City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon and welcome everyone to Elizabeth Town City Council work session for February 9th, 2026. And I'd like to ask council member Tony Bishop if he'd lead us in the invocation, please. Our Father, we thank you for another wonderful day. We thank you for the the sunshine and and the and the warmth. We just thank you for watching over our community as a whole. And we especially want to thank you for our our employees and the dedication that they they do each and every day. We ask that you be with us this day, watch over us, lead us, guide us, and direct us in the way that you would help us to go. In your son's name we pray. Amen.

Amen. If you would please join us in the pledge. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

This time, Madame Clerk, if you would please call the role. Yes, sir. Council member Bishop here. Fulkerson here. Issac's here. Jones here. Springsteen here. You have a quorum. Mayor.

Thank you, ma'am. And at this time, we are going to do something that we have not done before that I am proud to say that we're going to start doing throughout the year and the many years that I've been here and the years that will follow. We have plenty of our teammates in multiple different departments that often during the year get certifications to improve their abilities to do their job. And so we're going to recognize some of those folks today. And uh I'm going to ask Mrs. Graham, who is our city clerk and also our alcohol beverage control officer or director or manager or whatever title she likes the best, administrator. If she would explain a little bit about who we're going to recognize today. Thank you, mayor, and I'd like to thank you for these additional appointments to ABC. Um, this is really uh supplemental for our department, especially to our dedicated officer Jones back here who does a phenomenal job with investigations and with um reporting um case reports. So, really, we wanted this to be um just supplemental and another tool in the toolbox is what I'd like to say for them. and we want to be good partners with our businesses and continue to keep our citizens safe and we feel this is another way to do this.

Very good. So, do we want to go around front?

Yes. Okay. Stand over here. So, we're in alphabetical order because there are several. We'll start with Detective Tyler Brown. If you please come up. Mrs. Graham's going to give you your certificate. And if you would stay up here and line up because Mrs. Emman wants to take a picture. Thank you, sir. Lieutenant Pete Titler, Major Matt Cougall, Sergeant Dietrich Cooper, Officer Sean Desmond, Sergeant Andrew Eert, Sergeant Andrea Hair. You did right, Andrea. Officer Jared Hatfield, Officer Cooper Jones, Officer Richard Jones, Lieutenant Madison Kaklinsky, Sergeant Gary Mark,

Sergeant Chase Macau, Sergeant Michael Mertz, Detective Eric Ryman, Officer Steve Richards, Sergeant and James Rogers, Lieutenant Alex Ruiz, Sergeant Spencer Singer, and Lieutenant Austin Smith. Apparently, Chief Thompson didn't get certified. Failed the test.

I think Miss Emman wants to get a picture. I'm not certified.

Thank you all very much. We appreciate it. We're proud of you. from our parks and recreation department. I would like to introduce the director, Seth Brightner, if he would come up and talk about certified playground safety inspectors. Good afternoon, everybody. Um, we've had two individuals within our department that have recently got the CPSI, which is the certified playground safety inspector. And in the parks and recreation industry, this is one of the most challenging certifications that you can get. Um, it is given by the National Parks and Recreation Department. Um, and one of the things about that makes this very challenging is this test, um, is basically a test on all the safety standards, um, the different things that go along with the playgrounds and things to make sure like surfacing, the spacing between um, objects, the fall zones, everything like that falls within the guidelines that are set forth. Um and it makes it very challenging on this uh test because it's a 100 uh qu question test. Um less than 70% of the first time test takers actually passed this. Um I think within the last round the two inspectors that gave this um they've had given this test for 30 years. They've taken it. They've never gotten a perfect score. And one of the things that makes this challenging is that by memory and by study, you have to go through all your measurements, all your distances, all your fall zones and everything and remember that as you go through the test without any type of reference material.

And why this matters within the parks and recre agency is that over 200,000 injuries happen each year. And by having uh individuals that have this inspection, this helps the city's liability drastically. Um so as part of our routine maintenance, our playgrounds continue to expand within the city. We have two very large playgrounds now in the Oasis and Funtopia and we inspect those routinely every month. So um there are two individuals, Sean Pope and Colin Miller, that got the certification this past year. Colin was unfortunately not able to join us today, but Sean is here.

Congratulations, Sean. We appreciate it. And apparently you're studious like your dad. Now, I also want to recognize those that have been recognized here today. Many of them are not on duty or their workday has ended. And I don't know what instructions Chief Thompson gave you all, but if you all are off or would like to leave, we will not hold it against you because we have some things that we're going to talk about and I hate to make you sit through all of it unless you just would like to stay with us.

None of them turned to look at him, did they?

