City Commission - Regular Meeting

It'll look like like to call the Denver City Commission regular meeting today, Monday, August, April the 13th, 2026. Uh the time is 4:35. Let's call our meeting to order. Um, we're going to have a moment of silence led by the mayor and we're going to have a pledge of allegiance led this afternoon by a fourth grader from Woodlon Elementary School by the name of Millie Morris. She's all dressed up for the occasion, too. Okay, let's bow our heads in a moment of silence and uh recognition for all the things that are going on throughout our world, both good and not so good. Thank you all. It's a blessing to be in Daveville, Kentucky this afternoon to see our local city government at work. Uh we still uh do business uh with law and order. We do it very peacefully and very respectfully. So we thank you for your presence uh in our chamber and we thank you for those who are watching us uh on live stream this afternoon. So, uh, Miss Morris, you want to come up and join us in, uh, the pledge of belie?

I can tell you something. The principal something good about you tomorrow. All right. to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty, justice for all.

See, she thought it was going to hurt. See, that was Yeah. That was pretty painless, wasn't it? Thank you, young lady, and great job. Okay, commissioners, I'd like to ask for your approval of today's uh agenda as presented. Is there a motion to approve our agenda? So move. Thank you, ma'am. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, ma'am. Any questions or comments? Hearing none, all those in favor of approving the agenda as presented, say, I. Those opposed?

Motion carries. Thank you all. Next on our agenda is the first opportunity to hear the public today. Uh the public can be recognized come to the podium and talk to the commissioners at this point in the meeting about things that are on our agenda. There's a second opportunity for hear the public that they may speak to us about things that are not on the agenda. So is anyone desiring to speak to your city commissioner?

I thought he was coming forward. Thank you, sir. Okay, hearing none, let's go along. Move along then. Next item is approval of the minutes of the previous meeting. So the chair would like to entertain a motion to approve our minutes. Um I make a motion we approve, excuse me, approve the minutes of 22326, 32426, 33126, and 4226. Wow. Yeah. So it has been move been motioned to approve four different sets of minutes. Is there a second? Second.

Thank you, ma'am. Any questions, corrections, additions, deletions? Hearing none. All those in favor of approving all four sets of the minutes in one motion say I. I. I. Those opposed. Motion carries. Thank you all. Next item on our agenda is going to be uh conducted by uh Commissioner Cuddle. He's going to take the lead on this one. I will. Coach, you want to come up?

Uh, this evening, we're honoring uh Coach Stone that award the Howard Schneller Award. Okay. And that is given to that's a it's a statewide award that's given to the coach of the year uh for all Kentucky high schools and every Kentucky. I understand it's not just coaching it's the other

correct. It's it's on and off the field. Yeah. We appreciate you being in Titanic and the ship watching that you're coach of the year mostressive Most people like me were little surprised at how well you did, but really excited. We were like to honor our outstanding citizens.

We appreciate you very much. Thank you so much, coach. You want to say a few words and then we'll take a picture with you. Um,

yeah. I'm I'm blessed to be the head football coach at Danville High School. Um I I've always said that any kind of individual award in football because football is the ultimate team sport. It's a team award and and I feel that way for players who are all state, all area, all district. And it's certainly the same here. And the coach of the year award is a staff award, too. So my assistant coaches, uh those guys that are with me day in day out, uh they're just as much of a part of of anything as I am. And very thankful for them. I'm thankful that we have a supportive administration in the Danville schools uh with Mr. Ballard leading the way as superintendent, then Mr. Goodwin as our principal and Mike Pitman as our athletic director. Uh without those guys, uh we wouldn't be successful. So very thankful they hired me and put me in that position. And then obviously our players, you know, uh a year ago at this time, Danville High School was on the state's longest losing streak. They'd lost 23 games in a row.

And that that's the reality. And uh those guys came a long way obviously in just a short time. We had to overhaul everything from fundraising to how we approached the weight room to overhauling the assistant coaching staff. Uh really everything and uh those guys bought into everything that that I was selling and uh just really appreciative of their efforts and uh what they did as f as far as fighting through adversity. you know, we've got so many kids and and one of the things at Danville High School in particular, and there's always one thing at every school that I've been head coach at that's it's a big problem you got to solve. And at Danville High School, it's just the fact that so many of our kids have food insecurities.

And and that was one of the biggest things to fight is to make sure we're getting kids fed like they need to be fed throughout the week. And um you know, they're fighting through so many things off the field. Uh we had a young man named Jatavon Beasley who lost his father during the season. Uh missed that day of practice, came back the next day, played that Friday night. Uh just an outstanding young man and he's going to be honored in Louisville at the end of this month because he's made the Tom Leachch all resilient team uh for 2025 26. So that's something that's awesome. So, you know, and that, you know, that's just one example that depicts the young men that we have at Danville High School. And I'm just so blessed to be able to coach and when I got this award uh when I got the phone call, just really humbled and you know, thought about James 11:17 that every good gift, every perfect gift comes from above and uh that that's the way it is. And and uh you know, certainly a blessing to coach at Danville High School. Uh we're hard at work for next year. I think we've, you know, we've got a great environment on Friday nights for our home football games with what we've got now with our video scoreboard and our flashing lights and all that good stuff. It's a lot of fun out there. If you haven't been out there with us on a Friday night, uh I invite you out there. We're going to have a great bowl game this year. Actually, just talked to Chief Gray. Uh our fourth game of the year, which will be our third home game, falls on September 11th. And of course, this year will be the 25th anniversary of the 911 tragedy. So, we're going to do a first responders night, and we're going to get uh city police out there. We're going to get our local firefighters. We're going to get local EMS. And we're going to honor those folks as they should be honored before that game. So, we'll have our bait night. That'll be the third game of the season, which will be our second home game against Anderson County, which will be a week before that. So, that'll be quick math September 4th. uh will be will be our bait night. So, uh you know, we got we got a lot of good things going on in our football program and the kids are

working hard and we're looking forward to a great 2026 season. Okay. Take a picture.

Okay. Oh, right. Once you get to a different month, I'm out.

Just right there.

All right. You can tell this is the fun part of our meeting. We have a lot of fun with recognizing the good citizens in our community. And uh Commissioner Pete's going to recognize the young lady stand at the podium. And uh Commissioner Peak, just in case you don't say this to the audience, I want to let the audience be aware that uh Commissioner Peak Peak coached this young lady's mother when she was 5 years old and cheerleading. So just go figure out the numbers, right? Okay, Commissioner Peak.

Um this is Ella Morris, and I I'm glad that she's here tonight. We want to recognize her because what grade are you in? Six. Six. Okay. And she was recognized this year as the USA Kentucky Junior Female of the Year in 2025 in tennis.

She began playing in 2017 and quickly established herself as a top junior player. At 8 years old, she won the consolidation championship at the Little Mo Regionals and advanced to the Little Mo Nationals. As a 12 and under competitor, she played in winter nationals, clay court nationals, hardcourt nationals, and the 2025 Easter Bowl, consistently achieving top results. Her best level one result was winning the Northwest draw at Winter Nationals in San Antonio, Texas. She also earned numerous other finals and championship titles including L4 Pelum doubles champion, Joe Kson singles and doubles champion, L5 Jackson Tennessee champion and L5 Henderson Tennessee champion and many other sportsmanship and Southern sectional high high performance camp nominations. She's been Kucky's number one 12 and under girls player since October of 2024, holding a career-high national ranking of 72nd and a current ranking of 87. And she's also a member of the Kentucky Ozaki team in both 2024 and 2025 and continues to demonstrate excellence, dedication, and sportsmanship on and off the court. So, I just um thankful she's here. We want to give you a certificate. I'll come down there

and congratulate you on all your

I would just I would just like to say thank you so much. This is truly an incredible honor. Thank you guys for recognizing me. Coach did great. Congratulations. I feel kind of inadequate now, coach. anything.

Yeah. Sorry, I wasn't invited yet. I didn't wait for your invitation. I'm just really, really excited to recognize our city clerk, Ashley Phillips, because she has recently earned her s certified municipal clerk achievement from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks. So, I'd like to have Ashley come up so we can recognize her. This achievement took um 60 educational points was which is equivalent to 120 hours of continued education in topics related to records management, ethics, public policy, public administration among other things. Um and her years of service were also considered in this certificate. Um and how many how many years do you have now as city clerk? And I know she's not going to let us do this again. So, I also want to point out that she will be graduating with her bachelor's degree in um political science from Eastern Kentucky University on May 8th. So, we're just going to celebrate Ashley tonight and all of her achievements. And what your baby's going to turn one in May, too. So, she has been really, really busy and really, really focused. And I think we're really, really lucky to have someone so dedicated to the job. So,

absolutely. I guess I have to talk. Do you want

I just want to thank the commission and Earl and everybody that I work with for supporting me through um all of my trainings and they've had to deal with my headaches of getting through this college journey. especially I went through some highs and some lows on my journey to get to graduation coming up. And I want to thank Donna as well. I as her successor, I have big shoes to fill and she supported me from day one of my career here at the city. So I just want to say thank you for that.

