City Commission - Regular Meeting

Good morning, everyone. Good to see everyone here this morning. We have a good group here this morning. It's time to call the City of Franklin City Commission to order. And to open up our meeting, I will ask Commissioner McQuarrie to lead us in a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this day that you allow us to come to this gathering in a safe manner. And we just ask that you come into the meeting and ask that you lead us and guide us in the right direction, making decisions for the community. We will pray for the world leaders and the turmoil that's going on right now that you'll show them the correct way to do things and what needs to be done. Also pray for our first responders, our police, fire, and EMS, that you be with them, protecting them as they're serving our

community as well in jesus name amen amen thank you commissioner mcquarrie we will move on to hear the public and i don't believe we have anyone signed up is there anyone here that OK, from there, we will move on to approval of minutes. And that'll be approval of minutes of the June 22, 2026 regular meeting, and also approval of minutes of the June 29, 2026 special call meeting. And I'm sure everyone's had an opportunity to look over those. Are there any comments or questions? Second, motion to approve. We have a motion by Commissioner Powell to approve

Second move.

Second by Commissioner McQuarrie. Are there any further comments or questions? Can we separate the two?

Can we do the approval of the meeting match for June 22nd separate from the 29th?

We can separate them. We can. It's your discretion, Mayor.

Yes, we can. Yeah, we can. We just, in our normal procedure, we just have to. But it's okay. Yeah. We'll do the approval of minutes of the June 22nd. We'll need to rescind the motion. We'll rescind the motion to approval of minutes of the June 22nd, 2026 regular meeting. We have a motion by Commissioner Powell.

Second, Mayor.

Second. Commissioner McQuarrie, any further comments or questions? Roll call vote, Kathy.

I need some clarification. Is this a vote to rescind? We had a motion in the first to approve them. Then we had a motion in a second to rescind them. So we'll need to go back and make a motion to approve the June 22nd. and then do a separate motion for June the 29th. So we'll need a first and second for approval of the minutes on the June 22nd, 2026.

Second by Commissioner McCrary and we'll do a roll call vote.

Commissioner Powell?

Yes.

Commissioner Bush?

No.

Mayor Dixon?

Yes.

Commissioner McCrary? Yes. Commissioner Stewart?

Yes.

And that motion passes.

OK. And we'll go back and have, we'll ask for approval of the minutes of the June 29, 2026 special call meeting. I'll make that motion. We have a motion by Commissioner Powell. Second by Commissioner Bush. Any further comments or questions? Roll call vote, Kathy, please.

Mayor Dixon?

Yes.

Commissioner Powell?

Yeah.

Commissioner Bush.

Yes.

Commissioner McCrary. Yes. Commissioner Stewart. Yes. And that motion passes.

OK. Thank you, Kathy. You're welcome. From here, we will move on to recognitions. And under recognitions, we have the Franklin Police Department. And I believe that Major John Thompson has a recognition to come before us this morning.

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to take a quick moment and recognize Officer Corey Jones here to his recent promotion to Lieutenant. Corey does have Fourteen years in law enforcement, should be 15, but he took a break. So he has 14 years in law enforcement. With that, he has a background in patrol as well as a detective in the CID division. He also already has experience as a supervisor in a sergeant role. So he's coming to this new position with a very good background. amount of not only training but experience and knowledge that he's going to be able to help mold the officers here at this department. So I look forward to seeing him grow. I look forward to seeing him grow our officers and be future of this department. So with that, I would like to give him his lieutenant.

I just want to say I appreciate all the citizens of Franklin, community leaders, the police department, all my peers, the ones that's come before me, poured into me and stuff, my family, my wife, Brianna, for supporting me and helping me, you know, long weekends and working holidays and adjusting schedules and stuff. I just want to say thank you. It's an honor. Franklin's the best place to live and work. Thank you.

OK, moving on, we will have, under the Franklin Police Department, presentation of Chief's Unity Award. And Major Thompson will give that, present that.

