City Commission - Regular Meeting

Welcome to your Danville City Commission meeting. It's a regular meeting. Today is Monday, August the 24th, 2026. We were sort of waiting on a very special guest to arrive, but she's probably still in route. But if she does get here, we'll introduce her to you all. So first thing on the agenda is that we're going to have a moment of silence this afternoon in honor of Ms. Tina Cox. who's a long time resident of Danville and Boyle County, but she is a long time employee of the state of Kentucky, Boyle County, and also a long time employee of the Danville Police Department. So to bow in respect to Ms. Tina Cox today. Thank you all. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you all. Commissioners, I'd like to entertain a motion to approve our agenda as printed with one deletion, and that is item number eight. It says Parks and Rec. We have two folks who are going to be nominated today to the Advisory, Capital Advisory Committee, but we're only going to do one of those tonight.

We're going to take the young man off.

His appointment has not been ratified yet. So please get to item number eight. We'll only do one of those appointments. So entertain a motion to approve the agenda as amended. So moved. Thank you, sir. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, ma'am. Any other questions or comments? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed, motion carries. Next on our agenda is a section where we call here the public and folks who are in attendance can speak to us about items at this time that are only items on our agenda. There's another section in our meeting where we'll have an opportunity to speak to us about items that are not on our agenda. But at this point, if you desire to speak to us, and you're not already a scheduled speaker or presenter, we'd like to give you an opportunity to... Talk to us about items on the agenda. Seeing that there is not any, then I'd like to move on then. Mr. Coffey, should we introduce our special guest, the young man that's with us at this point?

You could, yeah.

All right.

Transition to that's fine.

All right. Would you come up to the microphone, young man? Identify yourself and congratulations.

Thanks, Mayor, members of the commission. Grayson Evans, I'm the newly appointed president and CEO of the Danville-Boyle County Development Corporation. And we'll get started with you all on Tuesday of this coming week. It's a great honor. I certainly won't say too much while I'm here. I'll be respectful of your time, but I can't tell my life story without telling you guys how much I love this community and what it's meant to me. I didn't grow up here, but I came to college at Center and got stuck. I never left. Until pretty recently, I've been the industrial development director over in Mercer County, and I think we've had a great deal of success over the last few years, and I Hope to be able to bring some of that over this direction as well. Look forward to getting to know all of you and working closely with you all and with the city staff. Just thrilled to have this opportunity. Love this community and hopefully we can continue to grow it together. Thank you, sir.

I would have asked for questions, but since you haven't started yet, I won't let them grill you yet. We'll work on that for the first of September. But again, on behalf of the City Commission, welcome to Denver. Welcome back to Denver. Next on our agenda is approval of the minutes of the previous meetings. Is there a motion to approve the minutes as presented or as amended?

I'll make a motion to approve the minutes as presented.

Thank you, ma'am. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, ma'am. Any questions, additions or deletions? Any corrections? Hearing none, all those in favor of approving our minutes, say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed? Motion carries. I think we should skip this item.

Should we just skip this item? Just skip this.

I would love to. Okay. Next item on our agenda is a recognition of a young teenager who's getting ready to retire from the city of Danville. Mr. City Manager, you want to take care of this young man? Well, he knows I'm voting no already, but you can take care of him if you would, right?

You know, I really don't know what to do with Nick and I. It's a strange... Truthfully, it is... We can be formal and try to be professional, but it's hard. Nick and I, we really grew up together in essence. We've been together since I was, I met Nick when I was 27. And he has been here really my whole time. And we have argued, we have worked together, we have done all the things that you do when you're in the same family. And I have a great appreciation for Nick. And what I would like to hopefully help the community understand is how important Nick was in maintaining our community Cyber integrity, the integrity of our computer systems, which are very complex with 911 and the finances and all the things that go along with that, the complexity of the units that are in the police cruisers communicating with the jail, for example, when they go out there, I was at a ride-along one time and one of our officers printed a report and he had the report done and ready to sign by the time we got to the jail, and that stuff just doesn't happen. It appears as magic, but it's not. And Nick and the group of IT professionals that we have, they're impressive. Nick is impressive. He, to his credit, came about at a time when there was not necessarily formal education in what an IT department should look like. And he sculpted the city's IT infrastructure, the city's IT department, the city's IT operation, all the pieces. And Nick, I want you to know that's impressive. And you self-taught and you self-learned and you muscled your way through in spite of sometimes not knowing exactly what to do. You would delay a decision until you could figure it out. And a lot of people didn't understand that. And I want you to know I appreciate that. and I know you've worked your butt off and I'm gonna miss you personally just because I've known you for so long and it's comforting to know what I can call Nick. So thank you, Nick, and you're welcome to come to the mic speak.

Mr. Crawford, you didn't tell him. You said you met him so many years ago, but you didn't tell him he was just 13 years old at that point.

Real young guy. I think I was 17 at the time. 17? I don't have much to say. I joked in a staff meeting this year during budget time that this has been the longest summer job ever in almost 30 years. I was supposed to be summer crew and stayed on and stuck with him and worked up through the various departments and Got to where I am today. I'm glad to be here and excited to see what's next. I'd like to thank everybody I've worked with. I've met a lot of great people, both staff and in the public. It's been a pleasure. Were you a taller elementary school graduate? You know, I had this principal once and he was my... But he was a better neighbor. I thought I was going to not get to go to school the day when the bus broke down, and he showed up and hauled us all there in his station wagon. I was a little mad at the time, but I got over it.

He's talking about my brother in case y'all don't know. Yeah, exactly.

It's kind of like that guy that used to coach me in football, too. Oh, yeah.

I'm trying to think how long I've known you. You were like 12.

I was in like sixth grade.

Well, he went to Tolliver Elementary School, to Bate Middle School, to Denver High School, and to City Hall. What a career.

All the quirks was in between, but there wasn't much gap. Well, we won't talk about the jobs in between. That's right.

Well, congratulations. Mayor. Thanks, sir. Mayor, could I say something, please, about Nick?

Yes, sir. Oh, wait. As long as it's something good now.

Me and Nick have always talked about being here together. He's a little over 28 years and me just going to my 31st. But when I first started, we didn't have computers in the cars. We didn't have cameras in the cars or body cameras. And all that has been done under Nick's tenure. That's been a very, very heavy lift. Also, all those guys in IT have been instrumental in growing the emergency services, not just the police department, but dispatch as well. Dispatches had two moves in Nick's tenure. We moved to the south end fire station up on the hill, and then we moved them into this current building that we have downstairs. And to make two huge moves like that and to keep emergency services 10-8 during that whole time is impressive just by itself. So, Nick, I appreciate everything you've done for the law enforcement and dispatch side of the city.

Thank you, sir. Chief, go right on that. Nick, we built how many buildings since you've been here? And it got so routine that we could just give the floor plan to Nick, and he would draw up the IT, and then we would just give that to the architect, and we could count on Nick to spot other things when he would show up and go through his IT stuff, and he would raise the red flag appropriately. And he... did a lot for the community, and all of the staff appreciate that, Nick, and I want you to know that.

Nick, I want to say thanks. We've been together for a long time because you started it. That's right.

You're the reason I actually got the IT job.

Yeah, because you were in public works, and it's like, you know. he can do this you know and then you came in and wrote all the whatever you wrote and then we interviewed further down the road i just think it's funny i have to share it we would interview i'd sit in the interviews and just be like what's he talking about because he would be talking to the person interviewing about firewalls and all of these little things and he's like do you understand no i don't understand you just if they know you know because i don't know but i appreciate what you've done and i think people i mean maybe everybody does realize but it's just a lot you We walked in and been through all the city managers as well and mayors and just been there the whole time. So I appreciate what you've done. Thank you.

