Council - Regular Meeting

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Wow. Wow. All right. I'd like to call to order the regular scheduled council meeting for Tuesday, March 17, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. This meeting is being held at Racko City Hall being streamed live on Facebook and recorded by Heart County Television. If you could please rise for an invocation and remain standing for a worship.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank this day and we thank you for all of your blessings. Father, we are thankful for our service members and we are so thankful for the selfless service that they give to our nation. Father, we pray for the families of those service members who have recently lost their lives in the nation. Father, we ask that you bless the mayor and the city council and all of those who make the rules that govern the city. And we ask that you bless each of us and guide us and direct us each and every day. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all.

Yes, sir. Brown here. Roar here. Owens present. Thompson here. We have a floor. We have consideration approval of minutes for February 17, 2026 regular meeting in March 9th, 2026 work session. Motion to second. Any discussion? All in favor?

Any opposed? Motion carries. Well, welcome everyone to our regular council meeting. Glad to see there's a lot of faces out in our audience today. And one thing I'm going to do is switch because we do have some folks here. I'm going to move public comments and information on flip them. We have some folks that are here that may want to leave after we get done. But I understand that we have some some young ladies here from John Harden High School, Lady Dog. Is that correct? Now, before you guys came here, how many of you guys from John knew that you were in the city limits of Rackcliffe? Anybody know that? Did you know that? A lot of people, you know, forget sometimes that uh Bluegrass, New Highland, and John Harden are all in the city of Brack, including the central office right across the street. So, congratulations to you guys. U Miss Merl had acknowledged and told us that you guys have made some big achievements in your all's wrestling field that you all sport that you all have. So, Miss Merl, why don't you say a few words because I know you asked him to come. Um, yes. I was trying to explain to some of the young ladies out there that um until I saw on Facebook, Miss uh Trish Kua, she said not to try to say it, uh, but I did anyway. Um, that there was even a young lady, a girls wrestling team at John Harden. So, I'm very proud of you ladies and, uh, you have with you Coach Hunter, Coach Jim, and Coach Bonnie. Um, so this is your third year for the girls team. you placed first in the regions and four of you young ladies placed at state which is a huge accomplishment and I'm very proud of you and we are all very proud of you. Um I don't know the diff which ones did which so I don't want to even acknowledge that. I'll let either your coach acknowledge that or the mayor.

So um I will so this is just a side note if you'll notice I don't have the plaque. Someone thought they wanted to be me and they stole my name. For those of you, I'm Mayor Duvall, so thank you all for being here. But I'd like to recognize the coaches. Would the coaches please stand up? Their coaches are here. And if you guys, whoever loves to speak, I would actually like you to come up and just share with us your journey um and how you won and how you're ranked in the state. Yeah, absolutely. just turn around and then if you want to introduce your your the team. Yeah.

Um so this is our third year having a girls team at John Harden. We've grown from five kids our first program up to 17 this year. Um this year especially we have a lot of accomplishments and achievements. A lot of history being made. We took five girls to state. Four of them placed in the top eight. Um we were on the region as a team. Had several um region champs in their respective weight classes. We placed fifth at state duels which is where we wrestle as a team against the other top teams in the state. It's the first time that we were ever selected to go there and we placed fifth out of 12 I believe that we're there. Um we've won eight team trophies which is top three at any individual tournament that we go to. So each kid wrestles at their own weight class based on how they place and how they wrestle. We get team points and we've finished top three eight out of the 15 times that we've gone. We put up over a thousand team points at uh dual events and at individual events and we were 20 and two as a team wrestling other teams. Um we had Can we have all the girls stand up actually?

Did they look toward me? I need them to look toward me. Everyone turn and face the camera. Yeah. The most experienced kid that we have been wrestling for three years and the least experienced that we have just started this year. All of them have done phenomenal jobs and we look forward to seeing what they do next year. Everyone's going to be returning and we're putting a lot of work in in the offseason to get them even better.

Awesome. Can I add one thing here on that? In all fairness to the other Harden County schools, there's a Central Harden uh wrestling team, ladies wrestling team and a North Harden and they also had some young ladies that play. So, I just want to be make sure we acknowledge the other two schools.

Yeah, absolutely. And so, um we also want to congratulate the parents. How many parents? Yes, some of us up here have traveled and have kids in sports and we know the energy and time and effort um I mean it takes I just was in Indiana all weekend and you make it to the pool round, you know, you go through that and then the next day you spend there still and then you get knocked out the first round. Oh my god. So, you know, the stress that you all have as well. So, congratulations to the parents as well. And so, we would like to recognize and if I can have the young ladies all please stand up again. If you all would please stand. Uh, we would like to recognize you. Now, I have my voice is not as great as Mr. Pike's. He's our city attorney. So, I'm gonna let Mr. Pike. I'm gonna let Mr. Pike read this and after he gets done reading, I'm going to invite all the young folks to come up behind us and we're going to take a big photo with you guys. That's all right. So, Mr. Pike, this is the mayor's recognition award awarded to John Harden High School girls wrestling team. The city of Radcliffe would like to recognize you for representing John Harden High School and taking first place at the regional competition followed by your advancement to state. You exemplify what hard work and determination can achieve. We commend you for representing your hometown of Radcliffe well and we look forward to what you will accomplish in the future. Awarded this 17th day of March, 2026, signed JJ Duvall, Mayor City of Radcliffe. Congratulations. want to come up to stand.

Yeah, just line up anywhere. Get a window behind us. Come on. This be everybody can look this way on the count of three. Ready? One, two, three. I got it. Got it.