Thank you all very much. We appreciate it. Up next is our storm water department update with Mrs. Rita Davis, our storm water director. project with public works. You guys couldn't hear me. We also completed a project um on two failing corrugated metal pipes um in the west uh one under Westport and one under Michelle Drive um in that area. So, we've uh doing what we can to try to update our our infrastructure. Um we also want to study some are some problem areas that we seem to have um with uh some extreme events especially with last year getting all the rain that we got. Um so we uh have drainage

studies underway at Hawkins Drive and Freeman oops Freeman Creek Estates. uh those those areas were probably the worst hit with some of the flooding that we observed last year with the the extreme events rain events that we had. Um we I also want to mention we are we have worked with FEMA uh they are remapping all the flood planes within the upper green river and uh Elizabeth Town the bulk of Elizabeth Town falls within that wershed. Uh, so we will have new FEMA flood maps um here in the I'm I'm guessing the next couple years. So that's another kind of study that's going on behind the scenes. Um, we also had another project that we uh completed. Um, our Keeland Drive ditch stabilization project. Um, we have planned a spring survivability survey uh for the live stakes that were planted. Those are basically cutings off of live plants or live trees that you can then put in the ground and they will propagate and grow. Um, and so we do have a goal uh from this project. We want to harvest live stakes to utilize in other areas of the city um where we're observing some erosion on drainageways. Um, we are also recognized we want to try to uh get some grants where we can to help uh reduce stress on the city's uh general fund. Uh so we we're working currently on a very involved grant application for our Peterson Drive bridge project. Um, and then we also have recycling and composting grant application in progress with the state and um, we're hoping that maybe that recycling grant would support the purchase of a chipper for our public works department.

Um, some statistics uh, for our storm water department. Uh, we had 153 new erosion control permits issued. Uh, 25 private water quality units were inspected. We had 12 elicit discharge um investigations in 2025 and 38 plan reviews. We have 176 storm water requests. That's probably a lot of those are from all the rain we had last year and we uh completed an audit with the Kentucky Division of Water for our MS4 program and we got 100%. So we are really proud of that. That's apparently pretty atypical. So, we're pretty um pretty excited that we um received that. We try to get out in the community as much as we can. So, we've uh conducted several education sessions with city summer and fall camps. Um the macro invertebrates. Um that is a huge hit with the kids. They love to flip the rocks over and see the the critters that live underneath the rocks and in our creeks. Um so special thanks to Adam for coordinating all that and um we've been active with our flood plane simulator and also partnered with some of the local schools New Highland and um Miss Mills over uh with her engineering class at Etown High School. So public engagement and events we uh have our uh Big E storm squatch. He's our big blue mascot that you know most we're trying to get him out there a little bit more. uh this was his third year in the Christmas parade and um you know we we want to get the word out. We'd like to get him more in some of the local schools. So he's he's fun. The kids love him. They just don't know who he is.

Jessica looks like she's a little tired of him. Hard to deal with. Y looks that way.

Yeah. Yeah. He can be a little extra sometimes. Um, so also, uh, something that's kind of put us on the map in our in the MS4 community, uh, our pet waste program. So, we've distributed a thousand leash clip pet waste dispensers, uh, through vets and local groomers. Um we've installed several uh pet waste stations and we've kind of uh partnered with HOAs and private um homeowners if they have a piece of property where a lot of uh pets are utilizing or or people are walking hightraic areas for pets to use those spaces. Um and and so we've had a 70% increase in bags distributed since we kind of launched this program in 2023 and uh 54,000 pet waste bags distributed this year alone. So um we're hoping that that's that those efforts are kind of helping um get some of that fecal caulifform out of our our creeks uh with our pet waste. Um, so we've kind of been partnered with um, Parks and Wreck to uh, head off this Arbor Day in Tree City USA. Um, so we've kind of set a date here recently of March 28th to do an Arbor Day celebration. Um, we're going to call it Treetown. Um, hopefully I can announce that. Kind of came up that's kind of new. We came up with that recently. Um, so yeah. and that and we'll also uh potentially partner with the Kentucky Division of Forestry. We're going to give away uh saplings as part of that effort. So, that will be a Saturday where we'll have um kind of a dedication to uh trees, um basin maintenance and adaptive management. So, yeah. So, strawberry basin we had planted probably about three years ago in wild flowers. um

those are those come up pretty strong in the spring, but as the uh growing season progresses, it starts to look a little unruly. So, we're kind of going to do a little different management of that basin to try to get the fall bloomers to come up. So, um and then um hoping to make that more of a monarch and pollinator habitat as well. But just so you know, it will not be like a manicured garden. It's going to look a little weedy, but hopefully a little bit better than what it has in the uh later growing season months uh here the last couple seasons. Um just kind of to reiterate, you know, we've had some crazy um rain events here in the past year. Um we're expecting higher intensities just with the way kind of the climate trajectory is. Um and we're also having challenges with design constraints due to geology and topography. Um now we have implemented our rain gauge system. Um we have three rain gauges here in in the city. Um and that has really helped us to try to figure out like what kind of frequency our storms are that we're receiving. Um but our focus remains on resilience, risk reduction, and adaptive management. So, some upcoming projects that you guys will probably be seeing here in this upcoming budget season. Um, Valley Creek Lake and Trooper Lake restorations. Um, those will be going into construction. Um, that picture is actually Valley Creek Lake uh emergency spillway during the April storms. Um, Henry Street phase two, we're hoping that that we we we're in the easement acquisition phase of that and we're hoping that that will be ready by fall for uh construction. Um, Peterson Drive, if we we possibly will