Thank you again. I won't keep you much longer, I promise. You know, here at the Franklin, the police department as well, it's just the city. We talk about teamwork a lot. I mean, a lot. But if you've never heard of this award before, it's because it's just something I thought, from our side of it, I would like to start implementing and putting together when we actually do work really good as a team. So I'm going to start off by thanking everybody that was able to attend the ribbon cutting for the playground and pavilion. It was a very good success, but that wouldn't be possible for a lot of people. And so there's so many people that deserve recognition about this ribbon cutting to make it possible. But there's four individuals that I worked a lot with day in and day out who took time away from their normal responsibilities. And because we often take for granted how busy others are, other departments are. So I want to call up four individuals. I believe two is only here, but I'm still going to call them all. Daryl Mallory, if you would come up here, please. Jeremy Perry, you please come up here. The other two is Dan Wagner and Megan Peraza-Rain, if I pronounced that correctly. It's a hard one for me. I just want to recognize these individuals with the recognition of the Chief's Unity Award. And this is going to be given out to people from here on out who show exceptional dedication in promoting teamwork, collaboration, and partnership among our departments. You know, it's really big for us all to work together. And y'all did an outstanding job, not only for your support for our mission and values of the police department, but also just the city as a whole. So I want to go ahead and give Daryl

Chief Unity Award.

Jeremy. And again, this also goes to Dan and Megan. Real quick. So these two here know a lot more than I do when it comes to technical stuff and just well beyond my expertise, right? And that's what we need in one of the city, people that know what they're good at. I know what I'm not good at. And I couldn't have done this without y'all. Y'all were able to bring issues that arise that I had no clue about with the pavilion. They made sure that the proper water lines were hooked up so we can finish the pavilion and make sure it was ready for the grand opening or the ribbon cutting. They were also in charge of making sure that the ground was repaired after it was dug out. So I really appreciate y'all too. Dan, Dan did a very, very good job. He worked really hard on making sure all the signs were created. Everybody was a team effort, but he made sure they got created. Even up until moments before we did a ribbon cutting, Dan was here sweating in the sun, making sure that the little heroes park sign was put in the ground and concreted in a correct place so i really appreciate him as well um and megan if y'all didn't know megan did a lot she was the contact not only for the governor's office she was the contact with steve and his team over at the chamber as well as a professional video crew she did a lot of in and out day in and day out stuff that we take for granted um so she was also in charge of getting uh the frisbees to hand out to kids so They also get the Chiefs Unity Award, and I'll make sure, Carol, if you don't care to take it over to them. But I'd like to thank all four of them for their hard work.

Daryl and Jeremy, you're always appreciated. I want to say this. If I get calls for something to be done, I can let those two guys know and it gets done. They are always on the job and always doing a great job. And we appreciate you. Okay, moving on, under water, under recognitions, water distribution department, and we'll have recognition of David Shuler, and I believe Jeremy Paring is going to come up and do that recognition for us.

In June, David attended the Kentucky Energy and Environmental Cabinets Water Distribution Class Certification Exam. This class and exams helps ensure that the operators that are in charge of dealing with the community drinking water are knowledgeable and capable of handling all the responsibilities required by the position. Proud to announce that David passed his Class IV Kentucky Water Distribution Exam. David has been employed by the city for almost six years. I'd like to recognize him for his hard work and dedication to the city.

Thank you, David. Okay, moving on to community services. We'll have discussion and a possible action regarding street closure requests for the garden spot run and walk and I believe Steve Thurman is here to present that for us and this is something that we have done several years in the past and Steve will bring that to us.

Thank you mayor commissioners my annual meeting this is the forty third time we will have closed streets for the garden spot run and walk in your packet you have my request you also have a description of the course of the blockages that will have It is the same as it's been for the last 10 years since we moved it to in front of the Methodist Church. It begins there, ends there. During the time leading up to the race, we incorporate everything that we can to alert the citizens in that part of the city about the closures. The closures are generally from about 7 a.m. to about 9 a.m., depending on how fast the last walker walks. But nothing has changed from previous years. I appreciate the help. You had Jeremy and Daryl up here, and I have to also compliment them, plus everybody else at the city that works with us, the police department. But the last words out of Daryl and Jeremy's mouth every time they leave my office is let us know if there's anything else we can do. And it's the same with John and the police department. So in anticipation of your approval, I also want to thank you and the city from City Hall all the way down to Public Works. People are always helping us put this thing on. It takes about 120 volunteers that day. And no one really realizes how much work is done by city employees leading up to that day. So thank you very much. Mr. Mayor, if I could, one more thing. I also want to echo what Major Thompson said about the ribbon cutting we recently had. Megan did an outstanding job. John talked about everybody else. He didn't talk about himself. And he certainly put in the time and the effort. And sometimes it pains me to say anything in the ice about Kelly Mayfield, but he also worked very hard to help get this done. if you have seen any of it i think to me the greatest part of the day was when i said three and the kids said two one and they broke for the park for the playground uh that that just it thrilled me i hope that to you commissioners it showed how right you were to take to make those decisions And then finally, I would say I've already had a conversation with the Lieutenant Governor since that day, and everything that she said about she was gonna tell the state about how unique, how visionary this particular project was, she will let people throughout the state know that. So my compliments to you for that as well, and I appreciate the fact that the Chamber was allowed to be a part of that celebration.