Thank you guys.

Now, I'm not going to ask you all to stay. You're more than welcome to stay, but if anybody wants to leave, you can. It's up to you guys. That's years of experience. Thank you all so much. Absolutely. Thank you guys. Thank you. Y'all take care. Thank you guys. Congratulations. Congratulations. Absolutely.

All right. All right. Next, I'm gonna uh we should hear from Casa. So, um, I know Miss Owens had asked if you could come share some information what's going on with CASA. Yep. There you go. You already know just to

Yes, sir. I I I asked my my other boss because she is my boss. She's the executive director of uh the courtappointed special advocate, also known as CASA of the Heartland, that speaks up for those young adults who are prone to some type of abuse or neglect in the home or of a family member. And so you're talking about five counties right now, maybe six with heart if you pick a heart. So that covers Breen Ridge, Laroo, Hard Me, Grayson, and Hart count, Harden County. And so for some of those individuals who were going through neglect or abuse or combination of some unhealthy relationships with family and friends, mostly family. They have to have a voice to advocate for them in family court. So, I have a 15year-old right now. So, this where I spend some of my Wednesday mornings in family court with the Kentucky cabinet, but Michelle is here to talk about the vision, the mission, and why you all need to know what Kasa the Heartline Heartland does specifically for our area.

Thank you very much. Um, that's a wonderful introduction. I can skip my overview of what KA is. Pull up hit the switch just a little bit more. I think it's up there. There it is.

Okay, here we go. That's right. I'm so glad you went. I can't tell. Um, so yes, as um as Terry said, um courtappointed special advocates and our CASA volunteers, we're primarily volunteer-based organization have two main responsibilities. Number one is to build a relationship with a child or the children that they're serving and number two is to collect information about their situation. And because we are courtappointed, um, our CASA volunteers are able to get information from pretty much anybody else that's involved in that child's life, whether it's their doctors, teachers, therapists, um, parents, grandparents, anybody who might be in some type of a service provider role, um, educational role or, uh, caregiver role for these children. And our CASA volunteers collect as much information as possible in regards to that child's situation. and then work with our staff members to put that information into a court report to send over to our family court judges and the attorneys involved in the case. So that way our judges have all of the information or as much information as as is available so that way they can make sound decisions on what's going to happen with these kiddos. So I want to share a little bit about our 2025 impact. In 2025 we served 312 children across our 5count region. We added Hart County to our service area January 1 of this year. So, no damage to report on them yet. Um, of the 312 children, 185 of those were here in Harden County. And of the children in Harden County, 59 of those children were served in Radcliffe. And that number could be one of two things. either their home of origin which means the home that they were in when they were removed was in at Radcliffe or their final placement where they found permanency was in Radcliffe. So at some point either at the start or

finish of their case that child um received services and advocacy from CASA within the city of Radcliffe. Um so 59 children that makes up about 32% of the children that we served in Harden County and 18% of total children that we served in 2025. Um we onboarded 26 new volunteers in Harden County last year. We served 20 new children and then we had 21 of those 59 children have their cases closed. And what that means for CASA is that those children were able to find permanency through one of a variety of ways. It could be reunification with their parents. It could be adoption, um, permanent custody with a relative or a family friend. Um, or if they are older youth, 18 to 21, then we, um, help them achieve permanency through independent living where we are working with them to help them find employment, find housing, and um, andor attend college. so that way they can work towards independently uh providing for themselves. It costs us about $2121 to provide an entire year for a child, which is a couple hundred dollars less than it costs the state to provide one month of foster care for a child. So, we see CAS as a very wise investment because we're saving the state dollars that makes it available for them to invest in other areas that is um that is needed as well. Um, we currently have 20 children on our weight list here in Radcliffe. And what that means is that's 20 children who our family court judges have said, "These children need AASA. I need an extra set of eyes and ears to know what's going on with these kiddos, but we do not have the volunteer power to assign advocates to those cases just yet." Um so with that cost per volunteer um and the

number of children that we served in Radcliffe, our investment cost as investment in the city of Radcliffe and the children of Radcliffe in 2025 was a little over $125,000. Um, and why that is so important is I'm sure nobody knew that we were in a legislative session where they're talking about the budget right now, but um, CASA uh, statewide does have a line item in the budget. And right now that line item is looking at a cut um, of about 10 to 20% um, from our current baseline in in this current budget. and what that means for our local program. We are the third largest program in the state in terms of services provided. So just behind Lexington and Louisville and so we're serving like per capita the children that we're serving far exceed some of the other um cities and counties in in the state um that have higher populations. So for us, that could mean anywhere from a 15 to 25% decrease in our state funding, which would be anywhere from 30 to $50,000. And that has a huge impact on CAS's mission and our ability to continue to grow and keep up with the growth that we've seen here in Harden County and our region. Um, so what we are asking, we're respectfully requesting that the city of Radcliffe consider CAS the Heartland for a budget inclusion as you um go through discussions for your upcoming fiscal year. Um, currently we're requesting an allocation of $10,000, but um, you know, we will be happy to be considered for whatever amount um, you see feasible if that's something that you all are able to do. Um it goes a long way for us to be able to advocate at the state level to say that we have local support from our cities and our county governments. Um because they see that local investment and our um our our city

