City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all for being here this evening. Before the city council meeting tonight, we're going to have the proclamation for the sexual assault awareness prevention month for uh Sanctuary Incorporated. and the proclamation. Whereas sexual assault awareness and prevention month is observed annually in April to raise public awareness about sexual violence and educate the community and how how to prevent it and whereas sexual assault harassment and abuse affect people from every age, race, gender, sexual orientation, social economics, background, religion and abilities and have profound lasting impact. act on survivors, families, and communities. And whereas according to Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Program, 39% of women in Kentucky and 18% of men in Kentucky will experience sexual violence in some point in their lives, underscoring the urgent need to prevention and intervention in efforts. And whereas sexual violence is preventable through education, community engagement, healthy relationships, promotions by standard intervention, and policies that promote equity, respect, and accountability. And whereas

first of all, thank you all for letting me be here tonight. Um, and my hats go off to Sanctuary for what they do each and every day. They're the truly the unsung heroes uh for many very serious um situations in our community and I know many of the board are here tonight. I appreciate each and every one of you volunteering your time to uh to serve on a very valuable organizational board. So finishing whereas we honor the courage and resilience of survivors and recognize the importance of traumainformed culturally responsive support services that promote healing and justice. And whereas advocates, educators, health care providers, law enforcement professionals, and community leaders play a critical role in responding to sexual violence and creating a safe environment in schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods. And whereas Sanctuary Incorporated is a designated sexual assault resource center that serves the nine counties of the Pinale Area Development District with preventative education and supportive and resto restor restorative excuse me services to victims and survivors of sexual assault. And now therefore we James R. Knight Jr. Mayor of City of Hopkinsville and Jerry Gillum, Judge Executive Christian County, do by here hereby proclaim April 2026 as sexual assault awareness and prevention month in Hopkinsville and Christian County. And we call upon all our residents, community organizations, schools, businesses, and institutions to support preventive efforts, stand with survivors, and commit to fostering a culture of respect, dignity, and safety for all. This signed and sealed the 7th day of April, 2026. If our sanctuary folks would come up, we'd like to present this to you all.

to call this April 7th regular city council meeting to order and I call on W 6 for invocation. Travis Martin. Uh yes sir. So my wife and I have been attending New York Fellowship now for right at a year and uh every time this comes around to my turn I like to put my people on a pedestal. So with us tonight is Miss Cheney Guffy. She's the kids ministry resident at Newark Fellowship and she's going to say our invocation.

Let's pray. Lord, we just thank you for this opportunity to gather together. Um I pray that you would bless this meeting, that you would bless the the minds and the souls and the spirits in this room. I ask for guidance and protection for um your will and your discernment in all the decisions that are made tonight. Um and and as the years go, I pray that your will would be made evident here in Hopkinsville. Um Lord, I ask that you would show us the ways that we can be the hands and feet of Jesus. That you would lead God and direct us in all things to be the salt and light of the world. It's in your name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Thank you. Stand for the pledge, please. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Call the clerk to call the role. Council member Smith. Council member Stalins present. Council member Marsh here. Council member Crabtree. Council member Craig. Council member Martin here. Council member Sumar here. Council member Bogard, present. Council member VeZ here. Council member Bell. Council member Draoud here.

We have a quorum.

All right. Item five, awards and recognitions. There are none tonight. Uh item six, public comment. The floor is open. Please state your name and come to the podium and speak whenever you'd like. I'm Terry Hail and I am a general contractor and a residential contractor here in Hopkinsville. I'm here to talk about something that was brought up during the committee of the whole discussion and it was over the electrical inspector's raise that they're asking for and council member Sner I do appreciate you bringing awareness that it was we're hindered a lot now by building cost but the independent contractors of the electrical inspectors allow us to move faster through our projects and I don't want that to be taken away and put into another government agency that gives us two days a week for inspections. So, our plumbing and HVAC right now are hindered by two days a week. Whereas our electrical inspectors, if I'm done today, I call them and I get an inspection tomorrow. So, it can save somewhere between $300 and $600 in interest if the days hit right through a brand new home build. So, just something to take in mind. Just my point of view and just want to bring that to y'all's attention. So, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. All right. Anyone else like to come and speak? Jamie Limeberger, 305 East 23rd Street. I would just like to say kudos to the creator of the Hoptown 311 app. Because when it comes to disheveled properties and things in my neighborhood and around the city that I have seen, I just point and click and report it. and several houses in my neighborhood are being taken care of and I'm extremely happy for that. So, thank you to code enforcement. Thank you to the mayor. Thank you. Thank you.

I'm Shane Adamov and uh I'm a transitional living director out in near town in Callaway County. While I work in Callaway County, I live here in Christian County as well. And a big problem that we see with inside of our community is overdoses, homelessness, and the addiction to drugs. Um, I'm here today to ask city council to put in their minds to adapt what Callaway County is doing. They use their opiate settlement funds and they have built a recovery community center that is a barrier relief program for addicts and alcoholics and people who are struggling with mental health issues and people who are struggling with homelessness. uh as someone who's grown up in this community, hued in this community, have been arrested in this community, it is possible for life after treatment. But the biggest step for life after treatment is have the community support behind them. There is a big stigma behind addiction that alcoholics and addicts are worthless. They're scum of the earth will never amount to anything. Whereas today, I stand before you with almost five years of sobriety of continuous sobriety without putting a drink or drug inside my body. Um people want to think about alcoholism and say, "Oh, it's the drug addicts that's the issue. It's the It goes so much deeper than that. From drug addiction to alcoholism to gambling to porn, whatever it can be, something can have a vice on you. We get put inside of a a system, Department of Corrections. We get thrown into a system, we get released, and we have no support behind us." As someone who has faced these trials and tribulations, I can tell you them first 48 hours are the most crucial. If you leave jails and rehabs and you don't have any sense of stability or any sense of security, you will reuse and you will reaffend. That is why today I would urge that city council look into using those funds to bridge the gap for addicts and alcoholics. whether that be getting our recovery recovery ready certified. Andy Basher put that out a few years ago in a

House bill to get our community recovery ready. With that being said, that looks as deep as community centers, harm reduction programs, um advocacy, and stigma training. Um because I think at the end of the day, I see it time and time again as as a resident of the city. I came home from work today at Murray. I saw six people on the side of the road holding up signs. And while some people in this room may look at those people and say, "Oh, they chose that life." Or, "Oh, wow. They are scumbags. That is someone's mother. That is someone's father. That is someone's son. That is someone's brother." And we don't know the battles they are dealing with internally. As someone who can tell you who was addicted to IV drugs from the ages of 16 to 28 when I got sober, many days I woke up and I did not want to use that day. But I had no sense of support behind me. I didn't have someplace where I could go and help find a job. And when I found a job, I may not have had work boots or work clothes. Um, I didn't know how to do an interview. I didn't know any of these things existed. I didn't know how to manage a bank account. That's why a recovery community center is very important for us to have because not only are you going to learn those skills when they're out there in the sweltering heat holding up a sign feeling like nobody is going to stop and listen to them. They can walk right into the doors of a building, have someone listen to them, identify the barriers, and be able to remove those barriers wherever that may be. Those barriers can be driver's license, social security cards, birth certificates. To most people in this room, those seem like very normal things that anybody can obtain. But in reality, a lot of us don't know how to even obtain those things. We don't know what we need to do. We don't know the process. We don't know any of that. And as an ex as an addict, I can tell you that becomes stressful. And we don't know. All we know what to do is is use a drink or a drug, get a sense of relief, and go on and do what we always done, and that is commit crimes to get where we need to be