Anyone else? Mayor, if I could say something real quick. I know, Nick, you and I have worked together probably about not quite as long as Earl and Tony, but about seven years. One thing that really stuck out to me was my very first year here, we started working on putting in a lot of new HR software and technology. So I reached out to Nick and said, hey, I need your help with this. And that was about an eight- or nine-month project. And he didn't blink an eye. He rolled up his sleeves and said, okay, what do you need? And then ever since then, he's really always helped us with everything we need and always gives us a lot of good ideas. And another thing I think should not go without it, acknowledging is that he's done an excellent job with succession planning. You don't see it on the front end. We've talked a lot about it over the last couple of years. So really it was, you know, he set the city up for really good structure with the staff that he has. It's a, I would just say it's a well-oiled machine, and I don't think that can be understated, although long-term planning. So I just appreciate your teamwork with me, because I know sometimes when HR comes calling, it's like probably the last thing you want to deal with, but he never told me no on anything, and I took up my first year, I probably took up about eight months of his time, and that just resonated with me, so I appreciate that.

Well, Nick, we usually don't do this, but I'm going to ask that we do a roll call vote tonight to accept your letter of resignation.

Is that because you're all going to say no?

It's a letter of resignation and a retirement, somebody said, right? But if we do a roll call vote, it gives the mayor the chance to say no. And then I want to preference my no vote with the fact that, you know, you got some guys down there that work very closely with you. They have been giving me donuts from Berks and silver dollar bills and all kind of stuff they don't know, so you won't be, right?

Okay.

Madam Clerk, can we do a roll call vote on the retirement of Nick Warren, 25 years with the city of Danville?

Commissioner Caudill?

They talk so nice about him, I don't think we can let him go. Sorry. Is that a no? No. Wish him well. All right.

Commissioner Peek. Yes. Mayor Atkins.

Yes, ma'am.

Commissioner Holland.

Yes, and thank you, Nick.

Commissioner Sarris.

Yes.

Thank you. Thank you all.

Thank you.

Let's go down and take a little gift from you for the city. I don't know what you're going to do with this gift, but I don't know what you want. It does say 25 years, right? I don't know. 25 and I keep it. 28 and I keep it.

All right.

I keep your record, right? That's true. That's true.

All right.

All right. All right. All right.

You think it was hard for you not to vote? No.

Excuse me, buddy.

No, he's not even going back here. Might have some more IT problems before this meeting's over.

Oh, look, he pointed to the other guy.

Well, it's really nice to celebrate a homegrown product that's meant his entire career working for the citizens of Danville. Well, another homegrown product, right? Just walked in. Yeah, she's been 28 years in the city of Danville too, haven't you? She's looking at me, what are you talking about? I don't wanna leave Nick alone. Oh, next on the agenda is to recognize the 2026 National American Miss Kentucky Free Team, who is headed to Orlando, Florida in November of this year to represent the great Commonwealth of Kentucky. Now I'm gonna mess this name up. It's Rosalynn, Rosalynn, Rosalynn, Rosalynn Jones. Come on down, Miss Jones. Get that microphone there. Stand behind that pool with that microphone.

Hey, everyone.

I'm your National American Miss, Miss Kentucky Preteen. You're 2026 Queen, and this year, I'm trying to spread more of my platform of Be the Light, where I can give stuff back to people, to the homeless, some things that they may not be able to get, some things that they just need help with. I'm working on putting a blessing box in front of my house, so I'm super excited to be able to give back to people that deserve it, and it's just always been something that hits really close to home to me, because I just feel every time... I'm walking past and I'm like, oh, I wish I could help them. So with this platform that I'm doing, I can, and it's amazing. So I'm so happy that I have the opportunity to be your National American Miss 2026 Kentucky Pre-Teen.

Aren't you doing something for victims of house fires as well?

Uh-huh. That is something that I've been doing for a while, fire prevention and safety, where I teach people that may not know about what to do in a fire or not to be scared or how to move around and stuff like that.

And you're how old, ma'am?

I'm 11 years old.

I think when I was 11, it was not bad.

You have my business card?

Yes, I still have it. I still got yours.

Yes. Well, you can take your bike now. Are you going to take a picture with Scott? Yeah.

Oh, I didn't know her. This is a community recognition certificate. Because you represented us so well thus far. that we know when you go to Orlando, where it's going on, we used to try to look at it, right? I grew up in Orlando.

Did you really?

I mean, don't think so.

This is a 11-year-old key to the city, right? All right. All right. Here's Kyle, and then come on.

oh yeah we got it i'm a quick snapper i have to with this one we have to be quick

Come over, Elaine.

Good. Just don't let them put handcuffs on you now. Be careful with them guys. All right, thank you. 11 years old in the sixth grade. I was 39. I still couldn't speak that well in public. She's doing good.

39 in the sixth grade?

Commissioner Cotto, it's only Monday.

Let's go on. We got some people waiting. Okay. Well, we went from the beauty in the community, then we're going to go to republic in the community, right? You've been waiting for that all day here.

Yes, sir. Trash. Recycles are. That's right. Yes, sir.

I said republic. I didn't say trash.

Yes, sir.

Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. Thanks for having me this evening. Josh had asked me to come just kind of give an update on the recycling and the changes and how it's going. Obviously, we know there's some frustrations to the community. This has kind of been a learning experience for us as well. We've never had changes like this, moving from one to the other. We've had billing changes, but not having to remove so many containers. Obviously didn't know how many we were gonna have. To date, we've removed about 3,600 containers. Unfortunately, about 600 of those did not want to get rid of recycling, so we had to re-deliver those, which kind of slowed down a little bit of the process. Angie's been very helpful. Now she's provided us a vacant lot so we don't have to take a load all the way back to the shop and then drive all the way back out here. So that has sped some things up. We're removing about 90 carts a day. We hired some temps to help us out on that. Part of the learning experience, I should have, been a little bit more forceful with Josh and said we should call, had people call in and actually opt out instead of opt in. I think it would have gone smoother, but hey, if it happens again, we know what to do, right? Josh and I kind of went back and forth on that, not forcefully, just kind of talking through it, and Josh was like, nah, let's have them opt out or opt into it. I said, okay, that's fine with us, so. We learn and we learn gradually different things. One thing I was thinking on my ride here was if there was a vacant lot that the city had or know that we could use that maybe we could set up maybe one day a week, one every two week for people that just have a means to get it to us and we can grab it from them there. I don't want to open the door at Angie's place. I'm just afraid that people will keep trickling in and we won't have somebody stationed there. So that's an idea that I just kind of thought of. We have been taking Because we have the cameras and everything where they're watching the hopper, and as long as the truck is looking pretty clean, we have been taking it to LFUCG, and we haven't had any pushback of the trucks that we've brought there. So what we're doing is cleaning it up. And Angie, our goal with her is September 1. We're going to start taking it to her. So we'll stay right here in the community, and Angie will get the benefits from it and just help out the community.

Yeah.

So other than that, any questions from you guys that I can hopefully answer for you?

Commissars, any questions?

I mean, the things I've heard, the ones you mentioned, just picking up their recycling can. That would be a good idea if we had someplace they could drop them off locally and you all could come and pick them up in bulk.

So I can't man it every day, but I mean... I've got some free time on my schedule that I can always move things around and actually be there. Robin, the operations manager, she's already volunteered to be out there a day. So I can't say we can have it there every day, but we can set up some calendar days and put it on the Internet and everything, and we can be there. We'll make it happen for those that have a mean and they're just tired of putting it out every week, waiting for it to be picked up. So the guys now, because it's so sporadic on the pickup, if people just want to leave them out, we'll get them because there's not enough to pick up a whole route on that regular route day. So they're kind of like driving all over town just trying to find containers that are sitting out now.