governments and county governments investing in CASA and that you know you all see value in our mission and the services and advocacy that we're providing to children. And so, um, sometimes that's that tipping scale to say, "Oh, well, you know what? If at the local level they feel like this is a priority, then we're willing to ensure that we're making an investment as well." Um, I have some other things in your packet here that are a little bit more fun. Um, our Harden County pin wheel planting is next week, March 26, from 11 to 1 at Elizabeth Town Police Department. Um, there's a QR code if you want to learn a little bit more about pin wheels for prevention. Uh lunch will be provided from PH Hawaiian food truck. Um there's also a flyer in here about how to sponsor a pin wheel. Um this I think is the most important thing that's in this packet. It's this consider being a CASA flyer. There's a QR code at the bottom. It does a great job defining what is a CASA, what are the minimum requirements to be a CASA volunteer? And then this QR code at the bottom is a quiz. Is volunteering with CASA right for you? And um that has been a a game changer for us to just have that low stress no commitment option for individuals to go through take a survey and see do you have the time you know do you have the heart do you have the background um and we don't have any specific background requirement in terms of professional background you have to be able to pass background check um and so it goes through those questions and that has been a really good opportunity for us to get connected with indiv individuals in the community. Um, so if you know of any local businesses that would be willing to uh display this and help us further our mission, you know, we're a nonprofit and we always need money, but the biggest thing that we need is people because, as I said, we've got 20 20 kiddos here in Radcliffe that really need someone to step up and and serve as an advocate for them. Um, and

that is our, you know, the best way to continue to grow our mission is is through onboarding additional advocates who um, who can advocate for those kiddos. And then we have our uh, our 5K and our farm to work information in there as well. So, what questions do you all have? I want to know when it was founded.

Um, we were founded in Harden County in So, well, let me backtrack. Um, National CASO was founded in the late 70s out of Seattle. Um, and then each uh each state has their own state level organization that is responsible for governance and we do we are members of both natural CASA and Kentucky CASA. Kentucky CASA was founded in 1984 and then our local CASA program KASA Heartland was founded in Harden County in 2007. Um and so we've been here for almost 20 years and then we've expanded services into Laroo, me, Breenidge, Grayson, and Hart counties in the last three years.

Do you know the ones that they they found they continued it in county? Um what do you mean? The person that did it brought it to county. Um the teacher that was teaching at ACTC. Um yes, she was involved on the board of directors and then um Sylvia Grinling was the first executive director to be involved but I had the rest of them and I was so busy that I didn't have spare time and I apologize. Well, we're not going anywhere. So, whenever you whenever you've got time, you let us know. Yeah, I will.

Um quick question on the budget side. Um do you have any other like local cities around Cattown by Grove County that do participate right now?

Um yes. So the city of Elizabeth Town has participated in funding CASA for several years um prior to my joining as executive director. Um we have approached the county. Haven't heard back yet. Um but I do know that they're going to have a discussion about it. Um and then we've also presented to municipalities in our surrounding counties that we serve as well. Um right now we have received approval from Hajinville um city council and Laroo County fiscal court um me county fiscal court and made an investment in Kasa last year and then I presented to Lichfield City Council last night as well that just kind of helps you

but we've asked everybody other cities are participating and it does help that we can participate some and and I will add to just because I got this question last night at Lichfield City Council. Um we did not make the same ask of every city because we have a thorough understanding that not every city or county has the same revenue generators that um that other you know surrounding cities and counties might have and so we want to be mindful of that and you know infrastructure that might be needed within the communities that we're serving as well. So we tried to make asks that we thought might be appropriate um or feasible for each entity.

And then based on the numbers 59 currently served in either placement or living here and there's an additional 20 above that that still needs correct correct questions.

I I have a question. Um so I'm very familiar with CASA as you know I uh was sworn in in 2019. I don't have any active cases. I had one in Radcliffe. Um I guess for me because we are volunteers that every everything that we do as a volunteer is a is our expense. So visiting the kids everything we do doing the reports uh for the budget purpose and I know you're just asking for a generic amount. Maybe this is something that we can get from future but if it's what what would be that be used for? No, that's a a wonderful question and I can definitely um definitely give you some insight. So, one thing that might have changed since you were a CASA volunteer is that we do now offer mileage reimbursement for CASA volunteers because we want to break down as many barriers as possible for people to become CASA volunteers. Um and unfortunately, we are seeing more often that um when children are placed in foster care, we also lack foster homes in this area. So sometimes they're being sent um I will say I it is not uncommon for us to have to drive to PUCA. We have a child place in California. Now we're not flying anybody out to California right now um or ever. But um we try to be mindful of that and offer mileage reimbursement for our CASA volunteers. And then in addition to that, um, as we onboard CASA volunteers, each CASA volunteer has a direct staff member that they report to that serves as their case manager and, um, and their volunteer supervisor to help with them with those court reports. Um, make sure that the documentation is kept up with on the case. Our advocate coordinators, which serve in that role, attend court in Harden County or whatever county they're assigned to every week. And so that also helps ensure that we have a staff member to support the volunteers that we onboard. Um and then also to go towards

volunteer recruitment within the community as well because as I said that is our our number one need. And then it's you know when we're doing a really good job with that then we need a staff person to oversee those volunteers. So that's how we use the funding that we receive from our our local city and county government. That makes perfect sense because even before I left I suggested um volunteers need that help because for me personally, I'm not a court reporter and that was very difficult. So that that is very um a good use of funds to have somebody help the volunteers with that paperwork because that's a lot.

It is. Yes, it's we we I think we do very comparable the paperwork and documentation that that CASA does is very comparable to what the social workers have to keep up with at DCBS. and um and you know we receive a lot of documentation from other entity service providers as well that we have to maintain um and so it is uh it is a lot of work and so I'm glad that we have a a really wonderful staff of of professionals who are able to support our CASA volunteers and you know kind of help them in whatever way is needed so that way they can provide that best interest advocacy for the kiddos that we're ser

thank Michelle Is Kaza taking care also of minor offenses for juvenile?