in life. Well, today I can sit here before you and tell you that those people, I can almost guarantee you 75% of them lay in bed at night and cry themselves to sleep because they another day I used another day was a failure. Those funds today in Callaway County are being used in so many ways. They have a recovery ready center. They have peer support specialists all throughout the county helping them reenter into society. Not only do they have that, they have recovery vans that will give these people rides the places they need. Doctor's appointment, PO visits, court dates. You know, I look at Busted newspaper all the time on Facebook. You scroll through that list. Half of the people in there for drug offenses are offensive related to drugs. Whether it be stealing to feed their habit, selling drugs to feed their habit, and they just wind back up in that system time and time and time and time again. Whereas the opiate funds, the reality is people died for us to get those funds. Public records state that those were released to us a long time ago and they're just sitting in account and haven't be used. Those funds should not be used for police cruisers, should not be used for anything else other than going back into the recovery community, whatever that may look like. And I asked city council today to really think about where are we releasing those funds because at the end of the day 48 hours is a very crucial time for someone fresh out of treatment, fresh out of jail to figure out what their next game plan is. Thank you.

Good evening. Uh my name is Ashley Busussell and I live on Pile Lane. I have two different things that I want to talk about. Um the first thing I wanted to do was um to provide a character reference to Tiffany who is running for um Ward 8. Um in my experience with her, she has been really informative. She's always there to show up. Um she's always been communicative as well. Um so I just wanted to share uh I had a recent experience where I have a friend whose parents are veterans. Um and um she unfortunately passed away. um she went to college with me and she is buried in the veteran cemetery. Um and I contacted Tiffany because she was laying wreaths on the graves and she went over there to place a reef on her grave. So I thought that was really great um that she was willing to do that and I think that she's a person that will step up um to the call and be willing to do that as well. Um secondary, I wanted to talk about um the city council's consideration for thinking about how AI may impact our workforce. We're a heavy manufacturing community and artificial intelligence is really impacting those jobs in particular um worldwide and nationwide. Uh I work professionally in workforce development and human resources specifically in the tech field. Um and um I've done contractual work with Amazon and some bigger tech companies. And right now small communities are really facing a lot of layoffs with frontline production workers because robotics and AI are taking over their positions. So, how companies are handling this currently are thinking about how they can upskill people into technology um and get people into better jobs so that they're not facing the risk of layoff with the roles that they're in. I know that the the city from what I saw you all are investing in government governance of how AI is used in city functions. But I highly recommend doing some investment on research on how AI is really impacting manufacturing workforce because I wouldn't want to see our community being so heavily in this

market and then facing the roll down impact in a couple years because it's coming. I'm seeing it already. Um so I know those are very different topics, but I wanted to again uh reference Tiffany's character. She's been an amazing um asset to me. Um and also just encourage you all to do some more research on how AI impacts our workforce. Um, and also there's a federal grant right right now um for funding for communities in Hopkinsville to upskill their talent and workforce and technology. Um, and I'd be happy to provide that information to anybody, but yeah, thank you.

Anyone else like to speak at the podium public comments? Good evening.

Uh my name is Francis Dumbar. I first want to start off by apologizing to you all from the last time I was here. Um I've been at Baptist Hospital for the last two weekends, two weeks with my sister who's been in the hospital. Uh I sent a message by several of the councilmen's letting them know why I didn't come back again since I had such a big concern. And uh but I was able to come tonight. So, I want to start off by letting you know that concern is still real to me, but I uh had family issues that was going on. So, what I wanted to know was um did we get any information on those things that I was speaking of? And then I just want to emphasize because my time had run out the last time that if we're able to do anything to help with the beautifification of our town and trash and and all the things that we need to do, um would we please take the time to either cons get a committee or somebody that can make this where the um citizens won't be bombarded with um it's going to happen Now, it's going to happen in two weeks. It's going to happen in three weeks. As I told them, um I would love for us to be able to advertise it maybe about a month. Uh just like you do when you're going to have elections or anything else and get people prepared to let them know, uh whatever you all had found out about uh what we need to do concerning that matter of pickups and then uh give them an appropriate time like July 1st or August 1st. But let's be respectful. Uh, I'm a registered nurse and um, it's kind of like if you had an heart attack and you've been told not to smoke or you have problem with your liver and you've been told not to drink, just because I told you to do it doesn't mean you're going to stop tomorrow. You've got to have time to make those adjustments. You've got to get used to the fact that this is how it's going to be. So, I

don't want to penalize nobody to be penalized because all of a sudden you've got to have this or that. I want us to be considerate of people and uh some people can my husband had three heart attacks and immediately he stopped smoking from the first one but that doesn't work with everybody and so I want us to be considerate of our citizens and then we have to let them know that their communities are something to be proud of and that you want your neighborhood to be the best part of town. So later on as time go by, perhaps we could go into neighborhoods and um let them pick streets that work together that would do beautififications uh for their city and then for their part of the town and then rewarded in some kind of way that let them know so that they will buy the flowers and all the different things to make it. You have to make people um that are not used to that know why it's so important. So, I wanted to tell you all that and I still am very interested in helping in any way and thank you for anybody that called me to give me a little information.

Thank you. We're still open.

Hi, my name is Joe Foster. I also work with Shane at Neartown Recovery. It's a treating center over by in Callaway County. I had a lot I was going to say, but Shane stole it all. Uh, but I do want to stress the importance of that abatement money. Um, I've been in long-term uh, recovery for 10 years. This month, actually, it'll be this month. And, uh, I'm from this town. I grew up in this town. And, and, uh, it's not the same town as it was. I see a lot of homelessness, a lot of mental health, drug addiction, alcohol addiction, and uh I'm in the jails, in the courtrooms every day. Every day. From Paduca to Bowling Green, I'm in courtrooms fighting for these guys to get out of jail because of a drug offense. A drug offense. And I know that seems like a lot, but when it comes down to it, there's there's people out there just true criminals. I was caught up in the system for quite some time. I've been fortunate enough that um I will be felony free come May 1st. And it's all by by the grace of God, first of all. And we talk about God and what he would do. I mean, he taught the lowest of the lows. The lowest of the lows. He didn't go to the mayor. He didn't go to the president. They were healed people. So, I encourage you guys to really consider that money goes to something good like the like an RCC center, which is a recovery community center. Uh I I have a sober living house here in Hopkinsville. It's been open for five years. It's been very successful. No

major incidents. I've had a lot of success stories come out of there and I know there's some treatment centers here, but there's not enough. There's not enough. And u I I that's all I really wanted to say. Just really consider where that money is going to uh for the future of this town. I'd like to see it like it was, which I know I never will, but it can get better. I do know that. And it starts with all of us. I'm reaching out and helping other people and I appreciate you listening to me. Thank you.