And we thank you for participation, Steve. Thank you. Your comments. I will entertain a motion to, you've heard Steve's presentation. I will entertain a motion for the street closures at this point.

Mayor, I'll make that motion.

We have a motion by Commissioner Stewart, second by Commissioner Bush. Any further comments or questions? All in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposition? And that motion carries. And again, Steve, we thank you, and we look forward to the garden spot run.

Thank you very much, Mayor and Commissioners.

Thank you. Thank you, Steve. Okay, moving on, under general government, we have discussion and a possible action regarding proposed ordinance approving text amendment to the Franklin Planning and Zoning Regulations, and I believe Amanda wants to speak to that.

Yes, if I may, Mayor. Good morning or good afternoon. I guess we're good afternoon now. I see some of the members from the committee that were involved in drafting this text amendment are here. This is that planned residential development text amendment that the commission had sent to the planning and zoning commission for review. planning and zoning Commission met on June 16th and they have made their recommendations for what they would like to see in that text amendment and those have been incorporated in what you will have before you essentially to highlight the changes they have narrowed the group of residential zones that this proposed would apply to for those smaller homes on those smaller lots. So it will only apply to R1S, R2, and R3. And then they also felt that while there was a minimum provision that was in place, they felt that a maximum provision for how much a developer could try to tackle at once would be helpful. So they set that at 20 acres. And then as far as lot coverage goes, they just wanted to make sure that that was consistent throughout the text amendment. this is only a first reading today and so what we'll be looking for is two sponsors thank you commissioner stewart you have your two thank you commissioner powell

Thanks, Amanda.

Thank you.

OK, moving on, under general government, will be discussion of a possible action regarding proposed ordinance annexing property located on Kenneth Dudley Drive and Highway 1008. And Amanda will bring that to us also.

So this one is me as well. Again, this is annexation. It's your property that is owned by Drake Stone Properties out there at intersection of 1008 and Kenneth Utley. Again, we're just looking for two sponsors. It's first reading today. I see Commissioner Powell.

Commissioner Powell and Commissioner McClary.

Thank you, both commissioners.

OK, and moving on under general government will be discussion and a possible action regarding an award of bid for equipment for Public Works Department. And I believe, Darrell, are you planning to present that to us?

The city published an invitation to bid for a tractor and bush hog. We held the bid opening on Thursday, June the 10th, and we had two bidders. The first bidder was Hudson. John Deere tractor and bush hog totaled $119,417.56. The other bid we got was from Shaker Equipment. It was a McCormick bush hog and tractor, and the total of it was $84,000. Based on our bid evaluation, we recommend the city to award bid of the Tracker and Bush Hog to Shaker Equipment Sales. Proposed action, if the commission agrees with this recommendation, to award the bid 2027-02 for the purchase of the Tracker and Bush Hog to Shaker Equipment Sales in the amount of 84,000 and authorize the mayor to sign any and all documents.

And this is a budgeted item. And you've heard the proposal. And do I hear a motion to that effect? So moved. Do we have a motion by Commissioner Bush? No. Commissioner Powell. Second. I second. Second by Commissioner Stewart. Any further comments or questions? Roll call vote, Kathy, please.

Commissioner Powell?

Yes.

Commissioner Bush?

No.

Mayor Dixon? Yes. Commissioner McCrary? Yes. Mr. Stewart?

Yes.

And that motion passes.

Thank you all. Thank you, Daryl. Thank you, Daryl. Under general government, moving on will be discussion and a possible action regarding approval of proposed surplus property. And I believe Trent Coffey's going to speak to that for us.

Thank you, Mayor. In your packet, I'm going to say below is a proposed surplus properties list. After the approval by the city commission to declare these items a surplus, we will schedule a sale date and advertise the sale pursuant to the statute. As you can see, there are 17 vehicles there listed along with, well, our old back truck, a backhoe, and a dump truck. 10 of those vehicles were, I wanna say hand-me-downs from the police department that we used for as long as we can or could. They're starting now to have maintenance problems and I really don't wanna keep throwing money into vehicles that are just worn out. Proposed action is a motion and a second to declare these items as surplus property of the City of Franklin authorized to sell this property and the Mayor to sign any document necessary. Question, Mayor.