Thanks. going. It's on.

Well, again, congratulations to all of our honores tonight. Uh, it's a it's a good part of our meeting. Ne next on the agenda is that we have a proclamation in honor of Arbor Day. And uh I've been given the assignment to read this one. So bear with me. I should have let that fourth grader read it for me. Right.

You do it, right? She she getting ready for all all the tests coming up. We talked about right. Proclamation Arbor Day 2026. Whereas pollution and environmental degradation of all forms has major negative impacts on the economic and social well-being of all persons and all communities. Whereas we recognize the environmental, aesthetic and economic benefits of trees and forest along the zones of waterways and in urban areas. And whereas Clark's Run, Hangen Fork and Dicks River wersheds influenced influence the integrity of water in Herendon Lake and ultimately the quality of municipal water supplies in our area. Whereas water is vital to all forms of life, safe drinking water is essential to human life and water plays an important role in world and national economies. And whereas Danville is recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation as a tree city. Whereas local citizens have organized the Danville Boy County Earth Day Festival on 30 April the 18th at Constitution Square. Furthermore, let it be known that the Danville, Kentucky City Commission hereby encourages its residents, businesses, and institutions to participate on Saturday, April 18th in celebration of Arbor Day and of Earth Day. Now therefore be it resolved that the board of commissioners of the city of Danville hereby pledge that this the 13th day of April 2026 to actually pursue public policy and public education initiatives to assure a sustainable and just future for all of our citizens. And no, I'm not going to repeat that. So the chair would like to entertain a motion uh in to accept the proclamation in honor of Arbor Day. So move.

Thank you, ma'am. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, ma'am. Any comments? All those in favor accepting the Arbor Day 2026 proclamation say I. I. Those opposed? Motion carries. Thank you all. Next proclamation is honor of National Telecommunications Week and Commissioner Holland has volunteered been volunteer. So, Commissioner Holland.

Sure. Sure. Whereas emergencies can occur at any time that require police, fire or emergency services. And whereas an emergency occurs, when an emergency occurs, the prompt response of police officers, firefighters, and paramedics is critical to the protection of life and preservation of property. Whereas the safety of our police officers and firefighters is dependent upon the quality and accuracy of information obtained from citizens whose telephone the Danville County 911 center. Whereas public safety telecommunicators are the first and most critical contact our citizens have with emergency services. And whereas public safety telecommunicators are the single vital link for our police officers, firefighters, and EMS by monitoring their activities by radio, providing them information, and ensuring their safety. And whereas public safety telecommunicators of Danville County 911 center contribute daily to the apprehension of criminals, suppression of fires, and treatment of patients, and the performance of their jobs. And whereas Danble telecommunicators exhibit compassion, understanding, and professionalism during the performance of their job. Therefore, be it resolved that Mayor JH Atkins and the board of commissioners of the city of Danville on this 13th day of April, 2026 declare the week of April 12th through the 18th, 2026 as National Public Safety Telecom tele Telecommunicators Week in Damble County in honor of the women and men whose diligence and professionalism keep our city and citizens safe. Thank you, ma'am. Is there a motion to accept this proclamation?

So moved. Thank you, ma'am. Any questions or comments? Yes. All those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed? Motion carries. We have some telecommunicators here with us and then ask you all to come forward and we'll present this proclamation to you ladies and then we'll get a picture with you all. And thank I I I have a story I'd like to tell, but I want to tell it off the record though. Okay.

So, I had the next I was not respons 911 out of saw. I woke up the whole thing. You want to go to work? gotta keep

want to say again thank you and there's certain number of jobs that I could never do and you all have one of them I could not do what you do and I appreciate that you all do do it somebody called me I just have tell them to rub some dirt on it and see you later but um y'all keep a lot of balls in the air and usually people on not their best day so appreciate what you do thank you Yes. Very appreciative. Appreciative. Appreciate it. Okay, let's go on then. Well, that might be the end of all the fun stuff. Right. Now, we going to talk about some planning and zoning stuff. Yes, ma'am. Planning and zoning is fun, too. What's that?

I said planning and zoning is fun, too. Well, it depends on what side. Okay. Yes, ma'am.

Okay. So, I am here to um discuss the recommendation to approve zoning map amendment one at 145 East Martin Luther King Boulevard. Um the planning commission met on December 10th uh 2025 to approve this amendment with six members voting yay, zero voting nay to recommend approval of the amendment. Um so I can answer any questions about that if you want. It was on our agenda in um October, got tabled at the October meeting and then came back in the September meeting, which I believe you have both staff reports. Um sorry, it was on the October meeting and the December meeting. Um so I think you have both of those staff reports in front of you, but I can answer any questions about that.

Hannah, thanks for coming. I apologize for the commu confusion last time. Could you explain so what exactly the zone change consisted of and what was left real quick? Yeah. So go ahead.

Yeah. So at the um October meeting initially and I think this is in the staff report as well um they were initially going to change the entire parcel which was an L-shaped parcel. Um change that zoning from RN2 to CB which goes with the future lane use map and comprehensive plan. Um but then after public comments and neighborhood concerns around that parcel at the um October meeting, the planning commission decided to table it so that the applicant Jennifer Paycheck could discuss those concerns with the neighbors and at the next December meeting they came back with a um a conclusion um cooperation. So, the um applicant only wanted to change the front parcel that was on Martin Luther King Boulevard and not change the uh zone for that parcel that was essentially backed up to the neighbors. And so, they have, you know, their own conclusions that they've come with. So, she is only asking to change lot 10 and 18, I believe, which is in that staff report as well. It's on pa on the next to last page of the staff report or of in your packet that the uh area in red is the property that's actually being zone change. the original parent track was was all the the the land outlined in the cayenne color and and so I think u thank you for Hannah for clarifying that

Hannah the other question I got asked over the weekend is the entrance way of this property is going to be on ML King or going to be on North First Street um it's going to front on East Martin Luther King um so I think that access point will be East Martin Luther King Will there be any parking in the back of it? Um, I don't know exactly where parking is going to be because I think the applicant and the the neighbors that are fronted on East Walnut Street have come to the agreement to sell off those back parcels. So, I don't think that back parcel will be parking ever um because I think they're considering selling it. The rest of the

Yes. Yeah. That back back parcel that it was originally um that she applied for for a zone change, but she's not asking for that anymore. You think she's going to sell it to the neighbors so it always be their backyard? I do. Yeah. Or something of that nature. Okay. All right. It would be good. Yeah. Any other questions or comments? Well, if not, the chair will entertain a motion to accept the planning zoning recommendation to approve this zone change. I'll make that motion. Thank you, sir. Is there a second? Second.

Thank you, ma'am. Any other questions or comments? Hearing none. Um, Madam Clerk, do you want to read? Uh, oh, I'm sorry. I need to have a roll call vote, don't I? No. No vote. No roll call vote either. Oh, mayor, this is just your the recommendation acceptance. So, we'll prepare the ordinance based on your vote momentarily. Okay. All right, then. So, we're voting to accept a recommendation plan and zoning to approve the zoning change. So, all those in favor say I. I. Those opposed? Motion carries. Okay. You have the next one as well.

Okay. Um so this next one is to recommend approval of a zoning map amendment on Highway 34 at Minor Road and Kate Avenue. So this applicant is um or we approved this application to amend highway business to IBD which is industrial business development. Um this also goes with our comprehensive plan and future lane use map. the surrounding area around it's the MI tractor location and it is also IBD so it is in in compliance with the surrounding neighborhood. Um so yes the commission met on January 28th and eight members approved uh unanimously to recommend approval for the zone map amendment. Um again I can answer any questions but we didn't see any concerns with this uh application as well. How many lots is it being subdivided into?

No, it's not being subdivided. It's just uh zoning zone change from highway business to industrial business due to the storage of um the tractors really is where it started. It was just um whether storage could be done on highway business and the type of storage they're doing can only be done in industrial business develop or district. Okay. It's eight acres or about almost nine. Yes. 8.694. Okay. Okay, good. Other questions or Oh, you get a motion, right? Yeah. Is there a motion? We approve the PNZ's recommendation zone change. Thank you, sir. Is there a second? Second.