Good evening. I am U Trey Ver Gale U member of Hakazil. I live off Calvary Circle. Uh I came today to be a character witness for Tiffany Pitman. She's running for W 8. Um, just want to give a background on how helpful she's been for me and how she could help uh the members of the community. Uh, I miss I met Miss Tiffany about 20 years ago. Uh, Christian County High School. Um, as a freshman uh, my first day of school. Of course, you can tell when someone's nervous. Uh, I ended up lost in the classroom in the hallway. Um, Tiffany was older than me. Uh, as an upper classman, she knew that I was lost. She can tell that I was nervous. I felt like throwing up. It was the first day of school. Uh she helped me find my classroom. She helped me kind of migrate where I need to be and get through that first few days of school. So I appreciate her for that. Um fast forward 20 years later. Um living on Cavalcade Circle. We had a horrendous um flood last year. Uh we were trapped um within our neighborhood for about two and a half weeks before the waters eventually flooded away. Um my wife and I, we didn't go to work for a few weeks. Uh we actually vacated for a whole week, so we were displaced. Uh just going back thinking about that whole situation, it was kind of crazy. Uh the first two days we thought the water would just disappear, but it didn't. Um, and before the camera crews could show up, uh, before the Red Cross could show up, Tiffany actually was going door to door, um, knocking on neighbors, uh, making sure everybody was okay, making sure we needed supplies. She was making phone calls, reaching out to, uh, many of you guys in this room. Uh, she was doing a lot of the ground work before a lot of the camera crews and and rescue crews showed up. So, I definitely appreciate

her for that. um her husband and her um they had lost a vehicle u trying to get through that water and um any other person in their right mind they would just say put their hands up, go back home and just deal with it. But even though in the midst of their own troubles, they just lost a vehicle. Um it was totally, you know, um totaled away, but still that same day, that same night, she was still going door to door. uh her husband, they were still making sure other people had things that they need. So, they were uh unselfish enough to think about others and check on other uh in a time of of need. So, um I just wanted to highlight those two uh opportunities in my life. I think like I mentioned before, Tiffany will be a great asset to this community. Um and I just wanted to share that. Thank you. Any more public comments? Okay, seeing none, we'll move into mayor comments on item seven. I'd like to give a shout out to the League of Women Voters. Thank you for what you're doing with the uh candidates. Uh like to give a shout out to Dr. Patterson from Murray. He was here yesterday for a town hall meeting here with us. And he met with all of us here for about an hour, hour and a half yesterday. Thank you. Uh hats off to the Whopper of the Egg Hunt, Toby, and rec department. Thank y'all so very much for what you did in WHOP. We did hams for heroes last Thursday with the MAC military affairs and uh give out over right at 700 hams and canned goods and had a great time. I hope everyone had a great Easter. And coming up, let's don't forget the Rotary auction on the 20th through the 25th this month. And come

out, bid often and bid bid high on that. Thank you so very much. Now, we'll go into item eight, reports from uh committees and guest speakers. And there is none of them tonight. We will move into item nine, a section of swearing and talking about uh W eight councilman members to come up on that. and uh Kathy Draus, uh Steven Mitchell, Miss Tiffany Pitman, and uh Robert T-Mix. Would y'all please come up to your seats? You're down here, Miss Kathy, on the other end. Thank you'all. And I turn the floor over to Mr. Troy Bot.

Thank you, Mayor. We're going to begin today. Uh we're going to be going from my left Kathy all the way over to you, Mr. Meek. Um and council members, we just have a brief group of questions as you can see. And then after we're done, we're if you have any follow-up questions you'd like to ask the members, all that we ask is that if you ask one of one, it goes to all. Um for the candidates, uh we going to let you begin here with an opening question. We'd ask you to give it just one or two minutes, your opening statement, and then when we get to the actual questions, one minute a piece, just for time sake. So, we're going to begin with asking you to give us an introductory statement about yourself. We're going to begin with Miss Kathy here.

Thank you.

Uh, good evening, Mayor Knight and members of city council. My name is Kathy Drazz, and I'm proud to have been born and raised right here in Hopkinsville. For more than 30 years, I've served this community in meaningful ways. As a young person, I volunteered at the Western Kentucky State Fair, selling Pepsi in the grand stands and making cotton candy in the Jet booth, for those that remember that. Those early experiences taught me the value of hard work and community involvement. Later, I used my background in pharmacy to volunteer at St. Luke's Free Clinic when it was first opened in the basement of the Catholic Church. Since then, I've continued to support local nonprofits with my time, resources, and materials. As a business owner, I've also worked with state and national organizations to help shape legislation that protects access to independent pharmacies, especially in areas where a pharmacist may be the only accessible healthcare provider. That work has given me firstirhand experience in problem solving, collaboration, and advocating for the needs of everyday people. When this opportunity came forward, I knew it was time for me to step up and serve in a new way. Now, I'm conservative by nature, but I believe in making smart, forwardthinking investments. Because when we invest wisely in our community, we strengthen our economy, improve access to care, and create long-term benefits for everyone. I'm ready to bring my experience, my work ethic, and my commitment to this role. And I would be honored to serve the citizens of Hopkinsville. Thank you. Good afternoon, councilmen and ladies and mayor. My name is Steve Mitchell. I come with this uh opportunity to uh be a voice for my people. I have worked with young people as far as as you've seen in the resume uh as any parent

would in baseball, basketball, which uh and football and and dealing with parents and dealing with boards as far as keeping leagues together. Um I don't have the extensive uh role of city and state. All I have is community. I have uh I have enjoyed working with all my people. I have uh met just about any sort of young mind or older parent or younger grandparent or your grandparent or younger parent that you can imagine in this city going going through these leagues and stuff. I worked uh as a it's hard to describe what I do. I work for the garment industry. I work uh making jeans as such. And these are there are a lot of there's a lot of engineering involved in it. Cost, you got to watch your cost of what you uh what you put in it. You got to make it uh balance out and you got to make a profit. Um this is uh this is what uh I try to do to uh make things balance out. Listen and make things happen. So and I thank you for your time.

Good evening council members, um mayor. My name is Tiffany Pitman and I have been in Hopkinsville my entire life. I am a graduate of Christian County High School in 2007, a former Christian County Public School Systems board member. Um I am married to Fred and together we have six children who are here in the room today. Well, most of them are. Um I have been passionate about helping um my community, friends, anyone that calls up on me in the time of need. Um I have been sitting at home thinking, what can I do to get back into service? And as Trey um spoke about earlier, uh last year kind of put me back into the fields. I need to get back in and start helping. I felt really good um going door todoor helping people, seeing that, you know, what I was doing was actually making a difference. And I actually got a little teary hearing them talk because that's what public service is about. You know, getting to hear people's feedback about how you made their life just a little bit easier. um we were dealing with issues on our own, but for me um I was even making phone calls from my job to make sure that people were still getting the things that they needed. Um I am a former um board of ethics member for the city of Hopkinsville. Um I am a alumni for focus 21st century minority leadership here in Hopkinsville. Um I was in the inaugural uh group for the mayor's diplomat program and also the sheriff's citizen academy. I hope that you all will listen to my character and take, you know, everything that I put in my resume um seriously and I look forward to hopefully being a part of this great council. Thank you.