I mean, I'll speak for my subdivision or neighborhood. the people are leaving them out, they really don't want them on the road for two weeks.

I understand that.

So is there a way? What do we do about that? I mean, because they're not just going to leave them out.

Right. I can talk with Robin. We can definitely just get them on their scheduled service day, right? But we can do it to where instead of waiting on their regular scheduled recycling day, just do it on their regular service trash day.

I think that might speed some things up.

instead of setting it out, regardless of when their trash day is, they can set it out on the trash day and we'll come by and get it. I think we can make that happen for sure.

So you're just saying, again, if you can just tell people how to get them picked up. Best way.

The best way, if they've already opted, if they haven't opted in, as the deadline was July 31st, if they haven't opted in, their schedule will be picked up on their service day. That is what they're scheduled to be done. Now, rather the guys get around to all of them in one day, depending on how large the route is, that's where the hiccups come in. And being that we don't have everybody's phone number out here, we can't really alert them on that. You know, salary missed you, we'll come by tomorrow. You know, something like that. You know, because we have all those options with the app and everything, but not everybody's obviously set up in the app out here.

Any other questions?

Todd, do they have particular areas that they know they're going to on a certain day? They go off the route. Is there any way we could publicize that? They could say, hey, we're heading to these streets today. We're this neighborhood today. I can get the route sheets printed out. I think that would be something. This is something we could do. We could publicize that and say, hey, they're going to be in Willock today, and they're going to be in South Danville this day. We could try to publicize that the best we can. I mean, that's probably the... the best we could do at this point. We can do that.

Sort of like the leaf pickup.

Yeah. Yeah.

Perfect. In this area, we're going to pick up or, I mean, the leaf pickup works.

Yeah. And we'll all get together in the morning, too, and see if we can figure out a vacant lot somewhere where they could have people drop containers off. That's something we'd love to do that. So we'll figure out the best location. We'll do that in the morning and have something figured out tomorrow would be our goal. Perfect.

Anything else? Because all the empty cans, six or eight weeks out there, we had a windy storm and they were blowing in the road. And then people said, oh, this is too dangerous. Let's put them back at the house.

I get that.

I like these new ideas. I look forward to the schedule and a drop-off spot. So thank you.

Okay.

But regardless of what happens today forward, I want to take a message back from the mayor that I'm very appreciative and thankful for what's already been done. We picked up 35, 3600 cans. That's a big task. That's a humongous task. And still keep the rest of the... Garbage and trash picked up. And then I think last Friday they actually picked up and emptied my recycle can for me. So they're getting some things done. But I'm just young enough to know I have to be patient with change. And I want to encourage all of my fellow citizens to keep on being patient because it's a monumental task.

It's a task. Yeah. It's not easy.

We've got 11,000 customers out there. That's pretty big. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you for your efforts, and thank you for your time. Oh, I do want to request this, though. When they're all said and done, sometime this fall, come back, give us an update, because I'd like to know what the total number of trash customers are and what the total number of recycled customers are.

My pleasure. After all this is over. How about we set it up in October? You think that's soon enough?

Yeah. All right.

Thank you, sir. All right. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Oh, I thought that was somebody's cell phone. Ms. Angie, good seeing you, and thank you for your efforts, too.

If you need anything, just give me a call. I talk to Earl and Josh all the time. Be patient.

Yes, ma'am. Okay, next is an update from Bluegrass Ride, Mr. Troy Roberts. One of the newest residents of the city of Danville, Kentucky. To be, right?

Maybe. We were joking before and my wife has been looking at houses. She said here's this beautiful house in Danville. We need to move there Kind of a long drive for me, but you know we'll look at it. Yeah, I Had a meeting with Mayor Atkins a few weeks ago, and he asked that I come meet with City Commission and Share the information that I shared with him. I think most some of you have already seen it and I'm not the greatest public speaker, so I'm gonna read this statement, and then I'll open it up to any kind of questions anybody has. Our transportation program, by the way, I'm Troy Roberts, I'm the Executive Director for Bluegrass Community Action Partnership. We do a lot of different things. One of the big things we do is BGCAP Transit and Bluegrass Ride. Our transportation program has lost large amounts of money over the last four years. This combined with a $228,000 reduction in our federal public transportation funding this year and the uncertainties of House Bill 2 that recently passed, BGCAP can no longer provide the deviated fixed route service in Danville known as Bluegrass Ride Danville. We did not take this decision lightly. but we cannot jeopardize our entire organization that does many things to continue providing this service. So everyone understands operating a fixed route service in a community is very expensive. You're just driving in circles. And there's never enough federal public transportation funding to cover the cost of operating one. For many years, our agency has used our Medicaid revenue that is earned from being the non-emergency medical transportation broker to cover the cost to operate these routes. For this fiscal year, we projected having to spend more than $360,000 of Medicaid funding that we may not have. And that's just for this one route. We do know that public transportation is greatly needed and is a barrier to many people. especially the low-income population, and we still provide that through BGCAP Transit. This model will allow us to use our coordinated non-emergency medical transportation and public system that is already in place and operate our entire transportation program more efficiently. Once the Danville route system is ended, people needing transportation can call our 1-800 number to schedule a ride 24 hours in advance. All public transportation trips will be door-to-door, which means we'll pick them up directly at their home or wherever they are and take them and drop them off directly where they need to be. The cost will be $1.75 per mile or $1 per mile if prepaid with credit or debit card when scheduling, and there is a $5 minimum charge. A public meeting has been advertised for Monday, September 21st at 11 a.m. LaGrasse Red Danville will stop at the end of the day on Friday, September 25th. What questions do you guys have for me? Again, this is not pleasant news on my part.

What was the house bill you referenced earlier?

House Bill 2. What is that? It was Kentucky House Bill. It was basically a Medicaid reform bill, and it was 70-something pages long. Four pages in there dealt with non-emergency medical transportation, and the brokerage is in that. Gotcha.

Where did you say the meeting is on the 21st, I think?

September 21st at 11 a.m. It'll be online. Oh, okay. Okay, we can provide you all with that link if you would like to join in.

And you said $1.75 per mile?

$1.75 per mile, unless it's prepaid with a debit or credit card, and then it drops it to $1 a mile.

Okay, prepaid, okay. And your prepaid 24-hour notice, $1 per mile, could be a pretty good deal for some folks. Yeah. What about if I need a round trip, like schedule a round trip at one time?

Yeah. Okay. You just, when you call in, you say, I need to go to Kroger. I expect to be there an hour, so I'll need to be picked back up. Got it. an hour later and brought back to this address.

Any other questions or comments? You know, we're sort of going back to where it was, what, several years ago, I guess, right?

Several years ago, we ran Dan Tran, okay? And it ran one great big loop. And honestly, it took all day to get anywhere. If you rode it to Kroger, and then when you caught it, when it came back by, to get back home, you had spent about five hours through your day. This, there will be no loop, it'll be, so it should, it'll be faster. One of the nice things about this community, is our transportation, BGCAP Transit, Davel's a hub for a lot of medical appointments and stuff for Garrett, Lincoln, Casey. So we're bringing people in here every day. So there's buses after they drop somebody off at an appointment to be able to go and pick somebody up, take them to the store, and another bus pick them up or vice versa, whatever the case may be.

That's good.

I understand. I hate it, but I understand. You can only do what you can do.