Thank you, ma'am. Any other questions or comments? Hearing none. All those in favor accepting his recommendation say I. I. I. Those opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. See, it was fun. kind of. Yeah. Okay. It won't be that easy.

Duhan, I want to thank you as well for attending tonight, too. I know there was some communication uh issues that in regards to our last meeting, but it's abundantly helpful when the commission receives a short synopsis of your record um and the current analysis that the why the planning commission arrived where they did. It also helps with a concise preparation of ordinance formation on my part as well. So, we appreciate your attendance and and ongoing um you know, kind of compliance with that. I think there have been times where we've not always had staff present and it just adds a degree of confusion for us um that is really simplified when there aren't any issues in particular, but there's simply questions that need to be asked. So, I do appreciate your attendance tonight. Thank you, mayor, commissioners. Um, reminder, we have a budget meeting tomorrow at 1 and the the the 15th is tax day. We're a reminder that's a Wednesday and then then the next budget meeting will be the 21st. Um, going through some of the report, we got coffee with commissioners. There's several dates that that are over the next week. Uh that is also Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. I think that includes the mayor. Uh it will be at J Crew if if my note is correct.

Then the uh u civic engagement uh series for the utilities is tomorrow uh night at 6 p.m. at the Damble water plant. The uh encourage that the sister cities will be here on the 17th. They will be at city hall from Carrick Fergus. Visitors from Carrick Fergus will be at city hall on at 11:00 am. Um we want to welcome them and then of course they'll be uh pretty busy through the weekend including the Rotary dinner that uh that that's been discussed. Um the renaming of the Leon Smith Way will be the 18th at 11:00 a.m. at First Baptist Church. Earth Day is the 18th. Um, farmers market kicks off the 25th, so store that in on your radar. And of course, we're getting ready for the uh summer festivities with the 4th and the 250th. So, please be aware uh to to monitor the schedule for both of those events uh Facebook and the city's website. Marshall, I would like for him to talk about an EPA visit to the water plant for just a moment. Um if he if he will.

Yeah. Um, so we've over the years the city of Danville has built a good relationship with division of water and EPA and they were inquiring about uh building out some training material for their personnel uh regarding some corrosion control and an optimization training. So, long story short is they're looking at ways to uh monitor and treat water from from the raw water source all the way to the tap at the home or the business. And ways to do that most efficiently, looking at things like alkalinity, pH, uh corrosion inhibitors, disinfectants, manganesees, and various things that naturally occurs in some of your uh raw water content. And so they reached out to us and they actually came to the city of Danville for a week from March 23rd through the 27th and they have it's their it's implementation of their area wide optimization goals which aim to improve how public drinking water is treated and monitored. So treatment is one thing but monitored out in the system is is a whole other ball game. And then so they looked at the treatment processes that we have, the technologies, the reporting systems and collection, our operational transparency uh with the public and with the regulatory authorities and systemwide corrosion monitoring. So all in all, it came back with very good marks uh from EPA and division of water and uh kudos to our guys at the water plant and our guys in distribution out in the field because they do a very good job of providing clean drinking water to our customers uh as well as our wholesale customers also. But uh they they also mentioned that um that the dam's approach protects infrastructure and may also contribute to reducing corrosion in the in the actual customers plumbing as well. So the work that we're doing at the plant and the quality of

water that we're putting out is actually helpful for the customers in their own home business. So uh kudos to those guys. Yeah, great.

The um Thanks, Marshall. The uh would like to give an update on some economic development activities. Um, of course, the um I want to give credit to Melanie for the work she's put in. We've we've uh our our community, our city is transitioning over the last really seven, eight years. Um and and with the u pressure that we get from the development world, from the developer space, really starting with chedders is when it really started when when you saw cities and and the utilities associated with the cities, the transportation associated with the cities, the inside of the city limits being necessarily being a lot more integrated into directly uh activities related to economic development. um not just relying on the on the uh economic development say partnership or corporation. Now, for us, the um chamber's role is is in is with the new chamber director, Sarah's I give her a lot of credit for adapting what the chamber is doing and and done. And I know we're encouraged that um the the we've talked a little bit about the the uh shopping center association that we've been engaged with at the at really the advice of some of our area developers and and the success we've been having there. That conference is in May. Um what we'd like to do is after we get away from that is step back and give you all a better update with kind of how what our path forward is. We know acknowledge that the ICSC will will be a little bit confusing. So, we'll we'll try to get um and the reason the city's going and and whatnot will be confusing for folks because we've never uh had that strategy before particularly. Um

and so we'll get with Melanie and we'll try to give you a good update at the next meeting talking about the itinerary, talking about what our objectives are. Um meanwhile what we have ongoing with the development authority is the last slide is the master plan for the EDA track and I want to communicate the activities out of out of that group uh so far. So as the slide is presented to you the bypass is to the bottom of the page and and to the right is north. So um the the development at the intersection on the right side of that is the big lots area where McDonald's is on the corner. Um you move down to uh Engleside Drive or Summit which is where fire uh Stuart Pal and uh FiveStar is and then the next access is is where it's start starting to be the work of our architect is the Daveco Drive and so moving um forward the building immediately to the to the left of that Daveco Drive is the um Walker's uh Um, I want to make sure I get the names right. Walker's Trail Senior Living and and we are u we have successfully uh the EDA has signed a letter of of intent with that company to for them to acquire six additional acres immediately to the south of their existing building. Adjacent to that will be uh uh we have signed a letter of intent with Lumber King. uh they're moving towards the closing documents which will exchange six acres at that location for six acres up on Parville Road where the roundabout is located in the picture. So which will be on the right side of that that image that you're looking at. Um and so we're we're making a lot of the EDA is making a lot of progress. I want to talk about the next things that will require investment

on the city and county. right now we're we are efering that through the EDA's uh resources that it has in hand. Um the access down there where I discussed the Lumber King, which is where that retention pond is located down on the far left. that access point. We we will be filing an encroachment permit for that u location to to begin the the development of that roadway back into the industrial space that is to the west of that that draw which which goes to the lake. Um then uh we will have to necessarily turn our attention to the intersections all three of those intersections on the bypass and the roundabout that's located on Perville Road. We will have to uh in order to file those encroachment permits, we're going to have to engage in a traffic study. Um we expect the EDA expects to hear from Josh about that both that schedule and the cost for that traffic study. Um, we then will have to to once that traffic study is complete in the summer, we'll have to uh begin the conversation with the development of both those intersections and the connector road from Dave Co Drive over to the the Bluegrass Pike roundabout. Um, so that's going to be an interesting discussion as we move into the summer and frankly is is a a new uh thing for this community. Previously, the industrial foundation was was developing roads and doing whatnot. I know they have an active road through the KPDI uh grant program going into the east of uh uh Corporate Drive currently. Um they're under construction and and the city and county will be uh through the EDA dealing with the roadway infrastructure on this track that is in color. It's about a 200 acre parent track um that is that with the intention of it growing and and

being a place for uh future infield development as as hopefully depicted on on the uh slide. Um the work that we were doing in in May at in and last fall uh beginning in last summer with Melanie attending down in Orlando and then us uh taking a chance on going to Atlanta really with no understanding of what we were looking at necessarily. We knew what we we what had been communicated to us. We have had a lot of success from that event and and I understand more what the developers are are talking about in terms of what role the city needs to play in the short term especially um and so that then we can continue to recruit uh entities that that will backfill these some of the property that that's being made available. Um that does involve uh in in today's world in the retail space um retail and commercial space and developer space associated with that industry that sector of the economy uh they are dependent because of the infrastructure in the city the the transportation access uh planning and zonings in the city um the water and sewer that that is necessary the uh th those people like to talk to the cities directly. So when we go to Vegas, um you're you're going to end up with multiple cities in Kentucky, Somerset, Madisonville, Henderson. U you're going to have those mayors attending um there. Um so we'll have we'll we'll like we indicated before, our mayor will will be there to represent the city of Danville. And really what you're doing is you're being the front door of the community. the the and and like I said, Melanie can present this, but um that is uh really the consolidation of all the major uh

franchises and retailers. Um that's the quickest way to to introduce yourself to them or introduce your community to them and it does complement u the work that u your developers are doing to recruit people to their properties in in your community. So it's complimentary piece not well understood the city is engaged through the EDA directly and uh certainly it's interesting time because we do have a lot of momentum u but uh we'll see how it goes and and we'll like I said we'll ask Melanie to give a good report at the next meeting and so she'll do a deeper dive. I say all that to say if you have any questions feel free to to ask and we'll be prepared to publicly address those at the next meeting. We we do it is very easy for folks not to understand uh the world of economic development. We we it is a dynamic thing and it is something that we continue to learn of and and u also just how how to better exploit the opportunities that present themselves uh for for the benefit of the community. and and so we'll happily address your questions at the next meeting and and uh suggest that you think about that and and certainly we're willing to listen and and and address your questions. That's all I have for right now. Do y'all have any questions for me?