How are we going to surplus the sale? I know we've used a bidding process in the past.

We've been discussing that. I don't think it's been a final, but we would like to get like an auctioneer and just have an auction and a bid and just sell them all at one time instead of putting them on GovDeals.

Was that complicated using GovDeals? Kathy.

It produced good revenue, but staff time was excessive, not just for me, but for others with coordinating pickups, things like that. So if we could get an auction company that would help alleviate

the stress on our staff that would be ideal okay i never knew what all went into it but i do know that we it always seemed like that we did better than what we used to do when we just came oh yeah we made more revenue we did sealed bids that did not produce uh good results right and this process we were using it seemed like it did produce a little bit of revenue for us and i believe

In the past it was just posted in the paper and you got sealed bids and then a few times we did it on GovDeals. I think that's the only two ways that I can remember that we, to get rid of surplus.

That's the only two ways that I have experienced it too. We still, it doesn't matter what we do, we still have to publish. We have the seven and 21 day publication requirements.

So we're gonna just try to auction them off, just do that process and set up a date and get it on there? Okay, that's fine.

Has the county done theirs yet?

I believe they have, because I believe, Darrell, you tell me, or maybe it was Adam who said he was trying to get a hold or get a name from the county who their auctioneer was. I think it might be Kamada.

I think the county's already had their auction.

OK, you have heard the proposal. Do we have a motion?

I'll make that motion, Mayor.

We have a motion by Commissioner Stewart. Do we have a second? Second, Mayor. Second by Commissioner McQuarrie. Are there any further comments or questions? If not, we'll have a roll call vote. Can't be pleased.

Mr. Stewart? Yes. Commissioner McCrary? Yes. Mayor Dixon? Yes. Commissioner Bush?

Yes.

Commissioner Powell?

Yes.

And that motion passes.

Thank you, Kathy. Thank you, Daryl. And I believe you have the next one under public safety while you're up or under utilities. So we'll have discussion on a possible action regarding water management engineering contract. And Trent's going to bring that to us also.

Yeah, the city's water distribution system is a critical piece of the infrastructure that provides safe and reliable drinking water to our residents, businesses, industries, and emergency services. As our infrastructure continues to age and the system demands evolve, improvements are necessary to ensure adequate water pressure, maintain fire protection, improve system reliability, and meet future growth in the city. The purpose of this memo is to request authorization to hire water management services to engineer and design projects that will improve water pressure. The city has worked with water management services in the past on other water projects like our water model, the Morgantown Road line replacement, and the North Main Street line replacement. I believe Kathy emailed you all the contracts. We got them in late. Two projects we're kind of talking about first will be we have to upgrade some pumps at the water plant first, and I think that's $115,000 worth of engineering. And then once that takes place, the engineering, the raising of our water tanks, that would be $80,000. So all that money is in the budget for this year, that engineering cost. So I've got Richard here. If you have any engineering questions and things like that on what we're gonna be doing and things like that. Does anybody have any questions?

This company that we're looking at hiring, they're just gonna oversee just a couple of projects? No, these two for right now, yes. Will they be looking at others as we? start detecting, because I mean, we're growing and I know we're gonna need water pressure and things of that nature. It's gonna be something that's gonna be just like any other infrastructural process.

Once we just say, I think as a staff and as everyone we've discussed, I think these two right here are the most important for the time being. And then afterwards, we'll see. And that might be line replacement, old galvanized lines in our distribution system that we'll need the engineer to remove and replace those. So it will continue on.

Okay. That's kind of what I wanted to hear.

Water, and I think we've said this before, water and wastewater, especially out in the collection system and the distribution, it's just gonna be continuous. Yeah, I know. As we grow, replacing old infrastructure we've got lines and sewer lines and water lines out there probably 70 80 yeah possibly 100 years old out there in our system that we need to replace yeah okay what do we need mayor

We have a motion by Commissioner Powell, second by Commissioner Bush. Is there any further comments or questions?

Because we need to have them at equal heights. I think, Rich, you tell me. Right now, they're at the same height.

They're not, though.

They're going to need to go up, and we're, I guess, still deciding if it's going up 40 feet or 60 feet higher.

Yeah. So it'll be both. We'll have a roll call.

Commissioner Powell?

Yes.

Commissioner Bush?

Yes.

Mayor Dixon? Yes. Commissioner McCrary? Yes. Mr. Stewart?