Yeah, and again, this wasn't taken lightly. We do a needs assessment survey every year, and transportation is a major barrier to a lot of folks in all of our communities. Mr. Roberts, I was going to say something. You can call me Troy.

I know, but I'm trying to stay. Center College has used this service. They're students. You might want to be sure you get to contact the Center College Student Life Office and give them an update about this, too, because their students are going to be out there looking for you.

Yeah. We'll put in signage in the buses, too, before we officially close it down so that people know how to make appointments. And the Lexington, the Nicholsville, The regional route will continue. And what are the costs for that? That one is currently, I think, $5 per one way. So $10 round trip.

So a lot of college students use that one, but still, you've got the other stuff, too. All right. Any other questions or comments?

Appreciate you coming in. Not a problem. It's good to see you all.

I was going to direct you to a real estate agent, but I don't have any real estate agents sitting in the audience this evening. You might escape, right? They'll find you now.

Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.

Wow. Next on our list is a proclamation, national, everybody eats week. Commissioner Peek is going to read that proclamation for us. He will have presented to some ladies who are here this evening. She'll try to read it, she says. I heard you. I'm going to borrow my specs.

Okay. No, I don't need your specs. Okay. Proclamation National Everybody Eats Week 2026. Whereas the City of Danville recognizes that access to nutritious food is essential to the health, well-being, and dignity of every resident, and that strong communities are built when all people are welcome to the table, regardless of their financial circumstances. And whereas the City of Danville supports local efforts to address food insecurity, strengthen community connections, and expand access to healthy meals through innovative and compassionate programs. And whereas Grace Cafe serves the residents of Danville as part of the One World Everybody Eats Network, pay what you can community cafes, creating inclusive spaces where individuals may enjoy a nourishing meal through volunteerism, contribution, or financial support according to their ability. And whereas National Everybody Eats Week reflects a growing local, national, and international movement dedicated to ensuring that all people have access to nutritious food with dignity through pay what you can, hospitality models, and this movement will be celebrated on August 26, 2026, through the inaugural global Pay What You Can Day of Action, convened by Food & Wine and inspired by the pioneering work of Masala Lame's in Mexico City, uniting more than 100 restaurants across 14 countries in demonstrating the power of inclusive hospitality and community-driven food access. And whereas the residents, businesses, nonprofits, and volunteers of Danville play an important role in building a community where everyone has the opportunity to gather, connect, and share a meal with dignity and respect. And whereas National Everybody Eats Week provides an opportunity for the city of Danville to recognize and celebrate the individuals and organizations working every day to reduce hunger, foster belonging, and strengthen the social fabric of our community. Now, therefore, it be resolved that Mayor James J. Adkins and the Board of Commissioners of the City of Danville do hereby proclaim the week of August 23rd through 29th, 2026 as National Everybody Eats Week in the city of Danville and encourage all residents to support local efforts that promote dignity, inclusion, community engagement, and food access for all.

Thank you, ma'am. Is there a motion from the commission?

I move we accept the proclamation into the record.

Is there a second? Second. Thank you, ma'am. Any questions or comments? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. You want to present? You want to come up? Because there's several in the group that want to receive the proclamation.

I should put out a weapon.

All right, everybody smile. One, two, three.

I'll just say, everybody, everybody, area.

Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Next item on our agenda is a banner request from the Constitution Square Festival. The Chair will entertain a motion to approve the banner request.

I move that we approve the banner request as asked and presented. Thank you, sir. Is there a second? I second.

Thank you, ma'am. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Those opposed, motion carries. I was going to ask Ms. Becker to say something about the dates.

Ms. Barton is here to speak to you guys briefly about that. Come on. Come on, sir.

Come on. You're not Mimi Becker, but you're welcome to speak to us. Come on.

Well, I just wanted to come by. My name is Stacy Barton. I am the communications director at Art Center of the Bluegrass.

Are you kin to that one guy?

I am. It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it, right? I just wanted to come today and invite everyone to the 48th annual Constitution 5K Run for the Arts. It's coming up soon, September 13th. I believe it's one of the only 5Ks that runs through downtown Danville. It's been going on for many years, and I think back in the early 2000s, it became a fundraiser for the Arts Center. In the last three years, the Arts Center has put on the race with the help of Kevin Lamb. He's our race director, and we just wanted to make sure everybody knew about it, and it's a great fundraiser for our organization. Helps us connect all people to arts, culture, and creativity. It's at, the race starts at 5. You can sign up starting at 3.30 in Weisiger Park. The race begins at Constitution Square, runs a course that goes through downtown and around and back and ends right in front of the Arts Center.

Pretty neat.

Yeah, coming up on 50 years, so that's pretty impressive.

Yes, ma'am.

So you don't have to run either. You can walk, you can jog, you can lollygag, you can peruse, whatever you feel like doing there. Can you run in the hub?

Yep, yep.

We'll wait for you to get in.

Oh, wait, the hub won't be open.

But I have a few little flyers here. I'll put them out on the table out there.

All right. Thank you guys very much. That'll be good.

And I appreciate having a later race, later than 8 a.m., so thank you. That's right. That's why I've always liked this one.

Yes. All right. Okay, next item is an appointment to the Danville-Boer County Parks and Rec Capital Advisory Committee. This is the one where I did the amendment and deleted the second name, the community person. So is there a motion to name a city commissioner to the Parks and Rec Capital Advisory Committee?

Well, yes, I make that motion.

To appoint?

To appoint a, do I have to name a name or just?

Well, the names, well, Commissioner Peek's already been named, but we never did it officially.

Well, if I don't want Commissioner Peek. Oh, well. I'm kidding. Yes, I make a motion that we approve Mr. Peek joining the, oh, yeah. Parks Capital Committee. Thank you, sir.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, ma'am. Any questions or comments besides Donald?

Well, I have a question about the committee. I don't know if it's such. I'll wait till Commissioner Comments do that.

All right. So I've been moved and seconded. All those in favor of Commissioner Peek? being our commissioner representative on the Capital Advisory Committee for Parks and Rec. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Next item is Resolution 202608-2401, School Board Sponsorship Approval. Chair, would you entertain a motion to accept the recommendations?

I'm listening.

I'll make a motion to approve resolution 20-26-08-24-01. Thank you, ma'am.

Is there a second? Thank you, ma'am.

Mr. Barton is not here, so I will be giving you guys a brief overview. If you remember, in June, we approved a purchase of eight new scoreboards for Millennium Parks. Our scoreboards are pretty old, and a lot of them have routine maintenance costs, and They're on their last legs. And Tommy also brought to you the idea of getting sponsorships for these scoreboards. And along with the purchase and their sponsorship, they would get naming rights for a particular scoreboard. So in your packet, you have three of the possible eight sponsorships for $6,000 each. For softball field, you have Farmers Bank's Apex Solutions and Bob Allen Motor Mall. Or I'm sorry, 2,000, yeah, 6,000 each. And a potential five more are being worked on to hopefully pay for the 90 plus percent of the scoreboards. So we're just asking for approval for these three sponsorships for these softball scoreboards.

Thank you, ma'am. Is there any questions?

I just had a question, and it was probably in the original, but it says lifetime.

So it would be the lifetime of that scoreboard, which would be essentially the life of the scoreboard is about 10 to 15 years, depending on how much wear and tear it gets. So that entity's name would remain on the scoreboard for that lifetime. We do, I believe, have the right to remove it if there's some sort of negative impact to that potential business down the road.

Other questions? Hearing none, I'll call for the question. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed? Motion carries. So we anticipate anxiously for five more folks to step up. Thank you, ma'am.