Any questions for the city manager? Thank you for I mean thank you Melanie for going and reaching out and being out there to get our name out there and hopefully bring businesses back to and I'm I'm excited just to see the EDA which was what formed in 2021 2021. Yeah.

Yeah. uh finally just really buying and selling land and being very active in economic development and um I you know I thank all the individuals on that board too uh with their insight here. There there is a because of the activity of the EDA, there's some other activity that that sits inside of the community that is gaining a lot of traction uh because of the effort that frankly Melanie put in and and the professionalism that we were were able to provide in in the Atlanta trip. Um, which is why this particular trip is necessary because you're following up on that last that last meeting which was really your second introduction. Um, and so this kind of introduces them fully to the city of Damble as as somebody that is open for business and open for growth and and uh um so it's it's it's an interesting time and we do see a lot of activity outside of the city's EDA property. There's a lot of interest. There's a lot of of of folks reaching out to Danville for the first time, looking at housing opportunities, looking at other retail opportunities and other land acquisition um scenarios and and we do we do see um other properties u in and around the community moving into the market and moving and changing hands uh with an eye towards the future. So, it's it's an interesting time and and uh we'll see how things play out. Other comments, questions.

I think it's also probably appropriate to note, mayor, too, the framework in which we organize is so critical to our success. This framework of the EDA, which was not new to Kentucky, but it was new to Danville some five years ago, was was probably talked about for at least three years prior to that in just formulation stages. But the vehicle in which we operate in is so critical to our long-term success. Never have we been in a position locally through economic development to have a product in which to be an advocate for. And that didn't happen in a vacuum. It happened from leaders setting one block of foundation stone at a time to get us to this point. And I think it's critical to pause and recognize that because a lot of people have put a lot of hours in creating the vehicle that will allow success and hopefully that success will be harvested now. But people are in positions because past leaders have made hard decisions to reformulate and retool or recalibrate as Earl likes to say our economic development mechanism to allow for success. It was never about people or personalities. It was about the framework in which we could be successful. And that's continuous. We should continually evaluate how we do that business and make it better. And when the vehicle becomes problematic, we should scrap it and be willing to do that to move to a new vehicle. And so I I'd challenge us continually to be on the lookout of how we can improve that vehicle and when it becomes necessary to change that we be willing to do it. And I guess the exciting part to me is that in the first time in the history of this community, you have city and county government controlling land, controlling what's going to be coming to our community.

And so much of that, mayor, too, is because we we've said that often times when we have friction in our community, it's not necessarily the people. It's because the again, it's the vehicle we're in. Yeah. Sometimes the mechanism itself causes unnecessary friction. But when we got into a better format like this EDA and then people get used to it, comfortable with it and now it's moving and that's so positive because it's not the people but it's often the framework that's just uh outdated frankly.

Yeah. And it's time to I mean for example the center of states development you know and we started and the there was a report when I came to the city from 989 where the discussion of sewer down balls branch was going to be impactful for the bypass and the developer had put in Hampton in and was was stagnant in that growth because there was no the the sewer access wasn't finished yet And so since since 2007 really we we have put forth in the community, the county has has partnered with the city in a grant application multiple times. Lincoln County partnered with the city on a grant on on a arc grant years ago to extend sewer down Balls branch. Extend sewer in Junction City. Um open Junction City up for housing which is which has been hugely beneficial to the community uh to our local workforce. Uh now you have the sewer extended up into center estates from Ball's Branch which was hard for those people that lived out there to to take and I we freely acknowledge that and we appreciate those folks working with Marshall granting easements giving giving through through the construction process u uh limiting their reactions allowing Marshall time to get through the utility project get through construction um so that that development on on that south side of the bypass as can continue. You you were seeing you've seen since the the uh sewer was be beginning to be extended there. You've seen the extension of two now two hotels, multiple restaurants. You have a retail building that that is infilling with the the Just Love Coffee location. You're going to have another building infilling. So, some of those retailers are who we're reaching out to when we go to Vegas. will be be meeting

with uh Chipotles and and the Cudobas and and the pin stations and and those entities are there and sometimes it's helpful for them to know that that you they are not in your community. They know that they're not in regions but sometimes their franchises don't understand good locations where they're absent, right? And so you're you're trying to create a message where you're communicating all those things. And so it's a complicated platform. we freely acknowledge and we fully expect to be criticized because folks won't understand it. But but um it it is a necessary thing. It's 100% necessary for the city to be involved and engaged um directly as we just proved evidence with the sewer extension extension and the other issues. Now then I got one more thing for you. I have a letter um

from the county. Uh we we

we uh put that on your desk. Uh the uh Miss Wagner over to county reached out this morning and and and requested that we get a letter of support for the AOC to uh for the Bull County uh Danville and area u justice center to be uh renovated. We want to support that project. We want to support that project being downtown and we want to reaffirm the request that the city and county are aligned with this interest. You all do have property that that abuts the property owned by the Bull County Fiscal Court. You have previously indicated to the AOC that that you would be open to that property, supporting the the courthouse being downtown and and this this letter only reaffirms that that you're committed to keeping the courthouse downtown as part of the downtown master plan and that you're supporting the county's effort to get renovation dollars and reinvestment from the state into that location. And so we would ask that you all authorize the mayor to sign that letter.

And can I can I make one addition to it? You've got uh downtown Danville Bull County at the first paragraph. Second paragraph, you've got the community's downtown master plan. And I think that'll finish real strong down the bottom there and say uh we please know that we strongly support the establishment of a new judicial center in downtown Bor County. Put downtown in there again. more times you say downtown, somebody's going to not, you know, they'll see it. They won't miss it. Yeah, we'll clean that up in the morning. That's all right. I just want to make sure we downtown is very important to us, right? We need a motion. Just to ratify it. Yes, please.

I'll make a motion to authorize the mayor to sign the letter that's been presented. Move and second. Any other questions or comments? All right. Anyone else? Come back here. question. Okay. All those in favor of uh the mayor approving the mayor's signature on the letter of support for the downtown judicial center say I. I was opposed. Motion. Thank you all for getting that in front of us. Okay. Next item is we have our uh Oh, I'm sorry. You finished? Yes, sir.

It was just going right along. Hit the city manager like the water just stopped going over the dam. No, just kidding. Next item is here the public. A second opportunity for the public to address the commission on things that are not necessarily on the agenda, but things that probably still need to be within our realm of jurisdiction, right? Things are still legal, right? Hearing none, let's move along then. Next item, uh, commissioner updates and comments. Any commissioner updates? We've had enough already from the city manager, right? Anyone else? Are you okay? No, you got Come on.

I thought you did. Yeah. Okay. All right. Let's go on then. All right. Well, I got away with that one. Let's go. Payment of bills. Is there a motion to pay the bills as presented? Yes, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am. Is there a second? I'll second um and just say in the amount of 1,964,62287.

Thank you, ma'am. Are there any questions, comments, additions, or deletions? Hearing none. All those in favor of paying our bills say I. I. I. Those opposed. Motion carries. I was going to too point out it was so high. Well, because we have paid all of our partners, planning and zoning, airport. It was like the quarterly check was in there. I was just going to point out that they finally paid the city commission for the year. Okay.

Great catch. All right. Okay. Uh, Miss Compton, you have the next two items. Res Next items. Resolution 2026 04301. Oh, Sister Cities. If you remember from um our meeting, our last budget meeting and Commissioner Holland, I don't know if you've got a chance to watch it online yet, Sister Cities, in addition to their funding for next year asked for an additional $1,000 to support um an event that the um mayor and um elected officials from Carrick Fergus will be attending. They will be attending a Rotary dinner um hosted at the airport um on April 18th. um in addition to um a few other things. So, they are requesting an additional thousand dollars um to be contributed to Sister Cities for um the current budget year and we are asking that that is approved for them. I move for approval of resolution 2026041301.