So we only operate out of dependency neglect and abuse court. Unfortunately a lot of times there is overlap between like juvenile criminal court and children who have suffered um childhood trauma or abuse and neglect. So if we have a child that has suffered abuse and neglect and we are appointed to them, we will also support in some capacity in those juvenile cases. Um a lot of times it's really being there for that child in terms of moral support and on some occasions our CASA volunteers have been called to testify almost like as a character witness for those children to say here's the progress that they're making. um here's, you know, here are the events that have occurred that led to this situation and here's what we're doing to help try to get this child in a different situation to where they can make better choices. The reason I'm asking is because um lately I was asked to take care of those community hours for juvenile and I already did 12 year old and a 16 actually tomorrow I am doing a 16 year old for community hours. So I was wondering if you are also involved in

yeah only if they also have that neglected abuse component. Thank you. If someone wants to volunteer, what's the first step when they call?

Um, so I think the first step is just go to our website. You can go to kasahheartland.orgv volunteer and we've got I feel like we've done a pretty good job breaking it down of what does it mean to be a CASA volunteer. um that survey is on there and then after that you know if if someone is really interested there's an application and that's the very first step because we have to have that application to u move forward with background checks um they can call our office at 2709822274 um 270 9822 uh 2274 2274 I just want to make sure off you got that 27 709822274.

Yes. And we have, like I said, we we have a wonderful staff. Um any of us will take a call and walk you through what it means to be a CASA volunteer. Um on a couple occasions, I've sat down and had lunch with somebody or coffee with somebody because we want to make sure like it's not the same as like, you know, ringing the bell, you know, at Christmas time. Like it's it takes a lot. It's it's a commitment. You're committing, you know, anywhere from 12 to 24 months. um or whatever the life of a case is to advocating for this child and we want to make sure that people understand the commitment and you know are well prepared. We're happy to take whatever time is needed to walk walk somebody through what being a CASA volunteer looks like some of the situations that we've encountered and make sure that you know that they are in it to serve that kiddo because it's it's a really unfortunate situation if you have someone who steps up to serve and then you know gets a couple months in, builds a relationship with that child and then it's one more person that has let that child down because they've had to take a step back. And we know that things happen. Um, and that's also where sometimes our staff steps in and they're like, "Well, we're gonna, you know, the staff will um oversee the visits with that child until we can get another CASA volunteer on the case." Um, but that's really difficult when we also have children on the wait list. So, so we will, yeah, we will answer whatever questions. Um, but you know, to your point, like we've tried to work really hard to break down barriers. Um, we love our CASA volunteers to be at court if they're able to, but most of our volunteers work full-time jobs. So, um, our courts have been pretty accommodating in allowing CASA volunteers to participate via Zoom. Um, we have I'll say we have a local teacher that, um, that teaches for Harden County schools and, uh, there is no leaving school in the middle of the day to go to court. Um, and and we can't ask that of her. But what she does do is, you know, we've worked it out with our judges

where, you know, we try to time it to where it's on her lunch break or we can just send her message and say, "Hey, your case is being called and, you know, a counselor will watch her classroom for that 15 to 20 minutes." So that way she's not having to take a day off of work. So we try to be as accommodating as possible so that way um, you know, it's encouraging for individuals to step up and and become cost volunteers. Last question. Yes. About how long How many hours do you think they can put in? Maybe as much as they want.

So, I would say like the the minimum is probably anywhere from two to five. If you you know, if if a cost of volunteer Oh, not sorry. Yeah, two to five a month. Um a cop's a volunteer, you know, if they're on a case and they live in the area where their child is placed and um we'll just use use Hartford County as an example. You know, if the volunteer lives in Radcliffe and the child is placed in Radcliffe and you know, they're maybe attending Harden County Courts twice a year, that's like the superb situation where they might just spend that two to five hours. But, as I said, sometimes we have, you know, kiddos that um get placed like out in Mason County or in Paduka where that travel time really increases things. And again, we try to accommodate that as well. And um instead of maybe visiting every single month, we'll ask them to visit in person once a quarter and then on those off months, do like a Zoom or a FaceTime or something like that as a virtual visit. So that way they're not having to make a three or four hour drive every single month because we know that that can be um can be a burden and a barrier. Um and then typically if our cost volunteers have those very extensive drives then their um advocate coordinator supervisor we typically go with them as well.

Last question after the last question. Oh yeah. No that's okay. I love this. The uh training how long does that take?

So um training for a CASA volunteer is anywhere from two to six weeks really depends on the pace that the that each individual wants to go. Uh we have a part-time trainer. Her name is Christa Ringers. She's a former educator. She does a fantastic job. Um after a CASA volunteer fills out their application and does an interview, then she will work with that individual to build a training schedule that works for them. Total, it ends up being about 30 hours of training. And that's usually uh some some Zoom sessions that are anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours, some homework that um the applicant does on their own, and then the last two sessions, which involve heftier case studies, she'll bring the applicants in in person and kind of walk them through what to look for, what questions to ask, and they go over how to write a court report. So, um, from from start to finish, it's about 30 hours, but it's broken up to where it's really manageable, and we we really try to work with each individual's schedule. And then at the end of that, there is a court observation that has to be completed in whatever county the individual's serving in. Um, our Harden County judges are are really great about getting people sworn in. Um, you get to observe a day of court, ask questions, and then kind of debrief with the trainer. you know, if you had questions about what you saw or what you heard. Um, maybe we acronyms out the out the wazoo. So, making sure that, you know, everybody understands those. Do you need a cheat sheet or a card to keep with you? Um, so that is is what training looks like. And it starts with just an overview of GSA and builds all the way up to uh writing that court report using the template that we use with our local courts.

