City Commission - Regular Meeting

And so you go

uh good morning everyone. Uh it's good to see each of you here this morning. Uh it's time to call the city uh uh Franklin City Commission to order. This is a regular meeting and we will ask uh uh Commissioner Jamie Powell to open us up with a word of prayer. Let us pray. Thank you Lord for another beautiful day. Thank you Lord for all the blessings of life that you bestow on us each and every day. Lord, we pray for a quick end for the conflict of Iran that's putting a burden on the American people. We pray for the ones the berieved, the ones that are sick, the ones that are shut in. We we pray, Lord, you'll just wrap your arms around them and comfort them as only you can. We pray for for our leaders at all branches of government. Now Lord, we ask you to come into this meeting, guide our hearts and our minds as we make important decisions that brings honor and glory to you and it's right for the citizens of Franklin. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Thank you, Commissioner Powell. Uh do I don't have anyone signed up to hear the public. Is there anyone here? If not, we will move on to approval of minutes. And that'll be approval of minutes of the April 2027, April 27, 2026 regular meeting and the approval of minutes of the April 27th, 2026 special call meeting and budget work session meeting. And uh I'm sure everyone's had an opportunity to look over those. Uh any comments or questions? Make a motion we approve them. Okay, we have a motion by Commissioner Powell to approve. Second, mayor.

Second by Commissioner McCquary. Are there any further discussion or comment? We'll have a roll call vote. Cassie, please. Commissioner Powell, yes. Commissioner Bush, no. Mayor Dixon, yes. Commissioner McCra, yes. Commissioner Stewart, yes. And that motion passes.

Thank you, Kathy. From here we will move on to recognitions and uh don't think we have any recognitions on schedule today. Uh under community services we have uh discussion regarding on street parking and uh at this point in time u I think John Zbrano has done some work on that and he's going to come and bring us uh bring some discussion to us on uh

yes thank you mayor. Um, at the last meeting it was brought up uh that there are some issues with on street parking and safety and I just want to uh kind of inform the commission that um it is something that gets brought up in our development meetings from time to time. Um so essentially we're putting together a plan to address this issue. Um we've started uh doing a GIS analysis of streets which are fairly narrow. Um, and

we're going to start looking at areas that have one side of the street that need to be looked at. You know, if it's uh, let's say 12t 15t street, uh, you probably don't want to park on either side of the street. Um, so there's two sides of the street where we need to look at no parking and then one side of the street, uh, no parking areas as well. So, um, we're going to essentially just highlight these areas and we're going to review it with the development team. that includes emergency services. Um, and we'll just kind of keep tackling that and uh then we'll move into implementation which involves paint and signs. Um, and then we'll work with law enforcement on actually carrying that out. So, um, we're still planning and everything, but I did want to let the commission know that we are working on it. So, when you bring uh things like that to our attention, we we take it seriously and try to address it. So, any questions? Yes. One um in the packet here these areas is red.

Yes. Is that all the are those are areas that's been identified? Those are areas that the street width is not necessarily uh ideal for on street parking. Now that said that doesn't immediately disqualify, you know, if it's a one way in one way out street where there's two homes. Um and obviously we don't want to focus our attention and efforts and infrastructure on that. Whereas if it's a main thoroughfare then that deserves significantly more attention. Um does that make sense? It it's coming. Anything anything decided by the development team and emergency management would be brought back to the commission before any actions are taken.

Correct. But the map that is presented in the in the agenda package today, is this is this does this encompass within the city limits, is this all the targeted areas where these problems exist?

Those are uh in fact areas that are city streets which have a width less than 16 ft. Um so two school buses would struggle to pass each other. Um if there were cars parked on that street um and let's say a firetruck needed to get through, there could be some issues. So, those are the areas we really want to strongly look at and review with the team and say, "Do we need to put some paint down? Do we need to put some signs down?" Um, so, and again, that's for one side of the street parking. If I narrow that down to both sides of the street, then we're looking at 12 ft or less, um, where we really just need to make sure nobody's parking on that street at all. Um, so and we'll kind of have discussions like this with the development team that includes, you know, all our utilities and and emergency management staff as well. So, and Carol's included as well. So, tells us how many signs we can afford. So,

any other questions? No, I don't have any. Thank you, John. Thank you, Jeff. Absolutely. John, thank you. That's something we'll continue working on and uh try to help help that situation down the road. Thank you. uh move on to general government and under general government will be discussion or possible action regarding the pilot program for youth development area and I believe we have uh Scott Crabtree may want to speak to that and I have some people I'm going to start off

if you all recall this advisory group that was formed as part of the comprehensive plan and look at their name the housing advisory came a few months ago, presented a plan for a development for smaller housing. Uh we had enough interest in it that we met with some of them on a couple of different occasions. We've gone further drilled down uh the last few meetings and myself, Richard Jones, Carter Mundy, which ended up with what you have in your book. What I have done is well I say me all I did was proof it and correct some typos but Richard and Carter put together text amendments and kind of the the details of this along with working with the the developers that are that proposed to do this. We've never done this before, gentlemen, and we don't know for sure if it'll work, but it's a desperately needed problem in Franklin and Simpson County to have affordable housing. And not just section 8 housing like the housing authority has to provide a great service and they will be a part of this development. But we need affordable housing, not only for firsttime home buyers, but also for elderly and other folks that are just truthfully too strapped to be able to afford the $250,000 plus dollar houses, which is the entry point for most people in this market area. So, we've put this plan together. What I

Sorry, I didn't hear what it was. I hit the question or

No, I just hit the thing on my phone. Sorry. So what what I have done is other communities in Kentucky have have done pilot type programs. Not quite nobody's done anything like this, but I put together a pilot program ordinance that will create this type of of development one time for this particular development only for a period of two years. The developers will have the two years to start the project, see if it's viable. If it's not, obviously, they can walk away and redo their development and they'll have to go to a different way of handling it. If it's viable, we finish it on up and then after two years, if you guys see that this successful project, we can open it up to have more of these around the community. But to start with, because we we truthfully are struggling with whether this is going to work, whether it's not going to work, and and trust me, we think it will. We have high hopes on every bit of this. We wanted to start with one and move on. With that being said, I don't want to talk it to death anymore. You guys know I like, but I'm going to turn it over to Theres Rushing. She's one of the members of this advisory committee. She'll introduce others that are going to come talk. Take it away, Theres.