Second. They're here right now, right? No, this end of the week, Thursdays when the 16th is when they arrive. A few more days. Okay. Yeah. 16th through the 20th. Okay. questions. I

The 250th committee has approached the city for its funding request. Um the city allocated $50,000 for the 250th celebration. 40,000 was um directed to be allocated by the 250th committee. 10,000 was allocated internally mostly by Melanie. Um they have a presented us with one um one of the invoices for parking. um the 250th they anticipate at the concert needing u professional parking services um to help direct traffic um and do what parking attendants do. Um and so attached you have a contract for the um event parking expert um company for $3,965 um for parking for the event um the city would pay this directly and it would contribute to the $40,000 we have allocated for the 250th. Um, and just as a recap, I included in the the description the other things that we have um uh myself and Earl and Tommy and Jud, former Judge Wilder have agreed to fund for the city um for its $40,000 for the current year, which included sound, lighting, staging for 32,000 and security services for 4,000. We'll say the the parking by contract saves the overtime of the police. So best case scenario without the contract, you would be paying overtime to both the police and and the county would have to get the sheriff's office out there.

And so so we we still anticipate a heavy uh police load and and on our officers. However, um some of that human touch parking management, we're not going to have we don't want people there necessarily. We we we would much cheaper to contract with them than deal with it with staff. And you want your police and sheriff's offices available to support emergency services rather than parking in those cases. I was curious how much that cost, but Tony mentioned it. I had no idea what parking cost. might go in that business. You might com

Is there Is there a motion for this resolution? I'll make a motion to approve resolution 202641302. Thank you, ma'am. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, ma'am. Any questions or comments? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed? Motion carries. Next three items of Mr. Carrier. 26041303.

Thank you, mayor. Um, as you all know, we're in the process of getting ready to uh repaint and clean the Cox Street water tower, and it's not uncommon to have a lot of uh uh cell phone provider infrastructure on those towers. So, this is a great time once that infrastructure is removed for the for the painting process and the cleaning process. We're working out uh a lease agreement with Verizon and AT&T uh to have those those items permanently secured to their own standalone tower moving forward and just keep them off the tower just for maintenance purposes in the future. So, um, not only needing the access, but also this is a great opportunity to renegotiate a lease with those folks. So, um, it's planned to be installed on temporary structures and later relocated on their own permanent structure adjacent to but still on the city property. So, this resolution is a request to move forward with uh lease agreements with Verizon and AT&T as well as a consent a consent letter with Verizon for a temporary tower as well.

Okay. Thank you, sir. What's your pleasure on this one?

Thank you, sir. Is there a second? Thank you, ma'am. Any other questions or comments? Yeah, this documentation's from AT&T and from Verizon. So, their uh legal council provided all this information and we're just moving forward going back with them. They've been really good about communicating and willing to do this. So, we appreciate that. Yeah, the details will be will be figured out the lease amounts and then there's some exhibits that they're going to put in also that details uh the actual property boundaries in the in the lease agreement. So,

okay. Okay. Other questions or comments? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed. Motion carries. Mr. Carrier, the next one. 1304 HDR amendment.

Thank you, mayor. Um, back in October of 2024, the city of Danville approved an engineering services agreement with HDR Engineering Services Incorporated related to services and design for rehab on the Mox Street Sanitary sewer pump station. This is for contract amendment one to the same for services related to engineering design which is a deduct of $4,25. Additional services related to bidding services $12,000 and construction services 3,000. So a net of $10,795 from the capital budget.

Thank you sir. Is there a motion approval of HDR amendment number one? I'll move to approve resolution 2026041304. Thank you, ma'am. Is there a second? All right. You all have any questions or comments from the commission? Everybody good? All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed? Motion carries. Car is on the wall. He's on a roll, isn't he? Getting done right.

Thank you, mayor. This agenda item is for authorization of a contract proposal between the city Danville and Danville office equipment for maintenance of a copier at the wastewater rehab building. Um it's pretty straightforward. It's $300 per year, but it's a new contract with DOE. Okay. Thank you, sir. What's your pleasure? M make a motion to approve resolution 202641305. Thank you, ma'am. Is there a second? Second.

All right. Thank you, sir. Any questions about the DOE copy your contract? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I. Motion carries. Next up is Oh, here we Oh, man. No, it's going to be the same thing we looked at last time. I just wanted to be able to put it up on the screen for you all to see. Um, make this pretty quick.

All right. So, yeah, there's the the information we looked at last time. Um, I did get I the the one new piece of information I got from uh Republic, I asked them about going to once a week recycling instead of every two week recycling. And they said that they would have to buy a whole new truck to do that. So when I asked them, it was like $10 a month kind of thing extra added on. It's uh they were looking at at least $9. Um, so that that put the price up pretty high. didn't know, you know, I didn't get an exact number from them because once they said they would be in that range once they started adding all the new new equipment in, I told them that was probably going to be uh beyond where we wanted to go to. So, that kind of gets us back here where we were three weeks ago looking at this uh these different proposals here. Um I just kind of want to open up for any questions. First of all, anybody think about anything since our last talk they wanted to kind of go through?

I guess I would ask about recycling. Where are we at? Everybody know, you know, it's not being recycled. Where are we at in that process?

The last discussion I had with the county is they were kind of holding off on fully implementing everything as far as buying all the stickers and putting stickers on everything and going through all those processes until the city made a decision about this. If we move forward as we are now, then they were going to fully implement it. if we if we went to voluntary recycling, they were going to hold off and see how see how that affected um the the quality of the recycling they receive. I from what I could tell even the kind of public education we've done and the enforcement that we've tried to do and I think Republic's tried to do a better job of not picking up contaminated recycling when they see it, which is really hard for them to see because it's in a container with the lid closed. I I don't think we've made very great strides in improving the quality of the recycling. the last discussions I've had with the county and with Republic about it. So, um, yeah, I think we're kind of at a kind of at a crossroads on on how we move forward. And that's why we kind of presented last time is, you know, we could go to voluntary at these numbers here. And that will that will more than likely solve the issue once we have people just paying. The only the only people that are paying for it and have access to it are those that are volunteering to pay for it. That should clean up the recycling. Um, if we stay with mandatory as we are now, we will really need to to to push that enforcement really hard. Um, and it's going to have to be a team effort between, you know, you know, codes codes enforcement for the city, republic, uh, the county. Uh, it's going to have to be a big big push by everybody to try to get that accomplished. And even with that big push, we're just not very confident that we're going to be able to accomplish that. I mean, it's going to be because at seeing the standard that the the county would like to see the recycling be when it comes to them. I mean, we're so far away. I mean, I think we were looking at I'm I'm kind of I'm throwing a lot of numbers off the top of my head that we've discussed months ago, but I mean, I think we need to get to

that 80 90% clean range and we're right now we're not we're we're not even close. We're more like 40 50%. So to get that big of a jump is kind of a full shift of how everyone in town recycles like like we've talked about. I don't think this is something that's a mistake by people that are trying to recycle in the correct way that aren't you know don't know. I think this is people just not wanting to get an extra container and just throwing their garbage in the recycling bin. I really I think it's this will have to be accomplished by really big enforcement push which will cost everyone a lot of time and money which may be the effort that we need to do. Um, but it's going to it's going to have to be it's going to be enforcement and it's going to have to be probably fines given out and probably a lot of cans left on the curb that are, you know, full of garbage. So, it's there will be a I think it'll take I mean, at least a year of a lot of growing pains if we're going to stick with mandatory to pull that off. But, I mean, I think that's it could be a worthwhile effort if we want to go to if we want to stay on the road we've been on with mandatory. Yeah.

If I decide I don't want to recycle, I got to get two cans for my garbage and the two cans be still be picked up every So the the base price is still just one garbage can. Um but on any of those you can add an extra cart for that extra cart. So what that what what we're in in essence doing say if you went with the last if you went voluntary went to full Republic bills voluntary the the one on the far right um you're going to have your base price of $15.69 69 cents a month and then you'll kind of have an option whether you want to add you want to get a recycling cart for $6.85 a month or if you want to get a garbage extra garbage cart for $5 a month. Um

see I think we set ourselves up for failure if I get if I'm not going to recycle and I got one can go back to having a mess all over the city. To me if I'm not going to recycle I get two cans at my house just for garbage and I don't have to worry about making a mess. The beauty of what happened with this program is that it has cleaned up our town tremendously. Yeah. And if we go back to everybody having just one can but at one price Josh the u they collect each can with two different trucks. Correct. Yes.