Yes.

And that motion passes.

Thank you all. Thanks. Thank you, Trent. OK. Moving on to ordinances. Kathy will take care of those for us.

Thank you, Mayor. We'll have first summary reading today of ordinance number 2026014. and ordinance adopting a pilot program for the development and construction of affordable smaller lots and homes in certain residential zones and amending zoning regulations of the City of Franklin as recommended by the Franklin Planning and Zoning Commission. And we'll move on and have first summary reading of ordinance number 2026015. and ordinance annexing to the city of Franklin, Kentucky, approximately 13.49 acres, located at or near the intersections of Kentucky Highway 1008 and Kenneth Edley Drive, in accordance with the comprehensive plan of annexation. This concludes first summary reading of these ordinances. They will become effective upon passage and publication and will be posted on the City's website. A full copy of these ordinances are available upon request by contacting the City Clerk at City Hall during normal business hours.

Thank you Kathy. OK, from here we will move on to executive session. And under executive session will be land acquisition. And this deliberations on the future acquisition or sale of real property by a public agency where publicity would be likely to affect the value of a specific piece of property to be acquired for public use or sold by a public agency. And that's under KRS 61.8101 . Also, we have litigation, and that's discussion of proposed or pending litigation under KRS 61.8101C. And then we also have personnel, and that's discussion or hearings which might lead to the appointment, discipline, or dismissal of an individual employee or member under KRS 61.8101 . And I will need a motion to go into executive session.

I'll make that motion.

We have a motion by Commissioner Bush.

Second, Mayor.

Second by Commissioner McQuarrie. All in favor, aye. Aye. And we now move into executive session. I will need a motion to come out of executive session. So moved. So moved by Commissioner Bush. Second. Second by Commissioner McQuarrie. All in favor, aye. Aye. And we now move back into regular session. And we do have some motions to come before the floor. And I believe Dr. Amelia McIntosh has three to present to us.

Yes. I'd like to have a motion to hire public work. I actually have two public work positions, but I'm gonna do each individually. Is that okay? So I'd like a motion to hire Scott Clines as a public work operator.

I'll make that motion. We have a motion by Commissioner Bush and a second by Commissioner Powell. All in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposition? And that motion carries.

I'd also like a motion to hire Kate Vaughn, also as a public works operator.

I'll make that motion. We have a motion by Commissioner Bush. Second. Second by Commissioner Powell. All in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposition? That motion carries.

Okay, also I'd like a motion to hire Carter Clennell as the GIS field tech commissioner.

I'll make that motion. We have a motion by Commissioner Bush. Second by Commissioner McQuarrie. All in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposition? And that motion carries. We have one more. Thank you.

I'd like a motion please to use a third party person to help assist with triaging the city manager apps.

I'll make that motion, mayor.

We have a motion by Commissioner McQuarrie. Second. Second by Commissioner Stewart. All in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposition? And that motion carries. And we have another motion to come forth by Attorney, Amanda East.

Amanda's just fine. Thank you, Mayor. So I have that motion, and then I also have just a little bit of clarification with regards to the text amendment for those that were listening at home. But the motion will be the city authorizing me to initiate litigation with regards to the 519 Green Street property currently indexed under Mary A. Woodward.

I'll make that motion. We have a motion by Commissioner Bush. Second. Second by Commissioner Stewart. All in favor of that? Aye. Any opposition? And that motion carries.

I believe that concludes our- I just had one quick clarification on that residential amendment that I was talking about earlier that two of you were very kind to be the sponsoring commissioners on. So that amendment, it will apply in the R1S zone, the R3 zone, and the R4 zone, which means that it will not apply in the R1 and it will not apply in the R2. It's all covered in the amendment itself. But again, for anybody in the audience or anyone listening at home, now you know.

Okay. From here, we will move on to city attorney reports. Do you have anything further?

No, Mayor. Thank you.

Okay. From here, we will move on to city manager reports. Carol? Nothing, Mayor. Commissioner Stewart?

No, Mayor.

Okay. Okay.

Commissioner McQueary?

No, sir. I just want to say again, I want to thank all of our city workers and our police department and all who were involved in the event that took place Thursday. It could not have happened without all the hard work that all of you all did. and it was a tremendous event and i think our little our children's park out here is just going to be really used by the community and it's a real addition it's a real addition to our community and we're very proud of it thank you all again for for your hard work We have a motion by Commissioner Powell to adjourn. Do I have a second? Second by Commissioner Bush. All in favor, aye.

Aye.