Any other last questions? Okay. Well, thank you all. Thank you for coming. We appreciate you. Always good to see you. Thank you so much. Thank you.

All right. I don't think we have anything else. So, this time we'll move to public comments. If you want to come up and address the council, you can. You have about two or three minutes. Just state your name and your resident of Rackcliffe. Mic is yours. My name is Anthony Dwey. I'm a resident. time.

Yes, sir. And I have a couple items to bring up your attention. I'd like you for you to re look at. Okay. It's the golf cart ordinance. Yes, sir. It's 23-11-1296. I was looking at it. There springs around us. And uh you have your city Yeah. has named couple roads that are illegal to drive a golf car. Yes, sir.

And I can there's six of them. There's Wilson Road, north and south, Shelton Road, Hill Street, Elm Road, Blackjack Road, and East Lincoln Tra with those prohibited for use of a golf cart has blocked me out of going able to go to Walmart, Aldi's, and most all these roads are 25 and 35 miles an hour. as in the state regulation, golf cart can't go on the road no more than 35 miles an hour. So I would like you to re look at those roads. So hey, I can go to the grocery store because the only way to get across Dixie is on the Wilson Bridge and that's 35 miles an hour. So I'm locked out go to the stores and with gas prices now you can go on higher. Sure. I like to use my golf cart to go to Walmart or all these and get groceries.

Yes, sir. And other object is the permit and the inspection. I read the state ordinance for an inspection is only $5. Guarantly, if you're going to charge 25, so why not just go to county and get it inspected because it's a state inspection. So, it should be just as good year in record. I think the I have to double check. I'm going off of memory. That's the same year ago, but that the V Grove had the same ordinance and I think we mirrored some of that ordinance and I think the $25 is for our inspection because we have to inspect it uh here within the city to make sure it has all

Well, that's what I'm saying. The state regulations don't state. That's what I'm saying. No, our or our ordinance can be tighter. So that's the $5 every year to use the public road. So you're charging me $5 to use my public road that I pay taxes for. You charge $5 for the permit for the golf cart, not to use the road. You could use the road free of charge, but if you have the golf cart permit, which is not a legal vehicle except for this ordinance in that state statute, then I understand what I'm saying.

I understand what you're saying. But the other key fact also is that with your ordinance, it makes my golf cart just as legal as any car except for one additional thing. It's the slow moving sign I have to put on the back of the golf cart. If you look in a driver's handbook, a buggy and a horse with has the same equipment is allowed to ride on these roads. my golf course street legal can't do.

Even a farm tractor with a slow moving sign can ride on these roads is legal. Even a bicycle that doesn't have all that is legally to go on all these roads. So, you're singling out a golf club that I can't use to get to the stores. So, I just like to bring that up, see if that can be readressed because I don't see why I can't drive on these if there's any accident or anything. But this is still a New Orleans. If you the golf cart that you have, just for reference, um,

it's not a regular golf course. I was going to ask you, is it a um, what's the top speed on you think? 35. And it's motor or electric? Electric. I mean, when I say motor, gas. Yeah, it's electric. Gotcha. And then is it I'm actually assuming I had all six headlights, too. And is it none of the lifted or is it normal? It's lifted. Okay. So, it's kind of like what you if I go to Florida typically what we see driving something through the Well, it's Florida friendly community. Yeah. Some of what you'd see there. It's different from a golf course.

It's not like we see on the golf course. slow moving and another thing is I can't drive it at night because you're ordinance. So why I got all these lights and everything slow moving I can't drive it at night or so I wouldn't drive at night anyway just during the day but a bicycle put a light on the front light on the back he drive at night so easy that's why I'm saying if you could re look at the ordinance open up these roads because most of them they're all residential roads even That's one topic. Our other topic is

the other one is the bus.

But the only thing your comment was that we're not going to put one in because on the other side there's no sidewalk. But that's not true because right in front of your house there's no sidewalk and there's a crosswalk. Yeah. The state put that in. But that's a state road too. They should put one in. Yeah. But the state didn't. That's their answer to I know. But I'm just saying that's something you can Yeah. to go back on. Yes. And the last thing I got is you told me on your website that first time's on you. Well, this is the second time

your website is not being updated with your agendas, your minutes. There's nothing there for 25. Last time the minutes were up there was July 24th.

I can answer that and I'll take the link for that. We pulled it down when we did this. All of the stuff that we're doing. Um, so if you look on our Facebook page tonight, you'll see the agenda has been placed on something different. We have pulled everything down in order to try to put our new seal in order to try to put and make it all more updated and go back with everything. So, you'll see it coming back online as we get it done. Unfortunately, there's one of and so many years to do. Um, but we will get that back up for you. Um, we've just been trying to make sure that everything is much cleaner and we've been changing some things around on the entire Facebook page. So,

well, I'm not I'm more concerned about not the Facebook page. The website and that's what I'm saying. We pulled them up. It's hard to find something that you want to go right to. No, Facebook. We are We've hired back about a month and a half ago ad to help us with some of this stuff. And um but you know obviously it has to be updated part of government part of operations. So I told you that and I do remember telling you that I'll actually own that. So I'm the top of the food chain. So I will take the blame for it and we will see what the issue is is is h and I know what Ashley's doing obviously. Yeah. Um but no you're right. I did say that to you. So I'll own that

because it's hard to go back and find something on Facebook unless it's category. Yeah. Of course, we post all this stuff on YouTube on stuff, not on the website. I'll have to find out. My IT man's looking at me right now, so he's he's just grinning at me. But, um, I'll have to find out why that's that far behind. I know what Ashley's dealing with, and I know that we're updating the the current page. We're actually trying to go through a revamp of the website, but that's not what you're asking. So, I I think what you're asking, so I I'll just say I I look at it. All right, Mr. Thank you. Anybody else?