Yeah. Did they say anything about um was a Republic worried about enforcement or collection of bills if they did the billing? Yeah, they you know they they know that there's it's a little bit more difficult for them to collect on on non-payment. You know, they have to go through, you know, um collections to do that. They can't, you know, with us, we can just turn the water off. Um it's a little more so they they they but I think they factored that into this pricing that they gave us when they switched. That's why you see the jump from us billing to them billing. That's them that's them building in the percentage uh that of loss that they risk that they're taking on.

Yeah. I think so some other places have you know we some other places have two cans as the base bid as the base price. But we hear from a lot of our we we hear from a lot of citizens that they don't even want they like one can's too much for them. They don't even fill up one can in a week or they don't have room to store the cans. We hear that a lot. That's why we we've always tried to keep the base price one garbage can, but in the past it's been one garbage can and one recycling has been the base price. Yeah. Um now you'll still be able to have to get one garbage and one recycling and you're but you you're volunteering for that recycling or you can or you can elect to get to get an extra garbage can.

No, we don't. No, it should be extra. I think Well, I think if we if but if we include two that's going to raise that base bid. They're going to raise their base bid price up. Republic is they're going to I don't know what that number would be, but they would come back and say, "Okay, it's not 1569 a month. It's going to be something like 17 or 18 a month for the base price. If we if we give everybody in town two cans, I think they're going to raise their base bid." So, we've tried to keep that base bid as much we can um with but that's why we kept it at one can. But if I got if I've got two cans, I'm not talking personally, but if a person has two cans and they're not recycling, $20 a month for garbage collection, that's a pretty good deal.

Yes, they'll be have two cans. If they have two cans, it'll be $20.69 a month. No, I'm saying two cans, $20, no recycling. I Yeah, that's that's right. Two cans, no recycling. It be $20.69 a month. if you 69, but that I'm looking at the 1569 plus the $5 is and Josh, we tried a whole year, right, with the education and enforcement. Has it been a whole year?

Uh yeah, we really started pushing hard probably back in um yeah, it was probably like October. We really started talking about this last summer and then September, October, November, we pushed hard. We tried to get something done. We tried to get a good idea of whether we're going to be able to accomplish this before we went into this new contract cycle in the spring. Um, so yeah, it was I mean it's been it's been six months of a hard push, a year that we've been thinking about it, talking about it and educating, but six months of a hard push uh to try to change our recycling. So I'm sad it hasn't worked, but it looks like we've done no recycling for a year, so might as well go with the one on the right. That's how I feel. Which is voluntary. Yeah, that's kind of how

that will get us recycling again. It's been kind of a bummer to us too because we were I mean I was here when we set this up was 2008 we started this um and I remember when we did this it was kind of a big deal and we did and it was really good when it first started. I don't think this is a failing on our part. I think it's just a change in the industry

like what their standards are for the recycling they collect. I don't think we have a community has like oh we've we've messed this up. We've changed we were doing worse than we've ever done. I think it's more just the change in the industry has kind of driven to a point where I don't know if mandatory recycling is is even like a feasible model necessarily and I especially I don't know maybe in maybe in in in communities out west or something it could be but I think here it's going to be really difficult to get like 90 to 100% compliance across the board with your whole community on recycling. I think it's just going to be really difficult. Yeah, it's it's changed a lot particularly with Chinese. They're not buying everything we can give them anymore.

And I think um didn't I hear you say, Lee, that the difference in um what it costs for us to do the collection and etc. is uh would exceed the extra charge on the bill. Correct. U so if we pay decide to pay $1569 that will be a benefit to the city. So it would be

it would it would it would be a benefit to the city as a function of not supporting um the the gap between build service and the the cost to provide the service which is about eliminate. Yeah, it would eliminate the contract support from the general fund property taxes. It would assign all the cost associated with the garbage contract to the garbage um those entities that are getting benefit from the garbage. So, you got really two questions. But I appreciate I mean I worry I mean

I worry about it. I know it's coming from the general fund. We don't want to support that. We don't want to lose that money. What was the 50,000 or more years? It's about5 to $6,000 a month. A month. That's a lot. But if Republic bills them and say, "I just don't want to pay my bill," will they just leave their trash and take their trash can away and throw it? I mean, no. We We will have to negotiate with them that they pick it up, that they um that they'll have to turn that into collections. That's ultimately will be on them for to to turn into collections, but it's a risk we're taking. That's a res risk they are taking also. Okay.

Right. Like, so it's not in a risk exclusively of the city per se. Um what my projection what my suggestion would be to to Josh's point when he's saying that we didn't fail the community didn't fail with recycling. It's it's and I just want to make that abundantly clear. It's not one entity that is that is not it's just not the the mandatory is just not being not an effective way to recycle apparently. Right. Like that's what we've learned as a as a community. Uh not with notwithstanding I think your gap it would be cleaning up. I think part of the issue is is that like Josh tried to explain which gets complicated which is the account system that they track it versus the housing units that we collect it from. Right. So by them billing it directly that that would close that gap. I think that the remember we we're we are auditing it like three times to to try to get to an answer. So this puts it in one source where it's A and B together matching, right? That that has proven very difficult particularly with those that are requesting the extra cans,

right? It so the process that we go through because our utility billing system is over here. So that's where we're collecting our revenue from and what they're charging us for is way over here and there's two different layers in between them. So So it cleans up that process so that they're billing and they are collecting right now. Now now um so I so I I'm not saying they're overcharging us or or undercharging us. They will they will have a a chance to reconcile that fully and that by having them do the billing that burden's on them to clean that up then. Right. Um, and I I Earl I was going to jump I did some quick like back of napkin math. So we're we're losing not losing we're we are having to offset this account with about $100,000 a year

100 to 120 um with general fund money. I just did a quick math of the 75 cent increase

uh to go to to have a public bill. If you multiply that by how many customers we customers we have over 12 months, it's about $65,000. So a community as a whole will be spending less money because right now it's it's it's what they're it would be 1494 plus that general fund offset of$1 to $120,000. If we go to 1569, it's just an increase overall community increase cost of about 65,000. So it's actually cheaper for the community as a whole if we ask Republic to do the bill. The actual number probably should end up being somewhere between 40 and 50 based on the data that we had before we went to the extra cart, which was when we went to the extra cart, we went that direction thinking that would tidy it up more, thinking that those people that they would be requesting a cart so we'd have a good record of that. So in front of you really is is two simple questions. Number one is do you want to continue recycling as voluntary or or transition it to mandatory or I'm sorry continue as mandatory or transition it to voluntary and and just to to see if if the product that we produce produces a better outcome on on the sale of our recyclable products. Then on the second thing is is do you want to test for a couple years the idea of republic billing directly for it? the biggest you know then you've got to weigh that decision separately ultimately they they are not tied together one can happen without the other right saying that then I think it's worth a try for a republic to do the billing number one because it's it's it's a marginal amount like he said it's it's kind of washes out in the middle but but then two why not

right like so so if it achieves a better result um I believe that J the Republic believes specifically that the customer service should go up theoretically because when someone complains then they're directly tied to that garbage can then. Right now they're tied to the city. They have to they have to sort through where that can's at with us, right? So it makes customer service for them more challenging because it's atypical for that company, right? It's not normal for them. What they believe is is that customer service will be better if we do it like other partners do for them, right? Which is let them do the billing. Therefore, they got a direct account with it. So for me, if you want if you want to

try to do something different, you would let them bill it and then then you have to make a decision on the recycling. Well, see, my my concern is this. If they're responsible for the billing and they decide that Uh James Atkins has gone three months without paying his bills. So they're going to cut me off. They're not going to pick my garbage up anymore. They're probably not going to wait 90 days for that. So what happens to the guy out there who gets his uh garbage account asked and he's no longer getting garbage service. We'll we will verify they both of those scenarios is is a code violation. theoretically the the because you're required to to have your garbage picked up.