I have been told there are five more and your Park and Rec committee folks are working with Tommy on binding the remaining sponsors.

Thank you, ma'am. Next item is second reading of Ordinance 2075, Compensation Classification Plan Amendment. Madam Clerk, you want to read the second reading for us?

Yes. This is the second reading of Ordinance Number 2075 and Ordinance Amending CDO 2-96 pertaining to the classification plan, compensation plan, and policies and procedures for city personnel.

Thank you, ma'am. Is there a motion?

I'll move to approve resolution or the second reading of ordinance 2075.

Thank you, ma'am. Second. Thank you, ma'am. Any questions or comments? Mr. Board, any comments you want to make?

Just to clarify for the public's benefit, these changes are working within the confines of the fiscal year 27 parks and recreation budget without adding additional labor costs to or additional staffing positions. It will improve operational efficiency.

Thank you, sir. Any questions or comments? Madam Clerk, roll call vote, please.

Commissioner Peek. Yes. Mayor Atkins. Yes, ma'am. Commissioner Holland.

Yes.

Commissioner Saris. Yes. Commissioner Caudill.

Yes, ma'am.

Next item is Resolution 202608-2402, ITS Surplus List. Chair, entertain a motion to surplus the equipment that IT has suggested.

I'll make a motion to approve Resolution 202608-2402. Thank you, ma'am.

I second it. Thank you, ma'am. Any questions to Ashley about this list? Hearing none, all those in favor of surplusing these items, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Next item is Resolution 202608-2403, Wellness Center Agreement Amendment.

Thank you, Mayor, Commissioners. Quickly, you all previously had the agreement approved. The only change from the original agreement is that the Ephraim Dow Health wanted to be a named partner on the agreement rather than just a partner in principle and share the payment. They wanted to be listed on the agreement. And so the agreement has just simply been amended to include them as a signatory and references them as a co-partner in the document.

Thank you, sir. Is there a motion?

I'll move to approve Resolution 202608-2403. Thank you, ma'am.

Second. Thank you both for your second. Any questions on this resolution? Did I think that it... Was the price lowered in this?

No, this was the same as the previous agreement, but this is just ratifying that the hospital will contribute half of that cost.

Okay. All right. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Next item is the City Manager Report.

Thank you, Mayor and Commissioners. We would like to remind everybody that September 7th, City Hall's closed for Labor Day. September 11th, we are doing a dedication to the Memorial Plaza at Central Station. So we will let Melanie and Josh, with the fire department's programming that, and we will count on that being re-publicized, but I want to make sure that's on your calendar. The bond sale, we do have a draft bond rating. The city's bond rating did not change versus, how long ago was it? Yeah, I thought it was less than seven years. So yeah, so 2020, we were rated as AA minus. We're still AA minus, which is good. It was a positive review. We'll get that information to you. We did actually receive it Friday, I guess, but we do need to publish that to you. as part of the bond sale process, which is proceeding. Just to confirm that for you, and we will continue to update you as that progresses. I'd like to point out a couple of events coming Saturday, August 29th. This Saturday, the AMVETS post-123 car show is at 10 a.m. at Millennium Park. The city staff is shifting the City of First podcast to more of a weekly update now that they've covered all the major subjects and gone all the way through it, so we're curious to see where they go with that, Melanie and Josh. typically take the lead on that. Would like to say that the casual conversations with commissioners was a good idea. It has been well received and we've had a lot of positive feedback, so certainly the next Coffee with Commissioners is scheduled for September 9th. at the Waffle Stop, 8.30 a.m., but it is something that could be definitely, Commissioner Holland and Sears has proven that the evening things do work and are well-received. I'm not sure if it was the wine stop or what it was, but we'll let that sit there and let them talk about that. September 12th is the Constitution Square Festival. September 13th, again, is your 5K. The State Fair booth, the CVB booth, is still ongoing. Volunteers do. There are sign-ups through the chamber, and certainly there is a lot of people there. We spent, I know Commissioner Cottle was there Saturday. I was there Saturday afternoon hosting the booth, and it was fantastic. there's a lot of foot traffic that passes that booth and it is something that there's a value to it. The Lamar advertising grant that the mayor won is proceeding towards implementation. It is a digital billboard campaign to be marketed around industrial site selector events, specifically in New Orleans, Orlando, Cleveland, and Atlanta. The objective is to achieve 27 million impressions over a four-week ad campaign that is free to the city. I have seen a draft of some of the billboards and what they'll look like. Melanie is continuing to refine that, and that will be a significant event. We are emphasizing the industrial property that is under the city's control, city and county. city meeting so I say city but the the EDA's control and also the Industrial Foundation if applicable and so Melanie's doing a terrific job with that presentation it's less about the commercial viability it's more about industrial industrial site selector recruitment so that is a significant thing There is a monthly financial report for the beginning of the year. It's in your packet. If you saw it added, I think it was added after the initial memo that I did. And then lastly, the good news is the Economic Development Authority has actually transacted and closed on the Lumber King land swap. So the EDA now owns six acres fronting Pierville Road at the intersection of Bluegrass Pike, which is complementary to the transportation planning that is underway now for the EDA's track of land that connects all the way to Dave Coe Drive from there. The... Lumber King track that they acquired is on the south side of the Walker's Trail Senior Living Facility. And so hopefully we have more good news on that corner soon for growth and expansion of the commercial offerings or retail offerings on the bypass. So we'll continue to monitor that. It's good work of the EDA. And then the East Hamel Connector, there is an update on the District 7 website, and it is confirming that the road is not progressing into construction, which it is not funded. And so the city and county still need to work towards funding for the road. That is evident. And as we read that, they can't really take it any further without that additional funding. they do indicate that there was negative feedback from the public hearing. We have received positive feedback since in the last month. We do have a new owner that was in town for the distillery that has expressed an interest in the road and also the quarry as well. We've met with some folks there and there's an interest also there. So it's one of those projects that takes a long time to get done. I would challenge our district office to recognize the need for the road and to exercise a leadership position which our district office has not necessarily taken that position yet on it, deferring to the city and the county and the local influence. I do know that there are multiple other cities. Recently, there's a road completed on the west side of Barstown, for example, that is exactly the same function as this road for the east side of Danville. That road was conceived and built in a shorter time frame than we've been since COVID, right? And so we have to keep pressure on our district office to perform at a higher rate. Our traffic patterns in the community is being limited and restricted because of the overfeeding of traffic through houstonville road that that road has 24 000 cars a day which is an extremely large number for a road of that nature and so we will continue to try to help educate and to take a leadership position on that if you have any questions otherwise that's all i have for some reason thought it was funded or not to construction not okay just the planning engineering phase okay gotcha which is the next phase that requires funding right away.

Okay.

Any other questions or comments for the city manager? All right. Thank you, sir. Next on our agenda is for the public. This is the second opportunity. Folks can speak to us about items that are not on our agenda. Is there anyone desiring to speak? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Garner?