get some grant funding, but if we don't, we'll probably be asking for funding. Uh, Clifford Drive Basin, uh, currently 90% d design, so it will be ready for construction. And then some studies and designs that we're um hoping to incorporate in the budget. Deepwood Drive, uh St. John Estates, and French Street. For staffing, we have six total staff in the stormwater department. Um kind of in the stormwater management section, we have an inspector, an environmental scientist, and assistant engineer in addition to myself. Um we have in our construction maintenance guys one foreman, one heavy equipment operator and a maintenance position. Um so we are looking to add uh an additional inspector to kind of replace James when he moved up to environmental scientist but uh in that budget and then an additional vehicle plusment of the vehicle we so lovingly referred to as Kevin um which you can see pictured. I think he's one of the oldest vehicles in the fleet and he's starting to have some transmission issues. So, uh we're probably going to be looking to replace Kevin soon.

Yeah. Yes. All right. So, our long-term strategy want we want to um explore acquisitions of additional properties within Flip Planes. Uh we want to do some ordinance revisions which we're currently um working on. Uh we'd like to incorporate more green infrastructure and nature-based solutions to uh storm water management. Um of course we're going to continue to identify aging infrastructure and areas for improvement. Um, one big program, well maybe a couple programs that we're uh hoping to kick off will be our water quality program which will help us to determine if our education outreach and uh pet waste programs are being effective and also soil sampling program and of course our goal is to you know we want to improve our response time compliance and infrastructure oversight. So that's the storm water update. So any questions and this is our team our team uh the storm water the management team in our office. So

questions comments do you care to quickly elaborate on James's position and what he's gone through to get there?

Oh yeah. So, so James has been working really hard the past couple of years to obtain a degree in environmental science. Um, he's doing that through an online online program with uh Southern New Hampshire University. Um, so he is on the tail end of his uh education. Uh, so I I think he told me that he was going to have his degree in August. So, he's and he's getting really good grades, too. So, I uh definitely ant don't anticipate any hiccups with that. I was going to say I have not seen a report card.

He usually keeps me informed of all his uh his grades and I've I've maybe helped him a little bit with some of his homework. So, do you think he expects us to refer to him as a scientist? Doctor. Yeah, doctor. So, but yeah, so that's that's the update.

Very good. We appreciate you. We appreciate your department. I know a lot of folks understand what you do, but I don't think that they understand the hard work that you all put in. And it doesn't matter what time of day or if it's night, if we get a bad storm event, you all are out checking things and looking to see what we can improve and do better. And most of all, you're fielding emails and phone calls that aren't always kind or from people that are happy at the time because they've got water in their house or water somewhere in their yard that they don't like. And so, we appreciate it. We know the job's hard and we think you all do excellent.

Yeah, they usually are mad by the time they they've contacted us, but we have great great people on staff and uh yeah, we have an awesome team, so everybody's uh helpful and passionate about what we're doing. So, Thank you guys. Thank you, Rita. Okay, we will open it up for public comments now. If you would state your name and your address. I'm not really comfortable with that.

Well, I mean, we need to know where you live to know what you're talking about. It may not matter depending on what you're going to say, but no, that's fine. We can get it later.

My name is Caitlyn and I live near the Etown Community College. I recently moved there. I've been there for almost a year and um there's I live like near the train tracks and just on the other side of the train tracks is some sort of building. I don't know what they do besides make a lot of noise. And um during the snowstorm it was super quiet. It was great. And then once the snowstorm like was done and they started working again, it was obnoxiously loud and they had this like buzzing noise that was 24 hours for a good two weeks. Um, I could hear it over my TV and I am not deaf so I don't have my TV up too terribly loud. My husband on the other hand, he is not the greatest at hearing things. So, he was even like, "Hey, we have to turn the TV up because I can't hear it because of this buzzing noise." That's with blinds closed, windows closed, so on and so forth. Um, and then earlier in the year, last year, I guess, towards the end. Um, I was very pregnant and they use I think it's like a recycling center is what I'm complaining about. I really don't know what it is. Um, they use something some sort of chemical that sets off a smell that is very obnoxious. and I was like 8 months pregnant and I was struggling to breathe when I walked outside. Um, my son is now 5 months old and as he gets older, I really don't want him smelling that or I don't know if it will affect him or not, but it's obnoxious. Like, we thought there was a meth lab nearby. So, we almost called dispatch. Um, I don't like to call dispatch because I don't like to bother them. So, I have yet to do so um because I don't want to interrupt the police officers doing their normal day-to-day jobs. I feel like that's

