looking into digitizing the cemetery records. We have several books of information that some of it's very very old and would like to get that electronically. Uh, Brian Delk who has, you know, the Delks manage the cemetery for us. He has gotten one quote already on some software to digitize that and the software cost plus some cost to do the data entry. It we're estimating about $40,000. So, I've put that in this budget amendment. We would maybe like to get that started this year. We'll see if we can

We need to get that started. We do. We do. Um I know there's people who have bought plots that uh I mean for whatever you know the record keeping at the time they they've gotten lost and that I mean this is essential to get this done. Yeah. So, so that's what we're working towards. Okay.

Okay. So that's in this budget and then overall there was an additional $400 needed on the utility side. So those changes all net out to a increase in cost of $750. And then on page 119 is the storm water fund. Also going to the bottom the box at the bottom the total change is $600 additional cost. Um, we ended up we spent more on College Street with the storm water improvements that we had to do related to the sidewalk project. We had that in the budget, but it was in an expense category for projects or supplies. So, we're just moving that from one from the expense bucket over to the capital bucket. So, no net change to the fund. We had some other operational cost changes. Um, we had some equipment repairs offset by the tile that I explained that we used over in the general fund. So, that's a net pickup of 3,600. And then we've had about $4,000 additional cost in overtime that I need to budget for for this year based on the trends. And those all net out to $600. Any questions? If not, the remaining pages of that are just have the capital by project detail and the uh community services by detail and the ordinance in there. So with that, I would request two commissioners to sponsor the fiscal year 2526 budget amendment ordinance 20265.

I'll be a sponsor. You had your two Harold. Thank you. Thank you for that. Of course. A lot to go over. A lot of changes. From there, we will move on to public safety. We have anything. How about utilities? Trent. Okay. Moving on to ordinances and uh Miss Kathy Dillard will take those for us.

Thank you, mayor. We'll have second summary reading today of ordinance number 20260001, an ordinance amending a certain section of chapter 160 of the city of Franklin code of ordinances entitled property maintenance code enforcement relating to regularly scheduled meeting times. And I will need a first and second motion for approval. So move. We have a motion by Commissioner Pal. Second move. Second by Commissioner McCquary. And we'll have a roll call vote. Kathy. Mayor Dixon. Yes. Commissioner Pal. Yes. Commissioner McCra. Yes. Commissioner Stewart. Yes.

Commissioner Bush. Yes. And that ordinance passes unanimously. We'll have second summary reading of ordinance number 20260002 and ordinance creating a new section to be known as section 90.02 of the city of Franklin's code of ordinances relating to multifamily dwelling numbering and signage and amending section 90.99 to add penalties for violations. And I will need a first and second motion for approval. So move. Mayor,

we have a motion by Commissioner Stewart. Second second by Commissioner Powell. And we will go to a roll call vote. Commissioner Powell, yes. Commissioner Bush, yes. Commissioner McCra, yes. Commissioner Stewart, yes. Mayor Dixon, yes.

And that ordinance passes unanimously. And we'll have first summary reading of ordinance number 20260003 and ordinance reszoning approximately.45 acres on industrial drive from I2 heavy industrial district to R2 single family multif family as requested by JSC Enterprises Limited Partnership and Eric Lopez. And moving on, we will have first summary reading of ordinance number 20260004, an ordinance reszoning certain property located on John J. Johnson Avenue from R1 single family residential to R2 single family multif family to B3 neighborhood business district as requested by Charles McCutchen and wife Brenita McCutchen. And finally, we'll have first summary reading of ordinance number 20260005, an ordinance amending the annual budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025 and ending June 30, 2026 by estimating revenues and appropriations. This concludes first and or second summary reading of these ordinances. They will become effective upon passage and publication and will be available on the city's website. A full copy of any ordinance is available on request by contacting the city clerk at city hall during normal business hours.