You got six. He got six minutes. So Decker from there and I just wanted to give a good shout out here for your mayor's breakfast. Really enjoyed it. Very informative. And uh what kind of caught my eye when I was is a new logo and talked about getting a logo. So, I'm excited to see if somebody logo. So, my question is, will you be able to get that on the sign down here signwing that I'm going to be leaving at the end of this term? I'm probably going to be a new mayor. I'm guessing gonna be elected unless I'm a writing candidate and uh it's just a joke and um I'm assuming they may have a new vision for the city or maybe a new direction and so I hate to commit that that amount of money to someone that may want to change it in a couple months. I think it's a I think it's a good uh I think it's a good idea at some point when signs get updated I'm sure that there's something you also think about doing city a lot of cities

so we do have yeah we do have police and we do have police and fire coins yeah we have some of those I haven't mustered up the courage to spend the money to buy them so that's what we haven't done yet but yes sir it' be a good legacy uh thing to leave behind yes sir thank you thank you and do you want to mention this I know you're involved since Well, I'm sure I can.

Well, most of you notice that the flag and I presume that's because of one of our heroes here in our county, Sergeant Benjamin Pennington. Matter of fact, Walt Walthouse, good friend of mine, knows him as an Eagle Scout. So, quite the uh the American on there. But unfortunately, he was one of the casualties that we had a while back here. We launched into the uh the Iran Iran conflict and my understanding was he was part of the space force united out of Fort Carson, Colorado. And what I wanted to mention here is uh a week from this Friday uh the city of Glendale down at Glendale Park uh at 6 o'lock the evening they're going to be a prayer vision service for. So I thought that might be of interest. some of the flower with you here and it might be something that perhaps could be posted let people know about but uh I think it's uh really something when we have a veteran who pays the ultimate cost on here and I think it'd be very fitting for the people of the community here to know about that so they can be able to give respect that's just kind of share that as an opportunity

we'll share with the family we uh you know they were my daughter ran cross country for Thank you. Um just so you can share with them. I will not be able to attend. I'll be in Columbus, Ohio that day that Friday. But uh absolutely we appreciate you bringing that to our attention and making sure that people know about it. So absolutely. Thank you, Mr. D. All right. So thank you. Thank you. Walk.

All right. Anybody else move on? All right. We will move on to new business. All right, Mr. Pike. Uh, I need an introduction for the first reading of the ordinance amending the Forestry and Conservation Board. Need an introduction. I'll introduce. Thank you, Mr.

Thank you. This is an ordinance amending chapter 2 administration article 6 forestry and conservation board section 2-57 of the code of ordinances of the city of Rackcliffe. Whereas the city council of the city of Rackcliff, Kentucky adopted the code of ordinances for the city of Rackcliffe on February 21st, 1978 as amended. And whereas the Reckliff city council desires to amend the city's code of ordinances. Now therefore, be it ordained that the code of ordinances for the city of Rackcliffe is amended by the following changes to chapter 2, article 6, section 2-57. Article 6, Forestry and Conservation Board, section 2-57, Appointment of Members, Term of Office, Removal from Office and Compensation, Paragraph G. Regular meetings of the board shall be held quarterly on the third Thursday of January, April, July, and October of each calendar year at 5:30 p.m. Meetings other than those regularly scheduled shall be special meetings publicized and held in accordance with the requirements of the Kentucky Open Meetings Act. That is the first reading, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Excuse me. Next, number two is a consideration approval for the pay and concession of lifeguards at College Center. Uh we discussed this at the work session. Um our parks director uh brought it up. Excuse me. It was $14 and I believe 1750 the other. And so we would want a motion and then a second. I second.

Second. All right. So this would be again a we discussed this at work session. This is the $14 for the concession and then that would be an increase in pay for the lifeguards. Um would be$,750. And then the motion would be for a a budget would be amended at a later date if needed. 16 and then

so it's 1417 and 1750 depending on job

any discussion Yes. Brown. Yes. Yes. Owens. Yes. Thompson. Yes. Motion carries. Start hiring life. All right. Next is this is going to be consideration approval for the police police policies and procedures. I won't name all those, but that is what we discussed at the work session. Chief Cross is here. If we have any further discussion, we need a motion and a second. Second. Second. Chief, you got anything to add to that? Thank you. I appreciate

you guys questions.

Yeah, Jeff, you want to come up? One of the policies is for critical critical incident investigation and review and an officer involved shooting. It's a six page document on page four page. Um the paragraph says any officer involved directly in the critical incident as defined by KRS5.518 and section three of this departmental policy may take 48 hours of leave immediately following a critical incident. The determination as to whether the critical incident leave is paid or unpaid as made by the city's legislative body as addressed in the city's policy. This league may commence upon two contingencies there. This is the only place the legislative body ourselves is mentioned in in any of these policies. And it seems like the the person over the officer would be the one to make the critical call. You're the ones who deal with these officers on a daily basis. So it was it would seem like rather than develop upon the legislative body, it would be you or Captain Wells or or your hierarchy in in the police department.