I'm at a distinct disadvantage following all three of these individuals uh with those great statements. Uh my name is Terry Meek and Mr. Mayor, members of the city council, thank you for the opportunity to be interviewed tonight for W 8 position. Um, I have been a pastor for 45 years, chaplain in the army for 33 years, combat veteran. I served as a resource manager in the military, um, servicing a $2 million budget, but that's nothing like Melissa's 50 and $60 million budgets. uh been a command chaplain at three different locations in the United States, spent three years in Iraq, and uh had a great time serving the Lord and the people of our nation. Um I've been back and forth because of the military career here in Hopkinsville for quite a while. My family has lived here and I've had a a burden since I was a youngster to be in politics. Um, that never happened. I wanted to be a senator, but God had other plans for me to enter the ministry. And so, I followed what the Lord had to do. And in God's economy and his sense of humor, he allowed me to be a city council member a couple of years ago. And I got to serve with many of you. And it has been a great pleasure to serve and I just feel like I have some unfinished business uh with city council since my son left the position and I just thank you for the opportunity to speak up tonight and uh thank you for your collegiality. Thank you.

So some of you may have addressed this a bit in your opening statement, but we're going to ask you a very specific question. One minute, please tell us why you're really interested in this position. Starting with you, Miss Kathy. Oh, okay.

Um, I am I see this as an opportunity to really be hands-on to address some of the issues that Hopkinsville has. Um, instead of just sort of sitting back and, you know, actually speaking with the city council person and sitting back and go, "Okay, well, I really hope they take my suggestions to heart. But I really, you know, I want to see this through, you know, but being here and being in the thick of it, I'm able to have more influence in seeing how we can improve not just W 8, but the entire city. Um, you know, and that's really where my drive comes in is wanting to be hands-on. Got

Mr. Mitchell. Well, my my theory uh reasoner to be here is I want to build a bridge of communication with my constituents in in in Ward 8. We have a lot going on in Ward 8. We have uh we have the new school. We have we have the water park. We have every known highway, state, federal, city in our area. We have traffic nightmares on the boulevard. And we have all these things. I want to be a voice to tell the people in my ward what's going on and what to expect. And you know, eight months is going to go like a, you know, wink of an eye. And then, uh, the other person, I want to build a bridging bridge for him when he comes in in January to continue this for our award.

My reason for doing this is because I really have hope for us. I feel like Hopkinsville has a lot of potential. Um, I think that sometimes we don't have a lot of different types of voices in the room. So, a lot of things sometimes may get left out. Not intentionally sometimes, but it does happen. Um, but I'm also doing it for people that look like me. I'm doing it for the younger generation. Um, because I want people to know that this is possible. a lot of times just just even looking up there right now, you know, I want people to know that they can sit up there too, you know, 10 years from now and 15 years from now. Um, but I want to help. I want to be able to be a reason for this community to be excited to invite people here, to be excited to bring um small businesses to this community. Um, I'm just very excited about putting my my my name out there and and actually taking a step because if I can do it, then there's plenty other people sitting at home that probably feel like they can do it as well. Thank you.

Well, I don't want to hold my colleagues youth against them. Um, as I mentioned earlier, we have in my family, we have an ethic. And that ethic is we always finish the business that we start. And my son uh was requested for a job down in Dallas. He followed in my footsteps in city council. And it just felt like it was unfinished business. And our family always completes what we start. So for me, this is unfinished business for me and my family. in in Ward 8 having served there and lived there since we've been here in Hopkinsville. So, it's unfinished business and I enjoyed what I was doing and uh I would like to see this mission through to completion.

Thank you, Miss Kathy. It's uh two components to this question. What experience and what individual strengths would you bring to this council? Sorry, we discussed that. Okay, we're gonna start with you. Then uh I'll ask the question again. Yes, please. Starting with Mr. Mitchell. What experience and individual strengths would you bring to this council?

Well, the experience is I've lived in this lived in this community since uh most of my life uh over 60 years. uh the experience of the work experience I have with developing uh the uh wares that I have to develop to for our company to be profitable and sustain. We've had we've had up to 4,500 people working for us in our factories and everything they do I start. So it has to run in a in a good way to be uh you know for the people to be happy to make 4500 people happy is next to impossible to begin with but to get the majority of them happy to earn a good wage and to go home and produce a product that is sellable. And the reason they don't they buy it is not because they buy the first pair because it's cheap. They buy the second pair because it fits and it's a good product. And that's what I want to do is give work on a good product for hospital.

Mr. Body, could you repeat the question again?

Yes, ma'am. What experience and individual strengths would you bring to the city council? Um, being a former um, schoolboard member, I have had the um, I've had the experience dealing with multi-million dollar budget. So, I know how hard it is to try to get people paid, to try to do all the important things that you need done um, within an entity. Um, but also the strength that I would say that I bring to this table is being able to work with different types of people across the board. Um, I deal with that in my everyday job as a production um, trainer. I'm able to work with different departments to create a common goal and that's to train qualified people in our workforce. Thank you.

So, as as many of you know, I uh served for two years as a city council member, served on the airport board, fund committee, etc. and we made a lot of advances and and some changes uh to in several different committees during the tenure that I was uh here. The strength that I bring is that I've been a leader for 33 years plus in the military. Um that leadership is a critical piece along with being an individual who's been around diversity and multicultural environments their entire career. which is important because you have to listen to all of your constituents and take the time to understand the environmental processes that individuals come from. So, I think I'm imminently qualified for this position, but we'll just leave the results up to y'all. Great. Uh the experience that I bring um is really more from my business background. Um even with the businesses that I have now, routinely routinely juggling multi-million dollar budgets um when profit margins are next to nothing, having to make changes um to be able to keep the doors open without sacrificing any jobs. Um I've done it here and we can and I continue to do it in other cities as well. Um, as far as my strengths go, having served time on the Kentucky Pharmacy Association's Government Affairs Committee, you know, I'm having to deal with, or I say deal with, you know, work with a variety of individuals across the state um with varied backgrounds. I mean, I was really the low man on education wise on the

totem pole. working with pharmacists and attorneys and lobbyists. Um but yet was able to collaborate um was most notice most recently Senate Bill 188 to help independentarmacies in the Kentucky.

Next question. We're going to start with you Miss Tiffany. In your opinion, what is the role of a council member in the governance of a city and what do you hope to accomplish as a city council member? The role of a council member is to take the concerns of their constituents and bring them back to here um and to make those decisions ultimately what they feel their community or their ward needs. Now, being a council member, that means that sometimes you may have to make decisions that not everybody in your ward will agree on. Um, but, uh, once you're elected, they give you, I would say, the the power or the authority to be able to take collectively what have you, what you've heard and bring that back and base decisions on facts, um, finances, and not just personally, but be able to back up what your decisions are. And what was the second portion of that question?