interrupting them um as a former public safety person. So, I don't know what the thing is on the other side of the train tracks, but it is obnoxious. And then they now do some sort of work on the weekends on Saturdays. They start early in the morning. I understand everybody's got to work. Like I said, I do public safety, so my job is 247. So, I understand that, but it is kind of important that they like understand that there's people nearby trying to sleep. I know that I'm not necessarily the only one that has the issue. Um, I know it's taken me a while to get here just because like I said, I was very pregnant and I'm still learning the ropes of the town while I still am cuz I haven't been here a year yet. So, I don't know if we can look into that issue, but it is concerning because like I said, I don't know what the smell is. I don't know what effect it would have on me or my child.

First of all, congratulations on the new child. Thank you. That's a great gift. I hope you're enjoying I know you probably don't have a lot of great sleep if you have one that that that's that young. It's the newborn trenches. I understand. And I think I know what business that you're talking about and I will be glad or we will be glad to get in contact with them to see if they can explain what's putting out the odor that you're talking about. But this is the first report we've gotten on any of this as far as an odor or any problems. So, we'll check into it, see what they say. I'm sure it's something that is regulated, but I can't promise that until we find out. So, give us a little time and if you don't mind, Mrs. Enman there in the pink, if you would give her your name and phone number and your address. Okay.

Uh, we'll check on it and get back with you. Yeah. I have been told from neighbors that I'm not the only one to complain. Um, they were I've actually asked them because they've lived there longer. So, I've asked them what's going on and they told me that they've come here multiple times and said something about it. Um, I will let that individual step if they want to. I don't know. I', like I said, I'm fairly new here and I was way too pregnant to worry about any of that. So, um, well, that's the first I've heard of it. I don't know if any any of y'all have talked to anybody about it, but let let us check on it. No worries. Awesome. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Hi again. Uh Stson Smith, Sandy Circle over by the uh you know the college. Uh same thing. Uh last time I came you guys had a ple big police thing and whatnot. So I didn't want to interrupt kind of drag on the meeting. I was trying to be somewhat cordial about that. I talked to you uh specifically about these problems after I had talked to him about these problems with the offcasting uh the noise, the shaking of my house from the Maltsa 2 plant, which is the same thing that she's talking about now. So, this is not the first time the city's heard about this. This is not the first time I've spoken to people in the city about it. And last time you looked me in the eye and told me to bring up neighbors because I'm the only one who cares about it. Um, this is not the first time I've brought up the subject.

So, it is the first time that I've heard anything about any kind of gaseous gaseous odor. What you brought up to me was a train track issue that you wanted the horn stopped and you said that Freedom Metals was too loud. I asked for a quiet zone to be put in at that one because the horn was loud. But that was not the only issue that I brought up.

It was far from the only issue that I brought up. And as a matter of fact, I know that the Maltsa metal melts too. Sorry, a little bit unfamiliar with the name. Uh they also were required to put up a sound wall. It was supposed to be a green wall. It was supposed to be at least 6 7 foot tall. And I know that that was in the building permit because again, I've had discussions about this building. And uh that is also not been erected at any point. So uh I I have brought up this point to the city before. I have talked about it. This is not the first time this issue has been raised. I've spoken to people in the government about this. This is not there. And it's funny, you know, I come in here and they they're talking about waste, environmental stuff, and whatnot on the particular day that my neighbor wants to come up here. Not planned. This is literally she just finally got tired of it and asked if she could if she could come with me to one because she didn't know where it was and all that stuff. So, like what you've done with the place, uh, have a good day.

Appreciate it. and I will tell you, we will check on it like I told your wife and we'll we'll get back with you. Neighbor. Okay. Sorry, I she didn't tell me her last name, so I don't I don't know. Y'all came in together. Anybody else? Okay. City council information items. Our next meeting will be February 17, 2026. And that's all I have. Do you all have anything you want to announce or talk about?

I just like to thank everyone except my fellow city councilman, the mayor, Jessica, all the city employees that's called me when I was out last week in the hospital. Uh we live in a great community. I've been contacted by texts and phone calls and letters and cards and I'm blessed to live in this community and I just thankful I can serve with this great community and a great great community. We live it a tight-knit community and I just love it. So, thank y'all.

Well, we're glad you're feeling better and on the men. For sure. We're glad to have you back. We missed you. Anybody else? We will not go close meeting pursuant to KRS61.810 section 1. And we can adjurnn now. If I can get a motion in a second. Second. All in favor? Opposed? Seeing none, motion carries. We are adjourned.