Thank you, Scott. Um, and actually he did a great job of what I came here to say.

Remind you all of who we are. We've been working on this for a couple of years. We started with comprehensive plan and our group got put together and right away we knew that it was a special group of people that we could actually get something done. Um, we questioned our timing for a little while and now we have opportunities that we didn't have um, in recent past and we're super excited about what we can do what we can do from here. Um Wendell, the last time we were here, you said in the the people that spoke right before us, you said, "How do we keep our police officers here?" Well, the way we keep these people here and part of our community is give them a path to home ownership. And that's what we're trying to So, I'm going to turn it over to my girls that have my friends here have all the all the facts.

I'm uh Dana Hester, executive director of Habitat for Humanity and live here in the city of Franklin. Um just wanted to kind of I'm not going to go we gave you a whole bunch of information in your packets um because we are kind of privy to a lot of research um you know I went was sitting at a state conference and um they were talking about the housing issues of course because that's hot topic for us and um whenever they showed different maps and Simpson County was hit number one on hey about to have a crisis of course that caught my attention um and so um just wanted to bring and then it just so happened that was the same time that this I wasing and I would just pass off the information and somebody else would do the work. But um unfortunately I was put on this uh you know with these group of people and they all had you know similar ideas and had the same kind of hey what do we do to fix it and we really want to have a solution. As Habitat we do not have the funding to be able to do developments this large on our own. And so we've got to have some help. Um but it's not just Kentucky Housing that came in with this research and the conferences that I attended. We dug deep into Kentucky League of Cities, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, and every time we would go to the I go through the information um through the Kentucky Legislative Task Force, and get to the end on the number one solution, it was to reform zoning and have some smaller lot sizes as part of it. It's not the we don't want it to be the end all be all, but we want it to be, hey, part of it. Can we try this? Can we do this in a select um property? As ev as Scott said, um not everybody can qualify for section 8 and the housing authority only has so many units. So, how do we get these people um that are in our community um that are in the workforce an opportunity for home ownership or rentals, both? I'll let

Adrian R. So, hello everyone. Um I'm Adrien Mcn. Um like Mr. Prepry mentioned we have presented here before but we're at a much further development piece in the overall project and are very excited um to hopefully get your support as we try to move forward forward with this as a viable solution for this terrible you know affordable housing crisis that we are in. Um they did research several years ago through Kentucky Housing Corporation um noting like Dana said that we're about to be at the top of the list um across the state for affordable housing gaps. Um meaning that there is more need than there is supply. Um and as we know um with the homes that are being built, not much is going for less than the 250 300 range. Um, so you have a lot of people in the low to moderate and middle class and income range that are all fighting for the same homes and supply and demand. Obviously, we know those that have a little bit more room in their budget are the ones that win out in those fights. So, it still leaves those um in the lower brackets just at a huge disparity. Um, and we are just really trying to make sure that we have options for those people. As Dana mentioned, I work for the housing authority. I'm the assistant director there. I actually joined this committee shortly after becoming um an employee there. But I had filled out the um Franklin Forward survey when I moved to Franklin four years ago and was excited to just find ways to um just become a contributing member of the community, really learn where I was living um and help any way that I could. I came from Nashville um and I saw how quickly it grew. Of course, I'm not trying to compare Franklin to Nashville, but um we are in um a very big need and um really

trying to to meet that as quickly as possible. So, with this group, um I've just been so impressed with the other team members that we have. Like Teres said, um we've got people from all different areas. Um and our common goal is to have this affordable option for our community members so that they don't have to go elsewhere. We don't have high schoolers graduating who have to move to Bowling Green or other areas because there's just nothing here for them. Um, you know, a a single mom with a couple kids shouldn't have to find a roommate in order to afford housing. Um, we see things like this every day where I work. Um, and it's just it breaks my heart to know that we've got we've got land, we've got specs, we've got all of this work that we've done for over the past two years in order to get to this point. And so that's why I'm just so excited and in so much support of this opportunity to present this to y'all so that you can hopefully help us move forward with this. Thank you so much. My name is Josh Jones. Uh I'm going to speak to you with uh in two parts today. one being a member of the advisory group uh which we have an awesome group. There's several members on here that uh like she said we've got all aspects of u you know different different type business uh engineer home builders uh housing authority habitat uh there's some other you know uh just public members that are on that group as well. We want to thank you for considering this new amendment for the residential zoning. I repeat again, we've put in a lot of work and time on this idea. Uh we've met with the planning and zoning board, various city officials tried to make this simple and easy for the city and planning and zoning both, not only to embrace the idea, but to stay in control from day one. Uh we spent a lot of time trying to bulletproof this amendment in

a sense so it can't be manipulated in a way that all developers in the future uh would take this amendment and you know just try to put every every size home on this small lot. You know I think a lot of uh if you if you look at planning and zoning I think a lot of the R1 and R1S uh I'm not aware of an R1 subdivision that's been created ever since R1S uh came along. So, we've set some of the uh stipulations between u you know, normally you have a minimum square footage in a development. Uh you don't have a maximum. Nobody sets maximum because you don't want to limit yourself. We've limited it here for that. Impervious lot coverage. Uh a lot of aspects that kind of, you know, give you guys actually it's it's your call whether you let go in a certain area. it gives you more checks and balances to whether it works in that room. Um, as a developer, I won't speak on this side on Kelly and uh, Kelly Gregory and my behalf. We feel this property location suits the idea. We are confident we can work through this project from start to finish with the city to keep both of our interests a priority. We, as builders, see our younger generation following behind us, simply not able to afford $2,000 plus per month for a starter home. the starter home has moved beyond what they can simply afford. Uh that's why you see a lot of the aplex apartments, duplexes, things like that. Again, it's not a cure all. This is something that is going to be an addition for the pe people that can qualify to own a home versus paying rent for another 10 years before they finally, you know, cross that threshold. The gap between multif family apartment rental rates and starter homes is roughly $800 to $1,000 a month in most cases, which is why you see so many of those being built. Inflation, infrastructure, and land cost have driven our cost up considerably in the last 5 years, which is why we're here