What do you hope to accomplish as a city council member? What I hope is to bring diversity to um council right now. Um as you all are aware, you're a a Republican only council and I hope to have other people get interested and and feel that they can also be a part of this council as well. Can I have questions again, Troy? Yes, sir. In your opinion, what is the role of a council member in the governance of a city? And what do you hope to accomplish as a city council member?

You know, that's a that's a great question. Um, I think council members bring transparency to the process. I think that's what this is all about. When we meet together, the public has to see what types of bills we're trying to pass, zoning regulations, what time type of boards are meeting, what are some of the inconsistencies going on, what are the gaps that's happening in a community, and we then work at bringing those to the forefront in defense of our members. This goes beyond your ward because we have to be willing to listen to all of the different issues across the whole spectrum of the city of Hopkinsville. We have to be willing to listen to everybody regardless of party affiliation or not. That's to me that's immaterial. The material part of this is listening to the needs of the community, making sure that we have a safe environment, make sure that we adequately resource everyone and take care of our community as a whole. Cathy,

I see the role of the city council um you know is ensuring that the citizens of the city are um are taken care of in the way that where we've created a safe environment and you know making sure that the um you know things that people their needs are basically met and for those who have needs that need to be met a bit off track sorry you know we're able to guide them to those resources. Um, you know, that's and that's kind of rolls into my the second part of this question. What do I would like to accomplish? I would like to accomplish, you know, addressing some of the issues that we have such as, you know, rent and homelessness. And the first part sort of goes with the second part in kind of putting word out there and collaborating with local organizations that are already here to kind of come to the table and say, "Hey, why don't we do this? We can do this for nothing or next to nothing and where it benefits the entire community, giving people a hand up instead of a hand out." Mr. Mitchell, in your opinion, what is the role of a council member in the governance of a city and what do you hope to accomplish as a city council member? Well, I think the role of a councilman is is first of all to listen to the people. Uh the people are paying our taxes, the people are the people are are wanting services. The people are wanting to be safe. As such, I think a councilman should open his eyes, know what's going around in his ward and other wards. We are a team as such as councilman. Uh this one's ward might have more problems than this one. We all work as a meshed uh group to try to help each other and solve these problems uh at minimal cost. And uh and going forward, what I'd like

to achieve is uh as I spoke before, a bridge of communications and solve some of the problems that W 8 is going to be facing over the over the next five months uh with uh with safety issues of traffic at school and and already with the uh the pool. I'm going to start with you, Mr. Meek. How will you ensure all residents of the community feel representative and engaged?

I think listening is the greatest skill that we bring to the table. Um it is taking those concerns of the individuals and bringing them forward so that we can mitigate any issues that are out there in the community. Um, it's difficult sometimes for people to feel like they are listened to. I've been out on the street in W 8 when we've had issues. When those issues arrive, they need to have a face that represents them to this council and the public, vice versa. And so we do the we do the bidding of the people in our ward, but we still have to be open to the full spectrum of the city to listen to all the concerns of everyone.

Matthew, could you repeat the question, please?

Sure. How will you ensure all residents of the community feel represented and engaged? Um, communication is is absolutely key and and not just in social media, but as well as, you know, phone calls, emails, and not just accepting those, but also following up on them. And if that means, you know, you know, you need to go out to physically to someone's home, whether it's in W 8 or another ward, be willing to enga physically engage those in the community to sit down with them. and that, you know, by engaging with them in that way, they're going to feel, you know, hey, I'm being listened to. Um, you know, this has been explained to me. And communication and being honest with people goes a long way. Um, I've been brutally honest with many of my customers at the pharmacy and where others have not in the industry. And honesty is highly appreciated more than a lot of people realize. How will you ensure all residents of the community feel represented and engaged?

Well, I think meet your neighbor in a big sense, in a big way is a is a good thing. You have to meet you have to meet the people face to face. Make yourself open. Uh give them a contact number, a text number. uh any way that they can they can contact you and follow up as she said follow up on their problems. Their problems are real. Uh my wife says that I've never met a stranger. Well, I haven't. There are no strangers. We're all just we're all on this earth together and we have to be able to communicate. And I'm I've got uh God gave me uh one mountain in two years and that's how I would use them.

Tiffany, could you repeat the question, please? Absolutely. How will you ensure all residents of the community feel represented and engaged?

Well, like he said, um I I love to talk and I never feel like I ever meet a stranger. So, I'm still continuously right now still reaching out to people even though I'm not in public service now. I still every day reach out to someone if I see that there's an issue that they have that I can solve. Um, if I am put in this position, I wanted to do like a a windown Wednesday where I take back the information that we talked about on city council on Tuesday on my Facebook page and actually communicate with people in the community so that they have questions, they can personally reach out to me and I can answer them, but also bring it back on Thursdays whenever we have committee of the whole meetings as well. Thank you.

Next question. We're going to start again with you Kathy. Are you able to meet the time requirements, uh, commitments required, meetings, preparations, community events, reading the packet, retreats? Absolutely. Um, professionally, I'm at a point in my life where I have um, unlimited freedom. Actually, I can work I work from home a whole lot uh, because I've been blessed and I'm able to do that. Um, and honestly, as long as I've got my phone, I can answer to any anybody I need to. So yes, I can be anywhere at any time. Mitchell, that again please. Are you able to meet the time commitments required, the meetings, the preparation, the community events?

Yes, sir. I would be happy to uh I would uh I would love just to be a part of this this situation and work with the people uh on the council and the mayor and uh would look forward to it and devote what time I need to to devote to it. Um I would say that I am more than willing and able to do that. I made that transition a few years back. Um, so there's nothing that I have going on in my life that would prevent me from being able to be of service to anyone in this community.

Well, as many of you know, I'm retired and I'm still trying to work out what that word means, retirement, because it seems like now that you have free time and the ability to do things for the community, it can consume all of your time. Besides being an uber granddad, I've got time to do everything that needs to be done to attend committee meetings, council of the whole, and all of the meetings associated with this position. Thank you. I'm going to begin with Mr. Mitchell. How do you stay informed about complex issues that are affecting the city of Hopkinsville?

That's difficult in Hopkinsville. You listen to the radio. Uh local radio is not not too uh too uh informative. Uh outside radio is a little bit more. Um I do not get the newspaper anymore uh because it wasn't really covering a lot. So uh you're kind of lost and that's why my thing is about communication uh within our district. uh you know each each uh each council member uh you know letting the district their people know what's going on. Uh there's there's a void there. There's a void of communication in Christian is is pretty bad in my estimation.

Okay, Miss Tiffen, could you repeat that, Mr.

Absolutely. How do you stay informed about complex issues that are affecting the city of Hopkinsville? I mean, to be honest, you have to get out there. You have to be involved. Sometimes you may have to be uncomfortable and go in buildings and and interact with people that you may not have in your regular everyday life. But that's a part of being in, you know, public service. You have to be able to be willing to reach out to people that don't look like you, that don't speak the language that you speak, that don't work in the places that you work. That's what public service is about is putting yourself out there to let people know, hey, if you need me, you can call me. You have to be willing to be available and have your arms open so that if someone does have an issue, they feel comfortable enough to reach out to you. Thank you.