Hi, my name is Margaret Gardner, and I'm here to talk to you about Be Smart, a national program focused on the secure storage of firearms for the safety of kids in our community. I'm the lead for a voluntary group, Be Smart Danville. This is the day that starts Smart Week, August 24th to 28th, close to the beginning of schools around the country. Gun violence has become the number one killer of kids nationally, more than diseases alone. poisons, and car accidents. I know that the Danville Commission and city government is very concerned about the general safety of our community. Be Smart focuses on the main responsibility for parents and caregivers to protect their children from harm from guns by securing them and making sure wherever their children go, guns are secured. But this is also a community problem. So we look to you, the leaders of our community, to be aware of and to lead in this aspect of community safety. I will briefly summarize our message. SMART is an acronym for this central message. The letter S is for secure. Secure all guns in your homes and vehicles. M is for model. Model responsible behavior around guns. A is for ask. Ask about unsecured guns in other homes and vehicles. R is for recognize. Recognize the role of guns in suicide. And T is for tell. Tell your friends and neighbors to be smart. Here in Danville and Boyle County, as you know, there is a tradition of responsible gun ownership. But the explosion of gun circulation and more lethal and untraceable firearms mean the increase of risk to young children and youth alike. who may come across guns left unsecured and not realize their harmful, even deadly, potential. Further today, with youth's greater stresses and lacking mature impulse control, there are occasionally youth suicides. All risks of gun violence can be lessened when adults take responsibility for the guns they own, store them safely, and supervise their kids' access and use of them. Be smart, volunteers. table at many community events to talk with parents and caregivers. We talk with law enforcement, with health workers, and with other community organizations to urge conversations among gun owners and those who don't own guns to normalize the responsibility that adults have to always secure, securely store their firearms and make sure wherever children go, their two guns are securely stored. I ask you to be aware and encourage discussion of this community safety problem, including with your own families, friends, and neighbors. Thank you for this opportunity to speak. I brought, and Charlotte will, Norby will put some publications, so if you want to look at them, pass them around. Thank you.

Thank you. Any questions for Ms. Dorn? Appreciate you being here. I had not heard of this organization. So very, very important message. Thank you.

Any other questions or comments?

You probably said it, Ms. Garner, but what your outreach to, how do you all, do you go to school? Do you go to... Places like that, or is this providing information?

We go to the back-to-school events when parents come with their children at the start of the school year. We go to as many schools as we have volunteers to be at. And we're also in... touch with family resources and counselors to talk to them. And we provide free gun locks and we demonstrate when we're tabling secure biometric lock box people. And we have information to tell gun owners where the kinds of things that they can get hold of to store the guns.

Thank you, ma'am. Any other questions or comments? And thanks for the literature, ma'am.

Anyone else desire to speak to the commission?

Seeing none in this huge crowd that we have in attendance tonight, let's move along then. Next item is commissioner updates and comments. Any commissioner update comments?

I have a long list, but I'll mention one and then I'll hear everybody else's. No, I really appreciate seeing all the students downtown and at the farmer's market, all the new students moving in and getting to know our town.

That's all.

Oh. All right, she'll say wood. You guys have anything on this side? Well, I'd like to compliment the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth for the Seeing Out Democracy program Friday night. Very outstanding program. Well attended. Excellent music and a very, very outstanding speaker about conditions in our country currently. But kudos to the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.

I wanted to say also the Thursday night events downtown were nice, and the authors that were there, the first-time book writers, I think there were 12 on Main Street, different places. So it was a neat event. They were all excited because it was their first book or most of them.

It was a neat idea.

It was a neat idea.

And the hospital had a very successful fundraiser Saturday night at the airport. Mm-hmm.

We were hoping Melanie would be in here because Commissioner Sarris and I wanted to thank her for, you know, she has a family and getting out at night and doing a commissioner conversation after hours. And she did a great job advertising it. I made a little short list. It's very short. Just a couple things we heard that people wanted us to share.

All right.

Okay.

After conversation with you two?

Yes.

Okay. My phone is locked. OK. Oh, lots of support in the community for us to fund tiny houses with the Homeless Coalition. So that was something we heard, wanting to invest in homelessness. We heard lots of requests for some type of Main Street program again, so maybe put that back in our heads. There was, you have heard requests for the city to write some type of ordinance for motorized bikes. and I know there's issues with that, but keep it in mind if there's a way to have an ordinance, even if it's just to reiterate they have to follow road rules or a certain motor has to have a certain mile per hour. Another good idea they had was for SROs maybe to educate The schools educate about not texting and driving, but maybe the SROs could educate also about motor vehicles. So I don't know if Tony, you'd like that idea, but a lot of the citizens had that idea. Most of us have had someone pull out in front of us. Let's see, there might be one more. Nope, that was, and they were very happy with us paying our first responders more and having less turnover. So we got some compliments.

Yes.

Yes, yes, and they have appreciated all of the opportunities that everybody has got out and talked to them, so. Once again, thank you, Melanie. She's not here, but.

Earl can tell her. We will. We'll pass that on. We'd like to point out that Chief and I just, I meant to actually email this, but we've been talking about how to react. Nicholasville, we forwarded, or maybe you all maybe have seen, Nicholasville did create a document that was a little bit different. And so we're looking at that and then looking at other options to deal with the, we're continuing to work on that. We've not given up. Just to confirm for you. Yes, we have. Yeah, and then we would also, I should have pointed out during the city manager report, you'll notice the hospital has started their progression towards their project. They have some significant work to do with utilities. They're dealing with the water line and some other utility conflicts that are there now. But as you can see, the street has lost a lane. As those things happen, and correctly the Chief has pointed out to us, and how those downtown events and how closing the streets will be a challenge during the construction because of street closures, street issues, and the access to the ER. And so that is something I would like folks to be mindful of. We are looking at what those look like now. I know there's some routing for races and things like that where we have closure of streets. So just keep that in mind in the back of your head if you see something different. We are trying to manage the traffic flow to the ER as a priority.

How long is the construction lasting, like one lane?

We don't know exactly. We would suggest to you a while, you know, like 18 months, two years kind of thing. For one lane? On some of it, on traffic impacts. Okay. Not necessarily one lane, but traffic impacts. Okay. So that may shift or it may be there for... 12 months or 10 months and then shift to another area. So we met with the hospital, some of their folks this morning. We're going to follow up with them and get an update at the EDA meeting. That'll be good. Terry Crowley called a special call to EDA meeting for Monday. We're going to talk about some things that the EDA has going on that's necessary to talk about, but we've invited them to update the EDA only because you've got the county judge there, the mayor's there, and the city engineers there, and so we felt like that was a good environment for them to continue that dialogue. So for now, that's where we expect to hear from them, and we'll ask those questions at that meeting.

Okay, thank you.

Mr. Peek has another announcement about traffic.

Well, I wanted to mention to you, hopefully everybody knows already, I'm not sure the date the mayor might have to help me. At the DPC meeting, the judge announced that the bell will be coming down Soon? When did she say?

October? Sometime in September.

Right, September and they're gonna keep it and then I think that will block some traffic too. Just so people will know. I don't know. Tony may know.

So, road closures are evolving weekly and you know last week we had to cancel the third Thursday because The hospital changed their road closure. It went not just 3rd Street to one lane. They also changed Walden Street, blocked it off. Then there's some projects going on on Broadway. Last week also 4th Street was blocked a couple of days. And a lot of times we don't know those things are going on or going to happen until the last minute. Again, our biggest issue is that the hospital sits in between two one-way streets. When we do the Third Thursday, just normal Third Thursday with no road closures, Third Street backs up from 5 o'clock to about 645 down Third Street. Any emergency vehicle coming northbound on Third to try to get to the hospital, you're talking about a significant delay. When you add special events, different things like a 5K race, and again, depending on the time of day, those things really matter. Those are things that were happening before school started. So now you've got school traffic and different traffic patterns will create more problems. So a lot of times right now we are on almost a week-by-week or maybe a two-week notice on some of these special events and road closures.

Thank you, sir.

Other comments from the commissioners?

Hearing none, let's move to the next item on the agenda, and that is Lee's favorite, the paying of the bills. Chair, we entertain a motion to pay the bills as presented.

I'll move to pay the bills in the amount of $1,202,286.28. Second. Thank you all for the motion and the second.