today. Uh try to find a way to give these folks an affordable option. Uh which has to start with cheaper lots. And the only way you're going to any developer comes in here any the only way you're going to have cheaper lots is to have smaller lots. Land cost isn't going down. Uh infrastructure, you know, there's a lot of things in uh just myself and the Lachland subdivision, Magnolia, uh Williamsburg, um you know, the requirements now to try to bulletproof it for the city's interest, you know, for infrastructure long term is higher and higher every day. Obviously, those get passed on down to the consumer. you know, those pass through me. It's not a cost I pay and you still, you know, you you can't eat that. U occasionally we find some infill lots in Franklin that are exactly the size that we previously already had. A lot of the ones on I mean just to name a few streets, Breard Street, Maze Lane, uh you get over into some of the u um I'm sure some in Highlands, you can find something in that. A lot of the older sections of town, you're going to find some real skinny lots. really are almost impossible to build on, but they were super deep. So, what we envision as a house that is a starter home is this sprawled out 12-,400 ft² with a garage and we've left our grassroots of 20 years ago. It was nothing to have 1,000 to,200 foot without a garage and that was affordable to everyone. But because of the compound factor of everything, now we're at $250, $275,000 as an entry point, and that's just simply too high. You're not going to get your younger generation, even if they get married and both have a good job, it's hard to find if they're able to do that. Um, we know this won't repair all of our problems in affordable housing, but it's a step in the right direction. Um, I'm going to stop right here and let you guys ask away for um any questions as

advisory group or if you have questions as for Kelly and I as developers. Let let me first of all I'm not sure do you all know where this located remember where we talked about on North Street? Uh most people know where the all the power lines cross over. uh it'd be the section on the south side of North Street that'll back up to the uh community cemetery.

And so creatively where the power lines go across, they're using that for the green space that we need by necessity under our under our current regulations. Uh also we we kind of beat this around. We've taken off-road parking as much as we can off and made driveways that weren't originally the concept was to have on-road parking. Both Richard and Carter kind of really didn't like that concept. So, we we fixed it to where you wouldn't have as much of that. You still may have a little, but you do that even in Westview Heights or other subdivisions. You still got some onroad parking occasionally when people have parties and stuff like that. Uh but the big factor here is that who the developer in this particular type of project will keep control of who builds in there. There will be restrictions to where everything's going to look decent because it's to every it's in everybody's best interest to make this thing work and to make it long-term aesthetically pleasing as well. So with that, I'm going to turn it back over to you, Joe.

Yeah, I I'll I'll add this. I think as a developer um I would I think you'd be hardressed to find anyone and I think you know myself and I'm speaking on Kelly's behalf too. Um most developers are not going to want to give you guys the upper hand to pull the rug out from an underest street if this doesn't look and work the way you want it to work as well. Most developers are going to want to come in, give you a design, and then essentially you guys get out of it and let us do our thing. That's how it's viewed. We want to We've spent a lot of time in about two years now working on this, talking, kicking it back and forth, advisory group, um, you know, getting together and trying to brainstorm how to bulletproof this thing enough that it won't be manipulated in the future. And I'm sure there's something we're going to figure out uh that we need to add to um you know that we need to change something you know something in the amendment that because somebody will figure out a way to try to manipulate it. But I think this make trying to create a new zone I think will open it wide open and you won't have the control anymore. Uh go ahead.

Will be HOA news. There will be HOA. Yes. Yes. I've discussed with some people that's you know even though my first one was 1200 square feet but uh at first I was skeptical this is a good plan I if you have HOA it's going to remain nice and yes I have to worry about that

I look at this as you know the HOAs now that we're we're required on any development HOA is great but it's only as good as the people that are members of the HOA and the people that will want to enforce it. What the HOA to me does, the way I view it, is it gives the city the right to go in and enforce the HOA in the time that you don't have an active HOA group in that subdivision and at least gives the city, you know, the right to go in and make, you know, make it what it's supposed to be when you file that HOA and you have the restrictions for it to where previously without the HOA, I know a lot of people it gets a bad rap. It can go too far. HOAs can always get uh you know somebody that's on a a power flip that wants you know they they want the they want the power to make everybody do what they want but an HOA is definitely can be used for the good you know as long as it's not you know overbearing and you don't go too far with it you know nobody wants to be controlled on their personal property but in a sense in a subdivision this it's a good thing

so let let me let me tell you all conceptually how that is going to work from a planning and zoning standpoint and from the city standpoint. They're proposing to do a street or two to start with to see if this works. Uh long term they probably I'm sure they hope it work. They know it's going to work. I think we know it's going to work.

But anyway, to go the rest to go to do the rest of the project. However, we are not going to create a zone a specific zone type for these small lots yet. We might down the road if this works well, but for now, what will happen is that this will be this will go to planning and zoning as a planned residential development to get a conditional use permit for these particular lots for again for a period of two years. So, what needs to happen today? If the commission is good with this in general, of course, you all don't pass this. We send it over to planning and zoning for a public hearing on these text amendments just like we've done other things in the past. They will have this public hearing. They'll flesh out whatever issues they have. Assuming they recommend it, it will be kicked back over to you guys for an ordinance and I went ahead and put the ordinance because this is a first for us. So, I want to go ahead and make sure that I I had put it together. You know, I'm a I'm a short timer. So, I wanted to get it put this whole project plan together before I left because I'm I'm telling you, I'm excited about it. Uh, I hear one of the biggest complaints in this community is people can't afford to live here and I think this in that regard.

Yeah, I I think our I'll add to that the the cost that we are uh, you know, going to go to, you know, now for most everybody in town, uh, if you go to any of the newer subdivisions that are R1 or R1s, I mean, your entry point is 55 $60,000 for a lot. You know, we're we're hoping to obviously we're condensing the lots down to a size that, you know, your main infrastructure cost of your main water lines, your main sewer lines, your main street curbs, those aren't going to change. But more lots per acre per, you know, per street starts bringing that infrastructure cost down to where it's manageable in this smaller house size because your house is going to cost, it doesn't matter whether you go, you know, you buy 5 acres out here and you put this house, the house and the structure itself is going to cost the same. It's what the profit margin that the devel developer and home builder wants to take and what your lot cost is going to be on top of that of whether you can make it affordable. And you know now you know our our projected lot price we're going to be in the $ 35 $40,000 per lot range. And then you know like I said before your current starter house payment is $18 to $2,200 a month depending on whether you escrow anything. Uh our projected house payments are going to be anywhere from 11 to 1,700. Of course, that's ranging between 750 square feet up to 1,200 f feet. U again, this gets back to something that's affordable, you know, to the person that's renting. In a lot of places, there's a lot of new houses that a lot of us in town, you know, will build as threebedroom and you're renting for 15,600 $100 a month. You can keep those full easy. There's just not enough of them. And I think there's a lot of young people that will qualify for something like that. It just it hurts to see 22, 23 year old, 24 year old kids coming out of college that can't afford a house in your county. So, they go to another county and you never get those guys back. They create a life in another county. So, if you want to retain some, this this is a way to dip your toe in it. I'm I'm going to say it real simple. You can dip your toe in it. We're open