So, of course, we have social media, we have the Facebook pages, we have stop corruption, everything that that that offers us. You'd be surprised though what you find out when you talk to your neighbors and you have sit them down and over a cup of coffee. You hear a lot of issues in the neighborhood. Just when you walk your streets, you got social media. We we've already mentioned that the television, the newspaper, but I think where the grassroots medium really works is when you sit down with your neighbors, talk to them over a cup of coffee, and they will literally tell you what the issues, their issues, and the issues surrounding this city.

Miss Kathy, question, please. How do you stay informed about complex issues that affect the city of Hopkinsville?

Okay. Um, I stay informed in a variety of ways. Of course, I mean a social media, read the news. Um, and then I will take that and then I will run down the rabbit hole. Um, by going to I will if I'm unable or, you know, unable to attend a city council meeting, I will watch it on YouTube. Then I'll go to the city's website. You know, just like the proposed budget, I've already pulled it up. I've reviewed it. I'm going, "Okay, this is where we were last year. Where are we now?" um you know, I'm all about the facts and so I'm going to go straight to the source and the source is typically for me is the website. Um I'm not listening to some Facebook created Facebook page by some anonymous person who's spewing who knows if it's fact or not. I'm I'm going to go check it out. And that's I mean that's how I stay informed. And last question for me, starting with you, Miss Tiffen. Tell us about current andor previous volunteer work that you've done or are doing to serve the residents of Hopkinsville.

Currently, um, as far as volunteer work, um, I am a newly married woman. Um, so we have been trying to work those logistics out. Um, but as far as volunteer work, you know, whenever I'm needed at church or if I'm needed, you know, somebody needs boxes, if they're moving, um, I always try to answer a call on Facebook. I stay on social media a lot. It may be different from some people. Um, but I see a lot of people that are in need of volunteers or help on Facebook. And if I can help, I reach out. I send a a message. I I call them. For me, social media, we have to take it for what it is. And that's where the world is going right now. So for me to be able to help those people, I stay on social media a lot and that's how I do a lot of my volunteer work. Seeing people that need help, whether they need a bill paid or they need assistance with their children getting to school or babysitter or something like that. If I can't do it, I probably nine times out of 10 know someone that can help. And that's how I do a lot of my volunteer work these days.

Could I hear the question again? Absolutely. Tell us about current andor previous volunteer work that you've done or are doing to serve the residents of Hopkinsville.

So I believe that you help your neighbors. We have a across the street from our house. We have a 80year-old widow who lost her husband and um she doesn't have anybody around really to care for her. She's in the process of moving. So, like everyone says, you know, you you go out of your way and you help. Um whether that's picking up boxes, helping her move this, cutting her lawn, making sure that she's okay in the middle of the night. I think the the proper way to handle it is to take care of your neighbor and to get out there among people and see where the needs are.

Gonna go to you, Miss Kathy. I'm a little bit uncomfortable answering this publicly because when I look at my volunteer work or contributions, I consider those very private and personal. I don't do those for public accolades. I do that because it's simply the right thing to do. But I will mention a couple that I've done. Um unfortunately because I'm I've enjoyed life a little too well. I'm physically unable to volunteer the way I would really like to. Um but in the past I have, you know, u spent my time at St. Luke Free Clinic um working in their pharmacy. Uh when they moved from the Catholic church over to the building they are in now, I helped set up the pharmacy. Um most recently, I had a uh project that involved remodeling a house. It was a home improvement deal. I had former contractor over, you know, estimated the amount of product and I thought, what am I going to do with this? I called Vice Kilibru. I said, "Vice man, can you use this stuff?" He said, "Absolutely." So donated a whole bunch of stuff to men to be unfortunately you know I mean I if someone needs some consulting I'm open to any any of them that ever reach out

to Mitchell you get to me again please

tell us about current andor previous volunteer work that you've done or are doing to serve the residents of Hopkinsville. Well, currently it's just uh like help your neighbor as as Terry said, you know, help your neighbor. I'm not involved in any volunteer organizations as such. Over the past, of course, uh dealing with the uh the athletics, the athletics uh during the floods, I have clean up have clean up limbs and trash and all this that we had in the in the 90s. Uh, oh gosh, you shovel stove for neighbors, push neighbors out of ditches or, you know, those kind of things that you would openly do to help help another person. But as far as being involved in organizations, sports was my thing was, of course, I've had I had had children that played in it and years I didn't have children that were in it, but I was always involved in that kind of thing and on fire. So, some hated me. Some love.

Council members, do you have any questions for the candidates?

Yes. As you I'm sure you're aware, I know Kathy, you mentioned budget already. Um, we are going into budgeting, which for anybody new, that's a learning curve in itself. When you get that binder, they hand it to you and it takes a lot of time. Um, how would you prioritize competing needs within the budget? And does it matter who we start with? Kathy, take it away.

Um, I would p uh prioritize the city's needs um first and foremost. Um, the very last thing I would ever want to see cut would be any any into any vital department, which would be any public service, law enforcement, fire, EMTs, those we have absolutely have to have. Um, and then look at, okay, yes, we've got this money budgeted, but is this something that the city needs or is it are we doing it because well, we would like to have this. Well, I think that needs to be discussed and say, you know, is this really in the best interest of the of the city for the people and is this really the best way to spend this money or can we move this over here because we really need to take care of this. Um, you know, I would have to look at see the binder. Um, but being in the analytical analytical person that I am, go through and honestly I'd go through it line by line.

Me, too. Well, uh, the city budget, they're first first and foremost, public safety. We have to have public safety. Uh, and each one of the, uh, council members, each ward has their own needs. And uh these needs are going to have to be discussed together and then come up with some sort of agreement because my needs if I'm in W 8 are going to be one way, your needs going to be another and it's going it's going to be too much of a need for what we have coming in. So compromises have to be met and that's where all of us have to get together and throw our heads together. So me making a decision on anything, I'm not I'm not that I'm not there. I'm not that learned about this situation, but I will learn as quick as I can with everybody's help and guidance. Um, working with the budget is very hard in itself, but I think the most important aspect would be to gravitate towards current um, council members to get your advice to find out, you know, how to navigate through the different line items that are in there. Also, like Miss Kathy talked about is finding out where that money could be spent best first. Also, dealing with grants. A lot of people are not aware that grants just can't be spent on what we want to spend it on. There's rules and regulations to where this money can go. So, it'll be different for me to find out from a city side how a budget works. Um, but I think that I I I think that it'll be easy as long as I can have the assistance from current council members as well as anyone else that would be willing to help me within the city. Thank you. So the city council has an initiative. It's a work grow issue and the focus

deals with public safety, economic development, city cleanliness. Um one of those um is staff support is the last focus area. The money has to be appropriated in such a manner that all of those needs are met to take care of the needs of the city. And of course, you've got to support the staff to make it come about. Otherwise, it's meaningless. Kimberly's right about grants. Grants are an important part of the budget process. Having qualified individuals that know how to access grants, plug them into the program so that somebody else is a bill payer and not our city. That makes a lot of sense to me. The other thing that we have to be conscious of is that we our revenue doesn't go so far that we exceed our bond rating. That's very important to keep that in balance. And just to close out, I would say that um getting the staff support, taking care of the needs of the city, making sure that the public safety is is all in place is paramount, and taking care of our agencies, the people that help out those that are disadvantaged in our community.