Any comments or questions? Hearing none, all those in favor of paying our bills, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you all. Resolution 2608-2404, road salt bid award.

Thank you, Mayor. Josh, we let Josh go. He had an obligation tonight. The city, specifically to the road salt bid award, the city did conduct a reverse auction on August 11th. The final bid tab included in the packet. There's three vendors that participated. Morton Salt was the low bidder in the amount of $141.40 per ton this year and $156.40 for next year. This past year, Morton's or the low bid was $105 per ton, so it's gone up significantly, but Morton's is the low bid, and we do have a past with them and are comfortable with their bid.

Thank you, sir. Is there a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve Resolution 2026-08-2404.

Thank you, ma'am. There's a second? Second. Second. It's all right. Thank both of you. Any questions about the salt bid? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, motion carries. Next one is resolution 2608-2405, dump truck procurement.

Thank you, Mayor, Commissioners. Through SourceWell, which is the public accessible agency where we can do purchasing for municipal governments on, we've used SourceWell before for a fire truck, for example, you may recall. Budget for the Public Works Department was $250,000 for a dump truck. Staff was able to identify a MAC MD-7 dump truck for $179,850. Saves about $70,000 from the National Auto Fleet Group. And staff is requesting we proceed with the purchase of that dump truck for that capital item.

Thank you, sir. Is there a motion?

Resolution 20-26-08-24-05. Thank you, ma'am.

Is there a second? Second. Thank you, ma'am. It's always nice to read something that was under via.

Mm-hmm. Quite a bit, too.

Yeah. So all those in favor, say aye. Aye. Those opposed, motion carries. Next item is Jenny Rogers HVAC water contract.

Thank you, Mayor and Commissioners. The water systems in the buildings, HVAC systems now, are highly... We have developed a lot of strategies to preserve those systems better. They do that through monitoring. These companies do that for you and monitor the water quality in the system to prevent or mitigate decay of your components in the system. We fought that here a lot. You have a constant steady flow of water throughout the building. In this situation, at Jenny Rogers, they will be monitoring and managing the chemicals inside of that loop for $493.30 a month or about $5,900 a year. Staff's recommending proceeding with ChemSearch to do that work.

Thank you, sir. Commission, it was your pleasure. Is there a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve Resolution 202608-2406. Thank you, ma'am.

Is there a second?

Second.

You can always motion to not accept, but I've been moved and seconded. Any questions or comments? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Hi.

Is this different than train?

Yes.

I mean, what's the difference in what we do with train?

This is water quality analysis. This is a totally... Train would be managing the mechanics of the system. These folks do water quality sampling. This is more of a chemical... management contract the chemicals in the lines the the stabilization of those chemicals so that they you can put they decay in time right and and so that can contribute to corrosion in the line so it's really a corrosion monitoring contract it's things like that and that's outside of terrain scope

If you recall, we approved one for City Hall for the cooling tower here a couple months back, approximately. I think it costs a little more here for City Hall just because it's a larger system.

Maintaining that chemical balance to limit the corrosion is the lifeblood of your HVAC system.

All right. Any other questions? All those in favor of 2608-2406 say aye. Aye. Aye. So opposed? Motion carries. We did have a motion and a second, didn't we? All right. Next item is Resolution 2608-2407, the 26 KPDI grant application for

2026 KPDI grant process. The EDA approved the submission of a grant to fund the access road that will be utilized by Lumber King. Also, it will go to the back. The objective that we have is to... establish access to the industrial land that's towards the back of the property. This road funds that construction. So we have an opportunity through this grant to fund $1.2 million of the roadway cost. so that the city and county matches $300,000. Currently, the EDA has $300,000 available to work on the road, and that's what they have budgeted. So it's really, by utilizing the money they have, it bumps up the total investment opportunity to $1.5 million. The city will be the pass-through in the same way we are now, with the roadway being constructed at the Industrial Foundation off Corporate Drive.

Okay.

Thank you, sir.

Need a motion?

I'll move to approve Resolution 202608-2407. Thank you, ma'am.

I second it. Thank you, ma'am. All right. Any other questions or comments?

I had a question. So, you know, EDA is an independent group. Who in the group? Who's writing the grants? Is the city assisting? Josh Morgan is. Okay, thank you. This is great. I would thank Josh.

We had an opportunity to meet with Grayson today. We really appreciate his presence. He knows that he has to play an administrative role with the EDA, and he's looking forward to that. So he's verbalized that and articulated that. the support he needs in projects such as this. And it's true with economic development recruitment. when we were doing an RFI, so we look to get a lot of support from Grayson, and we're looking forward to him hitting the ground running, being so familiar with Danville, too, so.

I mean, it's hard for government to come up with $1.2 million. Correct. You know, so just, okay, fingers crossed. Well done.

You know, I'd like to say, too, it's not a completely independent organization. I mean, it's a child and a strategy employed by the city and county in a joint effort, So it doesn't maintain such independence that it's collected of our representatives just in an organized fashion. It's what was redesigned years ago to help us accomplish this very fact, to create another path of revenue to economic development that we as a city in concert with the county can control. And so it's something that is very much an important weapon to have in our arsenal in searching for and accomplishing strategic initiatives like it's coming to fruition. So it's nice to see this work, but the foundation of this was a strategic implementation years ago to lay the building blocks to get to this point. And so it's nice to see it actually working.

And I appreciate that good explanation for the public.

Thank you.

Any other questions or comments?

Hearing none, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed? Motion carries. Thank you all. Resolution 2026-08, 24-08, Boyle County EMS Mutual Aid Agreement. Chief McCurdy?

Thank you, Mayor, Commissioners. Yeah, this is a mutual aid agreement between Boyle County Emergency Medical Services and Danville Fire Department. It's actually an update of a longstanding agreement that we've had in place, but we needed to update it to better convey the reciprocal nature of the mutual aid agreement that we had and also reflect the changes in administrative and organizational leadership. An agreement like this helps us maintain helps us support the operational readiness of both agencies and have interagency cooperation and compliance with best practices for emergency response coordination. We've always had a good relationship with Boyle County EMS, and we think this really helps just lay that groundwork so that we can all stay on the same page.

Thank you, sir. Is there a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve Resolution 2026-08-2408.

Thank you, ma'am. Second. Thank you, sir. Any questions for Chief? Hearing none, all those in favor of this agreement say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, motion carries. Chief Ray of Police Department updates.