to whatever advice, things that you like, that you don't like, that you want us to change. We're asking for section one, which is the first street along with section two. But between section one and section two, we'll come back to planning and zoning. And if we need to change anything before that's allowed to, you know, to, you know, give us the 30 lots on section one, then for the 30 more lots in section two, we have to come back and ask your permission. What changes do you want to make? You know, this two years,

I encourage you guys to go look at this. Make sure it's what you envision it to be. I know we're going to have Carter and Richard looking at it and and making sure it comes together the way we have tried to plan it and envision it. We have spent a lot of time on this trying to bulletproof it best we can just so somebody can't take it. Some some developer can't come in from California and blow our models and make this, you know, make real cheap housing look bad. Uh we've we've spent a lot of time on it. So, with that being said, do you all have questions, comments? The the recommendation or or the what you will have to do today is make a motion to send this over to planning and zoning for a hearing. That's all we're asking for today. It'll ultimately have to come back to you for final approval.

Mayor, I I don't have I don't have a question. I just have a comment. My comment is this. Uh, you know, I want to your your committee. I want to thank you for your efforts.

Yeah. Uh, you know, it sounds like that this is possibly a risk he possibly may be taken. Uh, and you know, I I I know that probably a large majority of the time that I've been elected, one of the things I've continually heard over the years is affordable housing. Now, you you back up eight years and maybe it was affordable then compared to now for sure. So, you know, for you guys to be able to work with us in a way to that we can address this uh you know, I commend you for that. And obviously if we do this and this work then maybe that I'm not saying that building apartment buildings and things like that something that needs to just stop or whatever but at least it's an option now for those who can't afford uh a home and you're giving them an opportunity to do this. So this group thank you for doing this. Uh I I I I really appreciate it uh cuz this will definitely be something now addressing this community and and you know now we have something we can actually say yes we're we're really working on it. Not not procrastinating about it but we're actually making it happen. So thank you. Well, and let me let me we we did not clarify this for, you know, the press and the public.

Yes, there will be private developers that start this, but also these ladies that got up here and spoke, they're part of this as well. Franklin affordable Habitat for Humanity. This is a community effort. Absolutely.

From a lot of different sources. It's not just a single source of effort necessarily. So, uh, now I what I appreciate is that Josh and Kelly are willing to start this and they're willing to try to make it look as good as possible going forward to make it successful. Uh, it it takes these two gentlemen to to really push this with their funding and they're the ones with the financial risk on the lines. So, with that, I wanted everybody to know it is a it is a global effort from a lot of different entities that are working toward this. I just want to express my appreciation for the effort that you all have put into this. It's a real need in our community. Having served on the uh housing authority board for 16 years, we I I really realized the u the uh the the help that's needed there. And I remember a couple of years ago when you all did come and uh bring this to us to start this discussion to bring it to where it is today. and I think it's a great opportunity for our community and uh I will entertain a motion then to send it over to PNC for approval of

second. We have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? All in favor? I I. Any opposition? And that motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all again for the effort that you put into this. Okay. Uh moving on. Uh we have a lot of ground to cover today. So we're going to under general government move on to discussion or possible action regarding solid waste franchise bids. And I believe Carol wants to speak to that at this point.

Yeah. Basically I'm going to say we're not going to cover this today. We uh we got the last of the an answers to our questions on Friday morning and I just on budget stuff did not have time to push it through and and come up with a solid solution. Um we're going to meet with the county just with judge executive on Friday kind of see where they are since it's a joint decision and then we'll present it next Monday in our special call meeting and the county will also do it in their fiscal court meeting also and hopefully we can move forward at that point.

Thank you Carol. Uh moving on uh we will have a discussion or possible action regarding barge design solution contract amendment for water treatment plant project and Carol is going to speak to that and uh

so a few months ago we awarded um this project to barge for the water treatment plant for the main breaker and switchboard replacement. At that point in time, Kenton was here and he was planning to do the oversight as an electrical engineer, but obviously this got delayed a little longer than we thought to get the equipment and everything. So now Kenton is not available to do that. Um, so what we're asking is that uh we sign or approve this contract amendment that's attached. The additional amount that's due to barge or will be due is $18,700 to oversee the construction part of that project. We had discussed it in the first when we originally discussed it that we would leave that out as Kenton was capable of doing that. So with him leaving though we don't have that option now. So ask that you approve amendment one for the water treatment plant substation rehabilitation contract and authorize the mayor to sign the contract amendment and any other documents required for the project. question.

As you all know, this was a portion that Kenton was going to cover and since he is no longer here, that falls back that falls back to this proposed action. And so,

I'm I'm not electrical guy. So even though we've bid the project out to get that done and it's going to be inspected, we have to have somebody still to oversee the Yeah. Whenever we have barge, maybe Trent can talk to this better. Whenever we have an engineering firm that helps us bid things out and get the right contractors in, they still oversee the projects for us because they're the experts that's in every one of the contracts. In this one, we just excluded it because Kinton was capable of doing that. more in time to spend on that one project.

Hold the develop or the contractors on the cost. They do all that questioning and making sure we're not paying for something we didn't get. It It's a critical action. Thank you. You have heard the proposed action. Do I have a motion to that? So move, Mayor. We have a motion by Commissioner Stewart. Second, Mayor. Second by Commissioner McQuary. Is there any further discussion or comment? And we'll have a roll call vote. Okay, please. Commissioner Stewart, yes. Commissioner McCra, yes. Mayor Dixon, yes. Mr. Bush, yes. Commissioner Pal, yes.