Thank you very much, Kathy. You had a workout today. We do not need litigation. Do not have Okay. Okay. I um uh we will move on to executive session and that'll be under personnel and that will be discussions or hearings me what which might lead to the appointment discipline or dismissal of an individual employer member and that's under KRS618101F and I will need a motion to go into executive session. So move we have a motion by commissioner mccquary

second. Second by Commissioner Stewart. All in favor? I. Any opposition? And we now move into executive session.

Okay, I will need a motion to come out of the executive session. We have a motion by Commissioner McQuary, second by Bush. I believe I all in favor I. Any opposition? And we now move back to regular session. And I believe we do have one item to come before the uh Yes, sir. Mayor, we do. We uh need a motion to hire Major John Thompson as chief of police effective upon Chief Solomon's retirement of August 1, 2026. Motion, mayor. Okay, we have a motion by Commissioner Stewart. Second,

second by Commissioner McCquiry. Um, I'm sorry. What was I What did you just say? You just You just made the motion to hire I read the motion. I didn't make it. I I read the motion to hire John. All right. Sorry. Uh, all in favor? I I. Any opposition?

And that motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, we from here we'll move on to city uh city attorney reports. I do have something, mayor. I handed out to you all just a minute ago, a letter, as many [clears throat] of you know, and I've told several of you, including Commissioner Bush months ago, that I was a short timer. Uh, I did not know that Kenton was going to announce his resignation at the last meeting. However, that hope has no bearing on what I'm getting ready to say. Uh, with that, I'm going to read this letter into the record. I'm writing to provide the required 90 days written notice pursuant to my contract that I intend to retire as city attorney for the city of Franklin effected May 31, 2026. As of February 1, 2026, I've had the honor and privilege of serving as city attorney for 30 years. During the holidays and with the recent deaths of both my parents, I've had time to do some soularching and I've had and I've decided that I want to take more time for me, my wife, and my family. This has certainly not been an easy decision, but I do feel it is the right one for me at this this point in my life. With that, I want to thank you all and I appreciate the opportunity to have this job for as long as I am. With that, I'm through with my report. Well, I want to say to you, Scott, you have diligently served this community for many, many years, and you've done a great job. And it's uh regret, on my part, regretfully, that we uh uh get this retirement resation.

Oh, Commissioner Stewart, Mr. Powell. No, Stewart. Wait, he didn't have anything to say. Uh, no, just to echo uh um what you said, Mayor, in regard Scott and I'm sure, you know, weeks to come, we'll we'll probably together some things want to wait um dedication. Appreciate all of you. Long time.

We all be stepping away from

Thank you. appreciate you understand

uh feel the same way. We've had conversations um about that topic a lot. I think everybody at the point of their life for the reasons you gave you know probably need to move on but uh I agree known Scott for a long time his entire family and he has done I'll get into the detail Mr. Crabtree has brought a ton of funds in for Simpson Franklin, Kentucky, more than everybody will ever know from uh just different deals with uh businesses that has donated back to the community. uh as a whole, our city attorney probably hasn't costed us a penny his entire tenure if you look at what he's done for the city as far as tax funds and all the other endeavors that he's brought with. So, we appreciate it.

Thank you. I just want to again just say Scott, I can't begin to thank you enough and uh for all that you've done for the city of Franklin and uh I want to thank you personally for all that you've contributed to our community and again uh you you you've brought you brought a lot contributions. Commission, we don't agree on a lot of stuff. It's pretty obvious, but over 30 years, you there's been a lot of good that you have done. So, I appreciate

Powell. Well, Scott, and I go back a little farther than that. We probably go back 40 when I was chief police and his assistant comm. So, I probably know more than anybody in the city what he has done over those 30 years, how much he saved the city and and how much he's saved us. And I personally will say that this city is going to is going to miss him. His knowledge and his wealth and his connections is not going to be easy to replace. Say thank you, Scott, for all your dedication, love for this city. Thank you all very And with and with that I make a motion we adjurnn. Second.

Okay. We have a motion by Commissioner Pal to adjurnn and a second by Commissioner Bush. All in favor? I. I. Any opposition? And we now stand.