Any other question, Miss Brandy? I really like questions. Uh, I do have

I do have one more and this one's going to sound a little out there. Um, but I think one of my biggest takeaways is being able to accept corrective criticism. How do you feel that you handle criticism on your decisions that you make? And is it hard for you to back them or will you support them to a fault even if you're wrong? I'll yeah I accept and my employees will tell you I will let them know real quick. Oh yes I was wrong. I have no problem owning it and I don't like crow but I've had to eat it a few times and I'll eat it again. I'm sure. Um no I mean nobody's perfect. Uh you know even if you think that this table is perfect I can assure you if we looked at it long enough we're going to find something wrong with it. And we all just need to realize that none of us are perfect. And that's just it's just simple as that.

I'm trying to think last time I was wrong.

No. Uh you know, criticism makes you grow. If you accept if you accept your mistakes, you learn. If you learn, you grow. And that's kind of the way I've been all my life is uh some things you don't like, but the best thing is to shut your mouth and listen. When I first started in politics, it was very hard for me to accept criticism because I knew that the decisions that I was making was from my heart. And even though people outside of my close circle didn't see where I was coming from, it really hurt me because I knew that I I took great consideration into the notes, the meetings, the agendas. like I I really went in trying to make sure I did a good thing. And to be criticized sometimes is hard, but that's where my faith comes in. That's where, you know, my husband comes in, my kids, they they tell me all the time, you know, you can't make everybody happy. And I started to not take things so personal and just know that everything is not for everybody. And being up there is not for everybody. And being right here, as you see, it's just four of us, is not for everybody. So, you know, only those that are called can do the job. And so, I I just think it's it's hard for some people in the beginning, but I had to learn that the hard way about criticism.

So, I'm married and so criticism is a big part of marriage because your spouse knows you better than anyone else in the world. And it's when you're those gaps are pointed out in your life. You don't take it personally, but you look at it as a growing point. I I was criticized in my position in Ward 8. And you got to come to a point where you realize you're here to serve others. And that's what we're in the business of doing as a council member, to serve others. So you don't take it personal because people have all kinds of issues and situations in their lives that sometimes drive the conversation piece and it really isn't about you. It's about their current needs and maybe the frustration or the stress they're currently facing. So you take it with a grain of salt and do the best you can to remediate and mitigate the circumstances that we present. You're good. Council Marsh, do you have any questions?

I don't have any additional questions. All righty. Council Martin, so I don't have a question, but I just want to tell you all you did a really good job. Um, this is hard. Like I I know it's I did this same thing in 2020 when I got appointed and that where you're sitting is very hard, but then where we're sitting is very hard because we have really four really good qualified candidates here. Um, I know three of you very well. Um, y'all might be have been excited about today. I've kind of been dreading it because I know you so well. So, it it's hard. I have to pick one of you and tell three of you know, but I I just want to tell you good job and and and it's hard.

Yeah. No question. But I do want to kind of echo that. If this is an example of the future of individuals of willing to step up and run for this city, this is awesome. I literally hope that next time I have an election, I am facing people in my ward as passionate as you all about doing it because that's what makes our city better. The more that compete for the position, the more options and opportunities um our residents have to choose. So, thank you all. You did do a phenomenal job and I I hope it's a reflection of what's to come across the whole city. Miss Bogart,

you all did a great job and this is going to be a really hard pick. Um, thank you all for being here today. Mr. Valz, have any questions? Have a hard task ahead of us here. Yes, we do.

Very hard task ahead of us. I want to thank all four of you for coming up here, applying, speaking to us, explaining everything. I wrote down a bunch of notes from everybody who all did great. It is going to be so dang hard to I hope you win or lose, come back, there'll be an election again in two years. Come and fight again, okay? Don't give up. Graham,

I don't have any questions, but I'd like to reiterate what everybody else has said. Thank you for stepping up, first of all, and it it is going to be a difficult difficult choice. Thank you again for stepping up and wanting to serve your community. Thank you.

I'd like to say thank you to you four. I know all four of you had in certain aspects, bad aspects with the water. Some nights we have know you from business, school, council. I thank you for putting your name on the line and asking for this position. It will be a hard decision to make and council has that decision to make here in just a minute. And uh but I would like to say thank you and I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Hawkinsville is grateful to have you. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. fire.

So, when I call the role, if you could state the name of the individual that you're voting for council, can I uh interrupt, Mr. Mayor? Yes. uh is it inappropriate to uh on behalf of the candidates because you reiterating what everyone said, everyone on this at this table is just a high quality candidate and we just really thank you all for being willing to do that. Is it inappropriate or might ask to ask Mr. Willen or not? Uh according to Robert's rules that we request a secret ballot. No, sorry. It has to be a verbal response. Okay. Yes.

Council member Salons.

Mr. Meek. Council member Marsh. Thank you, Mr. Mitchell. Council member Martin.

Council member Sumar. Council member Bogard. Council member Vezek.

Council member D. Mr. Mek, Mr. Mek is our next W date. Congratulations. Congratulations. And I'd like to say thank you to all of you for coming out tonight. Thank you,

Mr. Meek. I need to see you up front here. Where's my glasses? Can

I get you to raise your right hand? I, Robert Meeks, do solemnly swear or affirm as in case may be that will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the Commonwealth and faithfully and truthfully to the Commonwealth of Kentucky. So as long as you continue as a citizen therefore and that will faithfully execute to the best of your ability the office of the city of Hopkinsville city according to law and do firmly affirm or swear that adoption of the present constitution I being a citizen of this this state have no fault duels or weapons, excuse me, with the state, nor out of, nor have I sent accepted a challenge, fight or duel with deadly weapons, nor have acted as a second in carrying out the challenge, nor aid the assistance of any person this offends. So help me God.

So, do I say I will or I won't shoot anybody? Yes, sir. All righty. We do that. Welcome you here.

Thank you. Welcome, Mr. Meeks to W 8. Thank you, sir. I will move into item 10, approval of minutes of March 17, 2026 regular meeting.

Motion. Got a motion and second. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Likewise. All righty. Item 11, ordinances. Ordinances 06-2026. Alley closings.

An ordinance closing seven unnamed alleys between West 2nd Street and West 7th Street in the city of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Summary. Now, therefore, be ordained by the city council of the city of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, as follows. Section one. Pursuant to KRS 82.405, 405. This section identifies the property owners abuing the portions of the alleys to be closed at Second Baptist Church in Franchester, Jordan. It further acknowledges the abuing property owners were given written notice of the proposed closings and the property owners gave written notorized consent to the alley closings. Copies of the consents are attached to the full text of the ordinance as exhibit A and incorporated therein by reference. Section two. The section states, "The unnamed alleys consisting of approximately 14,529 square ft located between West Second Street and West 7th Street are hereby closed forever as public ways. A copy of exhibit B, more particularly describing the alley is to be closed, is attached here, too. The section further lists restrictions and/or conditions under which the alleys are to be closed. The full text of this ordinance is on file in the office of the undersigned city clerk of the city of Hopkinsville at 7:15 South Virginia Street, Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where it is available for public inspection between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Okay. Motion. Motion is second by Mr. Biz. All righty. Any discussion? Okay. No discussion. I'll call the clerk to call the role. Council member Martin. Yes. Council member Sumar. Yes. Council member Mink. Yes. Council member Bogard. Yes. Council member Veles. Yes. Council member D. Yes. Council member Stalins. Yes. Council member Marsh. Yes. That passes on second reading.