And that motion passes. Thank you, Kathy. under general government. Uh moving on, uh will be discussion or possible action regarding cancellation of the May 2025 2026 regular meeting and the and this is uh falling on Memorial Day and uh as uh as that falls on Memorial Day, we will be asking for cancellation of that particular meeting date. Yes, exactly. Right. Just asking that you guys cancel that meeting on May Monday, May 25th in observance of Memorial Day holiday. Make that motion. Okay, we have a motion by Commissioner Bush. Second.

Second by Commissioner Powell. Any further discussion? All in favor? I I. Any opposition? And that motion carries. Okay, moving on. under general government will be discussion and a possible action regarding subdivision street lights. And Carol, you want to bring that to us for

Yes. So, I don't know if everybody's aware, but in uh most of the city subdivisions inside the city are served by EPB, and those individuals get um the city pays for those street lights. We pay directly to EPB. Now, as we've expanded, part of our inside city subdivisions are covered by Warren RCC. The way Warren RCC has always handled it is they put it on the individual homeowners property tax bill. So now we have two situations within one neighborhood, even on the same street, that you have to pay for your street lights and I don't have to. So what we're trying to do is remedy that. So Kenton had reached out to Warren RCC to give us quotes on what that would take. Um and so what you've got listed in your memo are the streets that are either already or the sections of subdivisions that are already being served by Warren RCC like in Windsor Park. Some of those sections are fully completed and then there are several others coming on or in place now but we would take over the payments in January. the people who are already paying for it, they've paid their property taxes this year and we'll take it on next January with the new property tax year. So, those are listed here. The total is about $3,800 a month that we would be taking on. Most of those start in January and we'll just do those like we do the EPB. We'll pay pay directly each month.

So, that's the way it's always been done as as far as with RAC. if you were in there. Uh well, and I and I know the there's different I know that the the power uh supply has has already been established. Um people's always have to pay for that. Well, I think most of what R that we're in RAC has is like where I live, it's out in the county, so I pay for a pole light at our house and so I've been paying for that all along. But now that that the city has continued to expand, we're out into those areas and now they're subdivisions. So we need street lights. So yeah.

So I mean so sounds like that's uh the city versus county. It's a service city provides. Yeah. Yeah. For it for the res for the customers. Yes. Yeah. Okay. So, what I'm asking is that you approve for the city to pay for theCC lighting charges listed on that memo as well as any future inside city subdivision lighting provided by Warren RCC. We have to do that. Okay, we have a motion by Commissioner Stewart. Second, second by Commissioner McCra. I need to discussions or

we amend that motion. It also needs to authorize me to all they need is an email back and so that's just the easiest thing. We don't have to actually sign it. They'll consider an email from me to approve it. As long as you guys approve this motion, I'll to manager signs off. Yes. All right. You second that still, Commissioner McQuary. Okay. Any further comments or questions?

I do have one. It kind of pertains somewhat to this, Carol. Um, I don't know if it still holds water or not, but in the past years, the county receives state funding for highways. And I'd heard that they didn't always spend it all. When you see him Friday, would you just mention that? I don't I at one point somebody told me they could give that to the city if they didn't use it all for funding for roads. Roads matching. It's a matching type deal. Just mention it to him if you would. Okay. Sure. Do you remember, Scott? Oh, I'm well aware of the formula and how it works. Yes. Explain please.

Um, currently the cities get the last I saw about 19% of our road budget needs where the counties get about 112. Okay. Uh, that was why we came up with the road allocation formula in Frankfurt for the division of the highway tax monies. It has not passed yet. We're still working that way through the legislation, the legislature, and it just doesn't hasn't worked. I don't know of any mechanism short of a an interlocal agreement where the county could give the money to us, but certainly they could if they wanted to. Uh my

guess would be ask them to give it away. If they're not going to use it though, that's that's my point. Is it available if they didn't use it all? You haven't I've been told it was in the past. I I have no idea about the county's budget and whether they talk about it at some point. Thank you. Any further comment or questions? Roll call. We do that. Mayor Dixon, yes. Commissioner Pal, yes. Commissioner Stewart, yes. Commissioner Bush, yes. Commissioner McCra, yes. And that motion passes. Thank you. Do that. We have to do that.

Okay. Moving on. Under general government discussion and a possible action regarding resolution approving a municipal road aid. And uh Carol will speak to that to us. Also,

speaking of road aid, we got we got the agreement a week or so ago and the amount that the state will be providing next year is $195,8514, which is a reduction of $43,000 from what we were awarded this year. But to be honest, I don't think we're going to receive all of that. We've gotten notification because the gas tax that's that's been collected has reduced. So it'll be tred up when we get our final payment which is after the end of the fiscal year. So um that's going down at 238 this year. It's projecting 195 next year. Um which to be honest that covered about 30% of what we've spent on paving is all we're we're now up to covering 70% of our paving costs in the city and that's coming out of the general fund. The the numbers I mentioned were average across the state by the way

the 19 and 112. Yes. And yes, there will be changes. We've heard that because the governor put a moratorium on the gas tax during the war in Iran. So that's going into effect today by the way. So it will lessen it will affect our local contributions.

Okay. So, uh, we need a motion to approve a motion to approve the municipal road a cooperative program agreement for fiscal year 2026 2027 and adopt resolution B number 220 220 2026 and further authorize the mayor to sign the agreement resolution and any and any and other documents necessary to participate in the rural and municipal aid program FY 2026 2027. Seven. So move. Do I have a motion to that effect? So move. We have a motion by Commissioner Pal. Second. Second by Commissioner Bush. Uh any further comments or questions?

One question. Have is there a list that's already been uh determined what's going to be paid for this current fiscal year? Yeah, we've done most of them. We just have a couple left to go. Um we are working on the OCI currently which is the overall condition index where we evaluate each of our roads and um hopefully by the time we get through this the end of this fiscal year we'll have those roads identified so we can start paving in the fall. Okay. We're doing that each evaluation in the late winter early spring and then look at it for the next Could you give it you provide that? Yes please. I can. We always We always have. I think I think you forgot to send it one time.

Oh, I didn't realize we always did that. Last year was the first time I've ever sent it. Typically, we do. Typically, we do. Yep. I can send that list. It wasn't. It's the roads list, right? Yes. Yeah. Can you send the one from last year? One from last year. I don't think I've gotten that one. Fiscal 25 as well as fiscal 26. Yes, ma'am. Okay, we'll do. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further comments? Uh, Kathy, will you have a roll call vote, please? Commissioner Pal, yes. Commissioner Bush, yes. Mayor Dixon, yes. Commissioner McCra, yes. Stewart, yes.