Yeah, I see where you're going. Uh but I think the intention for this this is is yes we will we will be involved in making that determination but what we would like to do is what is suggested by KC is for us to have that in our personnel manual and you all approve all everything that goes in that manual. So we just want it to we we basically want it to be worded in the manual the same as it is the policy so that that when when a when when an employee is issued their personnel manual it will be clearcut in there as well as the policy for the police department.

So to to clear up any confusion let's say an officer is involved in a critical incident that will not be brought to you to say we want to give this in individual leave or not paid leave that won't come to you. Okay. Yeah. that won't that will not come to this body. It's not appropriate. But what what the chief is saying is have our personnel policies line up with that new PD policy and and the the I'd say the vast majority of the time that leave is going to be paid

because an officer usually talk about a shooting, right? It's usually what you're talking about. And so that officer for their protection, safety, mental well-being, etc. and they have legal rights to give them some time off. You don't want them on duty right away. No. Other than giving their reports and and all the things they need to do for the job, but and that would be approved by you all in a separate request with a personnel manual outside of these. So that's why you all have to be involved. What's put in that name? It's a budgetary financial

employee policy all get approved by the well the mayor promulgates them subject to the disapproval of the city council. That's what the statute says. So it's an awkward way of drafting it. But what we do is we have the council vote on it. That's your opportunity to disapprove it. And if you don't disapprove it then it's approved. Anybody else?

I do have one other question. Yes, sir. Um, at a a campaign event in Vine Grow on Saturday, one of the questions from a citizen had to do with getting police more involved in the community. Um, holding events where uh there was more involvement, more communication, more um comod so to speak give and take. visit the residents. I mentioned, you know, obviously uh having a cook off and and having hot dogs and hamburgers in various locations, churches, church parking lots and so forth. Just something like that where people kind of

we have a church we do have a church event in October which is called Faith and Blue and that's where we go out and churches. We invite them out to to come and have hot dogs and hamburgers. We've done that for the last three or four years, but we we've advertised as we did flyers on the churches. Honestly, the turnout has been very but we are doing some things to think about. We do things out here and festival. We know we always make sure that we send our boats and our tents.

And then we have the fourth of July with pops and things such as that. And you do our Easter sign annual free in August for the public. So they're out there with the jumping and I know you're a chief and you want to do as much as you can. We're always happy to do more if we whatever it takes. Thank you, sir. Anybody else? We have a motion.

Call. Yes. Yes. Owens. Yes. Thompson. Yes.

Thank you. See what you're doing. What? Prepare to get just screwing the ball. assistant.

All right. Next uh is going to be the consideration and approval of the resurfacing bid. Do I have a motion to set resurfacing budget? Sorry. Motion.

All right. So, this was what we discussed at the work session. I was going to rehash that. Um as Chance had expressed, um as he was looking over the budget, our numbers that are coming in on the road fund aid money is down. We're looking at probably over $100,000 shortfall. And so we had anticipated in our budget that we had budgeted $465,000. Current projections if the it continues through um the end of this budget cycle will be 363. And so there's going to be a shortfall. So, what we're asking probably from the council is an approval to go ahead and pull reserve fund monies out to at least meet um the council's resurfacing bid and probably take it to about 475. Um and then hopefully um if obviously gas fuel prices are coming up right now, so could be some offsets. We don't know for sure, but we are seeing the numbers low. one of the checks that we did receive um from the state chance was probably some of the lowest we've seen in the last probably 10 15 years. So um with that uh the motion would probably be for us to at least meet the budgetary level that we did budget. Um and then I had talked to the council about potentially uh going above that and taking maybe another 150,000 out of reserves to do some more roads. Um, but that would be I would say that would be dependent on whether or not with fuel prices going up that could be significantly higher in what black top could cost.

So if we did do that, I would like to come back to council and say, "Hey, we may need to take some more out, but I don't know what black top bids are going to come in at, but we need to get this done so we get the bids out and get some resurfacing started for the spring." So agree with that. So we have a motion. Motion to second. And the motion is going to be to uh meet the budgetary that we approved and we're going to make that up to the level of 475. So we have a motion. Any further discussion? And then you'll come back. Yeah.

Yeah. After we get the bid. And if the bids are higher, that means less dollars would be able to be used. So it may not be the right time to pull money out of reserve for that. If the bids come in about normal, then we can probably pull some out. So So we did that last year. So all right. Motion to second. Any discussion? Hearing none. Roll call vote, please. Merl, yes. Owens, yes. Thompson, yes. Bell, yes. Brown, yes. Motion carries. And then last is a consideration approval for the equipment replacement. That's going to be the copier that we discussed at the work session. Um, so if we have a motion, second, we can have discussion. Make a motion. Second.

Motion. Second. And this is going to be the copier that we discussed. It's 10 years old. We'll be purchasing it. quote for that was 6,000. Um, did you think actually that was a quote that we received? So, should we I was thinking I won't say I think I think we're good stick with the 6,000. That was the quote that was given to us by Xerox. So, so the motion is going to be to budget amendment and they'll be able to approve that and then to purchase the equipment and the budget at a later amend the budget later date. Okay. Motion second. Further discussion hearing. None. Owens. Yes. Thompson. Yes. Yes. Brown.