Item B, ordinance 07-2026 FY2526 operational budget. Second reading. Amending the city of Hopkinsville, Kentucky annual budget for fiscal year July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026 by estimating revenues and resources and appropriating funds for the operation of city government. Summary, now therefore be ordained by the city council of the city of Hopkinsville, Kentucky as follows. Section one. By summary, section one of ordinance 01 2026 amending the annual budget for fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2025 and ending June 30th, 2026 is hereby amended as follows. Revenues general fund 57,53,183 municipal road aid fund 1,326,507 prior year 1,20,394 prior year revenue building maintenance reserve 38,500 total revenue 59,438,584 expenses general fund 58,112,77 municipal road aid fund 1,326,507 total expenses 59,438,584 Four. Section two. The full text of this ordinance is on file in the office of the undersigned city clerk at 7:15 South Virginia Street, Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where it is available for public inspection between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Secretary. All right. Any discussion? No discussion. Call the clerk to call the role. Council member Martin. Yes. Council member Sumar. Yes. Council member Mek. Yes. Council member Bogard. Yes. Council member VeZ. Yes. Council member D. Yes. Council member Stalins. Yes. Council member Marsh. Yes. That passes on second reading. All righty. Item C, Ordinance 08-2026, Chapter 31.4, Citizen Participation, First Reading.

An ordinance amending section 31.04, Citizen Participation of the Hopkinsville Code of Ordinances. Now therefore be ordained by the city council of the city of Hopkinsville, Kentucky as follows. Section one section 31.04 of the Hopkinsville Code of Ordinance is hereby amended as follows. 31.04 citizen participation. A the citizens of the city are encouraged to attend regular meetings and all public hearings in the interest of democratic government. B. A portion of each regular meeting shall be devoted to receiving communications, petitions, complaints, and information from citizens. C. The following procedures will facilitate orderly citizen participation at regular meetings and at public hearings. One, members of the public wishing to address council during the public comments portion of the agenda shall speak only from the designated podium shall be recognized by the presiding officer and requested to state his or her name for the official minutes. Two members of the public may only address council one time per meeting. Comment shall be limited to no more than five minutes. The presiding officer may order any member of the public who refuses to comply with the procedures set out in this ordinance or who is obscene, unruly, or disruptive to leave the meeting. The presiding officer may request the Hopkinsville Police Department assist with enforcing these orders. Section two, if any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, such infirmity shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. Section three, all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict with this ordinance are hereby appealed. Section four, this ordinance shall take effect after its passage and publication according to law.

Okay. Motion motion. Second by Mike. All righty. Any discussion? Right. Seeing no discussion, clerk, please call the role. Council member Martin, yes. Council member Sumar, yes. Council member Mek, yes. Council member Bogard, yes. Council member BZ, yes. Council member D, yes. Council member Stalins, yes. Council member Marsh, yes. That passes on first reading. All righty. Item D, ordinance 09-2026, chapter 110.04, 04 occupational license fee. First reading

an ordinance amending section 110.04A occupational license tax payment required of the city of Hopkinsville, Kentucky code of ordinances. Now therefore be ordained by the city council of the city of Hopkinsville, Kentucky as follows. Section 1 section 110.04A of the Hopkinsville Code of Ordinance is hereby amended as follows. 110.04 occupational license tax payment required. A except as provided in division B of the section, every person or business entity engaged in any business for profit and any person or business entity required to make a filing with the Internal Revenue Service or the Kentucky Revenue Cabinet shall be required to file and paid the city an occupational license tax for the privilege of engaging in such activities within the city. The occupational license tax shall be measured by one 1.9500s percent of all wages and compensation paid or payable to the city for work done or services performed or rendered in the city by every resident non-resident who is an employee and two 1 and 3/10% of the net profits from business conducted in the city by resident or non-resident business entity or 100 whichever is greater subject to the following conditions. A any person or business whose gross receipts as defined in 110.01 01 or 25,000 or less, regardless of whether the gross receipts are derived from within or without the city, shall be paid a minimum of $25 processing fee. However, if the person or business operates a business which is open to the public, the person or business is still required to complete the application and pay the registration fee as required by 110.03 03 and B. No occupational license tax under this sub chapter shall apply to persons paid wages or compensation for the performance of duties for which he or she is employed or contracted entirely outside the city or who spends four hours or less per week within the city for purposes of reporting receiving instructions and/or meeting which are incidental to his or her duties outside the city. Section two, if any section subsection sent in clause or phrase of this ordinance is held unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, such infirmity should not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. Section three, any and all existing ordinances inconsistent with this ordinance are hereby repealed. Section four, this ordinance shall take effect July 1st, 2026 after its passage and publication according to law.

Motion. Motion. Second. Clayton. All right. Uh, any discussion? No discussion. I call the clerk to call the role. Council member Martin. Yes. Council member Sumar. Yes. Council member Mink. Yes. Council member Bogard, yes. Council member, yes. Council member Gerald, yes. Council member Stalins, yes. Council member Marsh, yes. That passes on first reading.

Right. All righty. Item 12, other any other business to come before the council tonight? Okay. Item 13, councilman comments. Any council member have comments tonight? I have a question. I received a phone call today and um uh there was a concerned citizen that was inquiring about the bluegrass splash committee. They was wondering when that was going to be formed.

We will have that on the 21st of this month. It will be out. We have the nominees together. We got to contact them before I let it out to everyone. Me and Miss Me and Miss Byron will be reaching out to everyone. Me and Miss Byron will be reaching out to that committee. We have done we've took all their names in. I've got them and I've got them on a list. We will be bringing that out on the 25th. On the 21st. And Britney, the applications just closed Friday. Right. And I have one more question. I've had other concerned citizens reach out asking about the um an advisory board or committee for the opiate settlement funds.

We are still looking into that with the uh attorney and we will be getting back with council on that. Okay. Okay. Any other questions? All right, we get to move into close session pending lgation KRS61.8101C. Motion. Got a motion. We'll get a second. Second by Mike. All those in favor say I. I. All right. We are in close session. Thank you.

18- 2026.

Hopkinsville City Council hereby authorizes the mayor to execute the attached opioid settlement participation agreement. All right, got a motion, second by Mike. All those in favor say I. I. I. All righty. All righty. Okay. Any oppose? Likewise. All righty. Seeing none, I will go into item 15. Uh, ward six. Travis, you got a journment report? I don't have any I don't have a quote tonight. I think we've been here long enough. So, I'd just like to welcome back Mr. Meek. And, uh, with that, I will make a motion to adjourn. All right. That motion. All those in favor say I. Hallelujah. All right. We are journed. Thank you.