And that motion passes.

Okay. Thank you, Kathy. Okay. And at this point, uh, as all of you re remember last meeting, we, uh, we, uh, made a motion to hire Amanda East as our city attorney going forward. And, uh, and we, uh, were also, uh, in the process of of preparing a contract for Amanda. And that contract has been prepared and sent to me, and everything everything looks good. And uh I guess at this at this point in time I would ask for a motion to approve to approve the ratifica approved signature for her contract.

So we'll need a motion to approve the contract and to authorize your signature and that was sent to all of the commissioners last week. I'll make that motion. Mayor comment too. We have a motion by Commissioner McQuiry. Second. Mayor second by Commissioner Stewart. Uh comments. Um, let let me say one thing real quick. Uh, it will be available to view. Uh, we just could not did not need to disseminate it until you all approved it for obvious reasons. Still a negotiable document. So, you're telling me to be quiet at the moment until we get Oh, no. No. I mean, depends on what you're going to say.

Um, just the general concept I think changed a little bit. Yeah, a two-year agreement is what it is at the moment. Um, I support that. I think it's to be fair, you take on a high level job of that nature of the city, there's an adjustment period. I know that's happened to me before in the past. I wasn't not saying that you won't. I wasn't really affected for the first 6 months, although that's not going to be the case attorney. Just want to make that clear. So, to be fair, I think anybody that's willing to change their whole livelihood and take on a new task for our city is a huge challenge and I appreciate you want to do it. I've got complete confidence in you. So, I was all for it. I just wanted to be known that.

And I did not come up with that. That was suggested to me by a commissioner. uh to put that in there. I mean I mean I can appreciate that perspective, but I just think that you know we had talked about one year in the the last executive session. So it was kind of a surprise when it came out that it was two years. It's also got four-year renewals and 180day termination. So and it's also written so that it makes it harder for the next administration to leave Miss West. So or east, sorry. I didn't hear the first part of yours. you you don't talk about it. The um I'm sorry. The um what we'd spoken about in the last executive session was that it would be a one-year contract. So,

and like I just said, I did not have anything to do with that. I'm just And what was the other issue? Uh the the uh there's auto renewals that are triggered. Um, there's the 180 day, which I mean, I can understand the 180 day, but it looks like it kind of hamstrings us a little bit uh if a new if a new commission gets picked to try to release Miss East. So, get it. But I just feel like it's not beneficial to to the residents or the in all all fairness, the 180 days. No, I get that. I mean, that's I put that in there. Mine was 90 and we have struggled to make this transition in 90 days.

Sure. It it really struggled as Carol can tell you. I mean, I'm getting pulled in every different direction to try to get this done in 90 days. I mean, I get that part. I just think, you know, it's just not really what we discussed on some aspects. The one year aspect is kind of the big one that kind of jumped out at me, but I get it. I understand. Hey, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Kathy will have a roll call vote. Commissioner Stewart, yes. Commissioner McCra, yes. Mayor Dixon, yes. Commissioner Bush, no. Commissioner Powell,

yes. And that motion passes. Okay. And and gentlemen, if I may, I would like for the mayor to sign that agreement before executive session. Otherwise, Miss East will not be able to enter executive session and we will be discussing things that will be passed on to her since this is my last meeting. So, if it's okay with you, I would like to get that done where she's legal to come. Thank you. Okay, we will move on to public safety. I don't believe we have anything under public. Yeah. Thank you, Mayor.

Discussion or possible action regarding the 2026 Haida. It's a subword agreement and John will speak to that and uh uh John, I guess there you might want to uh kind of explain what Haida is too or what they do and in your

So, as you know, this is something that we have to visit revisit every year. Um it's just it's hire is allocates $19,000 for funds for the agents that we have assigned to them. So this year uh for 2026 on this agreement, it should be in your book if I'm not mistaken. Uh of course this will be our seventh year that the police department has received this award uh of funding due to being a participating agency with the uh drug task force. Again, this one has gone up to $57,000 this year, and that's because we have two full-time agents assigned to the uh drug task force, as well as our K9 unit. Uh they utilize uh that team quite often. So, they've been assigned there part-time when they're needed. Uh so, they're also going to allocate $19,000 pay help us with overtime for them as well. Uh for a total again of $57,000 due to Haida. Um, this will be monitored and tracked as is every year by pro task force director Jack

and then it's going to be submitted to our finance director uh for documentation and reimbursement. Is there any questions? If not, I'll move pass to the motion. Yes, sir. This is a general question. Seems like to me the last five years I know three or four years we had a big problem. A lot of drugs coming through Gallon Portland up this way is what I heard. But I I have noticed that it hasn't been as repetitive. Is that is that accurate? It just shows that that this is working. A lot of this is uh Yeah. Yeah. So it just shows to hear from you though.

Yeah. So I mean you still have your Franklin is no different than a lot of you know anywhere else in the United States right now. Drugs always crime. There's a reason that we're always going to have agents like this. It's a war that you can't win. We are just fighting to keep it under control. Right. and and having Haida and a task force like this, it leads to being able for our agents to be working undercover. Um, not what the average officer, it's not taking them off the street. These people are assigned to it. They specialized in it. They're trained in it, which leads to having lower drug or I would say major drug issues in our community. You know, it's going to have it. I'm not naive to that, but uh they are doing a great job on fighting it. Um, and I as you've mentioned, sir, I think it's showing. Um, so yes, sir. Is

this what Jerry D used to do back in like early 2000s when he was at the state? I do believe so. Yeah. Through Desi. Yes. Yeah. So, if there's no other questions, uh, my motion would be just to enter into the 20 uh 26 um hide a subboard agreement and authorize the mayor to sign the agreement and any other necessary documents that's required for participating in this program. And this is an ongoing thing that we Yes, sir. This would be, and correct me if I'm wrong, uh, Mr. Crabtree, our seventh year consecutive at this, you know, I could Okay, I believe it's at least seven years.