Yeah. Right. So, we do have a contract with the Republic. So, therefore, we can still require them, look, you're not picking this garbage up. So, the fact that they're not getting paid for it if they're doing the billing is on them for collecting it. If their methodology for collecting it is to go through a collection agency, then then we're not I don't want to judge how they do business then in that sense. so long as at the end of the day they've complied with the contract terms that we've established, meaning that they are picking the garbage up and and not creating a violation for the city to have to deal with. Now, that's all fine and good, but that's the theory behind

there. There's I would be shocked to know to find out that Republic would contractually agree to pick up garbage that it's not being paid for for some period of time. I mean 30 days maybe 60 days probably not 90 days I mean that's that would be insane power company wouldn't do that you know gas company wouldn't do that and I don't know I mean I think at that point that citizen would have an option right if you if you have trash at your home they can't just set it out if it's being neglected that would be a code violation for them

but they would have to dispose of their trash in some other way go to a convenience center or whatever take advantage of you know other ways to dispose of their trash, but they left it on the curb and weren't paying for it. I don't know how as a city we could require Republic to continually pick it up without compensation. I I don't But I think but they would be cited and that person would have to find that service in another way. I mean, I would be shocked if the contract said anything different than that. Do you know, Josh, though? Well, you know, I don't think it's really addressed in our contract because the billing is I think and I think so we can look at um you know that that's what we talked a little bit last time about this this would there would be just a tick up in codes enforcement

to let me ask for this but but it might be worthwhile. Let me phase it to you this way. If someone is not paying for their service, who should pay who is who should pay for that? Well, I mean I would argue it should be the citizens responsibility, right? And so right now I mean that it is ultimately if they want water then they do it. I think it's probably tied better if if Republic does the billing. If the individual doesn't pay for their trash then who should be harmed by that, the individual, not the other citizens who are paying their bills or the city at large through the general fund,

right? So they'd have to dispose of it in other ways. It's just like, you know, if you lose any other type of city service, you're going to have to provide it in some other way. That was I mean I you know Go ahead. I was say is it legal for us to I guess contract back with with Republican we'll turn your water off if you don't pay them. Is that possible? I don't know that we would have that. I don't think you would have the the order that things are paid when the bill is paid back to the city. The water is theoretically the last thing that that's paid.

Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. That would be my question if in the contract if you or you could ask them what if this happens. I mean I I think the proper way is that they bill it because we're lo as a city we're we are paying $120,000 a year out of the general fund that we could use in other areas. They had to close the gap. Yeah. You got to close that gap. That's I thought it was I thought it was about $5,000 a month though. So So it it totals about 600. It's about nine grand. It's about 9,000 a month. Oh yeah. So So that gives us a little bit of direction though. Um if let let us yes let us take um do do you all want to

consider let's let's deal with the recycling issue first. Do you want to transition to the voluntary recycling investigate that first? I see as a group where you're okay ask can I ask Josh real quick? There's some as you know there's some special interest groups that have a significant interest in this. Have you talked to any of them about any of this?

A little bit. I I think from what I've heard, they I don't think they care how we do this necessarily at this point. They just want the recycling to go to the recycling. Like I think that they're whatever we've got to do to get that fixed. I think a lot of folks that are really like are have a big interest in this are just taking their recycling to convenience centers right now or to the recycling center. So they just want to see it fixed. Okay. I think and I think I think like I like I said last $6.85 85 cents a month for voluntary. Like I'm going to pay for that. Like that's a very reasonable price to get voluntary curbside. So I think that you'll see a lot of people jump on that. I think they'll just they'll just be happy that it's getting effectively collected.

Josh, I had another question for you. The folks who have extra cans, they have two cans for garbage and one for recycling or they have one for garbage and two for recycling. Is there any way to track that? Because see, my thing is this. If if they're not going to do voluntary recycling, they still need two cans. And to me, that'll be the base price. If I do the recycling, I get one can for garbage, one can for recycling, I get two cans, it all be a part of a base price. I I hear from a lot of folks though, the counter to that. I hear a lot of folks telling us they just want one garbage can. They don't want more than that. They they don't want to pay for more than that. And I think if we include two in the base price, they're going to be paying for two. So they they

there was confusion because our initial contract when I mean going back historically when we started this in ' 0708 whatever that was everybody got two cans that was part of it so everybody's the base price included two cans it switched to one can when we did the most recent well one of the most recent iteration I mean post 2018 probably prior prior to 2021 when we did this no the republic had never put a price on extra carts. We'd always bid it. We'd always had that line in the proposals that they could put money in there for extra carts and they'd always just said, "Don't worry about it." So, people could have as many carts as they wanted. We had folks with eight, nine carts at their house, and they were paying the base bid price.

So, you see some of the that I think to your point, mayor, I think there are some people who probably don't have that full understanding of it. And when we switched to when there was one cart for one price, there was still the issue of there's a lot of extra cans floating around. And so then, you know, even if we did this now, if people say, "Well, I only want one, but they still have to." How do you, you know, they're going to have to do some collection? I there's going to have to be some cleanup work that's involved in that for sure. I'm just trying to if you're if it goes to bill through public, would there be a mandatory clause that says you must I mean, every citizen of Damble has to Let's figure that out. Garbage picked up. No. So, that gives us a little bit of direction. We would prefer to

I don't know that you all necessarily care which which way that goes. This is what I'm hearing. You all tell me if I'm wrong. You all can go the towards them billing it if you've got assurances that it's going to be picked up. So, let us do this. And and I but I don't think to Stephen's point that may not be possible.

Yeah. So, so what the next step for staff should be at this point for Josh, if you if you want to give him a little bit of direction, what we'll do is we'll start to develop a proposal from them that is in writing that they would be willing to begin the process of agreeing to and we'll bring that back for discussion when we see what that draft of that looks like. We will have council work on that with Republic. And so we will uh that draft will include converting to to voluntary recycling and and then having one can as a base base bid within or the the base fee and they'll they'll have the right to get two cans for the additional fee and then we'll we will have the dialogue about who bills with Republic and see what the language looks like in the contract both ways and we'll bring that back to you. that I think that's probably the best thing to do at this point philosophically.

And and I think one maybe I'm maybe I'm hearing this a little bit differently than you. So I think this is probably a good time just to make I think the commission is merely asking the question. I don't know if they've said they had a preference on they just want to know if someone doesn't pay their bill what happens. I don't think they're saying they want the city to pay for it to be picked up yet. At least I haven't heard that. No, no, no. I'm not not I just don't want D to become have trash everywhere. And I understand code enforcement. We don't want to go backwards because our town is clean. See what Let's see what the language looks like and to see where that leads us. The garbage cans and the dogs and the cats always had a fight and I don't want to go back to that. That was scary.

Well, I'm going to also might reach out to Harrisburg. I know Harrisburg just like a couple of months ago switched to Republic doing the billing. So, I think there's a good opportunity for us to reach out to them and see how it's affected their their their kind of building. Can we just ask to see their contract? I mean, that's part of it, too. That as well. I think they have two cans in their base bid, but their base bid, their base price is over $20 a month,

and they've got two two garbage cans built into theirs. So, I I I'll we'll get a price on the two cans to see what that see impact if it's a small impact. Yeah. I don't think anybody's going to really b at that, but we'll see. And I said I'll bring up if we if we get concerns about the republic doing the billing once we talk to them there is that middle version that's a hybrid that is the city bills the base bid and if anybody wants anything extra they have to do they have to get that directly through republic. What that'll do is it'll clean up a lot of the billing confusion we have on the extra items. If they want to do voluntary recycling, if they want to do extra carts that'll go directly through Republic which will clean up a lot of that accounting issues we have with those. That's kind of a middle ground hybrid version that we could we could try out for a while if we have a lot of concerns about people paying their their monthly bills.

A lot of discussion. I don't think we got any closer to an answer than when we started. That's good. We're talking good conversations. We're doing You're right. You've moved it forward. You've done You've done something. All right, let's go to the next Josh. I'm going to hand this next one to Earl. The parks and recreation agreement amendments. He's been working on that with the county.

This is a followup, mayor, to uh what I had in the city manager report last couple meetings. We met with the county um and and uh had a small group work through the the existing operations agreement uh parks joint uh participation agreement that was done years ago. uh we have looked for ways to improve it and one of the things that we've talked about begins on page uh it's with the original parks and recck committee. We are working on beginning on page seven uh cleaning up the language tied to the parks and recck committee to to give them better clarity on what their role is and that's towards operations programming the various things that parks and wreck does. Um then we've added a section uh 13 on page nine. It's titled the parks and recreation capital advisory committee. It is organized in the very similar way that the original Millennium Park Committee was. It's set up with two representatives from the fiscal court, two representatives from the city commission, and then one joint appointment. the there was a little bit that is a smaller group than the the original Millennium Park group was as you had a county engineer and you had the city engineer both as members as well. So yeah at the time you had three from the city and three from the county saying that this is five it's fine you've got the judge executive and the mayor a magister and a commissioner and one joint appointment. This group then considers capital construction request capital needs throughout the park system. Um the this group then would make recommendations to the city a as the city representative on there the mayor would would would bring that report back to the the city commission. Uh likewise the judge to the fiscal court to to talk about what capital is

being requested and what has been agreed to by this group which is important. When you get uh the the joint meetings are much harder to arrive at a uh uh some direction at times because you have so many people in the room. This cleans that this that was very effective years ago with with the development of Millennium Park. this cleans up that and assigns the responsibility of of some of those early discussions to to uh to this committee and and so it's certainly something because of the success that we had before um I believe this could be also as effective uh moving forward and and uh the judge has uh indicated to us that we we can uh bring it to you guys that they're ready to consider it on their side and and so we are providing such to you for an amendment to the existing parks and rec agreement with this the city and the county. Other members can join in the future in the same way they could have before. Um but this means that the uh role of the existing parks and rec committee is is defined better and it establishes a capital advisory committee organized as such.