Yes. Yes. All right. That gets us to council comments. Um I think I started with you, Miss Bell last time. So Kim, you I don't think you were still vacationing last week. So

welcome back. Welcome back. Yeah, welcome back. I'm hoping we have other things here. Uh, sir, kudos to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kentucky holding their fundraiser this weekend Saturday at the indoor outdoor sports and learning complex in Louisville and they did raise 100K while we were there. Uh, it went well. We had people from all over the state, not necessarily just in Louisville and Radcliffe, but we I think we're on the right track. By the time all of the the I guess you want to say the preparatory of how the club has come about when it was first made and how it has survived throughout Kentucky and then the future goals of where they want to be. Of course, they highlighted Ratcliffe itself, which was great. and that kind of put us on the map there because if not it's just the club itself in in the whole state of Kentucky. So it went really really well and they're already planning for the next thing. So I thank you. I set with the bound bank that had representatives there. So Michael Vic did what Vic does and he's a as you know he's a relative of ours and so to have him there and to pull in the amount of people that wanted to talk to him about being raised program and then looking towards next year to get the next guest speaker which will be just as good if they get who they want to get. So thank you if you'll go to the Calvin community um page community center page or parks and recckluff parks and reccks the

information is on there. that was announced last week, but you can find all of the community activities with the uh pictures with the Easter Bunny on the 27th, 6:00 to 8. And after that is the neon dance. Also this Friday is the Let's Patty Party for the special needs celebration, and that is 6:00 to 8. Um, but also new on the Facebook page is the spring break activities. Spring break is around the corner. Uh there's a lot of activities, different days, different times, different age groups. So if you're looking for some activities and uh I believe most of them, if not all of them are free, you can go on the Facebook page and check out the spring activities.

It's amazing what I learn every meeting. Um usually when the council members will will bring will bring in a group that I'm not familiar with. uh tonight meeting those youngsters from the wrestling team that that just that just means so much. That's getting involved in a sport like that that's so difficult and seeing these young ladies is just sort of amazing and then to realize how many people of you up here have um participated in the Cass program which is not easy which takes a lot of effort and a lot of mobility. just appreciate you all for for being there and being so responsible to the community.

I have um something to say on behalf of Michelle Mitchell. It is the on the top it says save the date. So save the date for annual Harding County Tin Expo of 2026. Did you save the date? Okay. It's ages. It's m It's Saturday March 21st, 2026, 11:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. at North Middle School. So save the date. I have another announcement to make. We have a new subgroup came out of be the change in the nonprofit that I founded five years ago. We already have eight people, nine today with with council woman terms. It's called compassion in action coalition placing homeless in motel. It was scarce and I was probably pushing it the most until it became imminent and more and more people were asking help. So everybody said call Maria. Oh, Maria asked for people to help. I made an announcement on the media two weeks ago that we have to have a meeting. The meeting was made today. I mean yesterday we got nine people and we are open to anybody who wants to join

and it's not money. It doesn't involve money. It involves ideas, pitching ideas that we cannot think of them, how to help the unhoused people in Haden County. There is another meeting and a problem shelter coming up in Elizabeth Town and that's what we wanted to hear for that. the meeting. This meeting will bring me another meeting and then we will look for a shelter, a place because motel cost very much. Today I placed a lady who was sleeping in her car and the the bill went up because the season is high season now and ROC are coming. So all the hotels raise the prices. But the main point is that we need people to help to grow and and make it happen. And it's uh they can call me another another time they call Maria. It's okay. And uh the compa it's called compassion in action and it's uh from the community. It comes from the community but it's a sub group from the changing. I am the founder for both but I I need people. So if you need to know more, call me. You know where where to find me on on social media.

No, what's that?

I'm still researching concept. This is Doesn't matter if you're 20% or 100%. In Dominican Republic, they have a VA program where you go there and you're there for a week and pay for your hotel you two meals a day and they have just you can eat and what it does is you have to form that you send them process and listen what you and all that treatment is free. So it's like treatments for a week and in the department. So that's something new heard about this yesterday. So I'm still researching it. When I get information, but I think that's pretty awesome. Uh real quick, just to follow up, there's two I know we have two large egg Easter egg hunts that are going on and you've got one the flyer for one and that's going to be March 28th for the office.

Uh that's okay. Saturday, March 28th. Excuse me. See, he knew he wanted me to do that. Saturday, March 28th, Radcliffe Optimus Club at uh Radcliffe United Methodist Church. I just checked the weather. This is 11:00 a.m. and it's going to be 79 degrees. So, let's just round it up to 80. And everyone get out there with the kiddos and do Easter egg hunting.

And then we have the uh one in North Harden that life's going to be doing. That one's coming up too. That's a large one as well. So, just if you want to get your kids out, I'm sure you'll be able to find a place that's doing one locally. Um, I think Ashley, is there anything else we got coming up? I think that's it. Just a reminder about the Glendale next week to honor Sergeant Benjamin Pennington. Anything else? Land pickup. Plan pickup. April 1st. What's that? April 1st.

Oh, yeah. April 1, we have spring cleanup. weather. Um, since we went through four seasons of weather in the last two days, hopefully by the 1 through April, weather will start getting into spring and you'll be able to get out and do some work. Just remember, April cleanup's happening and uh we'll have some more information coming up. on the paper. Hopefully we'll share the opport when when does snipe hunting begin at Serow Springs. The nature preserve and therefore all the nature. So you can't hunt. No. Well, Jerry, you go out the woods all you want.

Just get you a plastic bag. Go crazy. All right. All right. That's that's okay. All right. We'll uh take a motion. This is just going downhill. So, we'll take a second. Second. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you all. Happy St. Patty's Day.