Might be longer. I think it's been longer, but we have a motion by Commissioner Bush and a second by Commissioner Powell. Any further discussion? All in favor? I I any opposition and that motion carries. Thank you, John. Yes, sir. Okay. Uh moving on to utilities. Uh Trent, any nothing. Okay. Ordinances. And I believe we have a couple ordinances passed for you to

Thank you, Mayor. today of ordinance number 2026009 and ordinance enacting and adopting a to the code of ordinance of the city of Franklin Kentucky and I will need a first and second motion for approval. I move we have a motion by commissioner Bush Mr. Pal, I'm sorry, Commissioner Pal. Hard second. Second by Commissioner Stewart. We'll have a roll call vote on that. Kathy. Mayor, yes. Commissioner Bush, yes. Commissioner McCra, yes. Commissioner Powell,

yes. Commissioner Stewart, yes. And that ordinance passes unanimously. And we'll have second summary reading of ordinance number 2026010. An ordinance reszoning certain property located on Brown Road from I2 Heavy Industry to B4 Highway Business District as requested by James A. Manning and Gail H. Manning Living Trust. And I will need a first and second motion for approval. Motion move. I have a motion by Commissioner McQuary. Second. Second. I did.

Commissioner Bush, we'll have a roll call vote. Fowl. Yes. Commissioner Bush. Yes. Mayor Dixon. Yes. Commissioner McCra. I'm sorry. Yes. Thank you, Commissioner Stewart. Yes. And that ordinance passes unanimously. This concludes second summary reading of these ordinances. They will become effective upon passage of publication and will be posted on the city's website. A full copy is available by contacting me at city hall during normal business hours.

Kathy, thank you very much. And from here we will move into executive session and under executive session will be litigation and that will be discussion or proposed or pending litigation under KRS61.8101C. also personnel and that will be discussions or hearings which might lead to the appointment discipline or dismissal of an individual employee or member under KRS61810.1F and I will need a motion to go into executive session. So move mayor we have a motion got by commissioner Stewart second by commissioner Bush. Uh all in favor I

I I. And we now move into executive session. Gentlemen, you may want to

Executive session. Do I have a motion to come out of executive session? Motion. Move. Motion by Commissioner McCra. Second, Mayor. Second by Commissioner Stewart. All in favor? I. I. Any opposition? And we now move back into regular session. And I believe we do have a report to Well, I go out May 1st. We've got a motion uh from executive session and the motion is to hire Zack Law as a new water distribution operator. So move. And we have a motion by Commissioner Pal, second by Commissioner Bush. Uh any further comments? All in favor? I I.

Any opposition? And that motion carries unanimously. Mayor, with uh we have Miss Christa Burton here. I'll let you start walking up. As as the commission knows and as the public knows, uh Miss Burton was hired to investigate Carter Monday with regard to certain aspects of his conduct and emails. And uh with that being said, I'm going to turn it over to Miss Burton for her report.

Thank you, Scott. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, commissioners. Um, I did investigate Mr. Monday's email communications. I also reviewed the city's policies and procedures, their ethics policy, um, and the relevant law. And it is my opinion, the results of my investigation, that there was no violation policies, um, on the part and no discipline is warranted. Any questions? I know you've been to more lengths. Oh,

with the commission. No, no, no, no. We're we're not asking you to do it here. U and for the public, she has provided a written report. I will leave that to the commission as to how much little how little much or whatever you want to disseminate. That being said, I through with Miss Burton and if so, is she discharged of any further duties to the city? Thank you for her investigation.

Nice to meet Nice to meet you. And with that report uh uh we have heard her report at length and uh and the discussion from her and and we have also presented to the public and at this point in time I would ask for a motion to be presented to the commission and if Carol will read that motion uh I will

I will motion would be to hire state Carter Monday to his position as planning and zoning director effective March 10th, 2025 and to rat ratify any actions he has taken in that role prior to today. Do you have heard the proposed motion? Do I have a motion to that effect? I'll make that motion, Mayor. Okay, we have a motion by Commissioner Stewart. Second, Mayor.

I have a second by Commissioner McQuary. Any further disc mayor at March date? That's over a year ago was the date that the city began paying Carter Monday when he left the joint employment of planning and zoning when the county stopped paying. In other words, thank you for explaining that to Scott. And I'd like to make another point. Um that we're cleaning up a technical oversight. Uh this investigation is kind of popped up in the middle. And I also want to share this. We didn't really talk about it. We spent what 45 minutes going over that report with the attorney that we hired. Something like that. Got it.

But we said it briefly, but we went into great detail over it. Every topic that was looked at, it wasn't done on a whim, very thorough. Uh she looked at it legally from a government employee legal perspective. And uh again, we voted to to uh go along with her investigation. That's what happened. So honestly, that's why we hired her. And I might add that there were there there were no input from anyone anywhere into her investigation also.

And for the public's benefit, that was specifically asked. Did she have any input or comments from any member of the city, city commission, city staff during this investigation other than to provide her with the preliminary information in which to begin this investigation? And her answer was no, she did not. And I might also add to that, Scott, that there that no one knew anything whatsoever about the investigation until she presented it today. That is true. and she did confirm that as well. No, did not disseminate information anybody prior to today. Any further comments?

I just like to say that you done a fantastic job investigated it was fair and partial and thorough and I appreciate the completeness of the report. Just real quick, I'm sorry. I think Commissioner Bush was going to address the commission. Go ahead. Uh no no I think uh here we have you know the documentation that she presented to us and I guess it could be posted u so I supposedly I don't know if we want to post it on the website or something.

Yes it can be to do that you all as part of this motion you probably ought to make a motion to wave the attorney client privilege to to because she just gave it to us to disseminate it online. Yes. Um or or I tell you what, let's not muddy the motion. Okay, let's do that after this motion. Well, then then you can give it to Beverly.

I know, but real quick, she she covered she covered in in this right here a lot of the concerns that that I heard that the citizens had about this process and I just wanted to make that known and that, you know, this is this is what the findings that she had. Uh I just want to be transparent that our decision wasn't uh you know based on anything other than what what the fact finding that she presented to us and that was our decision that we made today. And for the record it's a 10page report. Yes.

And we particularly hired an attorney completely out of reach to investigate this uh this uh report. I the only thing I have issue with not the only thing but the one the major things I have issue with is the the retroactivity of the the motion. I don't believe that's I'm just saying I understand what I would say in response to that is I've already given you the opinion that I think he's an employee and it's probably not even necessary because he was acting under color of law throughout the time anyway. But this just if nothing else, it gives staff and him comfort that it's correct.