The police department continues to be very busy. As the fall comes, we have more and more special events. During the fall season, we just did our quarterly shift pick. Some of these events like Constitution Square, the festival, the Christmas parade, and all those things, those special events are posted for sign-ups. And just to kind of give you an idea, the Constitutional Square, that 5K race requires nine officers, at least nine officers to cover that event. And that cannot be covered by just patrol only. And so a lot of times we've got to use administrative staff. And then again, timing of the day depends on who can cover those events and who can't. There's only 12 of us that are... in administrative status. And depending on the time of the event, patrol cannot cover that between what's actually working and then their work schedules and time off. That's a very limited pool to cover all those nine events. What also complicates that is like the Constitutional Square, you have the event as well where they're asking for overtime coverage and then you have the 5K race. So that increases even more the requirement of staffing for those type events. So anytime we have a 5K event or 5K race and we have a special event that day associated with that 5K race, you are putting an extreme amount of strain on the resources of the department for that day. Now, that doesn't even include other events outside of that, like if Boyle County has a football game the night before, Danville has a football game the night before. If Center has an event or there's something else going on downtown, all those things we have to take into consideration. Outside of that, this time of the year is our training period. We try to stay away from having officers take training classes in the summer because of vacation requests and things like that. So we kind of stack the training period for officers to go to school and classes during this time of the year for us. So all these things are putting a lot of strain on our resources. Currently, we have a couple officers that are off on various types of leaves as well. So patrol is short. We were just notified three weeks ago that Sergeant Rainwater and Codes will be retiring at the end of next month. He's one of those administrative staff members that helps cover some of these overtime events. So that would be one less person to help cover those events after September the 30th, as well as my upcoming retirement. So it will take us some time to fill those spots and just bear with us. Like I said, we are, a lot of these events are truly week by week. Also like, Ms. Peek said, Mr. Coffey stated earlier, construction, those things, unfortunately, they change every week. I don't know when exactly that bell's going to come down over there, how long that street's going to be closed, what part of that street's going to be closed. That will make a huge determination on what we can and cannot close streets. We do have one race route that we kind of approve, and that is the Constitution Square race. We have requests for 5K races constantly that want to use alternate routes. Again, because of where the hospital sits, we pretty much have to stay with that one route that we use. We cannot block Lexington Road. If you run down Main Street, we cannot block Lexington Road at all. That is the only east-west connector pretty much that you have outside of Main Street that's heavy enough to take any kind of traffic at all. It has to be a certain route and it pretty much has to be a certain time of day for us to do a 5K race. We have talked to the city manager. Just advise him that we could get into a situation where we have to move the race to Millennium Park or something. Just because of staffing and because of just what's going on with the road construction. That's just, those are things that are out of our hands that we have to take in consideration. We are working on a scooter, e-bike, electric bike policy. We did look at Nicholasville. I like their policy a lot, but... If everybody stops and thinks for a second, Nicholasville Main Street and our Main Street are two different things. What we do down here, you know, we've got the library. We have a lot of people, young kids on scooters that go to the public library. So we'll have to tweak that. I can't remember if I sent it to Stephen or not, but we do have a copy of theirs online. We'll be evaluating that and try to get that to you in the next couple of meetings. But it will take some work to get that out there. Educating the public on that, it will be a very, very heavy lift. We got all kinds of different people on scooters and electric bikes. I've probably in just the last week have stopped and talked about 15 different people on scooters and skateboards on Main Street. Some of them have protective equipment on, some don't. Some of them we've had like the governor scholars that were coming into town. Some of them were on skateboards. Some of them were on the little pedal scooters, not electric bikes. So trying to reach out and grab all those people that are doing those things downtown. It will be a heavy lift and it will be a timely process to get that out and Effective, I guess, is the best way to say that. That's about it. It just really comes down to staffing, road closures. Like I said, the road closures have been a major difficulty for us. The last few months, as I think most of you have noticed, especially the hospital construction, then we've had some, I think, sewer lines, things that were going on Broadway at 2nd, 3rd, maybe even all the way down to 1st Street. There was sewage construction all the way up and down through there on various times of days. A lot of times, we're not made aware of until the last minute. That affects EMS, fire, and police responding to different emergencies and different incidents all over town. That's about all I got for the update.

Any questions to Chief Gray? Covered it all. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Kind of scary in some ways, but I understand. All right, next item is Resolution 2026-08-24-09, the 9-11 Charity Lease Agreement. Do you agree?

Yes, Mayor, Commissioners, I think many of you know that we have a 9-11 Center has a Charity Lease Agreement. Some people might consider that odd, but remember those chairs are in use 365 days, 24 hours a day. Someone sitting in those chairs, we have found that it's cost effective to run a lease so that instead of buying those chairs outright, if something was to happen to those chairs becoming ineffective that we could just call, have somebody come in and replace that chair pretty quickly and efficiently. I believe the total there is $21,600. They have a discount if we pay it all at one time of $7,126. And this has been accounted for in the 911 dispatch budget. I ask for approval.

Thank you, sir. Is there a motion to approve?

This is a three-year lease. I'm sorry.

Okay.

I'll make a motion to approve Resolution 2026-08-2409. Thank you, ma'am.

Second. Thank you, sir. Questions or comments?

So are we paying it up front to get the discount, or is that just... We typically pay it up front.

He misspoke. It's a 2% discount, so payment in full would be $21,168. Okay.

It essentially replaces all the chairs down there once a year. Which is, you know, at $1,100, $1,200 a chair for a cheap chair, it's well worth it.

And they can't have just a standard office chair. That's correct.

The ones that are being replaced, find other uses for them?

The good thing is they go back to the company. We don't have to figure out the beneficial reuse. We get the benefit of them having to use chairs to market.

Okay.

They won't let me sit in those chairs downstairs. Just for the record.

Okay, do we have a motion? Do we have a second? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Next item is acceptance of a request from Dr. Ruth Ann Phillips.

Thank you, Mayor. I know this is a bit of an unusual agenda item for you. Miss Ruth Ann Phillips was a lifelong resident of Danville. She passed away in January of 2025 at the age of 80. I've since learned she was a 1965 graduate of Danville High School, a 1969 graduate of Center College, and she went on to earn her doctorate and serve as a professor both at UK and Eastern Kentucky University. Later in life, after retiring from those positions, she served as the executive director for the American Red Cross here in Danville. And when she passed away, her estate was settled by Daniel Elliott, and he informed us by letter and receipt of a check that Danville was a beneficiary under her last will and testament. and forwarded a check in the amount of $7,300 to the city of Danville. So I alerted the city manager and he had recommended acceptance of the gift to be used in some future manner towards a community project. So we're providing you notice for a couple of reasons. to give gratitude to Ms. Phillips and to bring her some distinction for her charitable gift to the city and also the city's plans for a potential future use as an appropriate project arises.

That's nice. So the chair needs to entertain a motion to accept the request from Dr. Ruthann Phillips.

So moved.

DAVID BURRAGE- Thank you, ma'am. Is there a second? I second. DAVID BURRAGE- Thank you, ma'am. I work at the Salvation Army. This is probably her last public involvement in our community. She was always a go-getter and trying to get stuff for people. OK, all those in favor, say aye. Aye. DAVID BURRAGE- Opposed? Oh, she carries, wow. I didn't know she passed. Wow. It's been surprising. She was always out into stuff, man.

Are there certain guidelines on a project?

The gift is unrestricted. So, I mean, technically it will just be deposited into the general fund. And I think that just due to the circumstances, it will be something that staff will recommend some potential use out of it as opposed to just general utilities.

Right. Abby, what did you say?

That sounds good. Okay, the chair would entertain a motion for adjournment.

We do need one brief. You got to vote on this.

We didn't say aye.

Oh, we didn't pass it?

All those in favor?

Let's do it for good measure, Mayor.

Aye. Opposed? Aye. All those in favor of accepting this bequest, say aye. Aye.

That's good because Lee's already deposited it and everything. Auditors have been alerted. It's, you know, we got it in process.

All right, there is a need for a brief executive session for personnel. Personnel, right? Chair, we'll entertain a motion. Somebody else?

I'll make a motion to go into personnel, into executive session for a personnel matter pursuant to KRS-61810-1F.

Second.

Thank you. All those opposed? Aye. Aye. Aye. Mr. City Manager, you have something for us?

Staff is requesting that you accept the resignation of Amber Ridge from the position of Telecommunications Officer.

OK.

Salute.

Second.

Thank you all. Any questions or comments? All those in favor of accepting the resignation, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Maintain the motion to adjourn. I do. I do second. I do too. Awesome. All those in favor of adjourning it? Yes. 6.30?

That'll work.

That'll work. I oppose. What is it at? 6.40? 6.30?

6.40?

I'll just say, what's wrong with y'all?