And this committee would deal with suggestions, recommendations coming from parks and recck staff and parks and rec,

whatever the source, whatever capital construction, if it if if if it we have a citizen that wants a specific uh venture that comes to the city, then you would defer them to the capital advisory committee if it involves capital infrastructure. Likewise for the fiscal court, if you have a group that wants something in specifically the um the um they would defer to the u and report it to the capital committee. Capital committee would develop the idea, would nurture the idea into a proposal and and then the mayor would bring that back to the city commission. The proposal theoretically would would have um um been agreed to by this group, right? um which which then um prevents it allows instead of Tommy being the one that has to navigate those waters with both bodies. He'll participate, he'll support it, but but the proposal having having the approval of this smaller group at least gives it different character when it's presented to both bodies. on page 10.

So are these um capital advisory members members of the larger board as well? Are they different ombres all together? All of these are the parks and recck existing parks and rec board are not these people.

Okay, gotcha. We really were trying to differentiate two things. Capital expenditures from programming. Your your committee was designed to be focused on program implementation without capital infrastructure which should be geared more towards elected officials. And so we're we've tried to strip that away from the parks and recck committee to let them to do programming and be program centric whereas to allow this to be capital improvement centric and should alleviate the need from joint city county meetings to approve capital infrastructure where the committee can make recommendations and those respective committee members go to their boards, the court and the city and you all approve them individually. upon recommendation by this by this uh capital committee.

It it will hopefully facilitate a more efficient process for development of our park system. Okay. I have a question. So, um the amount of the 325 with the county for operations and maintenance for Millennium Bunny and the pool, was it the same amount in 2019? And does that need to change? So this agreement, this is an amendment to that original agreement. So that number is different now. Uh but because it's an amendment, the original dates, the original document is preserved. Right. So the number this year is much different is different.

Okay, good. I I thought that the number this year for the current fiscal year FY26 is 39414. 390,000 and then for next fiscal year it's $400 and $400,955. So this agreement will theoretically um end unless extended on on 2030 June 30th 2030. So is there a motion to accept or a motion to deny or a motion to table or a motion to say it's time to go home? I like it. I like the setup. Um, I'm going to move to approve resolution 202641306.

Thank you, ma'am. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, ma'am. Sir, you know what to say about the third person. All right. Second. Any other questions or comments? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I. I. All right. Thank you all. Josh, you got one more. Yes. This ought to be a real easy one. Oh, really? Yes. Very easy. Uh, yes. The the city got a letter um a couple of weeks ago that notified us that we we are in the process of being awarded the uh land and water conservation fund grant that we applied for last year for a splash pad at Jackson Park.

Uh we'll receive $250,000. We have to match that with $250,000 uh when the times comes for the project to begin. Um, I was thinking this this actually this project actually came out of the the partnership we did last spring with Center Colleg's class and they did that public survey uh for Jackson Park and they did they pushed that through. The number one thing on the list was a splash pad. That's that was the reason we we applied for that used that for this grant and we used that public survey as a reason to get the grant when we did our application. So I think that really helped us out a lot. So that's kind of cool that that that little partnership resulted in actual actual grant. Give them the first splash when we get it done. Yep.

Is that the Bono was that the Bono programming center? No, that was the uh Dr. Weston had the creating a better better society class that he we partnered with and we went we we once a week we went down to the class and we worked through different projects and they chose what they wanted to work on. There was a Tommy worked with them on they had a list of parks projects and they chose to do a Jackson Park kind of public survey. So that's that that led us to to here. So um

well just a little more background. Well, we have three land and water grants kind of stacking up that we're waiting on official funding because that we we've been awarded the grant by the state, but the state then has to get awarded the money from the National Park Service for land and water grants. So we have the Butler Drive Playground Replacement. We have the Millennium Park uh performance pavilion and now we'll have the Jackson Park splash pad. They're all three land and water grants and we're waiting on that federal approval to spend the money. So, we're kind of stacking these grants. Hopefully, they get released all at once one day and we have a bunch of projects happening. So, that's

if if you got a good tailwind, how long would it take to get the um Jackson Park flash? if we if we stay on the route where we've been on, you know, 20 20 28 29, but I I think Butler Drive is going to break loose pretty soon. So, I'm hoping we'll get that this year. Um, and then I've also seen some movement on the Millennium Park, too. So, I think they're going to speed those back up again. What I'm hoping is that we see a little quicker movement. So, hopefully 2028 I think was 2028's a reasonable goal that we'll build we'll be building a splash pad with Jackson Park. I think that's a reasonable timeline. own. But yeah, that's all we've talked about with these projects. You you can apply for something that you need right now.

You know, it's something that it's a it's a it's a it's a want. It's something the community could really use, but also we can wait three to five years before we before we get it. So that's this was a good project for that. So that hopefully 2028 where we've got money and we're build a splash. Okay, let's get a motion. Is there a motion on approving this Jackson Park? I'll move for approval of resolution 2026041307. Thank you, sir. I need a second. Oh, okay. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Thank you, Josh. Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Steve McGertie.

Thank you, mayor. Um, so we are seeking the opportunity to um apply for a grant. Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation has a quarterly grant program. It's a very competitive process and a lot of times within the first four hours of that grant being open which this this quarter is planning to open July 9th usually within four hours they've got it shut down. So we were wanting opportunity to prepare all our paperwork and and get um prior authorization to go ahead and submit for this grant. They prioritize life safety equipment for um fire departments and police agencies. Um, and they typically give grants between $10,000 and $40,000. We're We believe we'd be really competitive in asking for a grant to update and upgrade our automatic external defibrillators. Um, our AEDs are about 20 years old right now

and it's about time to uh look into updating those and we think we'd be really competitive in asking for a grant to assist us with that. It's an um it's a fully funded grant um with no match required and we're just asking for authorization to proceed with preparation and submission of this grant. Thank you, sir. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion to approve resolution 202641308. Thank you, ma'am. I know there's a second. Second. Thank you, ma'am. Any questions or comments?

I have a general question, but it doesn't really pertain to this specifically. Is there any way I mean chief's taken an hour or two to come up here and wait to ask if he can apply for money? It seemed like that be administrative to me. I don't know. Does it have to go through the legislative body? When when when it involves money and there's a signature, we that's a requirement for us. Say it like that. Unless you want to. He likes to come to meetings though. He Well, that's one of his favorite things when you when you ask him like, "What's your favorite thing about your job?" It's come to meetings and sit there all day. Well, he's been very patient. Yes. Both chiefs are always pretty patient.

But, you know, they can't leave early anyway. They got to stay here to be our backup soon. So, we Okay, let's carry this motion then. All those in favor? Those opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, sir. far house sub grant. So the chair will entertain a motion to adjurnn. We do need an executive session for the personnel. Oh, is it for personnel? Yes, sir. Well, okay. All is there a motion to go into executive session very briefly for personnel? Um, and I I'm voting no.

I'll make a motion to go into uh executive session to discuss personnel matter pursuant to KRS618101F. Is there a second for lack of action? I will second. Probably move in second and we go into executive session dealing with personnel. Very brief. I would like to say that this is the 108th time in a row that he's voted no. That's probably right. And y'all still have executive session in spite of my desire to vote no. Are you voting no, too? You got two nos today. All right. Two votes now. All right. somebody service for the third. All right, let's go into executive session briefly.

Yes. Second. Thank you. Holland said it and Codle seconded. All right, we're out. All those in favor say I. I. We're back in regular session now. Mr. City Manager. Thank you, Mayor. Staff is recommending the hiring of Erica Engel to the position of uh utility executive assistant. Thank you. So moved. That's a motion. Second. All right. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed say I. I. Just kidding. All right. Congratulations to Erica. And we have one more. I think

staff is recommending the hiring of Jenna Haynes to the position of legislative clerk. Jenna being present with us tonight. Is there a motion? He told you. Second. Moved and second. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed say not me. Motion carries. Is this mine or here? Congratulations. I think mine is there. I move to adjourn. All right. Thank you, ma'am. Second. Second. All right. Uh, Mr. Dexter