If no other comments, we will we will call for a vote then. Roll call vote. Kathy. Commissioner Pal? Yes. Commissioner Bush? No. Mayor Dixon? Yes. Commissioner Prairie? Yes. Commissioner Stewart? Yes. And that motion passes. And if the commission so desires, you'll need a motion to wave any attorney client privilege with Christa Burton. I'm kind of telling you Kathy as I go have a motion. Motion to wave attorney client privilege with Christa Burton as to her investigative report regarding Carter Monday so that it may be disseminated as the commission sees fit. That's a motion. That's

I'll make it. Okay. We have a motion by Commissioner Stewart. Second. Second by Commissioner Bush. Uh all in favor I I. Any opposition? And that motion carries. Thank you, Scott. And I do not have city attorney reports. Okay, that good lord. That's enough today. Do we have a uh um city uh manager manager

manager report? Just a reminder that Monday next week the 18th is our special call meeting to do with budget workshop and as we discussed we'll be doing the solid waste proposal award hope or tenative award starts at 9. We typically have been providing the documents to the commission a full week before that meeting but that would be today and that cannot possibly happen today. I'm still working actively on the budget. Uh we will get the the documents out as soon as we can, but it might be closer to the end of the week and I'm sorry about that, but there's just been a lot going on and um that's all I got. Okay. Thank you, Carol. From here, we'll move on to

two things, Mayor Stewart. Two two things. Number one, um and we just u uh talked about Carter and his situation and and uh voted to reinstate him. Um I know that in stadium uh

in stadium not reinstating but in in stadium. Yes. Um I know that that has been a very uh uh tedious process situation and concerns that people had. Um I personally want to let Carter know that it never was anything personal. Um I apologize that that you know that he had to go through that cuz I know that was a lot of mental anguish on him. uh you know, we had we did exactly what we said we was going to do

and the findings of it were exactly what she said it was and we made the decision behind that. But I still think that I know that Carter has been uh put through the he's been put through the ringer through some of this and and uh and based on that, you know, I you know to apologize for what he's had to go through and his family. Uh and I wouldn't I wouldn't only do this for Carter Monday, but I would do it for anybody else that was employed through the city of Franklin that had to go through this process of this. So I I want him to know so that he will be able to be confident that he will be supported uh by my portion of the commission for what he's doing. And if there's ever anything that's out of scope of that, then we'll take care of it in as such. So uh I I I want to make that clear today. You know, my apologies go out to him for what he just experienced. Uh secondly, uh today is Scott's last official meeting. I'll see Scott and I'm sure he's still going to be around. Scott, uh, you know, you you started a little bit before I did, uh, and you've been you've been here and you've blazed the trail. Um, I don't think people in the community know, you know, what all is behind the facade of Scott Crabtree at all. I They don't. Scott,

they probably don't like Scott. Scott. Scott Scott, you know, I've been with Scott for a long time and Scott really has a secondary occupation he could probably pick up on if he ever decided to be a comedian because he he got some he got says and jokes and things, man, that that'll knock it out of the park. But anyway, Scott, I just want to let you know I appreciate you. Uh, you know, there's numerous of times I've had to call you and and ask you questions to to, you know, to put my fire out and uh there's never been any time that you've ever been reluctant to do that. And I'll do you the same way. I'll probably be doing you the same way.

To point out that Dale says, "I've got six months to try and get up to years." Okay. All right. I will say that. But but with with that being said, Scott, I I appreciate you. Thank you. Um you know, back to you. All that you've done and all the trenches and the transitions we've been been in uh seeing the city do what it do, even being in this place here. You know, we started out at the old police department down there and having our meetings and you know, the room were very well lit up and it was a lot a lot. But, uh, again, Scott, thank you for your service community. Uh, you you'll be missed and, uh, you know, a lot more than most probably ever know. Uh, and thank you again, Scott.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you, Commissioner Stewart. Thank you, Commissioner McQuary. Uh just want repeat somewhat of what Wendell said. Uh the uh Carter investigation. Uh just proud that we had an unbiased party look at it from 120 miles away that had no idea of any of us or who we are or what we did or have done. So I think it's completely fair and again she looked at it legally by the law. So pleased with the outcome on that. Uh Scott, he'll still be around, but uh I've known Scott all my life, but well, we appreciate what he's done. And uh I won't get into details, but over the years, he's brought in more funds for this city than most people uh will ever have a comprehension of. Unnoticed, uncredited, however, it's facts. And

thank you. Hope the man don't talk to me on the Friday night weekend call or Sunday afternoon at 5 to something. Put barriers on you 9:30 at night a text or whatever. But we'll try not to do that to her. But I want to thank Scott again for his Thank you. multiple years of service in the community. Well, Scott, I couldn't say any more than has already been said by these two gentlemen. you have certainly uh represented the city of Franklin well and at this point I'm going to ask you to come to the podium with me and I'm the mayor and I can ask you to do that. He doesn't have a panel.

He's not taking his either. No, I don't I don't know what I'm get into. Out of

Oh, man. Again, I cannot begin to express how much this Scott Gra has meant to the city of Franklin. I uh there's no words that I have that could could already u express what's already been expressed. And uh upon uh behalf of the city commission and the city of Franklin, I want to present to you a key to the city for all the uh work that you have done and all that you have brought to the city of Franklin. Scott, we appreciate you and will continue to appreciate you in the years to come. Thank you, sir. appreciate

and I don't need n probably wouldn't come to the podium but thank you all very yes you will and I appreciate the recognition it's been a long long time 30 years 30 years thank you all very much I appreciate it thank you sir y'all knew this probably the first time Scott something we knew that you did Commissioner Pal Scott, you and I started started out when you was in the Commonwealth Attorney's office and I was on the police department. So, we've come a long ways over the years. Long a lot over 30 years.

Yeah. But people don't realize the millions of dollars that you have saved the city over those years. you you have saved every year more than what your salary is by your association with the legislators, with Kelly, your ability to negotiate. Uh I think the citizens will come to realize just what they're losing. And all I can say is you've been my friend. You will always be my friend. And I wish you the best in whatever endeavor that that you start that you want to do when you when you when you retire. And like and I make a motion. Likewise, my friend. Likewise. Thank you.

And we have a motion by Commissioner Powell to adjourn. Second by Commissioner Bush. All in favor? I I And we now stand a journ.